UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
ý ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016
Or
o TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from to
Commission file number: 000-50307
FormFactor, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | 13-3711155 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
7005 Southfront Road, Livermore, California 94551
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
(925) 290-4000
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Common Stock
Name of each exchange on which registered: NASDAQ Global Market
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes o No ý
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes o No ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of the Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes x No o
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:
Large accelerated filer o | Accelerated filer ý | Non-accelerated filer o (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) | Smaller reporting company o | |||
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No ý
Aggregate market value of registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based upon the closing price of a share of the registrant's common stock on June 24, 2016 (the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second quarter) as reported by NASDAQ Global Market on that date: $456,272,004. Shares of the registrant's common stock held by each executive officer, director and person who owns 5% or more of the outstanding common stock of the registrant have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.
The number of shares of the registrant's common stock, par value $0.001 per share, outstanding as of March 13, 2017 was 71,652,152 shares.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant's definitive Proxy Statement for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed within 120 days of the end of the registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, are incorporated by reference in Part III hereof. Except with respect to information specifically incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Proxy Statement is not deemed to be filed as a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
FORMFACTOR, INC.
Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2016
Index
Page | ||
Part I | ||
Part II | ||
Part III | ||
Part IV | ||
FormFactor, the FormFactor logo and its product and technology names are trademarks or registered trademarks of FormFactor, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names or service marks appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.
Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we refer to FormFactor, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries as "the Company", "FormFactor," "we," "us," and "our". Our fiscal year ends on the last Saturday in December. Our last three fiscal years ended on December 31, 2016, December 26, 2015 and December 27, 2014.
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NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933, which are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements include statements concerning, among other things, our business strategy (including the influence of anticipated trends and developments in our business and the markets in which we operate), financial results, operating results, revenues, gross margin, operating expenses, products, projected costs and capital expenditures, research and development programs, sales and marketing initiatives and competition. In some cases, you can identify these statements by our use of forward-looking words, such as "may," "might," "will," "could," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend" and "continue," the negative or plural of these words and other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the filing date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our current expectations about future events, which are inherently subject to change and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We have no obligation to update any of these statements, and we assume no obligation to do so. Actual events or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements due to various factors, including but not limited to the matters discussed below in the section entitled "Item 1A: Risk Factors", and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to continue to fluctuate. You should not rely on period-to-period comparisons of our financial results as indicators of our future performance. Some of the important factors that could cause our revenues, operating results and outlook to fluctuate from period to period include:
• | customer demand for and adoption of our products; |
• | market and competitive conditions in our industry, the semiconductor industry and the economy as a whole; |
• | the timing and success of new technologies and product introductions by our competitors and by us; |
• | our ability to work efficiently with our customers on their qualification of our new technologies and products; |
• | our ability to deliver reliable, cost-effective products that meet our customers’ testing requirements in a timely manner; |
• | our ability to transition to new product architectures to solve next-generation semiconductor test and measurement challenges, and to bring new products into volume production on time and at acceptable yields and cost; |
• | our ability to implement measures for enabling efficiencies and supporting growth in our design, applications, manufacturing and other operational activities; |
• | the reduction, rescheduling or cancellation of orders by our customers; |
• | our ability to collect accounts receivables owed by our customers; |
• | our product and customer sales mix and geographical sales mix; |
• | a reduction in the price or the profitability of our products due to competitive pressures or other factors; |
• | the timely availability or the cost of components and materials utilized in our products; |
• | our ability to efficiently optimize manufacturing capacity and production yields as necessary to meet customer demand and ramp variable production volumes at our manufacturing facilities; |
• | our ability to protect our intellectual property against infringement and continue our investment in research and development and design activities; |
• | any disruption in the operation of our manufacturing facilities; and |
• | the timing of and return on our investments in research and development. |
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PART I
Item 1: Business
General
FormFactor, Inc., headquartered in Livermore, California, is a leading provider of test and measurement solutions. We provide a broad range of high-performance probe cards, analytical probes, probe stations, thermal sub-systems and reliability test systems to both semiconductor companies and scientific institutions. Our products provide electrical information from a variety of semiconductor and electro-optical devices and integrated circuits (devices) from development to production. Customers use our products and services to lower production costs, improve yields, and enable development of complex next generation devices. We believe our technology leadership enables critical roadmap advances for our customers.
FormFactor, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and we introduced our first product in 1995. For much of our history, sales of probe cards for testing Dynamic Random Access Memory, or DRAM, devices made up the majority of our revenues. In October 2012, we completed the acquisition of Astria Semiconductor Holdings, Inc., including its subsidiary Micro-Probe Incorporated (together "MicroProbe"). The majority of MicroProbe's sales consisted of probe cards for testing foundry and logic devices. The acquisition of Microprobe diversified and broadened our customer and revenue base, and enabled us to realize operational and cost efficiencies in the combined companies’ technology, resources, assets, and teams. In June 2016, we acquired Cascade Microtech Inc. ("Cascade Microtech"), a leading manufacturer of advanced wafer probe cards, sub-systems, thermal probe stations and reliability test systems. The acquisition of Cascade Microtech transformed our business into a broader test and measurement market leader with greater scale, diversification and market opportunities.
As of December 31, 2016, we operate in two reportable segments consisting of the Probe Cards Segment and Systems Segment. Sales of our probe cards and analytical probes are included in the Probe Cards Segment while sales of our probe stations, thermal sub-systems and reliability test systems are included in the Systems Segment.
Products
We design, manufacture and sell multiple product lines, including probe cards, analytical probes, probe stations, integrated measurement systems, thermal sub-systems, reliability test systems, and related services.
Probe cards. Our probe cards utilize a variety of technologies and product architectures, including micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies. We use advanced design and automation technologies to enable our rapid and cost-effective manufacturing of resilient multi-material composite spring-like electrically-conductive contact elements with characteristic length scales of a few microns. These contact elements are designed to optimize the relative amounts of force on, and across, a chip’s bond pad, solder bump, or copper pillar during the test process and maintain their shape and position over a range of compression. In addition, while maintaining these mechanical characteristics, the contact elements must achieve reliable and high-fidelity electrical contact through wafer surfaces that are generally oxidized or otherwise contaminated, and must maintain these attributes over hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of compression cycles. Our range of capabilities enable us to rapidly produce customer-design specific probe cards that deliver leading precision, reliability, and electro-mechanical performance.
Our probe cards are customized for our customers’ unique wafer and chip designs by modifying and adapting our standard product architectures to meet an individual customer’s design layout and electrical test requirements. We offer probe cards to test a variety of semiconductor device types, including “system on a chip” products, mobile application processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphic processors, radio frequency, analog, mixed signal, image sensors, electro-optical, DRAM, NAND flash memory and NOR flash memory devices.
For many advanced applications, our products must maintain tens of thousands of simultaneous high-fidelity low-impedance electrical contacts with the corresponding chip contacts on the wafer. Our present technologies enable probe cards with over 100,000 contact elements with spacings as small as 40 microns over geometries as large as 300mm. In addition, for high signal-fidelity devices such as wireless radio frequency transceivers and automotive radar chips, our probe card technologies are capable of testing in the GHz range, up to 81GHz.
We have invested, and intend to continue to invest, considerable resources in proprietary probe card design tools and processes. These tools and processes are intended to enable the rapid and accurate customization of products required to meet customer requirements, including automated routing and trace length adjustment within our probe cards, to rapidly design complex structures.
In addition, some of our customers test certain chips over a large range of operating temperatures. We design probe cards to provide for a precise match with the thermal expansion characteristics of the wafer under test across the range of test
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operating temperatures. For many of our products, our customers can use the same probe card for both low and high temperature testing. We also design probe cards for customers that require extreme positional accuracy at a specific temperature.
Through on-going investments in both our technology and operations, we continue to innovate and improve so that our products will meet customers’ future technical roadmap performance, quality, and commercial requirements. We also focus upon leveraging these ongoing investments across all advanced probe card markets to realize synergies and economies of scale to benefit our competitiveness, time-to-market and overall profitability.
Analytical Probes. We offer over 50 different analytical probe models for engineering and production testing. Analytical probes are used for a diverse set of applications, including device characterization, electrical simulation model development, failure analysis, and prototype design debugging. Our customers for analytical probes include universities, research institutions, semiconductor integrated device manufacturers, semiconductor foundries, and fabless semiconductor companies. We continue to add new models of analytical probes that address measurements with higher complexities and at higher frequencies up to 1 THz.
Probe Stations. Probing systems are required in the development of new generations of semiconductor processes and designs. Probe stations are highly configurable for the required measurements, the size and type of wafer under test, the characteristics of the device design to be tested, and the temperatures at which testing is to be performed. Process development and design complexities have continually increased with each new generation of semiconductor technology to accommodate smaller design geometries, new materials and more layers. Probing systems are a fundamental tool for characterizing and verifying electrical performance and reliability to enable new semiconductor technologies. We design our probing systems for semiconductor design engineers to capture and analyze more accurate data in a shorter amount of time.
We build upon our probe stations to create integrated measurement systems that provide complete solutions for our customers’ complex measurement requirements. These systems include test instrumentation, probe, cabling configurations, and software to enable fast, accurate, on-wafer data collection for complex application and measurement needs. We offer pre-configured and customized measurement systems for production testing, power device characterization, vacuum probing, cryogenic probing, high-pressure probing, and a variety of other specific applications.
Thermal Subsystems. Our thermal subsystems produce thermal chucks and other test systems used in probe stations. Thermal chuck systems enable the testing of devices at precise temperatures or across a range of temperatures.
Reliability Test Systems. Our reliability test systems enable customers to develop products that are less susceptible to a variety of phenomenon that can degrade semiconductor device performance, such as electro-migration, stress migration, time dependent dielectric breakdown, stress induced leakage current, hot carrier injection and bias temperature instability.
Services and Support. In addition to routine installation services at the time of sale, we offer services to enable our customers to maintain and more effectively utilize our products and to enhance our customer relationships. In addition to traditional maintenance services, our applications engineers assist our customers in test methodologies to make advanced measurements during process and product development, and during mass production.
Customers
Our customers include companies that design or make semiconductor products in the foundry & logic, DRAM and Flash markets. Our customers use our products to test nearly all semiconductor device types, notably mobile application processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphic processors, radio frequency, analog, mixed signal, image sensors, opto-electrical, DRAM, NAND flash memory and NOR flash memory devices.
Fabless semiconductor suppliers do not manufacture their own semiconductors, but they purchase our analytical probes and probe stations for research and development, and device characterization. They also purchase, or direct their foundries or wafer test facilities to purchase, our probe cards to test wafers manufactured for them.
We believe our customers consider timely service and support to be an important aspect of our relationship. Our probe stations are installed at customer sites either by us, our manufacturers’ representatives or our distributors, depending on the complexity of the installation and the customer’s geographic location. We assist our customers in the selection, integration and use of our products through application engineering support. We also provide worldwide on-site probe card maintenance and service training, seminars and telephone support. Our manufacturers’ representatives and distributors provide additional service and support.
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One customer accounted for 30.1% of our revenues in fiscal 2016, 4 customers accounted for 60.2% of our revenues in fiscal 2015 and 3 customers accounted for 51.6% of our revenues in fiscal 2014, as follows:
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
Intel | 30.1 | % | 19.6 | % | 19.7 | % | ||
Samsung | * | 14.6 | * | |||||
SK hynix | * | 14.3 | 16.9 | |||||
Micron | * | 11.7 | 15.0 | |||||
Total revenues attributable to customers greater than 10% | 30.1 | % | 60.2 | % | 51.6 | % | ||
* | Less than 10% of revenues. |
Information concerning revenue by geographic region and by country based upon ship-to location appears under Item 7: Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Revenues - Revenues by Geographic Region and Note 16 - Operating Segments and Geographic Information of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, that are included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Segment and Enterprise-Wide Disclosures
See Note 16- Operating Segments and Geographic Information of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for certain financial information related to our segments and our enterprise-wide disclosures.
Backlog
We manufacture our products based on order backlog and customer commitments. Backlog includes only orders with written authorizations and shipment dates within 12 months. Backlog also includes revenue for existing product service agreements to be earned within the next 12 months. Customers may delay delivery of products or cancel orders prior to shipment, subject to possible cancellation penalties. Due to possible changes in delivery schedules and cancellations of orders, our backlog on any particular date is not necessarily indicative of actual sales for any succeeding period. Delays in delivery schedules or a reduction in backlog during any particular period could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Manufacturing
Our probe cards are designed for each of our customers' unique wafer designs, by modifying and adapting our product architectures to meet an individual customer’s design layout and test requirements. Our proprietary manufacturing processes for our probe cards include: a complex interconnection system-level design process; a front-end process, which may include wire bonding, photolithography, plating and metallurgical processes, dry and electro-deposition, pick and place assembly; and a back-end process, which includes general assembly and test. Critical steps in our manufacturing process are performed in a variety of clean room environments, including as stringent as a Class 100 environment, depending on the requirements of the specific manufacturing processes.
Our probe and system products design and manufacturing process activities emphasize accurate electrical measurements, precise and reliable mechanical components and assemblies, and compliance with industry and governmental safety requirements. We prototype and test our new standard product designs and components to ensure high electrical signal integrity, mechanical accuracy and safety. We also monitor our product quality throughout the various stages of our manufacturing processes using a variety of process control methods and tests.
We depend on suppliers for materials and some critical components of our manufacturing processes, including ceramic and organic substrates and complex printed circuit boards. We also rely on suppliers to provide certain contact elements and interconnects incorporated into our products. Some of these components and materials are supplied by a single vendor, and some are subject to certain minimum order quantities. Generally, we rely on purchase orders rather than long-term contracts with our suppliers, which subjects us to risks, including price increases, manufacturing capacity constraints issues and component shortages. We continually assess and evaluate alternative sources of supply for all components and materials.
Our primary manufacturing facilities are located in Livermore, San Jose and Carlsbad, California, Beaverton, Oregon, United States, and in Thiendorf, Germany. We also perform manufacturing operations in our facilities in Munich, Germany, Suzhou, China and Yokohama, Japan.
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We maintain repair and service capabilities in Livermore, San Jose, and Carlsbad, California and Beaverton, Oregon, United States; Thiendorf and Munich, Germany; Bundang, South Korea; Yokohama City and Hiroshima, Japan; Suzhou, China; Hsinchu, Taiwan; and Singapore.
Research, Development and Engineering
The semiconductor industry is subject to rapid technological change and new product introductions and enhancements. We believe that our continued commitment to research and development and our timely introduction of new and enhanced products and technologies are integral to maintaining and enhancing our competitive position. We allocate significant resources to these efforts, and prioritize those resources to prepare for our customers’ next generation wafer test challenges. We also increasingly seek to deploy our resources to solve fundamental challenges that are both common to, and provide competitive advantage across, our probe card and system product offerings and roadmaps.
Research and development expenses were $57.5 million for fiscal 2016, $44.2 million for fiscal 2015 and $42.7 million for fiscal 2014.
Sales and Marketing
We sell our products worldwide through a global direct sales force and through a combination of manufacturers’ representatives and distributors.
Our direct sales and marketing staff are located in the United States, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. They work closely with customers in the effort to understand their businesses, anticipate trends and define products that will provide significant technical and economic advantages to our customers. We utilize a highly skilled team of application and customer support engineers that support our customers as they integrate our products into their research, development and manufacturing processes. Through these customer relationships, we seek to develop a close understanding of customer and product requirements to align our capabilities with our customers’ roadmaps and production ramps.
We also have a network of representatives and distributors across the globe to broader our reach. We engage sales representatives to act as independent third parties that agree to promote our products, at our prices and on terms set by us, in return for a commission based on sales. We typically use sales representatives in areas that we believe require greater levels of customer support than we can deliver from our own sales offices and where local language capabilities can offer an advantage. Our distributors purchase our products and resell them at prices and upon terms set by the particular distributor. We typically use distributors in particular geographies due to local regulations or business customs.
Environmental Matters
We are subject to U.S. Federal, State, local, and foreign governmental laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the clean-up of contaminated sites and the maintenance of a safe workplace. We believe that we comply in all material respects with the environmental laws and regulations that apply to us. We did not receive any notices of violations of environmental laws and regulations in fiscal 2016, 2015 or 2014. In the future, we may receive notices of violations of environmental regulations, or otherwise learn of such violations. Environmental contamination or violations may negatively impact our business.
