ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Because of the following factors, as well as other variables affecting our operating results, cash flows and financial condition, past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. Other events that we do not currently anticipate or that we currently deem immaterial also may affect our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.
We are dependent on a highly concentrated customer base, and any delays, reduction or cancellation of purchases by these customers could harm our business. Additionally, we may not achieve anticipated revenue levels if we are not selected as “vendor of choice” for new or expanded customer fabrication facilities.
We derive most of our net revenue from the sale of systems to a relatively small number of customers, which makes our relationship with each customer critical to our business. For example, for the three months ended
March 27, 2016
,
three
customers accounted for 10 percent or more of our total net revenues, representing approximately
24 percent
,
22 percent
and
14 percent
of our total net revenue, respectively. For each of the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, our three largest customers accounted for approximately 74 percent, 76 percent and 73 percent of our net revenue, respectively. We currently depend on a few customers for a significant portion of our net revenue, and the delay, significant reduction in, or loss of, orders from these customers would significantly reduce our revenue and adversely impact our operating results. See
Item 1. Business - Customers
in
our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2015
for a detailed description of our customer concentration.
Because semiconductor manufacturers must make a substantial investment to install and integrate capital equipment into a semiconductor fabrication facility, these manufacturers will tend to choose semiconductor equipment manufacturers based on product compatibility and proven performance. Changes in forecasts or the timing of orders from customers could expose us to the risks of inventory shortages or excess inventory. In addition, changes in customer demand and order cancellations, could result in the loss of anticipated sales without allowing us sufficient time to reduce our inventory and operating expenses. Any such changes, delays and cancellations in orders in turn could cause our operating results to fluctuate. If customer relationships are disrupted due to an inability to deliver sufficient products or for any other reason, it could have a significant negative impact on our business.
Although we maintain a backlog of customer orders with expected shipment dates within the next 12 months, customers may request delivery delays or cancellations, as they have been doing more regularly in our business. More recently, we have seen delays in our customers' spending in DRAM and across sub-20 nanometer foundry and logic businesses during 2015. Customers in some regions place orders a few weeks before the shipment. As a result, our backlog may not be a reliable indication of future net revenue. If shipments of orders in backlog are canceled or delayed, net revenue could fall below our expectations and the expectations of market analysts and investors.
Once a semiconductor manufacturer selects a particular vendor’s capital equipment, the manufacturer generally relies upon equipment from this vendor of choice (“VOC”) for the specific production line application. In addition, the semiconductor manufacturer frequently will attempt to consolidate other capital equipment requirements with the same vendors. Accordingly, we may face narrow windows of opportunity to be selected as the VOC by new customers with significant needs. It may be difficult for us to sell to a particular customer for a significant period of time once that customer selects a competitor’s product. If we are unable to achieve broader market acceptance of our systems and technology, we may be unable to maintain and grow our business and our operating results and financial condition will be adversely affected.
The cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry has caused us to experience losses and reduced liquidity, and it may continue to negatively impact our financial performance.
The semiconductor equipment industry is highly cyclical and periodically has severe and prolonged downturns, which causes our operating results to fluctuate significantly. We are exposed to the risks associated with industry overcapacity, including decreased demand for our products and increased price competition.
The semiconductor industry historically has experienced periodic downturns due to sudden changes in customers’ requirements for new manufacturing capacity and advanced technology, which depend in part on customers’ capacity utilization, production volumes, access to affordable capital, end-user demand, consumer buying patterns, and inventory levels relative to demand, as well as the rate of technology transitions, and general economic conditions. Our business depends, in significant part, upon capital expenditures by manufacturers of semiconductor devices, including manufacturers that open new or expand existing facilities. Periods of overcapacity and reductions in capital expenditures by our customers cause decreases in demand for our products. This could result in significant under-utilization in our factories. If existing customer fabrication facilities are not expanded and new facilities are not built, we may be unable to generate significant new orders and sales for our systems. During periods of declining demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, our customers typically reduce purchases, delay delivery of ordered products and/or cancel orders, resulting in reduced net sales and backlog, delays in revenue recognition and excess inventory for us. Increased price competition may also result as we compete for the smaller demand in the market, causing pressure on our gross margin and net income.
We are dependent on our revenue and the success of our cost reduction measures to ensure adequate liquidity and capital resources during the next twelve months.
We incurred annual operating losses from 2008 through 2013 and have generated negative cash flows from operating activities from 2008 through 2014, and during the three months ended
March 27, 2016
. As of
March 27, 2016
, we had cash and cash equivalents of
$21.0 million
and working capital of
$75.9 million
. Our operations require careful management of our cash and working capital balances. Our liquidity is affected by many factors including, among others, fluctuations in our revenue, gross margin and operating expenses, as well as changes in our operating assets and liabilities, and availability of financing sources, including under our revolving credit facility. The cyclicality of the semiconductor industry makes it difficult for us to predict our future liquidity needs with certainty. Any upturn in the semiconductor industry would result in short-term uses of our cash to fund inventory purchases. In addition, the ineffectiveness of our cost reduction efforts may cause us to incur additional losses in the future and lower our cash balances.
