Paullee
2 주 전
InterDigital: An IP Powerhouse Positioned To Ride AI, Connectivity Boom
Apr. 13, 2025 4:05 PM ETInterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) StockIDCC
Alpha Compounder
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Summary
InterDigital licenses essential wireless, video, and AI patents, generating revenue without manufacturing hardware, presenting an asset-light business model.
IDCC is consistently profitable with a strong balance sheet and minimal debt obligations.
The company targets new growth in TVs, automotive, IoT, and streaming through 2028.
Management expects a temporary revenue dip in FY25 as major licenses come up for renewal.
IDCC appears undervalued on EV to EBITDA, offering long-term upside tied to 5G and AI trends.
Telecommunication network above city, wireless mobile internet technology for smart grid or 5G LTE data connection, concept about IoT, global business, fintech, blockchain
NicoElNino
Investment Thesis
Despite not manufacturing high-tech communications devices or chips, InterDigital Inc (NASDAQ:IDCC) operates in the "communications equipment" industry by licencing its patents in wireless communications, video compression, and AI technologies to other device manufacturers and derives revenue from such licencing agreements.
The company is consistently profitable and has met or outperformed its previous projected performance guidance. Its balance sheet is pristine, with a net cash position, improving working capital and low recurring interest obligations on its debt. However, while its cash flow is consistently positive, historically, it appears to be stagnating.
Moving forward, the company intends to continue pursuing strategic licencing agreements with major smartphone makers and TV manufacturers. IDCC will focus on penetrating the TV market in 2025 and increasingly make larger inroads into Automotive and IoT towards 2028. Aside from hardware manufacturers, IDCC is also licencing its advanced video compression technologies, such as HEVC and VVC, with streaming providers.
IDCC's management expects performance for FY25 to experience a "small step down" due to a large volume of licenses expiring at the end of 2024, which the IDCC hopes to renew as much as possible. In the long run, the company's growth plans are expected to benefit from the tailwind of the AI revolution and the broader adoption of 5G and other advanced communications standards.
The company also appears undervalued when valued using the EV/EBITDA multiple model, making it a good opportunity for long-term investors.
Company Overview
US-based IDCC specialises in the development of wireless communications, video compression, and AI technologies:
Earnings Call Presentation
Earnings Call Presentation
While it develops cutting-edge technologies in these domains, it does not manufacture and sell chips or devices. Rather, it operates a business model that monetises its technologies through patent licencing to other technology firms that make the devices.
The company has been a key contributor to global wireless standards, including 3G, 4G, and 5G. It is also actively involved in the design of the emerging 6G standard.
The company was named one of the most innovative companies by LexisNexis, as mentioned during the earnings call:
earnings call
earnings call
The company has patent license agreements with many large leading companies:
Annual Report
Annual Report
However, some concentration risks exist, as a few of them made up an outsized proportion of its revenue:
Annual Report
Annual Report
Financials (Income Statement)
Annual Report
Annual Report
IDCC operates a consistently profitable business where profits increase year after year.
Earnings Call Presentation
Earnings Call Presentation
Overall, the company met or outperformed its previous projected performance guidance in both the quarterly and annual periods.
Financials (Balance Sheet)
Working capital improved significantly over the previous year:
Annual Report
Annual Report
The company's debt is low enough to maintain a net cash position on its balance sheet:
Annual Report
Annual Report
With an EBITDA of $551MM, the company can pay off all its debt with its recurring EBITDA within one year if it chooses to.
Its recurring interest expenses on its debt were reported cumulatively with its investment income and other non-operating line items under "Other non-operating expenses", which is a very small portion of its EBITDA.
Generally, I consider the company's balance sheet to be pristine. Not only is its debt low, its recurring interest obligations on its debt are also insignificant relative to its recurring earnings, as represented by its EBITDA.
Financials (Cash Flow)
While FCF over the years has been consistently positive, the trend has been generally flat:
SA
Seeking Alpha
Strategic Outlook ('Strategic Licencing Agreements')
The company continue to expand its licencing agreements with significant smartphone manufacturers:
earnings call
earnings call
By licencing with IDCC, the manufacturers' products can immediately comply with all or multiple relevant industry standards, simplifying the compliance process. Hence, manufacturers are expected to maintain their licenses for a long time to benefit from such ease and convenience.
InterDigital Website
InterDigital Website
Increasingly, the company is also licencing with TV manufacturers of Google and Taiwanese TPV.