Competition
The markets for our products are highly competitive and we anticipate that these markets will continually evolve and be subject to rapid technological change. Our current and potential competitors are as below:
Probe Card market. The probe card market comprises many domestic and foreign companies, and has historically been fragmented with many local suppliers servicing individual customers in often differentiated applications. Our primary competitors are Advantest Corporation, AMST Co., Ltd., Feinmetall GmbH, Japan Electronic Materials Corporation, Korea Instrument Co., Ltd., M2N Co., Ltd., Microfriend Inc., Micronics Japan Co., Ltd., MPI Corporation, Micro Square Technology Inc., NHK Spring Co., Ltd., Soulbrain Engineering, SV Probe, Inc., Synergie CAD, Technoprobe S.p.A, TSE Co., Ltd., Wentworth Laboratories Inc., WILL-Technology Co., Ltd., and Yokowo, among others. In addition to the ability to address probe card performance and capability requirements in differing applications, the primary competitive factors in the markets in which we compete include product quality and reliability, price, total cost of ownership, design and manufacturing lead times, service capability, geographic proximity, field applications support and timeliness of delivery.
Probe card vendors such as Japan Electronic Materials Corporation, Micronics Japan Company, Ltd. and Technoprobe, offer probe cards built using types of lithographic patterning as do we. The high capital investment and other costs associated
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with the development of lithographically defined probe cards and the time and high cost of the customer evaluation process represent a significant barrier to entry for this type of technology.
We believe that the primary competitive factors in the production probe card market depend upon the type of integrated circuit being tested, but also include customer service, knowledge of measurement techniques, delivery time, price, probe card lifetime, chip damage prevention, probe tip touch-down accuracy, speed and frequency of the probe card, number of chips contacted in parallel, number of probe tips and their layout, signal integrity, and frequency and effectiveness of any required cleaning. As a result of our relative strengths in these areas, we believe that we compete favorably in the advanced probe card market, and in probe cards for parallel testing of chips with densely-packed bond pads, bumps or pillars, and in high signal integrity testing of wireless radio frequency transceivers, microwave, and millimeter wave.
Analytical Probes. Our primary competitor in the analytical probe market is GGB Industries Inc. Regional competitors include Yokowo and TechnoProbe Co Ltd in Japan, and MPI/Allstron in Taiwan. We believe that the primary competitive factors in this market are breadth of probe types, probe frequency and electrical signal integrity, contact integrity and the related cleaning required, knowledge of measurement techniques, calibration support, delivery time and price. We believe that we compete favorably with respect to these factors.
Probe Stations. Our primary competitors in the probe station market are Vector Semiconductor Co. Ltd., Signatone Corporation, MPI Corporation, Tokyo Seimitsu Co., LTD/Accretech, Tokyo Electron (“TEL”), The Micromanipulator Company Inc., HiSOL, Inc., and Wentworth Laboratories Inc. We believe that the primary competitive factors in the probe station market are measurement accuracy and versatility, measurement speed, automation features, knowledge of measurement techniques, completeness of the measurement solutions, delivery time and price. We believe that we compete favorably with respect to these factors.
Thermal Subsystems. In the market for thermal subsystems, we compete principally against ERS Electronic, GmbH, Temptronic Corporation, and Espec Corp. In addition, many of our probe station competitors develop and produce their own thermal subsystems for use in their products. We believe the primary competitive factors in this market are thermal performance, reliability, flexibility and completeness of product offerings. We believe that we compete favorably with respect to these factors.
Reliability Test Systems. Our reliability test products compete against a number of competitors including Qualitau, Inc., STAr Technologies, Inc., Reedholm Instruments Co. and Chiron Technology Pte. Ltd. We believe the primary competitive factors in this market involve build quality, scalability and the ability to properly correlate results between package level and wafer level reliability. We believe our solutions and systems compete favorably with respect to these factors.
Some of our competitors are also suppliers of other types of test equipment or other semiconductor equipment and may have greater financial and other resources than we do. We expect our competitors may enhance their current products and may introduce new products that will be competitive with ours. In addition, it is possible that new competitors, including test equipment manufacturers, may offer new technologies that reduce the value of one or more of our products.
Semiconductor manufacturers may implement chip designs that include capabilities or use other methodologies that increase test throughput and reduce test content, that may reduce or eliminating some or all of our current products’ advantages. Semiconductor manufacturer may also increase their use of test strategies that include low performance semiconductor testers, less complex probe cards, or test procedures that do not involve our products. Our ability to compete favorably may also be adversely affected the long-standing relationships between our competitors and certain semiconductor manufacturers.
Intellectual Property
Our success depends in part upon our ability to continue to innovate and invest in research and development to meet the testing requirements of our customers, to maintain and protect our proprietary technology, and to conduct our business without infringing on the proprietary rights of others. We rely on a combination of patents, trade secrets, trademarks and contractual restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. We have filed actions to enforce those rights against third parties, and may pursue such actions in the future.
We have generated, and continue to generate and maintain, patents and other intellectual property rights covering innovations that are intended to create a competitive advantage, and to support the protection of our investments in research and development. We believe that we possess one of the most substantial patent portfolios relevant to probe card products. Many of our issued patents cover features of our products.
Although we believe that our patents and other intellectual property rights have significant value, we do not believe that maintaining or growing our business is materially dependent on any single patent. Due to the rapid pace of innovation within
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the markets that we serve, it is possible that our protection through patents may be less important than factors such as our technological expertise, continuing development of new products and technologies, protection of trade secrets, market penetration, customer relationships, and our ability to provide comprehensive support and service to customers worldwide.
No assurance can be given that any patents will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or that the rights granted thereunder will provide us with a sustained competitive advantage. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to protect our technology, or that competitors will not be able to independently develop similar or functionally competitive technologies, design around our patents, or attempt to manufacture and sell infringing products in countries that do not strongly enforce intellectual property rights.
Employees
As of December 31, 2016, we had 1,571 regular full-time employees, including 910 in operations, 293 in research and development, 231 in sales and marketing and 137 in general and administrative functions. By region, 1,104 of our employees were in North America, 287 in Asia and 180 in Europe. No employees are currently covered by a collective bargaining agreement. However, certain employees at our manufacturing facility in Thiendorf, Germany, are represented by a works council. We believe that, overall, our relations with our employees are good.
Available Information
We maintain a website at http://www.formfactor.com. We make available free of charge on our website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the United State Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. The reference to our website does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained at the site.
The public may also read and copy any materials that we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet website that contains reports and other information regarding issuers, such as FormFactor, that file electronically with the SEC. The SEC's Internet website is located at http://www.sec.gov.
Directors and Executive Officers
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the proxy statement for our 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Item 1A: Risk Factors
In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, you should carefully consider the risk factors discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K in evaluating FormFactor and our business. If any of the identified risks actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment in our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are not the only ones we face. Additional risks that we currently do not know about, or that we currently believe to be sufficiently important to describe here, may also impair our business operations or the trading price of our common stock.
Risks Relating to the Nature and Operations of Our Business
The markets in which we participate are competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed.
We have experienced increased competition in the markets in which we operate, and we expect competition to intensify in the future. Increased competition has resulted in, and in the future is likely to result in, price reductions, reduced gross margins or loss of market share. Competitors might introduce new competitive products for the same markets that our products currently serve. These products may have better performance, lower prices, shorter delivery times or broader acceptance than our products.
In addition, it is possible that new competitors, including test equipment manufacturers, may offer new technologies that reduce the value of our products. Also, semiconductor manufacturers may implement chip designs or methodologies that increase test throughput, reduce test content, or change their test procedures, thereby eliminating some or all of our current product advantages.
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Our current or potential competitors may have larger customer bases, more established customer relationships or greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing and other resources than we do. As a result, they might be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sale and support of their products, and reduce prices to increase market share.
If we do not innovate and keep pace with technological developments in the semiconductor industry, our products might not be competitive and our revenues and operating results could suffer.
We must continue to innovate and to invest in research and development to improve our competitive position and to meet the testing requirements of our customers. Our future growth depends, in significant part, upon our ability to work effectively with and anticipate the testing needs of our customers and to develop and support new products and product enhancements to meet these needs on a timely and cost-effective basis. Our customers’ testing needs are becoming more challenging as the semiconductor industry continues to experience rapid technological change driven by the demand for complex circuits that are shrinking in size, are increasing in speed and functionality, and also becoming less expensive to produce.
Successful product design, development and introduction on a timely basis require that we:
• | collaborate with customers to understand their future requirements; |
• | design innovative and performance-enhancing product architectures, technologies and features that differentiate our products from those of our competitors; |
• | in some cases engage with third parties who have particular expertise in order to complete one or more aspects of the design and manufacturing process; |
• | qualify with the customer(s) the new product, or an existing product incorporating new technology; |
• | transition our products to new manufacturing technologies; |
• | offer our products for sale at competitive price levels while maintaining our gross-margins within our financial model; |
• | identify emerging technological trends in our target markets; |
• | maintain effective marketing strategies; |
• | respond effectively to technological changes or product announcements by others; and |
• | adjust to changing market conditions quickly and cost-effectively. |
Not only do we need the technical expertise to implement the changes necessary to keep our technologies current, but we must also rely heavily on the judgment of our management to anticipate future market trends. If we are unable to timely predict industry changes or industry trends, or if we are unable to modify our products or design, manufacture and deliver new products on a timely basis, or if a third party with which we engage does not timely deliver a component or service for one of our product modifications or new products, we might lose customers or market share. In addition, we might not be able to recover our research and development expenditures, which could harm our operating results.
We depend upon the sale of our probes cards products for the substantial majority of our revenues.
Although our acquisition of Cascade Microtech has expanded our product offerings, we have historically derived the majority of our revenues from the sale of our probe cards products, primarily to manufacturers of microprocessor, foundry & logic and memory devices. We anticipate that sales of probe cards will represent a substantial majority of our revenues for the foreseeable future. Our success depends in large part upon the continued acceptance of our products on the basis of a variety of factors including performance, quality, timely delivery and price, and depends upon our ability to continue to develop and introduce new products that meet our customers’ requirements. The degree to which we depend upon the sales of our probes cards products for our revenues may increase our susceptibility to failures to satisfy the customers for such products, which may adversely affect our revenues and our ability to grow our business.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from a small number of customers.
A relatively small number of customers account for a significant portion of our revenues. One customer represented 30% of total revenues in fiscal 2016, four customers represented 60% of total revenues in fiscal 2015 and three customers represented 52% of total revenues in fiscal 2014. We anticipate that sales of our products to a relatively small number of customers will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenues. Consolidation in the semiconductor industry may
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increase this concentration. In the future, the loss of any of these customers, or cancellation, reduction or deferral of even a small number of purchases of our products by these customers could significantly reduce our revenues. Cancellations, reductions, deferrals or non-payment of invoices, could result from another downturn in the semiconductor industry, manufacturing delays, quality or reliability issues with our products, or from interruptions to our customers’ operations due to fire, natural disasters or other events, or other issues with the financial stability of our customers. Furthermore, because our probe cards are custom products designed for our customers’ unique wafer designs, any cancellations, reductions or delays can result in significant, non-recoverable costs. In some situations, our customers might be able to cancel or reduce orders without a significant penalty.
If our relationships with our customers deteriorate, our product development activities could be harmed.
The success of our product development efforts depends upon our ability to anticipate market trends and to collaborate closely with our customers. Our relationships with these customers provide us with access to valuable information regarding manufacturing and process technology trends in the semiconductor industry, which enables us to better plan our product development activities. These relationships also provide us with opportunities to understand the performance and functionality requirements of our customers, which improves our ability to customize our products to fulfill their needs. Our relationships with our customers could deteriorate as a result of a variety of factors, such as if they become concerned about our ability to deliver quality products on a timely basis or to protect their intellectual property. Many of our customers are large companies that place significant orders with us, and the consequences of deterioration in our relationship with any of these companies could be significant due to the competitiveness of our industry and the significant influence that these companies exert in our market.
Consolidation in the semiconductor industry and within the semiconductor test equipment market could adversely affect the market for our products and negatively impact our ability to compete.
Consolidation in the semiconductor industry may reduce our customer base and could adversely affect the market for our products, which could cause a decline in our revenues. With consolidation, the number of actual and potential customers for our products has decreased in recent years. Consolidation may lead to relatively fewer opportunities to sell our products if we are not chosen as a supplier by any given prospective customer, and may lead to increased pricing pressures from customers that have greater volume purchasing power.
There has also been a recent move toward consolidation within the semiconductor test equipment market. This consolidation trend could change our interactions and relationships with semiconductor tester and prober companies and negatively impact our revenue and operating results.
Changes in customers’ test strategies, equipment and processes could decrease customer demand for our products.
The demand for our products depends in large part upon the number of semiconductor designs, the pace of technology and architecture transitions in chip designs and overall semiconductor unit volume. The number of probe cards involved in a customer’s wafer testing can depend upon the number of devices being tested, the complexity of these devices, the test software program, the test equipment itself, and the utilization of chip designs featuring design-for-testability capabilities. Customers may demand fewer probe cards or probing systems if they use test strategies that reduce the technical requirements on test equipment, improve available data on device performance earlier in the manufacturing process, or test devices later in the manufacturing process. Changes in the effectiveness of test technologies and test strategies used by customers may cause us to lose sales and revenues.
We may also lose sales if new semiconductor technologies or designs are implemented which cannot be efficiently tested using the products that we offer, or if semiconductor manufacturers reduce the amount or degree of testing that they perform. We may also incur significant research and development expenses in order to introduce new product architectures and platforms to serve the testing needs of new semiconductor technologies.
Cyclicality in the semiconductor industry may adversely impact our sales.
The semiconductor industry has historically been cyclical and is characterized by wide fluctuations in product supply and demand. From time to time, this industry has experienced significant downturns, often in connection with, or in anticipation of, maturing product and technology cycles, excess inventories and declines in general economic conditions. The global economic and semiconductor downturns have caused and may in the future cause our operating results to decline dramatically from one period to the next. Our business depends heavily upon the development and manufacture of new semiconductors, the rate at which semiconductor manufacturers make transitions to smaller nanometer technology nodes and implement tooling cycles, the volume of production by semiconductor manufacturers and the overall financial strength of our customers, which, in turn, depend upon the current and anticipated market demand for semiconductors and products, such as servers, personal computers, automobiles and cell phones, that use semiconductors. During industry downturns, semiconductor
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manufacturers sharply curtail their spending, including their spending on our products, which may adversely impact our revenues, gross margins and results of operations. Further, a protracted downturn could cause one or more of our customers to become insolvent, resulting in a loss of revenue and impacting our ability to collect on accounts receivable. The timing, length and severity of these cyclical downturns are difficult to predict and our business depends on our ability to plan for and react to these cyclical changes.
Because we generally do not have a sufficient backlog of unfilled orders to meet our quarterly revenue targets, revenues in any quarter are substantially dependent upon customer orders received and fulfilled in that quarter.
Our revenues are difficult to forecast because we generally do not have sufficient backlog of unfilled orders to meet our quarterly revenue targets at the beginning of a quarter. Rather, a substantial percentage of our revenues in any quarter depend upon customer orders for our products that we receive and fulfill in that quarter. Because our expense levels are based in part on our expectations as to future revenues and to a large extent are fixed in the short term, we might be unable to adjust spending in time to compensate for any unexpected shortfall in revenues. Accordingly, any significant shortfall of revenues in relation to our expectations could hurt our operating results.
If our ability to forecast demand for our products or the predictability of our manufacturing yields deteriorates, we could incur high inventory losses.
Each semiconductor chip design requires a custom probe card. Because our products are design-specific, demand for our products is difficult to forecast. Due to our customers’ short delivery time requirements, we often design and procure materials and, at times, produce our products in anticipation of demand for our products rather than in response to an order. Our manufacturing yields and inventory requirements, particularly for new probe card products or when we are operating at high output levels, have at times been unpredictable. If we do not obtain orders as we anticipate, if we suffer manufacturing errors, or if we build additional inventory to compensate for unpredictable manufacturing yields, we could have excess or obsolete inventory that we may not be able to sell, which would likely result in inventory write-offs or material charges for scrap.
If we are unable to efficiently manufacture our existing and new products, our business may be materially adversely affected.