We may need additional funds to support our working capital requirements and operating expenses, or for other requirements. Historically, we have relied on a combination of fundraising from the sale of equity securities and cash generated from product, service and royalty revenues to provide funding for our operations. On April 12, 2013, we entered into a three-year $25.0 million senior secured revolving credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank, and amended it on October 21, 2014, extending the term of credit facility to October 12, 2017. As of
March 27, 2016
, we had
no
outstanding borrowing under the credit facility. If we do not comply with the affirmative and negative covenants contained in the credit facility, we may be in default under the credit facility, which may have a negative impact on our liquidity position through our inability to utilize any availability under the credit facility or an acceleration of any future amounts outstanding under the credit facility.
We will continue to review our expected cash requirements and take appropriate cost reduction measures to ensure that we have sufficient liquidity. Although we will pursue cost reduction measures if circumstances require, we are largely dependent upon improvement in the semiconductor equipment industry specifically, and general continued improvement in the economy as a whole, to increase our sales in order to improve our profitability and cash position. We periodically review our liquidity position and, in addition to the net proceeds from our February 2014 registered common stock offering of approximately $31.7 million, we may opportunistically seek to raise additional funds from a combination of sources including the issuance of equity or debt securities through public or private financings. In the event additional needs for cash arise, we also may seek to raise these funds externally through other means. The availability of additional financing will depend on a variety of factors, including among others, market conditions, the general availability of credit, our credit ratings, and our ability to maintain our listing on NASDAQ. As a consequence, these financing options may not be available to us on a timely basis, or on terms acceptable to us, and could be dilutive to our stockholders.
Our current liquidity position may result in risks and uncertainties affecting our operations and financial position, including the following:
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we may be required to reduce planned expenditures or investments;
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we may be unable to compete in our newer or developing markets;
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suppliers may require standby letters of credit before delivering goods and services, which will result in additional demands on our cash;
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we may not be able to obtain and maintain normal terms with suppliers;
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customers may delay or discontinue entering into contracts with us; and
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our ability to retain management and other key individuals may be negatively affected.
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Failure to generate sufficient cash flows from operations, raise additional capital or reduce spending could have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our intended long-term business objectives.
We face stiff competition in the semiconductor equipment industry.
The semiconductor equipment industry is both highly competitive and subject to rapid technological change. Significant competitive factors include the following:
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size of the installed base;
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breadth of product line;
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Competitive pressure has been increasing in several areas. In addition to increased price competition, customers are waiting to make purchase commitments based on their end-user demand, which are then placed with requests for rapid delivery dates and increased product support. Most of our major competitors are larger than we are, have greater capital resources and may have a competitive advantage over us by virtue of having:
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greater experience with handling manufacturing cycles;
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substantially larger customer bases; and
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substantially greater customer support, financial, technical and marketing resources.
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Our competitors include Applied Materials, Inc., Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Company, Lam Research Corporation, PSK, Inc., Tokyo Electron Limited and Ultratech Inc. As we derive a substantial percentage of our revenues from a limited number of products, our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows could be adversely affected by a decline in demand for even a limited number of our products and a failure to achieve continued market acceptance of our key products.
Growth in the semiconductor equipment industry is increasingly concentrated in the largest companies, continuing the trend in increasing industry consolidation, which has accelerated over the last year, such as the pending merger of Lam Research and KLA-Tencor Corp., announced in October 2015, and the previously completed merger of Lam Research and Novellus Systems in 2012. Semiconductor companies are consolidating their vendor base and prefer to purchase from vendors with a strong, worldwide support infrastructure.
To expand our sales we must often displace the systems of our competitors or sell new systems to customers of our competitors. Our competitors may develop new or enhanced competitive products that offer price or performance features that are superior to our systems. Our competitors also may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer
requirements or to devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sale and on-site customer support of their product lines. We may not be able to maintain or expand our sales if competition increases and we are unable to respond effectively.
Our proposed Merger with Beijing E-Town Dragon Semiconductor Industry Investment Center (Limited Partnership (“E-Town Dragon” or "Parent") may not be completed within the expected time-frame, or at all, and the failure to complete the merger could adversely affect our business and the market price of our common stock.