Strategic Outlook ('Expansion into Consumer Electronics and IoT')
IDCC's penetration into the TV market is part of its near-term plan to penetrate the broader consumer electronic market, with the TV market having the largest 'Primary Opportunity' in 2025:
Earnings Call Presentation
Earnings Call Presentation
Beyond 2025, the company intends to further leverage its foundational technologies into smart vehicles and other cellular IoT devices that span multiple domains, such as Asset Tracking in logistics, smart meters and Point-of-Sale ('POS'):
Earnings Call Presentation
Earnings Call Presentation
Strategic Outlook ('Video on Demand')
IDCC is pursuing licencing opportunities and tech adoption in companies that provide streaming through Subscription Video on Demand ('SVoD') and Ad-supported Video on Demand ('AVoD'). These services make use of IDCC's advanced video compression technologies, such as HEVC and VVC. These technologies maximise streaming quality while minimising bandwidth usage:
Earnings Call Presentation
Earnings Call Presentation
SVoD refers to online services that allow users to access a library of video content with a recurring subscription, usually on a monthly or annual basis. Well-known examples of such services include Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. Revenues of such services come directly from the recurring subscriptions.
AVoD also provides online content for users. However, users can watch the content for free, but with occasional advertisements inserted throughout. Examples of such services include the free tiers of YouTube, TikTok, Pluto TV, and Tubi. Similar to traditional TV, revenues from such services come from advertising.
IDCC collects royalties from streaming devices that use its video codecs and also earns licencing fees from streaming software and service platforms. Hence, while InterDigital does not directly operate a streaming platform or manufacture streaming devices, it profits from the underlying infrastructure that powers SVoD and AVoD.
Financial Outlook
Following a favourable FY24 result, the management expects its performance in FY25 to normalize:
Earnings Call Presentation
Earnings Call Presentation
All the financial metrics for the FY25 outlook were expected to underperform compared to the actual FY24 results.
As mentioned during the earnings call, this is due to a large volume of licenses expiring at the end of 2024, for which the company has limited visibility on whether revenues derived from the renewals and new agreements will materially offset the expired licenses.
earnings call
earnings call
The expected adjusted EBITDA of FY25 is expected to range from $400MM to $495MM. We will use this EBITDA range to value the company.
Valuation
IDCC's tech licenses are mostly utilized in the "Communication Equipment" industry, with an EBITDA multiple of 18.18 (as of this writing):
FullRatio
FullRatio
Using other information from Seeking Alpha and other sources, the current price appears undervalued:
Author's Calculations
Author's Calculations
Conclusion
IDCC has a robust portfolio of IPs in high-growth wireless and AI technology sectors. Since it does not make the devices but licenses the technologies to device manufacturers, IDCC runs a relatively more scalable and asset-light business in the "communications equipment" industry.
The company is expected to flourish with the broader adoption of 5G, advanced video streaming and AI-enabled devices providing asymmetric upside for long-term investors.
Aside from the expected near-term revenue dip due to the expiry of licenses at the end of 2024, which is expected to be transitionary, I do not see any long-term headwind facing IDCC.
IDCC is a buy for long-term investors who are willing to ignore the projected short-term revenue dip to benefit from the long-term growth prospects.
Paullee
2 주 전
InterDigital: Major Licensing Milestones, But Very Expensive (Rating Downgrade)
Apr. 12, 2025 12:45 AM ETInterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) StockLNVGY, HPQ, LNVGF, IDCC
Myriam Alvarez
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Summary
InterDigital is undoubtedly a leader in wireless, video, and AI innovation, developing foundational technology and licensing key global standards.
Their Q4 2024 results showed 140% revenue growth with record full-year revenues, mostly driven by new licensing deals.
They also secured promising strategic partnerships with Oppo, ZTE, Lenovo, and HP that expanded their market coverage while resolving prior litigation.
IDCC is also a cash flow machine, with ample liquidity and a solid balance sheet.
Unfortunately, they have a very expensive premium valuation, so I rate IDCC as a cautious “Hold” for now.
Programador que escribe en una computadora portátil con pantalla virtual transparente que muestra lógica de programación ficticia, actualizaciones del sistema
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??InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC) is a tech company that mainly develops wireless, video, and artificial intelligence [AI] foundational knowledge, standards, and devices. Their work in Internet-of-Things [IoT], edge computing, and optimization has also helped lay the foundation for solutions used in smart cities, homes, and industries. And overall, it’s a fantastic business, but unfortunately, it seems its stock has already priced in a sizeable premium. And, given the current odds of a recession, I feel expensive stocks like IDCC are particularly exposed if there’s a market-wide repricing to lower valuation multiples. So, on balance, I now feel IDCC is a “Hold” for now.