We must continuously improve our manufacturing processes in an effort to increase yields and product performance, lower our costs and reduce the time required for us to design, manufacture and deliver our products in volume. If we cannot do these things, both our existing products and our new products may not be commercially successful, our revenues may be adversely affected, our customer relationships and our reputation may be harmed and our business may be materially adversely affected.
To improve our manufacturing processes, we have incurred, and may incur in the future, substantial costs in an effort to optimize capacity and yields, implement new manufacturing technologies, methods and processes, purchase new equipment, upgrade existing equipment and train technical personnel. We have experienced, and may experience in the future, manufacturing delays and other inefficiencies in connection with implementation of these improvements and customer qualifications of new processes, which have caused and could cause in the future, our operating results to decline.
We have also experienced, and may experience in the future, difficulties in manufacturing our complex products in volume on time, and at acceptable yields and cost and installation issues in the field due to the complexity of customer design requirements, including integration of probe cards with varying customer test cell environments and testing of semiconductor devices over a wide temperature range.
If we are unable to continue to reduce the time it takes for us to design and produce products, our growth could be impeded.
Our customers continuously seek to reduce the time it takes them to introduce new products to market. The cyclicality of the semiconductor industry, coupled with changing demands for semiconductor products, requires our customers to be flexible and highly adaptable to changes in the design, volume and mix of products they must produce. We may be unable to design and produce our products within the short cycle times required to respond to such rapid changes. We have lost sales in the past where we were unable to meet a customer’s required delivery schedules. If we are unable to continue to reduce the time it takes for us to design, manufacture and ship our products in response to the needs of our customers, our competitive position could be harmed and we could lose sales.
Products that do not meet specifications or that contain defects could damage our reputation, decrease market acceptance of our technology, cause us to lose customers and revenues, and result in liability to us.
The complexity and ongoing development of our product designs and manufacturing processes could lead to design or manufacturing problems. Problems might result from a number of factors, including design defects, materials failure, failure of components manufactured by our suppliers to meet our specifications, contamination in the manufacturing environment,
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impurities in the materials used, and unknown sensitivities to process conditions such as temperature and humidity, and equipment failures. Any errors or defects could:
• | cause lower than anticipated yields and lengthen delivery schedules; |
• | cause delays in product shipments; |
• | cause delays in new product introductions; |
• | cause us to incur warranty expenses; |
• | result in increased costs and diversion of development resources; |
• | cause us to incur increased charges due to unusable inventory; |
• | require design modifications; or |
• | decrease market acceptance or customer satisfaction with these products. |
The occurrence of any one or more of these events could adversely affect our business, reputation and operating results.
As part of our sales process, we could incur substantial sales and engineering expenses that do not result in revenues.
Our customers generally expend significant efforts evaluating and qualifying our products prior to placing an order. While our customers are evaluating our products, we might incur substantial sales, marketing, and research and development expenses. For example, we typically expend significant resources educating our prospective customers regarding the uses and benefits of our probe cards and developing probe cards customized to the potential customer’s needs, for which we might not be reimbursed. Although we commit substantial resources to our sales efforts, we might never receive any revenues from a customer. For example, many semiconductor chip designs never reach production, including designs for which we may have expended design effort and expense. In addition, prospective customers might decide not to use our products or use our products for a relatively small percentage of their requirements after we have expended significant effort and expense toward product design, development, and/or manufacture.
We obtain some of the components and materials we use in our products from a sole source or a limited group of suppliers, and the partial or complete loss of one of these suppliers could cause production delays.
We obtain some of the components and materials used in our products, such as printed circuit board assemblies, plating materials and ceramic substrates, from a sole source or a limited group of suppliers, and in some cases alternative sources are not currently available. Because we rely on purchase orders rather than long-term contracts with the majority of our suppliers, we cannot guarantee our ability to obtain components and materials in the long term. A sole or limited source supplier could increase prices, which could lead to a decline in our gross profit. Our dependence upon sole or limited source suppliers exposes us to several other risks, including inability to obtain an adequate supply of materials, late deliveries, poor component quality, and business disruptions while we seek to identify and qualify alternative suppliers. The occurrence of any of these risks could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The use of cash and incurrence of substantial indebtedness in connection with the financing of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech may have an adverse impact on our liquidity, limit our flexibility in responding to other business opportunities and increase our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions.
Our acquisition of Cascade Microtech was financed in part by the use of cash on hand and the incurrence of a significant amount of indebtedness. As of December 31, 2016, we had approximately $101.4 million of cash and cash equivalents, approximately $7.5 million of short-term investments and $138.2 million term loan debt outstanding, net of debt-related issuance costs. In connection with our acquisition of Cascade Microtech, we entered into a new senior secured term loan facility with an aggregate principal amount of $150 million to finance part of the cash portion of the transaction consideration. Our use of cash on hand and indebtedness to finance the cash portion of the transaction consideration reduced our liquidity. We must generate cash from operations to pay principal and interest on our debt, thereby reducing the availability of cash flow for working capital and capital expenditure needs or to pursue other initiatives. The senior secured term loan facility contains financial covenants requiring us to maintain a certain leverage ratio of consolidated total indebtedness to EBITDA and a fixed charge coverage ratio. In addition, it also imposes limitations on our ability to incur liens and indebtedness or to pay dividends, make certain investments, or dispose of assets (in each case, subject to customary exceptions). Our ability to comply with these financial and restrictive covenants can be affected by events beyond our control. The indebtedness and restrictive covenants will also have the effect, among other things, of limiting our ability to obtain additional financing, if needed, which may limit our flexibility in the conduct of our business and makes us more vulnerable to economic downturns and adverse competitive
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and industry conditions. In addition, a breach of the financial or restrictive covenants, among other things, could result in an event of default with respect to the senior secured term loan facility, which, if not cured or waived, could result in the obligations under the facility becoming immediately due and payable.
Because we conduct most of our business internationally, we are subject to operational, economic, financial and political risks abroad.
Sales of our products to customers outside North America have accounted for a significant part of our revenues. Our international sales as a percentage of our revenues were 67%, 77% and 72% for fiscal 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Additionally, certain of our South Korean customers purchase through their North American subsidiaries. In the future, we expect international sales, particularly in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, to continue to account for a significant percentage of our revenues. Accordingly, we will be subject to risks and challenges that we would not otherwise face if we conducted our business solely in North America.
These risks and challenges include:
• | compliance with a wide variety of foreign laws and regulations; |
• | legal uncertainties regarding taxes, tariffs, quotas, export controls, export licenses and other trade barriers; |
• | political and economic instability or foreign conflicts that involve or affect the countries of our customers; |
• | difficulties in collecting accounts receivable and longer accounts receivable payment cycles; |
• | difficulties in staffing and managing personnel, distributors and representatives; |
• | reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries; |
• | currency exchange rate fluctuations, which could affect the value of our assets denominated in local currency, as well as the price of our products relative to locally produced products; |
• | seasonal fluctuations in purchasing patterns in other countries; and |
• | fluctuations in freight rates and transportation disruptions. |
Any of these factors could harm our existing international operations, impair our ability to continue expanding into international markets or materially adversely affect our operating results. Additionally, we are required to comply with foreign import and export requirements, customs and value added tax standards. Our failure to meet these requirements and standards could negatively impact our business operations.
Our increased foreign operations expose us to additional risks relating to currency fluctuations.
Our international operations are significant to our revenues and net income, and we plan to continue to grow internationally. We acquired significant business operations located in Germany as part of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech and generate a substantial portion of our revenues outside of the United States. Since we incur certain costs in currencies other than U.S. dollars, and have certain foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities, but report our financial results in U.S. dollars, we face exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Although we hedge a portion of our international currency exposure, significant fluctuations in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may adversely affect our revenues and earnings. Additionally, hedging programs are inherently risky and could expose us to additional risks that could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to protect our proprietary rights, our competitors might gain access to our technology, which could adversely affect our ability to compete successfully in our markets.
If we choose not to protect our proprietary rights or fail in our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, our competitors might gain access to our technology. Unauthorized parties might attempt to copy aspects of our products or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Others might independently develop similar or competing technologies or methods or design around our patents. In addition, the laws of many foreign countries in which we or our customers do business do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. As a result, our proprietary rights could be compromised, our competitors might offer products similar to ours and we might not be able to compete successfully. We also cannot assure that:
• | our means of protecting our proprietary rights will be adequate; |
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• | patents will be issued from our pending or future applications; |
• | our existing or future patents will be sufficient in scope or strength to provide any meaningful protection or commercial advantage to us; |
• | our patents or other intellectual property will not be invalidated, circumvented or successfully challenged in the United States or foreign countries; or |
• | others will not misappropriate our proprietary technologies or independently develop similar technologies, duplicate our products or design around any of our patents or other intellectual property, or attempt to manufacture and sell infringing products in countries that do not strongly enforce intellectual property rights. |
We have spent and may be required to spend in the future, significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. Any litigation, whether or not resolved in our favor, and whether initiated by us or by a third party, could result in significant and possibly material expense to us and divert the efforts of our management and technical personnel.
We might be subject to claims of infringement of other parties’ proprietary rights.
In the future, as we have in the past, we might receive claims that we are infringing intellectual property rights of others and inquiries about our interest in a license or assertions that we need a license to such intellectual property. The semiconductor industry is characterized by uncertain and conflicting intellectual property claims and vigorous protection and pursuit of these rights. The resolution of any claims of this nature, with or without merit, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation or cause product shipment delays. In the event of an adverse ruling or settlement, we might be required to pay substantial damages, cease the use or sale of infringing products, spend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology, discontinue the use of certain technology and/or enter into license agreements. License agreements, if required, might not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all. The loss of access to any of our intellectual property or the ability to use any of our technology could harm our business. Finally, certain of our customer contracts contain provisions that require us to defend or indemnify our customers for third party intellectual property infringement claims, which would increase the cost to us of an adverse ruling or settlement.
We have recorded significant restructuring, inventory write-offs and asset impairment charges in the past and may do so again in the future, which could have a material negative impact on our business.
We recorded restructuring charges in fiscal 2016, 2015 and 2014, and impairment charges related to our long-lived assets in fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2014. We may implement restructuring plans in the future, which would require us to take additional, potentially material, restructuring charges related to employee terminations, asset disposal or exit costs. We may also be required to write off additional inventory if our product build plans or usage of inventory experience declines, and such additional write-offs could constitute material charges. In addition, significant adverse changes in market conditions could require us to take additional material impairment charges related to our long-lived assets if the changes impact the critical assumptions or estimates that we use in our assessment of the recoverability of our long-lived assets. Any such additional charges, whether related to restructuring, asset impairment or factory underutilization may have a material negative impact on our operating results and related financial statements.
We rely on the security and integrity of our electronic data systems and our business could be damaged by a disruption, security breach or other compromise of these systems.
We rely on electronic data systems to operate and manage our business and to process, maintain, and safeguard information, including information belonging to our customers, partners, and personnel. These systems may be subject to failures or disruptions as a result of, among other things, natural disasters, accidents, power disruptions, telecommunications failures, new system implementations, acts of terrorism or war, physical security breaches, computer viruses, or other cyber security attacks. Such system failures or disruptions could subject us to downtimes and delays, compromise or loss of sensitive or confidential information or intellectual property, destruction or corruption of data, financial losses from remedial actions, liabilities to customers or other third parties, or damage to our reputation or customer relationships. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
We may not be able to recruit or retain qualified personnel.
We believe our ability to manage successfully and grow our business and to develop new products depends, in large part, on our ability to recruit and retain qualified employees, particularly highly skilled technical, sales, management, and key staff personnel. Competition for qualified resources is intense and other companies may have greater resources available to provide substantial inducements to lure key personnel away from us or to offer more competitive compensation packages to individuals we are trying to hire. Our employees may also experience uncertainty about the effect of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech on their future roles within the combined business, which may impair our ability to retain and motivate certain valuable
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personnel during the integration process. While we implement programs to attract employees, and we may grant additional equity compensation to certain employees outside of our annual equity grant program for retention purposes or implement retention bonus programs for certain employees, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully recruit and retain the qualified personnel we require.
Our failure to comply with environmental laws and regulations could subject us to significant fines and liabilities, and new laws and regulations or changes in regulatory interpretation or enforcement could make compliance more difficult and costly.
We are subject to various U.S. Federal, state and local, and foreign governmental laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of contaminated sites and the maintenance of a safe workplace. We could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, civil or criminal fines or sanctions and third-party claims for property damage or personal injury, as a result of violations of or liabilities under environmental laws and regulations or non-compliance with the environmental permits required at our facilities.
These laws, regulations and permits also could require the installation of costly pollution control equipment or operational changes to limit pollution emissions or decrease the likelihood of accidental releases of hazardous substances. In addition, changing laws and regulations, new laws and regulations, stricter enforcement of existing laws and regulations, the discovery of previously unknown contamination at our or others’ sites or the imposition of new cleanup requirements could require us to curtail our operations, restrict our future expansion, subject us to liability and cause us to incur future costs that could harm our operations, thereby adversely impacting our operating results and cash flow.
Natural and manmade disasters may negatively impact our business.
Our business is vulnerable to the direct and indirect impact of natural and manmade disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, nuclear accidents, and acts of terrorism. Material parts of our manufacturing and research and development operations are located in areas of California that are prone to earthquakes and could be substantially disrupted in the event of an earthquake. It is also possible that future natural and manmade disasters could negatively impact the sales of our products as a result of impacts upon our customer’s ability to make or sell their products, or impacts upon our suppliers’ ability to supply components to us on a timely basis.
Risks Relating to Our Acquisitions
We may fail to realize the anticipated benefits and cost savings from our acquisition of Cascade Microtech.
The success of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech will depend, in part, on our ability to realize the anticipated benefits and cost savings from combining that business with ours. Our ability to realize these anticipated benefits and cost savings is subject to certain risks including:
• | whether the combined businesses will perform as expected; |
• | the possibility that we paid more for the acquisition of Cascade Microtech than the value we will derive from the acquisition; and |
• | the reduction of our cash available for operations and other uses and the incurrence of indebtedness to finance the acquisition. |
Issues that must be addressed to successfully integrate the operations of Cascade Microtech with our operations include combining the companies’ sales, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, purchasing, operations and research and development functions; integrating the companies’ technologies, products and services; identifying and eliminating redundant or underperforming operations and assets; consolidating the companies’ corporate, administrative and information technology infrastructure and multiple enterprise resource planning systems; coordinating sales, distribution and marketing efforts; and coordinating the combined organization across dispersed geographic locations. In addition, at times, the attention of certain members of our management and resources may be focused on the integration of the businesses of the two companies and diverted from day-to-day business operations or other strategic planning, which may be detrimental to our ongoing business.
We may make additional acquisitions and investments in the future, which could put a strain on our resources, cause ownership dilution to our stockholders and adversely affect our financial results.
We may in the future make other acquisitions or investments, which may subject us to new or heightened risks. Integrating any newly acquired businesses, products or technologies into our company could put a strain on our resources, could be expensive and time consuming, could substantially reduce our cash reserves, could cause delays in product delivery
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and might not be successful. Future acquisitions and investments could divert management’s attention from other business concerns and expose our business to unforeseen liabilities or risks associated with entering new markets. In addition, we might lose key employees while integrating new organizations. We might not be successful in integrating any acquired businesses, products or technologies, and might not achieve anticipated revenues and cost benefits. Investments that we make may not result in a return consistent with our projections upon which such investments are made, or may require additional investment that we did not originally anticipate. In addition, future acquisitions could result in customer dissatisfaction, performance problems with an acquired company, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt and restrictive debt covenants, contingent liabilities, possible impairment charges related to goodwill or other intangible assets or other unanticipated events or circumstances. If any of these risks were to come about, our business, financial results and stock price could be materially and adversely affected.
If goodwill or other intangible assets that we recorded in connection with the Cascade Microtech and/or MicroProbe acquisition become impaired, we could be required to take significant charges against earnings.
In connection with the accounting for the Cascade Microtech and MicroProbe acquisitions, we have recorded a significant amount of goodwill and other intangible assets. Under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, we must assess, at least annually and potentially more frequently, whether the value of goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets have been impaired. Finite-lived intangible assets will be assessed for impairment in the event of an impairment indicator. Any reduction or impairment of the value of goodwill or other intangible assets will result in a charge against earnings, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and stockholders’ equity in future periods. Refer to note 10 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Goodwill and Intangible Assets for further details relating to our annual goodwill impairment assessment.