On December 1, 2015, we entered into the Merger Agreement with Parent, as joined by Merger Sub, pursuant to which, and on the terms and conditions contained in the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into Mattson with Mattson surviving the Merger as a subsidiary of Parent. On March 23, 2016, the Mattson stockholders approved the adoption of the Merger Agreement by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock. The obligations of the parties to consummate the Merger are subject to the satisfaction (or waiver, if applicable) of various customary conditions, including (i) the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, (ii) filings and approvals with or by certain governmental authorities, including governmental authorities in the PRC and Taiwan, (iii) the absence of certain governmental orders prohibiting the Merger, (iv) the accuracy of the representations and warranties of each party contained in the Merger Agreement (subject to certain materiality qualifications) and (v) each party’s compliance with or performance of the covenants and agreements in the Merger Agreement in all material respects. In addition, the Merger Agreement may be terminated under specified circumstances. Failure to complete the Merger could adversely affect our business and the market price of our common stock in a number of ways, including:
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if the Merger is not completed, and no other party is willing and able to acquire us at a price of $3.80 per share or higher, on terms acceptable to us, the share price of our common stock is likely to decline;
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we have incurred, and continue to incur, significant transaction costs in connection with the proposed Merger, for which we will have received little or no benefit if the Merger is not completed. Many of these costs will be payable even if the Merger is not completed and may relate to activities that we would not have undertaken other than to complete the Merger;
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a failed Merger may result in negative publicity and/or give a negative impression of us in the investment community or business community generally, and could have an adverse effect on our on-going operations including, but not limited to, retaining and attracting employees, and reduced ability to attract evaluation engagements and to sell our products; and
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if the Merger Agreement is terminated under specified circumstances, we may be required to pay Parent a termination fee.
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The announcement and pendency of our proposed merger with Parent could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The announcement and pendency of the proposed Merger could disrupt our business and create uncertainty about it, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, regardless of whether the Merger is completed. These risks to our business, all of which could be exacerbated by a delay in the completion of the Merger, include:
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diversion of significant management time and resources towards the completion of the Merger;
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impairment of our ability to attract and retain key personnel;
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difficulties maintaining relationships with employees, customers and other business partners;
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restriction on the conduct of our business prior to the completion of the Merger, which prevent us from taking specified actions without the prior consent of Parent, which we might otherwise take in the absence of the Merger Agreement; and
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litigation relating to the Merger, of which several suits have been filed to date, and the related costs of such litigation.
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If the Merger Agreement is terminated, we may, under certain circumstances, be obligated to pay a termination fee to Parent. These costs could require us to use available cash that would have otherwise been available for other uses.
If the Merger is not completed, in certain circumstances, we could be required to pay a termination fee of approximately $8.6 million to Parent. If the Merger Agreement is terminated, the termination fee we may be required to pay, if any, under the Merger Agreement may require us to use available cash that would have otherwise been available for general corporate purposes or other uses. For these and other reasons, termination of the Merger Agreement could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition, which in turn would materially and adversely affect the price per share of our common stock. Further, an adverse ruling may prevent the Merger from being completed.
We are involved in litigation relating to the Merger Agreement that could divert management's attention and adversely affect our business.
We, including the individual members of our Board of Directors, have been named as defendants in litigation related to the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby. The plaintiffs, purported stockholders of the Company, generally allege that the members of our Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to our stockholders by approving the Merger Agreement. They further allege that we aided and abetted these alleged breaches of fiduciary duty. Although we believe that these suits are without merit, the defense of these suits may be expensive and may divert management's attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business.
We must continually anticipate technology trends, improve our existing products and develop new products in order to be competitive. The development of new or enhanced products involves significant risks, additional costs and delays in revenue recognition. Technical and manufacturing difficulties experienced in the introduction of new products could be costly and could adversely affect our customer relationships.
The markets in which our customers and we compete are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and continuous improvements in products and services. Consequently, our success depends upon our ability to anticipate future technology trends and customer needs, to develop new systems and processes that meet industry standards and customer requirements and that compete effectively on the basis of price and performance.
Our development of new products involves significant risk, since the products are very complex and the development cycle is long and expensive. The success of any new system we develop and introduce is dependent on a number of factors, including our ability to correctly predict customer requirements for new processes, to assess and select the potential technologies for research and development and to timely complete new system designs that are acceptable to the market. We may make substantial investments in new technologies before we can know whether they are technically or commercially feasible or advantageous, and without any assurance that revenue from future products or product enhancements will be sufficient to recover the associated development costs. Not all development activities result in commercially viable products. We may not be able to improve our existing systems or develop new technologies or systems in a timely manner. We may exceed the budgeted cost of reaching our research, development and engineering objectives, and planned product development schedules may require extension. Any delays or additional development costs could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Our products are complex, and we may experience technical or manufacturing inefficiencies, delays or difficulties in the prototype introduction of new systems and enhancements, or in achieving volume production of new systems or enhancements that meet customer requirements. Our inability, or the inability of our supply chain partners, to overcome such difficulties, to meet the technical specifications of any new systems or enhancements or to manufacture and ship these systems or enhancements in the required volume and in a timely manner would materially adversely affect our business and results of operations, as well as our customer relationships.
Our revenue recognition policies require that during the initial evaluation phase of a new product, customer acceptance needs to be obtained before we can recognize revenue on the product. Customer acceptance may not be completed in a timely manner for a variety of reasons, whether or not related to the quality and performance of our products. Any delays in customer acceptance may result in revenue recognition delays and have an adverse impact on our results of operations.