Tech Services And Devices
?InterDigital, Inc. specializes in wireless, video, and artificial intelligence [AI] technologies to produce innovative services and devices. IDCC was founded back in 1972, and it’s currently headquartered in Delaware, USA. As previously noted, their business segments focus on wireless, video, and AI, broadly speaking. The wireless segment has made roughly 4,000 contributions to foundational international standards and has contributed to innovations across several architectures. They’re now focusing on next-generation wireless technologies, such as 5G and 6G. Since my previous article from February 2024, IDCC has made some interesting progress with its IP portfolio, but the stock now does look expensive relative to its potential.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
You see, IDCC’s video lab collaborates with other industry bodies to develop video standards, computer graphics, and streaming. Overall, IDCC actually plays a relatively important role in defining and implementing MPEG Immersive Video [MIV] and Extended Reality [XR] for interactive environments. Similarly, their AI lab works on topics that are transversal to wireless and video. Here, IDCC essentially develops solutions that optimize 5G and beyond, which often includes designing video codecs using deep learning algorithms.
IDCC also has some offerings with Internet-of-Things [IoT] devices and technologies. It has contributed to developing core platforms for its connectivity. These systems include 1) low-power communication protocols to allow IoT sensors to run for a long time with small batteries.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Also, they have 2) edge computing for the data to be processed in the device, reducing latency, and 3) dynamic connectivity for 5G to prioritize resources according to their needs. Interestingly, their integration of AI plus IoT can be applied to smart cities. In practical terms, this eventually involves automated control systems that can be used for traffic administration, lighting, and waste management.
This is why IDCC’s contributions are immensely beneficial for smart homes with sensors and appliances so that they can interact with humans. Lastly, the merging of AI and IoT will probably have a great impact on the industrial sector by generating predictive maintenance, with machines automatically reporting issues as they pop up. So all of these factors essentially place IDCC at the foundation of major tech trends.
Major Tech Partnerships
But, more recently, in Q4 2024, IDCC secured several important milestones that give it some interesting strategic momentum. The company reached a new deal with the Oppo Group. The deal basically states that they will use IDCC’s patented wireless, video, and AI technologies.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
And it’s worth mentioning that Oppo is one of the largest producers of smartphones in China, with brands like realme and OnePlus. So, with this collaboration, IDCC now has license agreements with the top four cellular phone manufacturers. In other words, they’re now embedded with Apple (AAPL), Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF), Xiaomi (OTCPK:XIACF), and now Oppo. Thus, this basically gives IDCC 70% market coverage in its niche.
Moreover, before this particular IDCC deal with Oppo. These two companies were actually engaged in multiple patent infringement litigations in countries like Germany, the UK, India, and China. This contentious relationship was mostly centered on IDCC’s standard-essential patents [SEPs] related to 3G, 4G, and 5G technologies. So, this agreement also gives IDCC a legal win because these claims are considered dismissed going forward. It basically managed to turn a foe into a friend, which, I think, is, by itself, quite brilliant from management.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Additionally, IDCC renewed its license agreement with ZTE, which is a major telecom and smartphone firm. They had previously signed a deal in 2019 resolving a nine-year patent dispute. And in their latest corporate presentation, IDCC confirmed they renewed this license agreement. It’s also worth mentioning that IDCC also signed the resolution of conflicts with Lenovo (OTCPK:LNVGY) by agreeing to a binding arbitration. This particular arbitration concluded six years of litigation that coincidentally started back in 2019 when IDCC sued Lenovo in the UK High Court for infringement of patents related to 3G and 4G standards.
But probably one of their most important deals happened this week. In April 07, 2025, IDCC announced a multi-year license agreement with HP Inc. (HPQ). This latest deal basically lets HPQ use IDCC’s technologies in its personal computers. Concretely, HP will now be able to incorporate IDCC’s wi-fi and video decoding solutions. And for IDCC, this deal grows its influence in the PC sector, reaching coverage of 50% of the PC global market.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Source: Corporate Presentation Q4 2024. February 2025.
Besides, I believe this only foreshadows even more growth across industries over time, because clearly, IDCC’s technologies are at the core of many potential tech implementations. And on top of that, IDCC recently received the Fierce Network Innovation Award for AI for wireless communications and its contributions to global standards. So, I would say they probably have among the best reputations and competitive edges in this particular industry.
Valuation And Risk Analysis
Now, from a valuation perspective, IDCC trades at a $5.0 billion market cap, making it already one of the largest companies in its niche. Here’s where I feel it’s now time to start being cautious on IDCC. Its balance sheet holds roughly $527.4 million in cash and $430.9 million in short-term investments. This amounts to about $958.3 million in liquidity that they can deploy for their operations, against essentially $471.8 million in debt.