Risks Relating to Owning Our Stock
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal and disclosure controls and procedures, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud.
Effective internal and disclosure controls and procedures are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports, to prevent fraud and to operate successfully as a public company. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our business and reputation may be harmed. We regularly review and assess our internal controls over financial reporting and our disclosure controls and procedures. As part of that process, we may discover material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls. If we fail to maintain effective controls or timely effect any necessary improvement of our internal and disclosure controls, we may not have accurate information to make management decisions, our operating results could be harmed or we may fail to meet our reporting obligations. Ineffective internal and disclosure controls could also cause stockholders to lose confidence in our reported financial information and our ability to manage our business, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our securities.
The trading price of our common stock has been and is likely to continue to be volatile, and you might not be able to sell your shares at or above the price that you paid for them.
The trading prices of the securities of technology companies have been highly volatile, and from January 1, 2017, the first business day of our fiscal 2017, through March 13, 2017, our stock price (NASDAQ Global Market close price) has ranged from $10.65 a share to $12.70 a share. The trading price of our common stock is likely to continue to be subject to wide fluctuations. Factors affecting the trading price of our common stock could include:
• | variations in our operating results; |
• | our forecasts and financial guidance for future periods; |
• | announcements of technological innovations, new products or product enhancements, new product adoptions at semiconductor customers or significant agreements by us or by our competitors; |
• | reports regarding our ability to bring new products into volume production efficiently; |
• | the gain or loss of significant orders or customers; |
• | changes in the estimates of our operating results or changes in recommendations by any securities analysts that elect to follow our common stock; |
• | rulings on litigations and proceedings; |
• | seasonality, principally due to our customers' purchasing cycles; |
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• | market and competitive conditions in our industry, the entire semiconductor industry and the economy as a whole; |
• | recruitment or departure of key personnel; and |
• | announcements of mergers and acquisition transactions and the ability to successfully integrate the business activities of the acquired/merged company. |
In addition, if the market for technology stocks or the stock market in general experiences loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, operating results or financial condition. The trading price of our common stock also might decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry even if these events do not directly affect us.
Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws or Delaware law might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.
Delaware corporate law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous. These provisions:
• | establish a classified board of directors so that not all members of our board are elected at one time; |
• | provide that directors may only be removed “for cause” and only with the approval of 66.7% of our stockholders; |
• | require super-majority voting to amend some provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws; |
• | authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that our board could issue to increase the number of outstanding shares and to discourage a takeover attempt; |
• | limit the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders; |
• | prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders; |
• | provide that the board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws; and |
• | establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings. |
In addition, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company. In addition, each of our named executive officers and certain other officers of the company have entered into change of control severance agreements, which were approved by our Compensation Committee, which could increase the costs associated with a change of control and thus, potentially deter such a transaction.
Item 1B: Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
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Item 2: Properties
Our corporate headquarters, which includes sales, marketing, administration, manufacturing, engineering, and research and development facilities, is located in Livermore, California, United States. Our corporate headquarters comprises a campus of four buildings totaling approximately 169,000 square feet. We presently lease those four buildings. In addition, we lease office, repair and service, manufacturing and/or research and development space both inside and outside of the United States. The leases expire at various times through 2027. We believe that our existing and planned facilities are suitable for our current needs.
Information concerning our properties as of December 31, 2016 is set forth below:
Location | Principal Use | Square Footage | Ownership | ||||
Livermore, California, United States | Corporate headquarters, sales, marketing, administration, product design, manufacturing, service and repair, distribution, research and development | 168,636 | Leased | ||||
Beaverton, Oregon, United States | Sales, marketing, administration, product design, manufacturing, service and repair, distribution, research and development | 98,946 | Leased | ||||
Carlsbad, California, United States | Product design, administration, manufacturing, service and repair, distribution, research and development | 30,876 | Leased | ||||
San Jose, California, United States | Administration, product design, manufacturing, service and repair, distribution, research and development | 23,680 | Leased | ||||
St. Paul, Minnesota, United States | Marketing and design | 9,122 | Leased | ||||
Thiendorf, Germany | Sales, marketing, manufacturing, administration, service and repair, distribution, sales, research and development | 44,713 | Leased | ||||
Munich, Germany | Manufacturing, service and repair, distribution, sales, research and development | 10,656 | Leased | ||||
Singapore | Sales, administration, product design, service, and field service | 30,088 | Leased | ||||
Jubei City, Hsinchu, Taiwan | Sales office, administration, product design, field service and repair center | 20,430 | Leased | ||||
Bundang, South Korea | Sales office, administration, product design, field service, and repair center | 15,310 | Leased | ||||
Yokohama City, Japan | Sales office, administration, marketing, product design, research and development, field service, and repair center, manufacturing and distribution | 15,210 | Leased | ||||
Tokyo, Japan | Sales and service | 1,862 | Leased | ||||
Hiroshima, Japan | Repair center | 1,615 | Leased | ||||
Suzhou, China | Sales, marketing, administration, manufacturing, product design, service and repair, distribution, research and development | 15,177 | Leased | ||||
Shanghai, China | Sales and service | 1,865 | Leased | ||||
Item 3: Legal Proceedings
From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business. As of December 31, 2016 and as of the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we were not involved in any material legal proceedings other than the proceeding summarized below. In the future, we may become a party to additional legal proceedings that may require us to spend significant resources, including proceedings designed to protect our intellectual property rights. Litigation can be expensive and disruptive to normal business operations. Moreover, the results of legal proceedings are difficult to predict, and the costs incurred in litigation can be substantial, regardless of outcome.
On April 8, 2016, an individual plaintiff filed a putative class action lawsuit on behalf of Cascade Microtech’s shareholders against Cascade Microtech, its directors, FormFactor and Cascade Merger Sub, in connection with the acquisition
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of Cascade Microtech by the Company. The lawsuit, captioned Solak v. Cascade Microtech, Inc., et al., No. 16CV11809, was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court in the State of Oregon.
The Solak lawsuit alleges that the individual members of Cascade Microtech’s board of directors breached their fiduciary duties owed to Cascade Microtech’s shareholders by approving the proposed merger for inadequate consideration; approving the merger to obtain unique benefits not shared equally with Cascade Microtech’s other shareholders; failing to take steps to maximize the value paid to Cascade Microtech shareholders; failing to take steps to ensure a fair process leading up to the proposed merger; and agreeing to preclusive deal protection devices in the merger agreement. The lawsuit also alleges claims against FormFactor and one of its subsidiaries for aiding and abetting the alleged breaches of fiduciary duties by the individual members of Cascade Microtech’s board of directors.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed by the parties and filed with the court in the Solak case, Cascade Microtech and the Company agreed with the plaintiff’s counsel to supplement the disclosures made in connection with the merger. The supplemental disclosures were made on June 14, 2016. The court in the Solak lawsuit has granted preliminary approval of a stipulated settlement, including an award of the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and expenses. The final resolution of the proceedings under the stipulation of settlement is subject to customary conditions, including final court approval of the class settlement following notice to Cascade Microtech’s former shareholders within the proposed class.
There can be no assurance that the court will approve the final settlement. In such event, the proposed settlement may be terminated.
In August 2013, a former employee filed a class action lawsuit against the Company in the Superior Court of California, alleging violations of California’s wage and hour laws and other claims on behalf of himself and all other similarly situated current and former employees at the Company’s Livermore facilities from August 21, 2009, to the present. On January 4, 2016, the court certified the plaintiff class. The parties have signed a stipulation dated March 3, 2017, regarding the settlement of the class action under which the parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit, subject court approvals and other conditions. The stipulation provides for payment by the Company of $1.5 million in settlement of the lawsuit.
Item 4: Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5: Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Price Range of Common Stock
Our common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "FORM". The following table sets forth the range of high and low closing sales prices per share as reported on the Nasdaq Global Market for the periods indicated.
Fiscal 2016 | High | Low | |||||
First Quarter | $ | 9.33 | $ | 6.34 | |||
Second Quarter | 9.09 | 6.51 | |||||
Third Quarter | 10.86 | 8.72 | |||||
Fourth Quarter | $ | 11.95 | $ | 8.65 | |||
Fiscal 2015 | High | Low | |||||
First Quarter | $ | 10.26 | $ | 7.55 | |||
Second Quarter | 9.51 | 7.97 | |||||
Third Quarter | 9.20 | 5.93 | |||||
Fourth Quarter | $ | 9.13 | $ | 6.49 | |||
The closing sales price of our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market was $10.95 per share on March 13, 2017. As of March 13, 2017, there were 205 registered holders of record of our common stock.
Repurchase of Common Stock
On April 16, 2015, our Board of Directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $25.0 million of outstanding common stock which expired on April 15, 2016. During fiscal 2016, we did not repurchase any shares under this program.
In February 2017, our Board of Directors authorized a new program to repurchase up to $25 million of outstanding common stock to offset potential dilution from sales of common stock under our employee stock purchase plan and exercises of stock options. The share repurchase program will expire on February 1, 2020.
Dividend Policy
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock and we do not currently anticipate declaring or paying cash dividends on our common stock.
Stock Price Performance Graph
The following graph shows the total stockholder return of an investment of $100 in cash on December 31, 2011 through December 31, 2016, for (1) our common stock, (2) the S&P 500 Index and (3) the RDG Semiconductor Composite Index. All values assume reinvestment of the full amount of all dividends. No cash dividends have been declared on shares of our common stock. Stockholder returns over the indicated period are based on historical data and are not necessarily indicative of future stockholder returns.
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COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*
Among FormFactor, Inc., the S&P 500 Index, and the RDG Semiconductor Composite Index
*$100 invested on 12/31/11 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends.
Fiscal year ended December 31.
Cumulative Total Return | |||||||||||||||||||||||
December 31, 2011 | December 31, 2012 | December 31, 2013 | December 31, 2014 | December 31, 2015 | December 31, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||
FormFactor, Inc. | $ | 100.00 | $ | 90.12 | $ | 118.77 | $ | 169.96 | $ | 177.87 | $ | 221.34 | |||||||||||
S&P 500 | 100.00 | 116.00 | 153.58 | 174.60 | 177.01 | 198.18 | |||||||||||||||||
RDG Semiconductor Composite | 100.00 | 101.55 | 137.33 | 170.90 | 153.05 | 206.30 | |||||||||||||||||
Item 6: Selected Financial Data
The following selected consolidated financial data is derived from our consolidated financial statements. This data should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, and "Item 7: Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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Fiscal 2016 (1)(2)(7)(8) | Fiscal 2015 (3) | Fiscal 2014 (1)(2) | Fiscal 2013 (1)(2)(4) | Fiscal 2012 (1)(2)(5)(6) | |||||||||||||||
(in thousands, except per share data) | |||||||||||||||||||
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data: | |||||||||||||||||||
Revenues | $ | 383,881 | $ | 282,358 | $ | 268,530 | $ | 231,533 | $ | 178,535 | |||||||||
Gross profit | 102,682 | 85,738 | 77,439 | 42,284 | 25,331 | ||||||||||||||
Net loss | (6,557 | ) | (1,523 | ) | (19,185 | ) | (57,683 | ) | (35,546 | ) | |||||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per share | $ | (0.10 | ) | $ | (0.03 | ) | $ | (0.34 | ) | $ | (1.06 | ) | $ | (0.7 | ) | ||||
Consolidated Balance Sheets Data: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities | $ | 108,905 | $ | 187,589 | $ | 163,837 | $ | 151,091 | $ | 165,788 | |||||||||
Working capital | 172,002 | 214,437 | 196,412 | 173,881 | 194,125 | ||||||||||||||
Total assets | 618,982 | 342,723 | 344,243 | 340,708 | 395,682 | ||||||||||||||
Term loan, net of current portion | 125,475 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
Capital leases, net of current portion | — | — | — | — | 340 | ||||||||||||||
Total stockholders' equity | $ | 401,056 | $ | 294,681 | $ | 289,436 | $ | 294,086 | $ | 339,258 | |||||||||
Number of employees | 1,571 | 958 | 907 | 961 | 1,021 | ||||||||||||||
(1) | Fiscal 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 net losses include restructuring charges, net of $7.3 million, $0.6 million, $2.7 million, $4.7 million and $2.9 million, respectively, relating to our global restructuring and reorganization actions. See Note 6—Restructuring Charges of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. |
(2) | Fiscal 2016, 2014, 2013 and 2012 net losses include impairment charges of $12.4 million, $1.2 million, $0.8 million and $0.4 million, respectively. See Note 7—Impairment of Long-lived Assets of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. |
(3) | Fiscal 2015 includes the following: a) a $1.5 million gain from a business interruption insurance claim relating to a factory fire at a customer. See Note-18, Business Interruption Insurance Claim Recovery of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, and b) a $1.0 million net gain from the sale of intellectual property. |
(4) | Fiscal 2013 net loss includes $0.3 million attributable to loss on sale of a subsidiary. |
(5) | Fiscal 2012 includes a $25.5 million tax benefit from the release of deferred tax asset valuation allowances due to deferred tax liabilities established on the acquired identifiable intangible assets from our acquisition of MicroProbe. |
(6) | Fiscal 2012 includes the following as a result of the MicroProbe acquisition: $19.8 million in revenue, $5.4 million in the amortization of intangibles expense, $2.6 million release of pre-existing backlog, $0.2 million charge for step-up depreciation on the fair value of fixed assets, resulting in a $6.4 million net loss. As part of the MicroProbe Acquisition, a patent lawsuit was settled with a benefit of $3.3 million. |
(7) | Fiscal 2016 includes a $44.0 million tax benefit from the release of deferred tax asset valuation allowances due to deferred tax liabilities established on the acquired identifiable intangible assets from our acquisition of Cascade Microtech. See Note 14—Income Taxes of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. |
(8) | Fiscal 2016 includes the following as a result of the Cascade Microtech acquisition: $82.6 million in revenue, $27.8 million in the amortization of intangibles expense and $7.6 million charge for inventory-related step-up amortization, resulting in a $36.4 million loss. |
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Item 7: Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as described under the "Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" that appears earlier in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those discussed under "Item 1A: Risk Factors" and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
On June 24, 2016, we acquired Cascade Microtech, Inc., a leading provider of advanced wafer probing, thermal and reliability solutions. Our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2016 included the consolidated balance sheet of Cascade Microtech as of December 31, 2016 whereas our consolidated statements of operations for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 included the financial results of Cascade Microtech only for the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2016. We excluded the financial results of Cascade Microtech for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 as the one-day stub period between the acquisition of Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016 and the end of our second quarter of fiscal 2016 on June 25, 2016 was immaterial. See Note 4 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Acquisition, for further details.
Therefore, our consolidated financial results for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 may not be directly comparable to our consolidated financial results for the twelve months ended December 26, 2015 due to the exclusion of Cascade Microtech’s pre-acquisition financial results for fiscal 2015 and half (first and second quarter) of fiscal 2016.
To finance a portion of the Cascade Microtech acquisition consideration, we entered into a senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate amount of $150 million. We also entered into an interest-rate swap agreement to hedge the interest payments on our term loan. See Note 5 to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Debt, for further details. Also, see Contractual Obligations and Commitments in this section of the Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for further details of our contractual commitments as of December 31, 2016.
During fiscal 2016, revenues increased by $101.5 million or 36% to $383.9 million from $282.4 million in 2015. Our net loss increased by $5.0 million or 331% to $6.6 million from $1.5 million in 2015. The net loss for fiscal 2016 included acquisition-related amortization charges of $45.5 million, restructuring and impairment charges of $19.7 million including the write-off of our intangible in-process research and development asset of $12.4 million and acquisition and integration costs related to our acquisition activities of $7.5 million. This was partially offset by the release the of valuation allowance on a portion of our deferred tax assets as a result of the acquisition of Cascade Microtech resulting in an income tax benefit of approximately $44.0 million, as well as additional post-acquisition revenues and associated net income generated from Cascade Microtech's operations during fiscal 2016. The net loss for fiscal 2015 included restructuring charges of $0.6 million, gain from a business interruption insurance claim of $1.5 million and a net gain from sale of intellectual property of $1.0 million.