We may from time to time incur unanticipated costs to ensure the functionality and reliability of our products early in their life cycles, and such costs can be substantial. If we encounter reliability or quality problems with our new products or enhancements, we could face a number of difficulties, including reduced orders, higher manufacturing costs, delays in collection of accounts receivable and additional service and warranty expenses, all of which could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations. The costs associated with our warranties may be significant, and in the event our projections and estimates of these
costs are inaccurate, our financial performance could be seriously harmed. In addition, if we experience product failures at an unexpectedly high level, our reputation in the marketplace could be damaged, and our business would suffer.
We are highly dependent on international sales, and face significant international business risks.
International sales accounted for
89 percent
of our net revenue for the
three months ended March 27, 2016
, and 85 percent and 86 percent of our net revenue for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. We anticipate international sales will continue to account for the vast majority of our future net sales. Asia has been a particularly important region for our business, and we anticipate that it will continue to be important going forward. Our sales to customers located in Asia accounted for
85 percent
of our net revenue for the
three months ended March 27, 2016
, and 81 percent and 81 percent of our net revenue for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Because of our continuing dependence upon international sales, we are subject to a number of risks associated with international business activities, including:
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burdensome governmental controls, laws, regulations, tariffs, duties, taxes, restrictions, embargoes or export license requirements;
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unexpected changes in laws or regulations prompted by economic stress, such as protectionism, and other attempts to rectify real or perceived international trade imbalances;
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exchange rate volatility;
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the need to comply with a wide variety of foreign and U.S. customs, export and other laws;
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political and economic instability;
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government-sponsored competition;
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differing labor regulations;
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reduced protection for, and increased misappropriation of, intellectual property;
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difficulties in accounts receivable collections;
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increased costs for product shipments and potential difficulties from shipment delays;
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difficulties in managing distributors, representatives, contract manufacturers and suppliers;
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difficulties in staffing and managing foreign subsidiary operations; and
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natural disasters, acts of war, terrorism, widespread illness or other catastrophes affecting foreign countries.
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Our sales to date have been denominated primarily in U.S. dollars; however future sales to Asian customers may be denominated in the customer's local currency. Our sales in foreign currencies are subject to risks of currency fluctuation. For U.S. dollar sales in foreign countries, our products may become less price competitive when the local currency is declining in value compared to the dollar. This could cause us to lose sales or force us to lower our prices, which would reduce our gross margins.
Significant fluctuations in our operating results are difficult to predict due to our lengthy sales cycle, and our results may fall short of anticipated levels, which could cause our stock price to decline.
Our systems revenues depend upon the decision of a prospective customer to increase or replace manufacturing capacity, typically involving a significant capital commitment. Accordingly, the decision to purchase our systems requires time-consuming internal procedures associated with the evaluation, testing, implementation and introduction of new technologies into our customers' manufacturing facilities. Even after the customer determines that our systems meet their qualification criteria, we may experience delays finalizing system sales while the customer obtains approval for the purchase, constructs new facilities or expands its existing facilities. Consequently, the time between our first contact with a customer regarding a specific potential purchase and the customer's placing its first order may last from one to two years or longer. We may incur significant sales and marketing expenses during this evaluation period, in addition to tying up substantial inventory in customer product evaluations. The length of this period makes it difficult to accurately forecast future sales. Also, any unexpected delays in orders could impact our revenue and operating results.
If sales forecast for a specific customer are not realized, we may experience an unplanned shortfall in net revenue, and our quarterly and annual revenue and operating results may fluctuate significantly from period to period.
Our quarterly and annual revenue and operating results have varied significantly in the past and are likely to vary significantly in the future, which makes it very difficult for us to predict our future operating results. We incurred significant net losses between 2001 and 2003, yet were profitable for each of the years 2004 to 2007. We again incurred net losses from 2008 through the third quarter of 2013, due to our fluctuating revenues and/or declining demand as a result of the weakness in the semiconductor equipment market and the global economy. We may not achieve profitability in future quarters and years. We will need to generate significant sales to achieve profitability, and we may not be able to do so. A substantial percentage of our operating expenses are fixed in the short term and we may continue to be unable to adjust spending to compensate for shortfalls in net revenue. As a result, we may incur losses in the future, which could cause the price of our common stock to decline further or remain at a low level for an extended period of time.
Any weakness in the global economy may negatively impact our financial performance.
Any recessionary conditions in the global economy and slowdown in the semiconductor industry impacted customer demand for our products and correspondingly, negatively impacted our financial performance. There remains high unemployment in developed countries, concerns regarding the availability of credit, uncertainty about a sustained economic recovery in the U.S. and fears of further economic deterioration in Europe, China, and the developing world, which in turn, may lead to a global downturn. Any of these factors could have a negative impact on our business or our financial condition.