But a quick note on this, $456.3 million of its debt is due within 12 months, so I think a better proxy for their actual liquidity is $486.5 million (assuming they don’t refinance). Lastly, their book value stands at $857.2 million, which does indicate an expensive P/B of 5.8. For comparison, their sector’s median P/B is much lower at just 2.7.
Source: Seeking Alpha.
Source: Seeking Alpha.
Likewise, according to Seeking Alpha’s dashboard on IDCC, they’re projected to generate just $679.5 million in revenues this year. That would also price them at a high P/S of 7.4. Again, their peers’ P/S is much lower at 2.2. In fact, back in my original February 2024 IDCC article, I said my “bull” case for the stock was $203.53 per share. This is why I feel that, at today’s prices, IDCC seems to have already played out its upside potential, as I initially outlined.
So, I think it’s fair to say IDCC is already priced for success, which, I believe, is probably the main drawback with this stock. Other than that, IDCC is actually a cash flow machine at the moment. I estimate they generate in Q4 2024 alone approximately $188.1 million. Note that I got that figure by simply adding its cash flows from operations and CAPEX. If we annualize that figure, it would imply IDCC produces almost $752.4 million in positive cash flow every year, which I think is probably its most impressive metric.
But, I still believe that if the economy enters into a recession, stocks that trade at a premium will probably suffer the most. For context, JPMorgan (JPM) maintains a 60% chance of recession despite the pause in the tariffs, so this is no longer an unlikely scenario. And in that sense, IDCC has so far fared relatively well during this latest market pullback, dropping by just 15% so far. Yet, if markets keep dropping, I feel IDCC in particular has much more downside risk at these levels.
Source: Seeking Alpha Charts.
Source: Seeking Alpha Charts.
Hence, I feel that despite its strong underlying business, the stock itself is probably a “Hold” at these levels for now. Additionally, while they’ve scored some legal wins recently, it’s always possible that some other company might litigate them again. So I do think IDCC investors are still exposed to that type of headline risk, which is definitely heightened due to its currently expensive valuation.
Conclusion: Cautious “Hold” For Now
Overall, I think IDCC has a fantastic business, and it has recently made some important partnerships that only grow its influence across several industries. They’re also a cash flow machine, so I don’t think they’ll have any financing problems for the foreseeable future, and their balance sheet is solid. However, it seems their stock is already a bit too pricey, in particular if the macro environment remains challenging. And if a recession hits, I believe stocks that have a lot of premium embedded into them will probably get hit the worst. Hence, I think on balance, a “Hold” rating makes sense for now.
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Gamco
2 주 전
InterDigital announces changes to its leadership teamWILMINGTON, Del., April 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InterDigital, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDCC), a mobile, video and AI technology research and development company, today announced changes to its leadership team. Eeva Hakoranta will step down from her role as Chief Licensing Officer effective April 4, 2025, and will remain with the company for the next three months as a Senior Advisor, to facilitate the transition of her responsibilities. Julia Mattis, a 15-year veteran of InterDigital and currently the VP of Licensing and Head of the Smartphone Licensing Program, will immediately assume an interim role leading the Licensing team as the search commences for the permanent Chief Licensing Officer."I am grateful for Eeva's dedication and contributions to InterDigital over these past four and a half years," said Liren Chen, President and Chief Executive Officer, InterDigital. "Eeva has built a world-class licensing team that has driven significant growth of our licensing programs and put us in a strong position to achieve our long-term goals. I want to thank her for her support during this transition and wish her the best going forward."About InterDigital(R)InterDigital is a global research and development company focused primarily on wireless, video, artificial intelligence ("AI"), and related technologies. We design and develop foundational technologies that enable connected, immersive experiences in a broad range of communications and entertainment products and services. We license our innovations worldwide to companies providing such products and services, including makers of wireless communications devices, consumer electronics, IoT devices, cars and other motor vehicles, and providers of cloud-based services such as video streaming. As a leader in wireless technology, our engineers have designed and developed a wide range of innovations that are used in wireless products and networks, from the earliest digital cellular systems to 5G and today's most advanced Wi-Fi technologies. We are also a leader in video processing and video encoding/decoding technology, with a significant AI research effort that intersects with both wireless and video technologies. Founded in 1972, InterDigital is listed on Nasdaq.InterDigital is a registered trademark of InterDigital, Inc.For more information, visit: www.interdigital.com.InterDigital Contact:Richard Lloyd