Our cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash totaled $110.1 million as of December 31, 2016, as compared to $188.0 million at December 26, 2015. The decrease was primarily due to the cash consideration paid for the acquisition of Cascade Microtech of $228 million (net of cash acquired) partially offset by the $150 million term loan used to fund the acquisition. We believe we will meet our working capital requirements for at least the next twelve months with the liquidity provided by our existing cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities. If we are unsuccessful in maintaining or growing our revenues, or maintaining or reducing our cost structure in an industry downturn, or increasing our available cash through financing, our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities could decline in future periods.
Summary of Segments and Products
Subsequent to the acquisition of Cascade Microtech, we determined that we now operate in two reportable segments consisting of Probe Cards Segment and Systems Segment.
Probe Cards Segment
Our Probe Cards Segment consists of probe card products and analytical probes. Probe cards are used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to perform wafer test, which is the testing of the semiconductor die, or chips, while those die are still constituted on the semiconductor wafer. Wafer test enables semiconductor manufacturers to determine
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whether chips will meet specifications and be saleable before the wafer is diced, and the die are singulated and individually packaged. Analytical probes are used in semiconductor engineering device characterization.
Our probe products are used to test a variety of semiconductor device types, including “system on a chip” products, mobile application processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphic processors, radio frequency, analog, mixed signal, image sensors, electro-optical, DRAM, NAND flash memory and NOR flash memory devices. In both engineering and production use, the analytical probes and probe cards serve as the critical electrical and mechanical interface between the chip(s) being tested and the test instrument that generates the electrical signal used to evaluate the device performance.
Systems Segment
Our Systems Segment consists of advanced wafer probing, thermal and reliability products to enable precision on-wafer measurement of integrated circuits. Our Systems products are often used in the early phases of the development and characterization of semiconductor processes where the accuracy and repeatability of measurements is critical to achieving yield from advanced process nodes or new device types such as magnetic memory or silicon photonic chips. Many of our Systems products are also used in production applications to test semiconductor devices prior to completion of the manufacturing process and include probe stations, thermal subsystems. and reliability test systems.
Use of Estimates and Fiscal Year
Preparation of our financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Fiscal Year. We operate on a 52/53 week fiscal year, whereby the fiscal year ends on the last Saturday of December. The fiscal years ended December 31, 2016, December 26, 2015 and December 27, 2014 included 53 weeks (with an extra week falling in the fourth quarter), 52 weeks and 52 weeks, respectively.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of net revenue and expenses in the reporting period. Our accounting policies are fundamental to understanding our financial condition and results of operations reported in our financial statements and related disclosures. We have identified the following accounting policies as being critical because they require our management to make particularly difficult, subjective and/or complex judgments about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis and we base these estimates and assumptions on current facts, historical experiences and various other factors and assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ materially and adversely from our estimates. Our management has discussed the development, selection, application and disclosure of these critical accounting policies with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors.
Revenue Recognition: We recognize revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, title and risk of loss has transferred to the customer, the selling price is fixed or determinable and collection of the related receivable is reasonably assured. In instances where final acceptance of the deliverable is specified by the customer, revenue is deferred until all acceptance criteria have been met. Revenues from the licensing of our design and manufacturing technology, which have not been material to date, are recognized over the term of the license agreement or when the significant contractual obligations have been fulfilled.
Our transactions may involve the sale of systems and services under multiple element arrangements. Revenue under multiple element arrangements is allocated based on the fair value of each element. A typical multiple element arrangement may include some or all of the following components: products, accessories, installation services and extended warranty contracts. The total sales price is allocated based on the relative fair value of each component. Historically, most of our products are delivered complete and the impact of the relative fair value by component has not been significant. We record deferred revenue for service contracts, extended warranties and customer deposits. Deferred revenue related to service contracts
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and extended warranties is recognized over the life of the contract based on the stated contractual price, typically one to two years.
We account for tax assessed by a governmental authority that is directly imposed on a revenue-producing transaction (i.e., sales, use, value added) on a net (excluded from revenue) basis.
Goodwill: Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. For fiscal 2015, we determined that our reporting unit, for purposes of our goodwill impairment analysis, was comprised of one entity-wide reporting unit associated with the design, development, manufacture, sale and support of precision, high performance advanced semiconductor wafer probe card products and solutions. Upon the acquisition of Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016, we determined that we now operate in two reportable segments consisting of the Probe Cards Segment and Systems Segment, and three operating segments consisting of FormFactor Probes, Cascade Microtech Probes and Systems. We further determined that for purposes of our goodwill impairment analysis, we now have four reporting units consisting of FormFactor Probes, Cascade Microtech Probes, Systems, and ATT.
We first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform a two-step quantitative goodwill impairment test. If an entity determines as a result of the qualitative assessment that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, then the quantitative impairment test is required. Otherwise, no further testing is required.
The performance of the quantitative impairment test involves a two-step process. The first step of the impairment test involves comparing the fair value of the applicable reporting unit with its aggregate carrying value, including goodwill. We generally determine the fair value of our reporting unit using a combination of the income approach (that includes the use of the discounted cash flow method) and the market approach (guideline company approach) valuation methodologies. If the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds the fair value of that reporting unit, we perform the second step of the quantitative impairment test to determine the amount of impairment loss. The second step of the goodwill impairment test involves comparing the implied fair value of the affected reporting unit's goodwill with the carrying value of that goodwill.
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, we performed our annual goodwill impairment test by assessing qualitative factors and we concluded that our goodwill was not impaired as of December 31, 2016. Our qualitative review included, among other factors, an assessment of our market capitalization which was significantly higher than our book value. The evaluation of goodwill for impairment requires the exercise of significant judgment. In the event of future changes in business conditions, we will be required to reassess and update our forecasts and estimates used in future impairment analyses. If the results of these analyses are lower than current estimates, a material impairment charge may result at that time. Refer to note 10 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Goodwill and Intangible Assets for further details.
When we acquire businesses, we allocate the purchase price to the tangible assets, liabilities and identifiable intangible assets acquired. Any residual purchase price is recorded as goodwill. The allocation of the purchase price requires management to make significant estimates in determining the fair value of acquired assets and assumed liabilities, especially with respect to intangible assets. These estimates are based on information obtained from management of the acquired companies, market participant data and historical experience. These estimates can include, but are not limited to: the time and expenses that would be necessary to recreate the asset; the profit margin a market participant would receive; cash flows that an asset is expected to generate in the future; and discount rates.
These estimates are inherently uncertain and unpredictable. A change in these estimates could impact our allocation of purchase price to the acquired assets and assumed liabilities. During the measurement period, which is not to exceed one year from the acquisition date, we may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill based on updated estimate information or facts and circumstances existing as of the acquisition date. Following the earlier of 1) receipt of all necessary information to determine the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, or 2) one year from the acquisition date, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to earnings.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets: We test long-lived assets or asset groups such as property, plant and equipment and intangibles for recoverability when events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying amounts may not be recoverable. Circumstances that could trigger a review include, but are not limited to: significant decreases in the market price of the asset; significant adverse changes in the business climate or legal factors; accumulation of costs significantly in excess of the amount originally expected for the acquisition or construction of the asset; current period cash flow or operating losses combined with a history of losses or a forecast of continuing losses associated with the use of the asset; and current expectation that the asset will more likely than not be sold or disposed of significantly before the end of its estimated useful life.
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Recoverability is assessed based on the carrying amounts of the asset or asset group and the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use and the eventual disposal of the asset. An impairment loss is recognized when the carrying amount is not recoverable and exceeds fair value.
Significant judgments and assumptions are required in the forecast of future operating results used in the preparation of the estimated future cash flows, including profit margins, long-term forecasts of the amounts and timing of overall market growth and our percentage of that market, groupings of assets, discount rates and terminal growth rates. In addition, significant estimates and assumptions are required in the determination of the fair value of our intangible assets and tangible long-lived assets, including replacement cost, economic obsolescence, and the value that could be realized in an orderly liquidation. Changes in these estimates could have a material adverse effect on the assessment of our long-lived assets, thereby requiring us to write down the assets.
Restructuring Charges: Restructuring charges include costs related to employee termination benefits, long-lived assets impaired or abandoned, and contract termination costs. The determination of when we accrue for employee termination benefits depends on whether the termination benefits are provided under a one-time benefit arrangement or under an on-going benefit arrangement. For restructuring charges recorded as an on-going benefit arrangement, a liability for post-employment benefits is recorded when payment is probable, the amount is reasonably estimable, and the obligation relates to rights that have vested or accumulated. For restructuring charges recorded as a one-time benefit arrangement, we recognize a liability for employee termination benefits when a plan of termination, approved by management and establishing the terms of the benefit arrangement, has been communicated to employees. The timing of the recognition of one-time employee termination benefits is dependent upon the period of time the employees are required to render service after communication. If employees are not required to render service in order to receive the termination benefits or if employees will not be retained to render service beyond the minimum legal notification period, a liability for the termination benefits is recognized at the communication date. In instances where employees will be retained to render service beyond the minimum legal notification period, the liability for employee termination benefits is measured initially at the communication date based on the fair value of the liability as of the termination date and is recognized ratably over the future service period. We continually evaluate the adequacy of the remaining liabilities under our restructuring initiatives.
We record charges related to long-lived assets to be abandoned when the assets cease to be used. When we cease using a building or other asset with remaining non-cancelable lease payments continuing beyond our use period, we record a liability for remaining payments under lease arrangements, as well as for contract termination costs, that will continue to be incurred under a contract for its remaining term without economic benefit to us at the cease-use date. Given the significance of, and the timing of the execution of such activities, this process is complex and involves periodic reassessments of estimates made at the time the original decisions were made, including evaluating real estate market conditions for expected vacancy periods and sub-lease rents. Although we believe that these estimates accurately reflect the costs of our restructuring plans, actual results may differ, thereby requiring us to record additional provisions or reverse a portion of such provisions.
Inventory Valuation: We state our inventories at the lower of cost (principally standard cost which approximates actual cost on a first in, first out basis) or market value. We continually assess the value of our inventory and will periodically write down its value for estimated excess inventory and product obsolescence based upon assumptions about forecasted future sales, past usage, and market conditions. On a quarterly basis, we review inventory quantities on hand and on order under non-cancelable purchase commitments in comparison to our past usage and estimated forecast of product demand for the next six to twelve months to determine what inventory quantities, if any, may not be sellable. Based on this analysis, we write down the affected inventory value for estimated excess and obsolescence charges. At the point of loss recognition, a new, lower cost basis for that inventory is established, and subsequent changes in facts and circumstances do not result in the restoration or increase in that newly established cost basis. Market conditions are subject to change, and demand for our products can fluctuate significantly. Actual consumption of inventories could differ from forecasted demand and this difference could have a material impact on our gross profit and inventory balances based on additional provisions for excess or obsolete inventories or a benefit from the sale of inventories previously written down.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our operating results as a percentage of revenues:
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
Revenues | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||
Cost of revenues | 73.3 | 69.6 | 71.2 | |||||
Gross profit | 26.7 | 30.4 | 28.8 | |||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||
Research and development | 15.0 | 15.6 | 15.9 | |||||
Selling, general and administrative | 19.1 | 16.0 | 19.0 | |||||
Restructuring and impairment charges, net | 5.1 | 0.2 | 1.5 | |||||
Total operating expenses | 39.2 | 31.8 | 36.4 | |||||
Operating loss | (12.5 | ) | (1.4 | ) | (7.6 | ) | ||
Interest income, net | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |||||
Other income (expense), net | (0.7 | ) | 0.9 | 0.1 | ||||
Loss before income taxes | (13.1 | ) | (0.4 | ) | (7.4 | ) | ||
Provision (benefit) from income taxes | (11.4 | ) | 0.1 | (0.3 | ) | |||
Net loss | (1.7 | )% | (0.5 | )% | (7.1 | )% | ||
Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2016 and December 26, 2015
Revenues by Segment
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | ||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||
Probe Cards | $ | 337,970 | $ | 282,358 | |||
Systems | 45,911 | — | |||||
Total | $ | 383,881 | $ | 282,358 | |||
The increase in Probe Cards Segment and Systems Segment revenues for fiscal 2016 was primarily due to additional revenues generated during the second half of fiscal 2016 from sale of probe cards (approximately $36.7 million) and probe stations, services and thermal sub-systems (approximately $45.9 million) products as a result of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016, and strong demand for our Foundry & Logic products. Prior to the acquisition of Cascade Microtech, we only operated in the Probe Cards Segment and did not generate any Systems Segment revenue. Further, fiscal year 2016 consisted of 53 weeks compared to 52 weeks in fiscal year 2015.
Revenues by Market
Our product revenues by market was as follows for the periods indicated:
Fiscal | % of | Fiscal | % of | Change | ||||||||||||||||
2016 | Revenues | 2015 | Revenues | $ | % | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Probe Cards Markets: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Foundry & Logic | $ | 237,591 | 61.9 | % | $ | 145,839 | 51.7 | % | $ | 91,752 | 62.9 | % | ||||||||
DRAM | 86,910 | 22.6 | 125,512 | 44.4 | (38,602 | ) | (30.8 | ) | ||||||||||||
Flash | 13,469 | 3.5 | 11,007 | 3.9 | 2,462 | 22.4 | ||||||||||||||
Systems Market: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Systems | 45,911 | 12.0 | — | — | 45,911 | 100.0 | ||||||||||||||
Total revenues | $ | 383,881 | 100.0 | % | $ | 282,358 | 100.0 | % | $ | 101,523 | 36.0 | % | ||||||||
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During fiscal 2016, our Foundry & Logic products experienced strong demand across all our applications including radio-frequency, mobile, industrial and automotive and microprocessors, where our significant microprocessor customer doubled its demand compared to fiscal 2015. In addition, the overall increase in Foundry & Logic revenues in Fiscal 2016 was also due to additional revenues generated during the second half of fiscal 2016 as a result of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech. All of Cascade Microtech's probe card revenues are included in our Foundry and Logic revenues.
The decrease in our DRAM revenues in fiscal 2016 was due to lower probe card demand driven by a volatile DRAM market as DRAM manufacturers continued their technology node transitions. The overall increase in Flash memory revenues was due to several 3-D NAND design wins on our Vector and TouchMatrix product architectures.
The increase in Systems Segment revenues in fiscal 2016 was due to the acquisition of Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016. Prior to the acquisition, we only operated in the Probe Cards Segment and did not generate any Systems Segment revenue.
Revenues by Geographic Region
The following table sets forth our revenues by geographic region for the periods indicated:
Fiscal 2016 | % of Revenues | Fiscal 2015 | % of Revenues | ||||||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||||||||
United States | $ | 127,641 | 33.3 | % | $ | 66,051 | 23.4 | % | |||||
South Korea | 65,508 | 17.1 | 71,120 | 25.2 | |||||||||
Taiwan | 57,331 | 14.9 | 61,711 | 21.9 | |||||||||
Europe | 49,445 | 12.9 | 25,542 | 9.0 | |||||||||
Asia-Pacific (1) | 43,659 | 11.4 | 31,389 | 11.1 | |||||||||
Japan | 38,650 | 10.0 | 26,418 | 9.4 | |||||||||
Rest of the world | 1,647 | 0.4 | 127 | — | |||||||||
Total Revenues | $ | 383,881 | 100.0 | % | $ | 282,358 | 100.0 | % | |||||
(1) | Asia-Pacific includes all countries in the region except Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, which are disclosed separately. |
Geographic revenue information is based on the location to which we ship the product. For example, if a certain South Korean customer purchases through their North American subsidiary and requests the products to be shipped to an address in South Korea, this sale will be reflected in the revenue for South Korea rather than North America.
The overall increase in geographical revenues across the regions except for South Korea and Taiwan was primarily attributable to additional revenues generated in the second half of fiscal 2016 as a result of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech. In addition, North America revenues benefitted from the increased demand from our significant microprocessor customer. South Korea and Taiwan revenues decreased primarily due to the reduced demand for our DRAM products.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Margins
Cost of revenues consists primarily of manufacturing materials, payroll, shipping and handling costs, manufacturing-related overhead and amortization of certain intangible assets. Our manufacturing operations rely on a limited number of suppliers to provide key components and materials for our products, some of which are a sole source. We order materials and supplies based on backlog and forecasted customer orders. Tooling and setup costs related to changing manufacturing lots at our suppliers are also included in the cost of revenues. We expense all warranty costs, inventory provisions and amortization of certain intangible assets as cost of revenues. Cost of revenues was affected primarily by our Cascade Microtech acquisition and additional factors as discussed below.