Demand for semiconductor equipment depends on consumer spending. Future economic uncertainty may lead to a decrease in consumer spending and may cause certain of our customers to cancel or delay orders. In addition, if our customers have difficulties obtaining capital or financing, this could result in lower sales. Customers with liquidity issues could lead to charges to our bad debt expense, if we are unable to collect accounts receivables. These conditions could also affect our key suppliers, which could affect their ability to supply parts to us, and result in delays of the completion of our systems and the shipment of these systems to our customers.
If as a result of any economic downturn and the uncertainty of any future decline in demand for our products due to slowdowns in the semiconductor industry, we may have to take additional, actions to reduce costs. These actions could further reduce our ability to invest in research and development at levels we believe are desirable. If we are unable to effectively align our cost structure with prevailing market conditions, we will experience additional losses and additional reductions in our cash and cash equivalents. If we are not able to suitably adapt to these economic conditions in a timely manner or at all, our performance, cash flows, results of operations and ability to access capital could be materially and adversely impacted.
Because of competition for qualified personnel, we may not be able to recruit or retain necessary personnel, which could impede development or sales of our products.
Our growth will depend on our ability to attract and retain qualified, experienced employees. Our ability to attract employees may be harmed by our recent financial losses, which have impacted our available cash and our ability to provide performance-based annual cash incentives. Also, part of our total compensation program includes share-based compensation. Share-based compensation is an important tool in attracting and retaining employees in our industry. If the market price of our common shares declines or remains low, it may adversely affect our ability to attract or retain employees.
During periods of growth in the semiconductor industry, there is substantial competition for experienced engineering, technical, financial, sales and marketing personnel in our industry. In particular, we must attract and retain highly skilled design and process engineers. If we are unable to retain existing key personnel, or attract and retain additional qualified personnel, we may from time to time experience inadequate levels of staffing to develop and market our products and perform services for our customers. As a result, our growth could be limited, we could fail to meet our delivery commitments or we could experience deterioration in service levels or decreases in customer satisfaction.
The price of our common stock has fluctuated in the past and may continue to fluctuate significantly in the future, which may lead to losses by investors,
delisting
,
securities litigation or hostile or otherwise unfavorable takeover offers.
The market price of our common stock has been highly volatile in the past, and our stock price may decline in the future. For example, for the year ended December 31, 2015, the closing price range for our common stock was between $2.20 and $5.02 per share. Our stock may be subject to eventual delisting from NASDAQ if we do not maintain a minimum $1.00 per share trading price. Any future decline below $1.00 per share may trigger a possible delisting by NASDAQ, and any delisting from NASDAQ would likely lead to less liquidity for our shareholders and increased volatility in our stock price.
The relatively low stock price makes us attractive to hedge funds and other short-term investors. This could result in substantial stock price volatility and cause fluctuations in trading volumes for our stock. Fluctuations in the trading price or liquidity of our common stock may harm the value of your investment in our common stock.
In addition, in recent years the stock market in general, and the market for shares of high technology stocks in particular, has experienced extreme price fluctuations. These fluctuations have frequently been unrelated to the operating performance of the affected companies. In the past, securities class action litigation often has been instituted against a company following periods of volatility in its stock price. This type of litigation, if filed against us, could result in substantial costs and divert our management's attention and resources.
Other factors that may have a significant impact on the market price and marketability of our securities include changes in securities analysts' recommendations, short selling, and halting or suspension of trading in our common stock by NASDAQ.
We may outsource select manufacturing activities to third-party service providers, which decreases our control over the performance of these functions and quality of our products.
From time to time, we may outsource product manufacturing to third-party service providers. Outsourcing has a number of risks and reduces our control over the performance of the outsourced functions. Significant performance problems by these third-party service providers could result in cost overruns, delayed deliveries, shortages, quality issues or other problems that could result in significant customer dissatisfaction and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If for any reason one or more of these third-party service providers becomes unable or unwilling to continue to provide services of acceptable quality, at acceptable costs and in a timely manner, our ability to deliver our products to our customers could be severely impaired.
We depend upon a limited number of suppliers for some components and sub-assemblies, and supply shortages or the loss of these suppliers could result in increased cost or delays in the manufacture and sale of our products.
We rely, to a substantial extent, on outside vendors to provide many of the components and sub-assemblies of our systems. We obtain some of these components and sub-assemblies from a sole source or a limited group of suppliers. We generally acquire these components on a purchase order basis and not under long-term supply contracts. Because of our reliance on these vendors and suppliers, we may be unable to obtain an adequate supply of required components. When demand for semiconductor equipment is strong, our suppliers may have difficulty providing components on a timely basis.
In addition, during periods of shortages of components, we may have reduced control over pricing and timely delivery of components. We often quote prices to our customers and accept customer orders for our products prior to purchasing components and sub-assemblies from our suppliers. If our suppliers increase the cost of components or sub-assemblies, we may not have alternative sources of supply and may no longer be able to increase the price of the system being evaluated by our customers to cover all or part of the increased cost of components.
The manufacture of some of these components is an extremely complex process and requires long lead times. If we are unable to obtain adequate and timely deliveries of our required components, we may have to seek alternative sources of supply or manufacture such components internally. This could delay our ability to manufacture or ship our systems in a timely manner, causing us to lose sales, incur additional costs, delay new product introductions and harm our reputation. Historically, we have not experienced any significant delays in manufacturing due to an inability to obtain components, and we are not currently aware of any specific problems regarding the availability of components that might significantly delay the manufacturing of our systems in the future. Any inability to obtain adequate deliveries, or any other circumstance that would require us to seek alternative sources of supply or to manufacture such components internally, could delay our ability to ship our systems and could have a material adverse effect on us.
Our gross margins may be impacted if we do not effectively manage our inventory and costs.
We need to manage our inventory of component parts, work-in-process and finished goods (principally comprised of products undergoing customer evaluations) effectively to meet customer delivery demands at an acceptable risk and cost. For both the inventories that support manufacture of our products and our spare parts inventories, if the anticipated customer demand does not materialize in a timely manner, we will incur increased carrying costs and some inventory could become excess or obsolete, resulting in write-offs, which would adversely affect our cash position and results of operations. The sale of this inventory during periods of increasing revenue could temporarily impact our gross margins favorably due to the adjusted carrying value of this inventory, and could result in future unpredictability in our gross margin estimates. In addition, we may be subject to higher production costs due to increasing freight, labor and other operating expenses in connection with the shipment of our products due to market factors, particularly heightened when we experience accelerated shipment schedules.
Our gross margins for sales of products that we manufacture in Germany may fluctuate due to changes in the value of the Euro.
We develop and manufacture our Millios product in Germany, where our costs for labor and materials are primarily denominated in Euros. Future increases in the value of the Euro, if any, could increase our development costs, our costs to manufacture systems, and our costs to purchase spare parts for products from our suppliers, which would make it more difficult for us to compete and could adversely affect our results of operations.
We primarily manufacture our products at one manufacturing facility and are thus subject to risk of disruption.
Although, from time to time, we outsource select core product manufacturing to third parties, we continue to produce our latest generation products at our principal manufacturing plant in Fremont, California and produce our Millios product at our research and manufacturing facility in Dornstadt, Germany. We have limited ability to interchangeably produce our products at either facility, and in the event of a disruption of operations at one facility, our other facility may not be able to make up the capacity loss. Our operations could be subject to disruption for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, natural disasters, including earthquakes in California, work stoppages, operational facility constraints and terrorism. Such disruption could cause delays in shipments of products to our customers, result in cancellation of orders or loss of customers and seriously harm our business.
We self-insure certain risks including earthquake risk. If one or more of the uninsured events occurs, we could suffer major financial losses.
We purchase insurance to help mitigate the economic impact of certain insurable risks; however, certain other risks are uninsurable or are insurable only at significant cost or cannot be mitigated with insurance. An earthquake could significantly disrupt our principal manufacturing operations in Fremont, California, an area highly susceptible to earthquakes. It could also significantly delay our research and development efforts on new products, a significant portion of which is conducted in California. We self-insure earthquake risks because we believe this is a prudent financial decision based on the high cost and limited coverage available in the earthquake insurance market. If a major earthquake were to occur, we could suffer a major financial loss and face significant disruption in our business.
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, we may lose valuable assets and experience reduced market share. Efforts to protect our intellectual property may be costly to resolve, require costly litigation and could divert management attention. We also agree to indemnify customers for certain claims, and such obligations are more likely to increase during downturns.
We rely on a combination of patents, copyrights, trademark and trade secret laws, non-disclosure agreements, and other intellectual property protection methods to protect our proprietary technology. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property, we may from time to time be subject to claims of infringement of other parties' patents or other proprietary rights. If this occurs, we may not be able to prevent their use of such technology. Our means of protecting our proprietary rights may not be adequate and our patents may not be sufficiently broad to protect our technology. Any patents owned by us could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented and any rights granted under any patent may not provide adequate protection to us.
Furthermore, we may not have sufficient resources to protect our rights. When we outsource portions of our manufacturing, we are less able to protect our intellectual property, and rely more on our service providers to do so. Our service providers may not always be able to assure that their employees or former employees do not use our intellectual property for their own account to compete with us. Our competitors may independently develop similar technology, or design around patents that may be issued to us. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our proprietary rights to as great an extent as do the laws of the United States and it may be more difficult to monitor the use of our intellectual property in such foreign countries. As a result of these threats to our proprietary technology, we may have to resort to costly litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights.
Customers may request that we indemnify them or otherwise compensate them because of claims of intellectual property infringement made against them by third parties. Our involvement in any patent dispute or other intellectual property dispute or action to protect trade secrets, even if the claims are without merit, could be very expensive to defend and could divert the attention of our management. Adverse determinations in any litigation could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require us to seek costly licenses from third parties and prevent us from manufacturing and selling our products. Royalty or license agreements, if required, may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Any of these situations could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results in one or more countries where we do business.