Corporate and other includes unallocated expenses relating to amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, acquisition-related costs, including charges related to inventory stepped up to fair value, and other costs, which are not used in evaluating the results of, or in allocating resources to, our reportable segments. Acquisition-related costs include transaction costs and any costs directly related to the acquisition and integration of acquired businesses.
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Our gross profit and gross margin by segment for fiscal 2016 and 2015 is as below (in thousands, except percentages):
Fiscal 2016 | |||||||||||||||
Probe Cards | Systems | Corporate and Other | Total | ||||||||||||
Gross profit | $ | 121,407 | $ | 23,925 | $ | (42,650 | ) | $ | 102,682 | ||||||
Gross margin | 35.9 | % | 52.1 | % | — | % | 26.7 | % | |||||||
Fiscal 2015 | |||||||||||||||
Probe Cards | Systems | Corporate and Other | Total | ||||||||||||
Gross profit | $ | 99,199 | $ | — | $ | (13,461 | ) | $ | 85,738 | ||||||
Gross margin | 35.1 | % | — | % | — | % | 30.4 | % | |||||||
Probe Cards
For fiscal 2016, gross profit and gross margin in the Probe Cards Segment increased due to the inclusion of the Cascade Microtech acquisition for its product sales, and improvements in overall gross margin were driven by a more favorable product mix and improved manufacturing efficiency in our Foundry & Logic factories. These benefits to gross profit and gross margin were partially offset by investments made in additional production capacity in our San Jose factory, late delivery fees on probe cards that missed our customer's required delivery date in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 and lower DRAM factory utilization in the first half of fiscal 2016.
Systems
Fiscal 2016 was the first year we recorded gross profit and gross margin in the Systems Segment as a result of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016. Prior to the acquisition, we operated in the Probe Cards Segment only.
Overall
The overall gross profit and gross margin for fiscal 2016 and 2015 is as below:
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Gross profit | $ | 102,682 | $ | 85,738 | |||
Gross margin | 26.7 | % | 30.4 | % | |||
Gross profit and margin fluctuates with revenue levels, product mix, selling prices, factory loading and material costs. For fiscal 2016, gross margins decreased when compared to the corresponding period in the prior year primarily due to the impact of lower factory utilization in certain of our factories and inclusion of the intangible asset amortization expenses from our Cascade Microtech acquisition. In addition, we made investments in additional production capacity in our San Jose factory in the first half of fiscal 2016 to support a sales increase of our Foundry & Logic probe cards to our most significant microprocessor customer. We also incurred late delivery fees on probe cards that missed our customer's required delivery date in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. This impact was partially offset by strong sales and gross margin in the second half of fiscal 2016 resulting from our acquisition of Cascade Microtech.
Stock-based compensation expense included in gross margin for fiscal 2016 and 2015 was $2.5 million and $2.7 million, respectively.
Future gross margins may be adversely impacted by lower levels of revenues and lower factory utilization even though we have taken significant steps to reduce our operating cost structure. Our gross margins may also be adversely affected if we are required to record additional inventory provision charges and inventory write-downs if estimated average selling prices of products held in finished goods and work in process inventories are below the manufacturing cost of those products.
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Research and Development
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Research and development | $ | 57,453 | $ | 44,184 | |||
% of revenues | 15.0 | % | 15.6 | % | |||
The increase in research and development expenses for fiscal 2016 when compared to fiscal 2015 was primarily due to our Cascade Microtech acquisition. Including the impact of the acquisition, we experienced an increase of $8.3 million in employee compensation costs, $3.1 million in project material and services costs and $1.6 million in general operating expenses. Stock-based compensation expense included within research and development expenses was $3.3 million and $3.5 million, respectively, for fiscal 2016 and 2015.
Selling, General and Administrative
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Selling, general and administrative | $ | 73,444 | $ | 45,090 | |||
% of revenues | 19.1 | % | 16.0 | % | |||
The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2016 when compared to fiscal 2015 was primarily due to our Cascade Microtech acquisition. Including the impact of the acquisition, we experienced an increase of $12.4 million in employee compensation costs, $7.3 million in acquisition and integration costs, $2.7 million in depreciation and amortization charges, $2.1 million in general operating costs, $2.0 million in travel related costs and $1.8 million in consulting fees. Stock-based compensation expense included within selling, general and administrative expenses was $4.9 million and $5.4 million, respectively for fiscal 2016 and 2015.
Restructuring and Impairment Charges, net
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Restructuring and impairment charges, net | $ | 19,692 | $ | 567 | |||
% of revenues | 5.1 | % | 0.2 | % | |||
Restructuring and impairment charges, net increased $19.1 million in fiscal 2016 from fiscal 2015.
Restructuring Charges
The restructuring plans we implemented in fiscal 2016 and 2015 are discussed below.
2016 Restructuring Activities
During fiscal 2016, we recorded;
• approximately $0.8 million of severance charges and $0.3 million of stock-based compensation expense relating to the modification of certain equity-based awards as a result of the consolidation of our operations;
• approximately $5.4 million of severance charges and $0.7 million of stock-based compensation expense relating to the acceleration of certain equity-based awards of certain executives of Cascade Microtech who were terminated upon our acquisition of Cascade Microtech and in accordance with their contractual change of control agreements; and
• approximately $0.1 million of cease use charges relating to abandoned facilities no longer to be used in our operations.
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The cash payments associated with the restructuring activities are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2017.
2015 Restructuring Activities
During fiscal 2015, we recorded restructuring charges of approximately $0.6 million which included stock-based compensation expense of approximately $0.5 million relating to the modification of an equity-based award.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
We test long-lived assets or asset groups for recoverability when events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying amounts may not be recoverable. In fiscal 2016, we recorded an impairment charge of $12.4 million relating to an in-process research and development intangible asset acquired as part of our acquisition of Cascade Microtech. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 and subsequent to the Cascade Microtech acquisition, we were informed by a customer that they had abandoned their project for which this intangible asset was being developed for, and therefore we fully impaired this intangible asset as it had no alternative future use to us. Long-lived asset impairment charges recorded in fiscal 2015 were insignificant.
Interest Income and Other Income (Expense), Net
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Interest income, net | $ | 327 | $ | 285 | |||
% of revenues | 0.1 | % | 0.1 | % | |||
Other income (expense), net | $ | (2,615 | ) | $ | 2,547 | ||
% of revenues | (0.7 | )% | 0.9 | % | |||
Interest income is primarily earned on our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. The increase in interest income for fiscal 2016 as compared to fiscal 2015 was primarily the result of higher yields on our cash balances. The weighted-average yield on our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities for fiscal 2016 and 2015 was 0.31% and 0.12%, respectively. Cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities were $110.1 million at December 31, 2016 compared to $188.0 million at December 26, 2015.
Other income (expense), net is comprised primarily of interest expense on our Term Loan and interest-rate swap derivative contracts, term loan issuance costs amortization charges, foreign currency impact and various other gains and losses. The decrease in other income (expense), net for fiscal 2016 as compared to fiscal 2015 was primarily due to approximately $2.4 million of charges related to interest payments on our term loan and interest-rate swap derivative contracts and term loan issuance cost amortization charges, which was partially offset by the receipt of $0.4 million of proceeds from the sale of intellectual property.
During fiscal 2015, we received $1.5 million as a result of a payment from our insurer arising from a business interruption insurance claim related to a factory fire at a customer during the second half of fiscal 2013. In addition, we recognized a net gain of $1.0 million from the sale of intellectual property.
Provision (Benefit) From Income Taxes
Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Provision (benefit) from income taxes | $ | (43,638 | ) | $ | 252 | ||
Effective tax rate | 86.9 | % | (19.8 | )% | |||
We recorded an income tax benefit of $43.6 million and a provision of $0.3 million for fiscal 2016 and 2015, respectively. Income tax provisions reflect the tax on our operations in the US and foreign jurisdictions and the tax benefit from the lapsing of the statute of limitations in foreign jurisdictions.
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The income tax benefit for fiscal 2016 was primarily due to the release of valuation allowance on a portion of our deferred tax assets ("DTAs"). In connection with our acquisition of Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016, deferred tax liabilities ("DTLs") were established on the acquired identifiable intangible assets. These DTLs exceeded the acquired DTAs by approximately $44.0 million and created additional sources of income to realize a tax benefit for a portion of our DTAs. As such, authoritative guidance under United States GAAP requires the impact on the acquiring company's deferred tax assets and liabilities caused by an acquisition be recorded in the acquiring company's financial statements outside of acquisition accounting. Accordingly, the valuation allowance on a portion of our DTAs was released and resulted in a fiscal 2016 income tax benefit of approximately $43.6 million.
We recognize interest (benefit) charges and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as part of the income tax provision. We recognized interest (benefit) charges and penalties of $22 thousand, $50 thousand and $(0.1) million in fiscal 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. As of December 31, 2016 and December 26, 2015, we had accrued total interest charges and penalties of $0.2 million and $0.2 million, respectively, related to uncertain tax positions.
We anticipate that we will continue to record a valuation allowance against our U.S. deferred tax assets. We expect our future tax provisions, during the time such valuation allowances are recorded, will consist primarily of the tax provision of our profitable non-U.S. jurisdictions and state minimum tax. At December 31, 2016, we had Federal research and development tax credit, net operating loss, and foreign tax credit carryforwards of $22.5 million, $298.7 million and $2.2 million, respectively, which will expire at various dates from 2017 through 2036. We had alternative minimum tax credits of $2.4 million which do not expire. We had California and Oregon research credits of $29.9 million and $0.6 million, respectively. The California research credit can be carried forward indefinitely while Oregon research credits expire at various dates from 2017 through 2022. We had state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $271.7 million, which will expire at various dates from 2017 through 2036. We had Singapore net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $9.7 million, which can be carried forward indefinitely.
Our effective tax rate may vary from period to period based on changes in estimated taxable income or loss by jurisdiction, changes to the valuation allowance, changes to U.S. Federal, state or foreign tax laws, future expansion into areas with varying country, state, and local income tax rates, deductibility of certain costs and expenses by jurisdiction.
Fiscal Years Ended December 26, 2015 and December 27, 2014
Revenues
Fiscal | % of | Fiscal | % of | Change | ||||||||||||||||
2015 | Revenues | 2014 | Revenues | $ | % | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Revenues by Market: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Foundry and Logic | $ | 145,839 | 51.7 | % | $ | 142,360 | 53.0 | % | $ | 3,479 | 2.4 | % | ||||||||
DRAM | 125,512 | 44.4 | 110,800 | 41.3 | 14,712 | 13.3 | ||||||||||||||
Flash | 11,007 | 3.9 | 15,370 | 5.7 | (4,363 | ) | (28.4 | ) | ||||||||||||
Total revenues | $ | 282,358 | 100.0 | % | $ | 268,530 | 100.0 | % | $ | 13,828 | 5.1 | % | ||||||||
Overall, our revenues increased by 5.1%, or $13.8 million, in fiscal 2015 as compared to fiscal 2014. Our revenues increased 2.4% year-over-year in the Foundry and Logic market, increased 13.3% in DRAM and decreased 28.4% in Flash memory.
The increase in DRAM revenue was primarily driven by market share increases at a major South Korean memory producer, based on the adoption of our SmartMatrix product. The increase in Foundry and Logic revenue was primarily due to higher mobile processor demand and market share gains for our CMOS Image Sensor testing products at a European customer. The decrease in Flash memory revenue was primarily due to a weakening NOR Flash memory market, which was partially offset by increased demand for our TouchMatrix product to test NAND Flash devices at a South Korean memory producer.
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Revenues by Geographic Region
The following table sets forth our revenues by geographic region for the periods indicated:
Fiscal 2015 | % of Revenues | Fiscal 2014 | % of Revenues | ||||||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||||||||
South Korea | $ | 71,120 | 25.2 | % | $ | 52,677 | 19.6 | % | |||||
North America | 66,178 | 23.4 | 75,393 | 28.1 | |||||||||
Taiwan | 61,711 | 21.9 | 49,395 | 18.4 | |||||||||
Asia-Pacific (1) | 31,389 | 11.1 | 34,705 | 12.9 | |||||||||
Japan | 26,418 | 9.4 | 25,683 | 9.6 | |||||||||
Europe | 25,542 | 9.0 | 30,677 | 11.4 | |||||||||
Total Revenues | $ | 282,358 | 100.0 | % | $ | 268,530 | 100.0 | % | |||||
(1) | Asia-Pacific includes all countries in the region except Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, which are disclosed separately. |
Geographic revenue information is based on the location to which we ship the customer product. For example, if a certain South Korean customer purchases through their North American subsidiary and requests the products to be shipped to an address in Asia-Pacific, this sale will be reflected in the revenue for Asia-Pacific rather than North America.
The change in revenues from our geographical regions for fiscal 2015, when compared to fiscal 2014, were primarily driven by the following factors:
• | South Korea revenues increased driven primarily by a combination of market share increases at a major South Korean customer based on the adoption of our SmartMatrix product for DRAM applications and increased Foundry and Logic product shipments related to mobile processor demand; |
• | North America revenues decreased driven primarily by a shift of Foundry and Logic product shipments for personal computer processors to customers’ test facilities in Europe; |
• | Taiwan revenues increased driven primarily by a combination of increased Foundry and Logic product shipments and an increase in commodity or personal computer DRAM demand; |
• | Asia-Pacific revenues decreased driven primarily by reduced sales of our SmartMatrix DRAM products; |
• | Europe revenues decreased driven primarily due to reduced mobile processor related product demand, partially offset by a shift of Foundry and Logic product shipments for personal computer processors to customers’ test facilities in Europe; and |
• | Japan revenues were relatively flat year over year. |
Gross Profit
Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Gross profit | $ | 85,738 | $ | 77,439 | |||
Gross margin | 30.4 | % | 28.8 | % | |||
Gross margin fluctuates with revenue levels, product mix, selling prices, factory loading and material costs. For fiscal 2015, gross profit increased $8.3 million when compared to fiscal 2014, primarily due to higher production volume driven by higher sales. Factory utilization, execution and operating efficiency improved. We also increased production yields and reduced obsolete inventory charges and acquisition-related intangible amortization expense. This was offset by price reductions due to competition at several customers.
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Our net inventory provision charges declined by $0.6 million in fiscal 2015 compared to fiscal 2014 due to increased demand levels. The value of previously reserved materials that were used in manufacturing and shipped for fiscal 2015 and 2014 was $2.5 million and $2.4 million, respectively.
Gross margin included intangible asset amortization expense of $10.8 million and $15.8 million in fiscal 2015 and 2014, respectively, related to the MicroProbe Acquisition. Stock-based compensation expense included in gross margin for fiscal 2015 and 2014 was $2.7 million and $2.4 million, respectively.
Future gross margins may be adversely impacted by lower levels of product revenues, even though we have taken significant steps to reduce our operating cost structure. Our gross margins may also be adversely affected if we are required to record additional inventory write-downs if estimated average selling prices of products held in finished goods and work in process inventories are below the manufacturing cost of those products.
Research and Development
Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Research and development | $ | 44,184 | $ | 42,725 | |||
% of revenues | 15.6 | % | 15.9 | % | |||
Research and development expenses for fiscal 2015 increased $1.5 million, or 3%, compared to the prior year and was primarily due to an increase of $1.2 million in project and material costs, $0.4 million in incentive compensation and $0.3 million in personnel-related costs offset by a reduction of $0.4 million in overall general operating expenses. Stock-based compensation expense included within research and development expenses was $3.5 million and $3.5 million, respectively, for fiscal 2015 and 2014.
Our research and development expenses fluctuate as projects transition from development to manufacturing, depending on the stage of completion and level of effort related to each project undertaken. We are continuing our strategic investments in research and development, including investments in new spring technologies, substrate architectures and new process technologies. We remain committed to product development in new and emerging technologies.
Selling, General and Administrative
Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Selling, general and administrative | $ | 45,090 | $ | 51,385 | |||
% of revenues | 16.0 | % | 19.0 | % | |||
Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased $6.3 million, or 12%, in fiscal 2015 compared to the prior year and was primarily due to decreases of $2.1 million in personnel-related costs, $1.9 million in stock compensation expense, $1.2 million in legal expenses, $0.9 million in overall general operating expenses and $0.3 million in travel costs which was partially offset by an increase of $0.2 million in consulting costs to support strategic corporate initiatives. Stock-based compensation expense included within selling, general and administrative expenses was $5.4 million and $7.3 million, respectively for fiscal 2015 and 2014.
Restructuring and Impairment Charges, net
Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Restructuring and impairment charges, net | $ | 567 | $ | 3,887 | |||
% of revenues | 0.2 | % | 1.5 | % | |||
Restructuring charges decreased $2.1 million, or 79%, in fiscal 2015 from fiscal 2014. The restructuring plans we implemented in fiscal 2015 and 2014 are discussed below.
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2015 Restructuring Activities
During fiscal 2015, we recorded restructuring charges of approximately $0.6 million which included stock-based compensation expense of approximately $0.5 million relating to the modification of an equity-based award. All other restructuring charges recorded in fiscal 2015 were insignificant.
2014 Restructuring Activities
On January 27, 2014, we announced a global organizational restructuring and cost reduction plan. As part of the plan, we eliminated 52 full-time employees. In addition, we reduced our temporary workforce by 9 positions. We recorded $2.0 million of restructuring charges during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, which was comprised of $1.4 million in severance and related benefits and $0.6 million in impairment charges for certain equipment that would no longer be utilized. During the remainder of fiscal 2014, we further eliminated an additional 5 full-time positions and recorded $0.7 million in severance charges. The activities comprising these restructuring activities were substantially completed in fiscal 2014 and the remaining cash payments associated with these activities were paid in fiscal 2015.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
We test long-lived assets or asset groups for recoverability when events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying amounts may not be recoverable. In fiscal 2015, long-lived asset impairment charges recorded were insignificant. In fiscal 2014, we recorded impairment charges of $1.2 million related to manufacturing assets we no longer utilize.
Interest Income and Other Income (Expense), Net
Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Interest income, net | $ | 285 | $ | 302 | |||
% of revenues | 0.1 | % | 0.1 | % | |||
Other income (expense), net | $ | 2,547 | $ | 161 | |||
% of revenues | 0.9 | % | 0.1 | % | |||
Interest income is primarily earned on our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. The decrease in interest income for fiscal 2015 as compared to fiscal 2014 was primarily the result of lower yields. Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities were $188.0 million at December 26, 2015 compared to $164.3 million at December 27, 2014. The weighted-average yield on our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities for fiscal 2015 and 2014 was 0.12% and 0.16%, respectively.
The increase in other income (expense), net, in fiscal 2015 as compared to fiscal 2014 was primarily due to approximately $1.0 million net gain recognized from the sale of intellectual property to MarTek pursuant to a settlement agreement and approximately $1.5 million cash received as a result of a payment from our insurer arising from a business interruption insurance claim related to a factory fire at a customer during the second half of fiscal 2013.
Provision (Benefit) From Income Taxes
Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | ||||||
(In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||
Provision (benefit) from income taxes | $ | 252 | $ | (910 | ) | ||
Effective tax rate | (19.8 | )% | 4.5 | % | |||
We recorded an income tax provision of $0.3 million and a benefit of $0.9 million for fiscal 2015 and 2014, respectively. Income tax provisions reflect the tax on our operations in the US and foreign jurisdictions and the tax benefit from the lapsing of the statute of limitations in foreign jurisdictions.
We recognize interest (benefit) charges and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as part of the income tax provision. We recognized interest (benefit) charges and penalties of $50 thousand, $(0.1) million and $(0.2) million in fiscal
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2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively. As of December 26, 2015 and December 27, 2014, we had accrued total interest charges and penalties of $0.2 million and $0.1 million, respectively, related to uncertain tax positions.
We anticipate that we will continue to record a valuation allowance against our U.S. deferred tax assets. We expect our future tax provisions, during the time such valuation allowances are recorded, will consist primarily of the tax provision of our profitable non-U.S. jurisdictions and state minimum tax. At December 26, 2015, we had Federal research and development tax credit, net operating loss, and foreign tax credit carryforwards of $21.0 million, $298.7 million and $2.0 million, respectively, which will expire at various dates from 2016 through 2035. We had alternative minimum tax credits of $2.4 million which do not expire. We had California research credit and net operating loss carryforwards of $28.4 million and $270.7 million, respectively. The California research credit can be carried forward indefinitely while California net operating loss carryforwards will expire at various dates from 2016 through 2035. We had Japan and Singapore net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $0.3 million and $10.0 million, respectively.
Our effective tax rate may vary from period to period based on changes in estimated taxable income or loss by jurisdiction, changes to the valuation allowance, changes to U.S. Federal, state or foreign tax laws, future expansion into areas with varying country, state, and local income tax rates, deductibility of certain costs and expenses by jurisdiction.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Capital Resources: Our working capital was $172.0 million at December 31, 2016 and $214.4 million at December 26, 2015. The decrease in working capital in fiscal 2016 was primarily due to the acquisition of Cascade Microtech. We reduced cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities and increased our current liabilities for the current portion of term loan as part of the consideration paid for Cascade Microtech. See Note 4 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Acquisition, for further details.
Cash and cash equivalents consist of deposits held at banks, money market funds and U.S. government agency securities that at the time of purchase had maturities of 90 days or less. Marketable securities consist of U.S. government and agency securities. We typically invest in highly-rated securities with low probabilities of default. Our investment policy requires investments to be rated single-A or better, and limits the types of acceptable investments, issuer concentration and duration of the investment.
Our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $108.9 million at December 31, 2016 compared to $187.6 million at December 26, 2015. Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities included $27.6 million held by our foreign subsidiaries as of December 31, 2016. We believe that we will be able to satisfy our working capital requirements for at least the next twelve months with the liquidity provided by our existing cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities. If we are unsuccessful in maintaining or growing our revenues, or maintaining or reducing our cost structure in an industry down-turn, or increasing our available cash through financing, our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities may decline in fiscal 2017.
We utilize a variety of tax planning and financing strategies in an effort to manage our worldwide cash and deploy funds to locations where they are needed. As part of these strategies, we indefinitely reinvest a significant portion of our foreign earnings and our current plans do not demonstrate a need to repatriate these earnings. Should we require additional capital in the United States, we may elect to repatriate indefinitely reinvested foreign funds or raise capital in the United States. If we were to repatriate indefinitely reinvested foreign funds, we would be required to first reduce our U.S. tax net operating losses (“NOLs”) and we would be required to accrue and pay additional U.S. taxes less applicable foreign tax credits for any repatriation in excess of our US NOL’s.
Day Sales Outstanding: Days sales outstanding from receivables, or DSO, were 58 days at December 31, 2016 compared with 45 days at December 26, 2015. Our DSO calculation is determined using the count back method and is based on gross accounts receivable (including accounts receivable for amounts in deferred revenue). The increase in DSO in fiscal 2016 as compared to fiscal 2015 was primarily due to changes in customer mix and their payment terms.
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Fiscal 2016 | Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2014 | |||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||
Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 17,423 | $ | 36,122 | $ | 17,659 | |||||
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities | (206,318 | ) | 1,129 | 37,339 | |||||||
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities | $ | 143,614 | $ | (4,792 | ) | $ | 2,542 | ||||
On June 24, 2016, we completed the acquisition of Cascade Microtech. Our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2016 included the consolidated balance sheet of Cascade Microtech as of December 31, 2016 whereas our consolidated statements of operations for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 included the financial results of Cascade Microtech only for the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2016. We excluded the financial results of Cascade Microtech for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 as the one-day stub period between the acquisition of Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016 and the end of our second quarter of fiscal 2016 on June 25, 2016 was immaterial. See Note 4 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Acquisition, for further details.
Cash flows from operating activities: Net cash provided by operating activities for fiscal 2016 was primarily attributable to our operations generating $36.5 million (a net loss of $6.6 million which included $43.1 million of net non-cash expenses) offset by working capital using $19.1 million of cash. Net non-cash expenses included $46.8 million of depreciation and amortization, $12.4 million in impairment charges relating to the write-off of an in-process research and development intangible asset, $10.7 million of stock-based compensation, $10.0 million of acquisition-related inventory step-up amortization, $6.6 million of provision for excess and obsolete inventories, $1.0 million of restructuring activities and $0.4 million of loss on disposal and write-off of long-lived assets. These non-cash expenses were partially offset by $45.0 million of deferred income tax benefit as a result of the release of valuation allowance and $0.1 million gain on foreign currency transactions.
The net change in working capital for fiscal 2016 of $19.1 million resulted primarily from the acquisition of Cascade Microtech. The change was comprised of cash used of $11.7 million for inventory build, $6.8 million in accounts receivable from higher sales and slower collections, an increase of $3.3 million in prepaid expenses and other current assets, payments of $1.1 million in income taxes, a decrease of $0.3 million in deferred revenues due to recognition of previously deferred revenues for which the revenue recognition criteria have been met, and an increase of $0.2 million in other assets. The above use of cash was partially offset by an increase of $3.4 million in accounts payable driven by payment on vendor obligations and an increase of $0.8 million in accrued liabilities due to incentive compensation.
Net cash provided by operating activities for fiscal 2015 was primarily attributable to improved operating results from increased revenues and decreased costs, and lower working capital necessary to support the increased revenues. The company had a net loss of $1.5 million and non-cash expenses of $41.1 million, including $23.8 million of depreciation and amortization, $11.6 million of stock-based compensation, $6.5 million of provision for excess and obsolete inventories, $0.5 million of restructuring activities and which was partially offset by $1.0 million gain on disposal and write-off of long-lived assets and $0.3 million gain on foreign currency transactions.
The net change in operating assets and liabilities for fiscal 2015 resulted in a net use of cash of $3.4 million comprised of $8.2 million of cash used for inventory build, a $2.4 million decrease in deferred revenues due to recognition of previously deferred revenues for which the revenue recognition criteria have been met and a $2.0 million decrease in accounts payable driven by the timing of our payments on vendor obligations. The above use of cash was offset in part by an increase of $8.3 million in accounts receivable from strong collections, $0.8 million in income tax refunds and a $0.3 million decrease in other assets.
Cash flows from investing activities: Net cash used in investing activities for fiscal 2016 was primarily related to $228.0 million paid (net of cash acquired) as part of the consideration for the acquisition of Cascade Microtech, cash used in the acquisition of property and equipment of $11.5 million, purchases of marketable securities totaling $10.6 million and an increase in restricted of $0.8 million due to foreign subsidiary employee retirement obligations, which was partially offset by $44.5 million of proceeds from maturities of marketable securities. We carefully monitor our investments to minimize risks and have not experienced other than temporary investment losses.
Net cash provided by investing activities for fiscal 2015 was primarily related to $74.8 million of proceeds from maturities of marketable securities and $1.2 million of proceeds from sales of property, plant and equipment offset by purchases of marketable securities totaling $66.2 million and cash used in the acquisition of property and equipment of $8.6 million.
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Cash flows from financing activities: Net cash provided by financing activities for fiscal 2016 primarily related to $150.0 million of proceeds from Term Loan debt used to partially fund the acquisition of Cascade Microtech and $5.7 million from proceeds received from purchases under our 2012 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and stock option exercises, partially offset by $10.6 million of principal payments made towards the repayment of our Term Loan and $1.5 million used to pay for Term Loan debt issuance costs.
Net cash used in financing activities for fiscal 2015 included $8.2 million used for the repurchase and retirement of our common stock offset by $3.4 million from proceeds received from purchases under our 2012 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and stock option exercises.
Our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities decreased by $78.7 million in fiscal 2016 primarily due to the cash portion of the consideration paid for the acquisition of Cascade Microtech partially offset by proceeds from the $150 million Term Loan we entered into on June 24, 2016 to fund the acquisition. We continue to focus on improving our operating efficiency to increase operating cash flows. We believe that we will be able to satisfy our cash requirements for at least the next twelve months with the liquidity provided by our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. To the extent necessary, we may also consider entering into short and long-term debt obligations, raising cash through a stock issuance, or obtaining new financing facilities which may not be available on terms favorable to us. Our future capital requirements may vary materially from those now planned. However, if we are unsuccessful in maintaining or growing our revenues, or maintaining or reducing our cost structure in an industry down-turn, or increasing our available cash through financing, our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities could decline in future fiscal years.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our significant contractual commitments to make future payments in cash under contractual obligations as of December 31, 2016 (in thousands):
Payments Due In Fiscal Years | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | After 2021 | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operating leases | $ | 6,279 | $ | 5,789 | $ | 4,882 | $ | 3,581 | $ | 3,236 | $ | 15,734 | $ | 39,501 | |||||||||||||
Purchase obligations | 33,696 | 4,550 | 515 | — | — | — | 38,761 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Senior secured term loan facility-principal payments (1) | 13,125 | 26,250 | 41,250 | 50,625 | 8,125 | — | 139,375 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Senior secured term loan facility-interest payments (2) | 2,828 | 2,400 | 1,739 | 821 | 41 | — | 7,829 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total | $ | 55,928 | $ | 38,989 | $ | 48,386 | $ | 55,027 | $ | 11,402 | $ | 15,734 | $ | 225,466 | |||||||||||||
(1) On June 24, 2016, we entered into a senior secured term loan facility in an aggregate amount of $150 million in order to finance a portion of the Cascade Microtech acquisition consideration. See Note 5 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Debt, for further details. (2) Represents our minimum interest payment commitments at 2.00% per annum.
Purchase obligations are primarily for purchases of inventory and manufacturing related service contracts. For the purposes of this table, purchase obligations are defined as agreements that are enforceable and legally binding and that specify all significant terms, including: fixed or minimum quantities to be purchased; fixed, minimum or variable price provisions; and the approximate timing of the transaction. The expected timing of payment of the obligations discussed above is estimated based on information available to us as of December 31, 2016. Timing of payments and actual amounts paid may be different depending on the timing of receipt of goods or services or changes to agreed-upon amounts for some obligations.
The table above excludes our gross liability for unrecognized tax benefits, which totaled approximately $18.0 million as of December 31, 2016. The timing of any payments which could result from these unrecognized tax benefits will depend upon a number of factors. Accordingly, the timing of payment cannot be estimated and has been excluded from the table above. As of December 31, 2016, the changes to our uncertain tax positions in the next 12 months that are reasonable and probable are not expected to have a significant impact on our financial position or results of operations.
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Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
Historically, we have not participated in transactions that have generated relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. As of December 31, 2016, we were not involved in any off-balance sheet arrangements.
Indemnification Agreements
We have entered, and may, from time to time in the ordinary course of our business enter into contractual arrangements with third parties that include indemnification obligations. Under these contractual arrangements, we have agreed to defend, indemnify and/or hold the third party harmless from and against certain liabilities. These arrangements include indemnities in favor of customers in the event that our probe cards infringe a third party's intellectual property and our lessors in connection with facility leasehold liabilities that we may cause. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and certain of our officers, and our bylaws contain indemnification obligations in favor of our directors, officers and agents. These indemnity arrangements may limit the type of the claim, the total amount that we can be required to pay in connection with the indemnification obligation and the time within which an indemnification claim can be made. The duration of the indemnification obligation may vary and, for most arrangements, survives the agreement term and is indefinite. We believe that substantially all of our indemnity arrangements provide either for limitations on the maximum potential future payments we could be obligated to make, or for limitations on the types of claims and damages we could be obligated to indemnify, or for both. However, it is not possible to determine or reasonably estimate the maximum potential amount of future payments under these indemnification obligations due to the varying terms of such obligations, the history of prior indemnification claims, the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular contractual arrangement and in each potential future claim for indemnification, and the contingency of any potential liabilities upon the occurrence of events that are not reasonably determinable. We have not had any requests for indemnification under these arrangements. We have not recorded any liabilities for these indemnification arrangements on our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2016.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2017-01, “Business Combinations (Topic 805) - Clarifying the Definition of a Business” which clarifies the definition and provides a more robust framework to use in determining when a set of assets and activities constitutes a business. ASU 2017-01 is intended to provide guidance when evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions (or disposals) of assets or businesses. ASU 2017-01 will be effective for us at the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 and is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial statements.