In the normal course of business, we indemnify customers with respect to certain matters, for example if our tool infringes the intellectual property rights of any third party or if we breach any promise in our contract with the customer. During downturns in general or adverse industry specific economic conditions, our customers may feel they have greater leverage in negotiating with us and may require that the extent and scope of our obligation to indemnify them be expanded. In the future, our financial performance could be materially adversely affected if we expend significant amounts in defending or settling any claims raised under customer indemnification provisions in our contract.
Data breaches and cyber-attacks could compromise our operations, or the operations of our third party service providers whom we rely upon, and cause significant damage to our business and reputation.
Over the past year, cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and much harder to detect and defend against. We believe that companies have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access. These threats can come from a variety of sources, all ranging in sophistication from an individual hacker to a state-sponsored attack. Cyber threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems.
In the ordinary course of our business, we maintain sensitive data on our networks, including our intellectual property and proprietary or confidential business information relating to our business and that of our customers and business partners. The secure maintenance of this information is critical to our business and reputation. Our network and storage applications may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers or breached due to operator error, malfeasance or other system disruptions. It is often difficult to anticipate or immediately detect such incidents and the damage caused by such incidents. These data breaches and any unauthorized access or disclosure of our information or intellectual property could compromise our intellectual property and expose sensitive business information. A data security breach could also lead to public exposure of personal information of our employees, customers and others. Cyber-attacks could cause us to incur significant remediation costs, result in product development delays, disrupt key business operations and divert attention of management and key information technology resources. These incidents could also subject us to liability, expose us to significant expense and cause significant harm to our reputation and business.
We also rely on third party service providers to maintain some of our networks and information technology infrastructure. All of these third party service providers face risks relating to cyber-security similar to ours, which could disrupt their businesses and therefore materially impact ours.
We are exposed to various risks relating to compliance with the regulatory environment, including export control laws material contracts provisions and conflict-mineral reporting, and non-compliance or non-performance with any of these items could result in adverse consequences and monetary fines or damages.
We are subject to various risks related to (1) disagreements and disputes between national and regional regulatory agencies related to international trade; (2) new, inconsistent and conflicting rules by regulatory agencies in the countries in which we operate; and (3) interpretation and application of different laws and regulations. If we are found by a court or regulatory agency to not be in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
As an exporter, we must comply with various laws and regulations relating to the export of products and technology from the U.S. and other countries having jurisdiction over our operations. In the U.S. these laws include the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) administered by the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”), and trade sanctions against embargoed countries and destinations administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). The EAR governs products, parts, technology and software which present military or weapons proliferation concerns, so-called “dual use” items, and ITAR governs military items listed on the United States Munitions List. Prior to shipping certain items, we must obtain an export license or verify that license exemptions are available. In addition, we must comply with certain requirements related to documentation, record keeping, plant visits and hiring of foreign nationals. Any failures to comply with
these laws and regulations could result in fines, adverse publicity and restrictions on our ability to export our products, and repeat failures could carry more significant penalties.
We are a party to a governmental contract with the Canadian Minister of Industries ("Minister") that provides for liquidated damages in the event that we fail to comply with their covenants or requirements. Under the provisions of this agreement, if Mattson Technology, Canada, Inc. ("MTC") is dissolved, files for bankruptcy or we, or MTC, do not materially satisfy the obligations pursuant to any material terms or conditions, the Minister could demand payment of liquidated damages in the amount of C$14.3 million less any royalties paid to the Minister. These liquidated damage payments could be significant and may adversely impact our financial condition or results of operations.
In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the SEC established new disclosure and reporting requirements for those companies who use "conflict" minerals mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries in their products, whether or not these products are manufactured by third parties. These new requirements could affect the sourcing and availability of minerals used in the manufacture of our products. We have to date incurred costs and expect to incur additional costs associated with complying with the disclosure requirements, including for example, due diligence in regard to the sources of any conflict minerals used in our products and the initial filing that reported our results, in addition to the cost of remediation and other changes to products, processes, or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. Additionally, we may face reputational challenges with our customers and other stakeholders because we have, to date, been unable to sufficiently verify the origins of all minerals used in our products through the due diligence procedures that we implement. We may also face challenges with government regulators and our customers and suppliers if we are unable to sufficiently verify that the metals used in our products are conflict free. We expect to continue to incur significant costs associated with complying with the disclosure requirements, such as costs related to determining the source of certain minerals used in our products.
Our failure to comply with environmental or safety regulations could result in substantial liability.
We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and foreign laws, rules, and regulations relating to environmental protection and workplace safety. These laws, rules and regulations govern the use, storage, discharge and disposal of hazardous chemicals during manufacturing, research and development and sales demonstrations, as well as governmental standards for workplace safety. If we fail to comply with present or future regulations, especially in our manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Germany, we could be subject to substantial liability for cleanup efforts, personal injury, fines or suspension or cessation of our operations. We may be subject to liability if we have past violations. Restrictions on our ability to expand or continue to operate at our present locations could be imposed upon us as a result of such laws, rules and regulations, and we could be required to acquire costly remediation equipment or incur other significant expenses.