In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230) - Restricted Cash” which requires that a statement of cash flows explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. Therefore, amounts generally described as restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents should be included with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. ASU 2016-18 will be effective for us at the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 and is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial statements.
In April 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-10, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Identifying Performance Obligations and Licensing” and which was issued to clarify Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” related to (i) identifying performance obligations; and (ii) the licensing implementation guidance. The effective date and transition of ASU 2016-10 is the same as the effective date and transition of ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606),”as discussed below.
In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, "Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting", which amends ASC Topic 718, "Compensation - Stock Compensation". The ASU includes provisions intended to simplify various aspects related to how share-based payments are accounted for and presented in the financial statements and is effective for us beginning in our fiscal 2017 though early adoption is permitted. We are evaluating the effects of the adoption of this ASU on our financial statements.
In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases. ASU 2016-02 requires that lease arrangements longer than twelve months result in an entity recognizing an asset and liability. The updated guidance is effective for interim and annual
40
periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and early adoption is permitted. We are evaluating the impact of the updated guidance on our consolidated financial statements.
In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers", and in August 2015 the FASB issued ASU 2015-14, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Deferral of the Effective Date,” which defers the effective date of ASU 2014-09 by one year. ASU 2014-09 requires an entity to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The guidance also requires expanded disclosures relating to the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. Additionally, qualitative and quantitative disclosures are required about customer contracts, significant judgments and changes in judgments, and assets recognized from the costs to obtain or fulfill a contract. The standard permits the use of either the retrospective or cumulative effect transition methods. This guidance will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in United States GAAP when it becomes effective, which for us will be at the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 using one of the two prescribed transition methods. Early adoption of one year prior to the required effective date is permitted.
We do not plan to early adopt the guidance. We have substantially completed our evaluation of the impact of this ASU on our Systems and Probes Cards Segments. Depending on the results of our review, there could be changes to the timing of recognition of revenues. We expect to complete our assessment process, including selecting a transition method for adoption, by the end of the third quarter of our fiscal 2017 along with our implementation process prior to the adoption of this ASU on January 1, 2018.
Item 7A: Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk. We conduct certain operations in foreign currencies. We enter into currency forward exchange contracts to hedge a portion, but not all, of existing foreign currency denominated amounts. Gains and losses on these contracts are generally recognized in "Other income (expense) net" in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. Because the effect of movements in currency exchange rates on the currency forward exchange contracts generally offsets the related effect on the underlying items being hedged, these financial instruments are not expected to subject us to risks that would otherwise result from changes in currency exchange rates. We do not use derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes. We recognized a net loss of $0.7 million and $2.1 million, respectively for fiscal 2016 and 2015, from the fluctuation in foreign exchange rates and the valuation of these hedge contracts.
Interest Rate Sensitivity. Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our investment portfolio. We invest in a number of securities including U.S. agency discount notes, money market funds and commercial paper. We attempt to ensure the safety and preservation of our invested principal funds by limiting default risk, market risk and reinvestment risk. We mitigate default risk by investing in high grade investment securities. By policy, we limit the amount of credit exposure to an issuer, except U.S. Treasuries and U.S. agencies.
Our exposure to interest rate risk arising from our Term Loan debt (See Note 5 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Debt for further details) is insignificant as a result of the interest-rate swap agreement (See Note 8 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Derivative Financial Instruments for further details) that we entered into with HSBC and other lenders to hedge the interest payments on our term loan entered into on June 24, 2016.
We use interest rate derivative instruments to manage interest rate exposures. We do not use derivative instruments for trading or speculative purposes. The fair market value of our fixed rate securities may be adversely impacted by increases in interest rates while income earned on floating rate securities may decline as a result of decreases in interest rates. A hypothetical 100 basis-point (one percentage point) increase or decrease in interest rates compared to rates at December 31, 2016 and December 26, 2015 would have affected the fair value of our investment portfolio by less than $0.1 million and $0.2 million, respectively.
Item 8: Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Consolidated Financial Statements
The consolidated financial statements and supplementary data of FormFactor required by this item are included in the section entitled "Consolidated Financial Statements" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See Item 15(a)(1) for a list of our consolidated financial statements.
Item 9: Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
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Item 9A: Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Based on our management's evaluation (with the participation of our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer), as of the end of the period covered by this report, our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the "Exchange Act")) were effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) except as described below under Management's Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting that occurred during the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Management's Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, and effected by our board of directors, management and other personnel and consultants, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and includes those policies and procedures that:
(i) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions and dispositions of assets;
(ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with the authorization of our management and directors; and
(iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
We acquired Cascade Microtech on June 24, 2016, and we have not yet completed the process of integrating the acquired business’ internal control over financial reporting into our overall internal control over financial reporting process. Accordingly, we excluded from our assessment of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2016, the internal control over financial reporting of Cascade Microtech. Associated with Cascade Microtech are total assets of $351.0 million and net revenues of $82.6 million included in our consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, we conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2016. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria set forth in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission ("COSO"). Based on the results of this assessment, management has concluded that, our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2016, based on the criteria in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.
The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2016 has been audited by KPMG LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls
Control systems, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control systems' objectives are being met. Further, the design of any control systems must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of all controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances
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of fraud, if any, within our company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Control systems can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based, in part, on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures.
CEO and CFO Certifications
We have attached as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K the certifications of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, which are required in accordance with the Exchange Act. We recommend that this Item 9A be read in conjunction with the certifications for a more complete understanding of the subject matter presented.
Item 9B: Other Information
None.
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PART III
Item 10: Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the proxy statement for our 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Item 11: Executive Compensation
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the proxy statement for our 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Item 12: Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the proxy statement for our 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Item 13: Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the proxy statement for our 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Item 14: Principal Accounting Fees and Services
The information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the proxy statement for our 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
PART IV
Item 15: Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K: |
(1)Consolidated Financial Statements:
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Balance Sheets
Consolidated Statements of Operations
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(2)Exhibits:
The exhibits listed in the accompanying Index to Exhibits are filed or incorporated by reference as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
(b) | Financial Statement Schedules: |
All schedules have been omitted because they are not required, not applicable, or the required information is included in the consolidated financial statements or notes thereto.
(c) | Exhibits: |
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Incorporated by Reference | |||||||||||||||||
Exhibit Number | Exhibit Description | Form | File No | Date of First Filing | Exhibit Number | Filed Herewith | |||||||||||
2.01*** | Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated February 3, 2016, by and among Cascade Microtech, Inc., FormFactor, Inc. and Cardinal Merger Subsidiary, Inc. | 8-K | 000-50307 | 2/9/2016 | 2.1 | ||||||||||||
3.01 | Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant as filed with the Delaware Secretary of State on June 17, 2003 | S-1 | 333-109815 | 10/20/2003 | 3.01 | ||||||||||||
3.02 | Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Registrant | 8-K | 000-50307 | 7/22/2016 | 3.2 | ||||||||||||
4.01 | Specimen Common Stock Certificate | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 5/28/2002 | 4.01 | ||||||||||||
10.01 | Credit Agreement among FormFactor, Inc. as Borrower, the Guarantors that are from time to time parties thereto, HSBC Bank USA, National Association, as Administrative Agent, Lead Lender, Co-Lead Arranger, Sole Bookrunner, Syndication Agent and Lender, the Lenders that are from time to time parties thereto, and Silicon Valley Bank, as Co-Lead Arranger and Documentation Agent, dated as of June 24, 2016 | 8-K | 000-50307 | 6/28/2016 | 10.1 | ||||||||||||
10.02+ | Form of Indemnity Agreement | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 5/28/2002 | 10.01 | ||||||||||||
10.03+ | Form of Change of Control Severance Agreement | 10-K | 000-50307 | 3/14/2005 | 10.48 | ||||||||||||
10.04+ | 1996 Stock Option Plan, and form of option grant | S-1 | 333-86738 | 4/22/2002 | 10.03 | ||||||||||||
10.05+ | Incentive Option Plan, and form of option grant | S-1 | 333-86738 | 4/22/2002 | 10.04 | ||||||||||||
10.06+ | Management Incentive Option Plan, and form of option grant | S-1 | 333-86738 | 4/22/2002 | 10.05 | ||||||||||||
10.07+ | 2002 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, and forms of plan agreements | 10-Q | 000-50307 | 5/4/2011 | 10.06 | ||||||||||||
10.08+ | 2002 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended | 10-Q | 000-50307 | 8/7/2007 | 10.01 | ||||||||||||
10.09+ | Key Employee Bonus Plan, as amended | 10-Q | 000-50307 | 5/7/2007 | 10.01 | ||||||||||||
10.10+ | Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and restated effective April 18, 2012, and forms of plan agreements | 10-K | 000-50307 | 3/13/2013 | 10.09 | ||||||||||||
10.11+ | Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended and restated April 18, 2012 | 10-K | 000-50307 | 3/13/2013 | 10.1 | ||||||||||||
10.12 | Pacific Corporate Center Lease (Building 1) by and between Greenville Holding Company LLC (successor to Greenville Investors, L.P.) ("Greenville") and the Registrant dated May 3, 2001 | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 6/10/2003 | 10.18 | ||||||||||||
10.13 | First Amendment to Pacific Corporate Center Lease (Building 1) by and between Greenville and the Registrant dated January 31, 2003 | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 5/7/2003 | 10.18.1 | ||||||||||||
10.14 | Pacific Corporate Center Lease (Building 2) by and between Greenville and the Registrant dated May 3, 2001 | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 6/10/2003 | 10.19 | ||||||||||||
10.15 | First Amendment to Pacific Corporate Center Lease (Building 2) by and between Greenville and the Registrant dated January 31, 2003 | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 5/7/2003 | 10.19.1 | ||||||||||||
10.16 | Pacific Corporate Center Lease (Building 3) by and between Greenville and the Registrant dated May 3, 2001 | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 6/10/2003 | 10.20 | ||||||||||||
10.17+ | First Amendment to Pacific Corporate Center Lease (Building 3) by and between Greenville and the Registrant dated January 31, 2003 | S-1/A | 333-86738 | 5/7/2003 | 10.20.1 | ||||||||||||
10.18 | Third Amendment, dated December 19, 2016, between FormFactor, Inc. and MOHR PCC, LP, to Pacific Corporate Center Leases (Buildings 1, 2 and 3), dated May 3, 2001, by and between Greenville Investors, L.P. and FormFactor, Inc., as amended | 8-K | 000-50307 | 12/23/2016 | 10.2 | ||||||||||||
10.19+ | Pacific Corporate Center Lease by and between Greenville and the Registrant dated September 7, 2004., as amended by First Amendment to Building 6 Lease dated August 16, 2006 | 10-Q | 000-50307 | 11/7/2006 | 10.01 | ||||||||||||
10.20 | Second Amendment, dated December 19, 2016, between FormFactor, Inc. and MOHR PCC, LP, to Pacific Corporate Center Lease, dated October 5, 2004, by and between Greenville Investors, L.P. and FormFactor, Inc., as amended | 8-K | 000-50307 | 12/23/2016 | 10.1 | ||||||||||||
10.21 | Lease Agreements I and II between Amberjack, Ltd. And Cascade Microtech, Inc. dated August 20, 1997, and Amendment No. 2 to Lease Agreement I dated July 23, 1998, and Amendment No. 2 to Lease Agreement II dated April 12, 1999. | 8-K | 333-47100 | 10/2/2000 | 10.9 | ||||||||||||
10.22 | Third Amendment dated August 11, 2006 to Lease Agreement I dated August 20, 1997 between Amberjack, LTD. and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-Q | 000-51072 | 11/9/2006 | 10.2 | ||||||||||||
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Incorporated by Reference | |||||||||||||||||
Exhibit Number | Exhibit Description | Form | File No | Date of First Filing | Exhibit Number | Filed Herewith | |||||||||||
10.23 | Third Amendment dated August 11, 2006 to Lease Agreement II dated August 20, 1997 between Amberjack, LTD. and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-Q | 000-51072 | 11/9/2006 | 10.3 | ||||||||||||
10.24 | Assignment, Assumption and Amendment of Lease dated as of September 22, 2011 by and among Cascade Microtech, Inc. and R&D Sockets, Inc. | 8-K | 000-51072 | 9/26/2011 | 10.1 | ||||||||||||
10.25 | Rental Agreement by and between Cascade Microtech Dresden GmbH and Süss Grundstücksverwaltungs GbR dated as of June 17, 2011. | 10-Q | 000-51072 | 8/10/2011 | 10.3 | ||||||||||||
10.26 | Lease dated April 2, 1999 between Spieker Properties, L.P. and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 8-K | 333-47100 | 10/2/2000 | 10.8 | ||||||||||||
10.27 | First amendment to Lease dated January 10, 2007, between Nimbus Center LLC (as successor in interest to Spieker Properties, L.P.) and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-Q | 000-51072 | 5/9/2014 | 10.1 | ||||||||||||
10.28 | Second amendment to Lease dated February 25, 2013, between Nimbus Center LLC and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-Q | 000-51072 | 5/8/2013 | 10.2 | ||||||||||||
10.29 | Third amendment to Lease dated January 23, 2014, between Nimbus Center LLC and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-Q | 000-51072 | 5/9/2014 | 10.2 | ||||||||||||
10.30 | Fourth amendment to Lease dated March 31, 2014, between Nimbus Center LLC and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-Q | 000-51072 | 5/9/2014 | 10.3 | ||||||||||||
10.31 | Fifth amendment to Lease dated September 24, 2014, between Nimbus Center LLC and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-K | 000-51072 | 3/72016 | 10.22 | ||||||||||||
10.32 | Sixth amendment to Lease dated July 8, 2015, between Nimbus Center LLC and Cascade Microtech, Inc. | 10-K | 000-51072 | 3/72016 | 10.23 | ||||||||||||
10.33+ | Employment Offer Letter, dated August 29, 2012 to Mike Slessor | 10-K | 000-50307 | 3/13/2013 | 10.19+ | ||||||||||||
10.34+ | Tax withholding reimbursement letter between Mike Slessor and the Registrant dated December 30, 2013 | 10-K | 000-50307 | 3/6/2015 | 10.2 | ||||||||||||
10.35+ | CEO Change of Control and Severance Agreement, dated April 28, 2016 by and between Mike Slessor and the Registrant | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
10.36+ | Change of Control and Severance Agreement, dated April 28, 2016 by and between Michael Ludwig and the Registrant | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
21.01 | List of Registrant's subsidiaries | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
23.01 | Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm - KPMG | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
24.01 | Power of Attorney (included on the signature page of this Form 10-K) | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
31.01 | Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 15 U.S.C. Section 7241, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
31.02 | Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 15 U.S.C. Section 7241, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
32.01* | Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
101.INS** | XBRL Instance Document | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
101.SCH** | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
101.CAL** | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
101.DEF** | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
101.LAB** | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
101.PRE** | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document | — | — | — | — | X | |||||||||||
46
* | This exhibit shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, whether made before or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any filings. |
** | Pursuant to Rule 406T of Regulation S-T, these interactive data files are deemed not filed or part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of Sections 11 or 12 of the Securities Act of 1933 or Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and otherwise are not subject to liability. |
*** | Confidential treatment has been requested for portions of this document. The schedules, exhibits, and annexes to this exhibit have been omitted in reliance on Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K and will be furnished supplementally to the SEC upon request. |
+ | Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement. |
Item 16: Form 10-K Summary
None.
47
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Livermore, State of California, on the 15th day of March 2017.
FORMFACTOR, INC. | ||||
By: | /s/ MICHAEL M. LUDWIG | |||
Michael M. Ludwig Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) | ||||
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW BY ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each of the undersigned whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Michael M. Ludwig and Jason Cohen, and each of them, the undersigned's true and lawful attorneys in-fact and agents with full power of substitution, for the undersigned and in the undersigned's name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and any other documents in connection therewith, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act requisite and necessary to be done with respect to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including amendments, as fully to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or his or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the undersigned has executed this Power of Attorney as of the date indicated below.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
Principal Executive Officer: | ||||
/s/ MICHAEL D. SLESSOR | Chief Executive Officer and Director | March 15, 2017 | ||
Michael D. Slessor | ||||
Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer: | ||||
/s/ MICHAEL M. LUDWIG | Chief Financial Officer | March 15, 2017 | ||
Michael M. Ludwig | ||||
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Signature | Title | Date | ||
Additional Directors: | ||||