To the extent we are leveraged financially, it could adversely affect our ability to adjust our business to respond to competitive pressures and to obtain sufficient funds to satisfy our future research and development needs, to protect and enforce our intellectual property and other needs.
In April 2013, we entered into a three-year $25.0 million senior secured revolving credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank. In October 2014, we entered into an amendment to the credit facility, extending the term of the loan, among other things. As of
March 27, 2016
, we had
no
outstanding borrowing under the credit facility and had availability to borrow an additional $25.0 million under the credit facility. The degree to which we are leveraged could have important consequences, including, but not limited to, the following:
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our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, litigation, general corporate or other purposes may be limited;
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a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations in the future will be dedicated to the repayment of the credit facility; and
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we may be more vulnerable to economic downturns, less able to withstand competitive pressures and less flexible in responding to changing business and economic conditions.
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In 2014, we entered into several amendments and waivers of our credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank that amended certain financial covenants and waived compliance with certain financial covenants. We may not be able to obtain waivers of covenants in the future, and a failure to comply with the covenants and other provisions of the credit facility could result a lack of availability for borrowing under the credit facility or events of default, which could permit acceleration of repayment of all amounts due under the credit facility. Any required repayment of our credit facility as a result of a fundamental change or other acceleration would lower our current cash on hand such that we would not have those funds available for use in our business.
If we are at any time unable to generate sufficient cash flows from operations to service our indebtedness when payment is due, we may be required to attempt to renegotiate the terms of the instruments relating to the indebtedness, seek to refinance all or a portion of the indebtedness or obtain additional financing. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully renegotiate such terms, that any such refinancing would be possible or that any additional financing could be obtained on terms that are favorable or acceptable to us.
Our failure to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in our failure to meet our reporting obligations and cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which in turn could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline.
In connection with our assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013, we identified three significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting with respect to inventory that, when aggregated, constituted a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2013. While none of these significant deficiencies was individually considered a material weakness, our management determined that, in the aggregate, these control deficiencies constituted a material weakness, because they could result in a material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected. Because of this material weakness, which arose from our failure to maintain effective controls over the accounting for the existence, valuation and presentation of inventory, management concluded that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2013.
During the year ended December 31, 2014, we implemented enhancements to our internal controls over financial reporting, including new processes and procedures to ensure inventory is valued timely and accurately. Our remediation efforts, including the testing of these controls continued throughout 2014. Once these controls were shown to be operational for a sufficient period of time to allow management to conclude that these controls were operating effectively, the material weakness related to the accounting for the existence, valuation and presentation of inventory was considered remediated in the fourth quarter of 2014.
We cannot assure you that similar material weaknesses will not recur. Any failure to maintain or implement new or improved internal controls, or any difficulties that we may encounter in their maintenance or implementation, could result in additional significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, result in material misstatements in our financial statements and cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations, which in turn could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline. In addition, any such failure could, in the future, adversely affect the results of our periodic management evaluations and annual auditor attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Changes in tax rates or tax liabilities could affect results.
We are subject to taxation in the U.S. and various other countries. Significant judgment is required to determine and estimate worldwide tax liabilities. Our future annual and quarterly tax rates could be affected by numerous factors, including changes in the applicable tax laws, composition of earnings in countries with differing tax rates or our valuation and utilization of deferred tax assets and liabilities. In addition, we are subject to regular examination of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities. We regularly assess the likelihood of favorable or unfavorable outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any final determination will not be materially different from the treatment reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.
Our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that could discourage transactions resulting in a change in control, which may negatively affect the market price of our common stock.
Our restated certificate of incorporation, our restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that might enable our management to discourage, delay or prevent a change in control. In addition, these provisions could limit the price that investors would be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. Pursuant to such provisions:
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our board of directors is authorized, without prior stockholder approval, to create and issue preferred stock, commonly referred to as “blank check” preferred stock, with rights senior to those of common stock;
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our board of directors is staggered into three classes, only one of which is elected at each annual meeting;
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stockholder action by written consent is prohibited;
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nominations for election to our board of directors and the submission of matters to be acted upon by stockholders at a meeting are subject to advance notice requirements;
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certain provisions in our bylaws and certificate of incorporation such as notice to stockholders, the ability to call a stockholder meeting, advance notice requirements and action of stockholders by written consent may only be amended with the approval of stockholders holding 66 2/3 percent of our outstanding voting stock;
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the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders is prohibited; and
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subject to certain exceptions requiring stockholder approval, our board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws.
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We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which provides, subject to enumerated exceptions, that if a person acquires 15 percent or more of our outstanding voting stock, the person is an “interested stockholder” and may not engage in any “business combination” with us for a period of three years from the time the person acquired 15 percent or more of our outstanding voting stock.