Coherent Earnings 2019-09-28

COHR 10K Annual Report

Balance Sheet	Income Statement	Cash Flow

Comparables ($MM TTM)
Ticker	M Cap	Assets	Liab	Rev	G Profit	Net Inc	EBITDA	EV	G Margin	EV/EBITDA	ROA
COHR	3,303	2,137	835	1,557	568	126	153	3,383	36%	22.1	6%
AXDX	1,214	159	133	7	3	-86	-73	1,298	41%	-17.8	-54%
PACB	927	171	95	79	24	-111	-108	908	30%	-8.4	-65%
FLDM	850	284	111	120	32	-69	-60	824	27%	-13.8	-24%
QTRX	818	109	35	47	24	-37	-37	752	50%	-20.4	-34%
EYPT	175	91	63	10	8	-98	-92	177	79%	-1.9	-108%
HBIO	76	166	86	120	67	-0	14	124	55%	9.1	-0%
HTGM	49	35	23	21	8	-17	-15	33	37%	-2.2	-49%
BNGO	27	25	27	11	2	-14	-11	12	19%	-1.0	-56%
ASTC	16	4	1	0	0	-8	-7	14	29%	-2.0	-204%

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART IV

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

__________________________________________________

FORM 10-K



(Mark One)
☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Fiscal Year Ended September 28, 2019



☐		TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Commission File Number: 001-33962

___________________________________________________

COHERENT, INC.



Delaware	94-1622541
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

5100 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, California 95054

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (408) 764-4000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



Title of each class	Trading Symbol	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $0.01 par value	COHR	The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
		Nasdaq Global Select 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 ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 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 ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§229.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files.) Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definitions of "large accelerated filer", "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.



Large accelerated filer	☒	Accelerated filer	☐	Non-accelerated filer	☐	Smaller reporting company	☐	Emerging growth company	☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of November 22, 2019, 24,151,819 shares of common stock were outstanding. The aggregate market value of the voting shares (based on the closing price reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on March 30, 2019) of Coherent, Inc., held by nonaffiliates was approximately $2,125,907,991. For purposes of this disclosure, shares of common stock held by persons who own 5% or more of the

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART IV

outstanding common stock and shares of common stock held by each officer and director have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be "affiliates" as that term is defined under the Rules and Regulations of the Exchange Act. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

DOCUMENT INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant's Proxy Statement for the registrant's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of the Form 10-K to the extent stated herein. The Proxy Statement or an amended report on Form 10-K will be filed within 120 days of the registrant's fiscal year ended September 28, 2019.

TABLE OF CONTENTS



PART I
	ITEM 1.	BUSINESS	4
	ITEM 1A.	RISK FACTORS	20
	ITEM 1B.	UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS	38
	ITEM 2.	PROPERTIES	38
	ITEM 3.	LEGAL PROCEEDINGS	39
	ITEM 4.	MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES	40
PART II
	ITEM 5.	MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES	41
	ITEM 6.	SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA	42
	ITEM 7.	MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS	43
	ITEM 7A.	QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK	56
	ITEM 8.	FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA	57
	ITEM 9.	CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE	57
	ITEM 9A.	CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES	58
	ITEM 9B.	OTHER INFORMATION	60
PART III
	ITEM 10.	DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE	61
	ITEM 11.	EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION	61
	ITEM 12.	SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS	61
	ITEM 13.	CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE	61
	ITEM 14.	PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES	61
PART IV
	ITEM 15.	EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES	62
SIGNATURES			65

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report contains certain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to:

•expansion into, and financial returns from, new markets;

•maintenance and development of current and new customer relationships;

•enhancement of market position through existing or new technologies;

•timing of new product introductions and shipments;

•optimization of product mix;


•	future trends in microelectronics, scientific and government programs, OEM components and instrumentation and materials processing;

•utilization of vertical integration;

•adoption of our products or lasers generally;

•applications and processes that will use lasers, including the suitability of our products;

•capitalization on market trends;

•alignment with current and new customer demands;

•positioning in the marketplace and gains of market share;

•design and development of products, services and solutions;

•control of supply chain and partners;

•protection of intellectual property rights;

•compliance with environmental and safety regulations;


•	net sales and operating results, including the timing and impact on fiscal 2020 revenues of recoveries in investments;


•	any potential increase in future demand in the microelectronics flat panel display market;


•	the timing of any buildout of OLED manufacturing capacity;


•	the execution of two recently announced planned site consolidations: (1) the co-location of the manufacturing and engineering of our High Power Fiber Lasers (“HPFL”) products and the exit from a portion of our HPFL business in fiscal 2020, and (2) vacating our leased facility in Santa Clara and combining the operations at our Santa Clara headquarters in calendar 2020;


•	effect of global economic conditions, including in particular resulting from U.S. and Chinese trade policies;

•capital spending;

•order volumes;

•fluctuations in backlog, including potential for cancellation or rescheduling of orders;

•variations in stock price;

•growth in our operations;

•trends in our revenues, particularly as a result of seasonality;

•controlling our costs;

•sufficiency and management of cash, cash equivalents and investments;


•	acquisition efforts, payment methods for acquisitions and utilization of technology from our acquisitions, and potential synergies and benefits, including completion of post-acquisition integration and restructuring processes, in particular with respect to our acquisition of Rofin Sinar Technologies, Inc.;

•sales by geography;

•effect of legal claims;

•expectations regarding the payment of future dividends;

•effect of competition on our financial results;

•plans with respect to leases;

•compliance with standards;


•	effect of our internal controls;

•optimization of financial results;

•repatriation of funds;

•accounting for goodwill and intangible assets, inventory valuation, warranty reserves and taxes; and

•impact from our use of financial instruments.

In addition, we include forward-looking statements under the "Our Strategy" and "Future Trends" headings set forth below in "Business".

You can identify these and other forward-looking statements by the use of the words such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "potential," "projected," "continue," "our observation," or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements also include the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing statements.

Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth below in "Business," "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and under the heading "Risk Factors." All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or non-occurrence of anticipated events, except to the extent required by law.

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

GENERAL

Business Overview

Our fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to September 30. Fiscal years 2019, 2018 and 2017 ended on September 28, September 29, and September 30, respectively, and are referred to in this annual report as fiscal 2019, fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 for convenience. Each of fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017 included 52 weeks.

We are one of the world's leading providers of lasers, laser-based technologies and laser-based system solutions in a broad range of commercial, industrial and scientific applications. We design, manufacture, service and market lasers and related accessories for a diverse group of customers. Since inception in 1966, we have grown through internal expansion and through strategic acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies, intellectual property, manufacturing processes and product offerings.

We are organized into two reporting segments: OEM Laser Sources ("OLS") and Industrial Lasers & Systems ("ILS"), based on the organizational structure of the company and how the chief operating decision maker ("CODM") receives and utilizes information provided to allocate resources and make decisions. This segmentation reflects the go-to-market strategies and synergies for our broad portfolio of laser technologies and products. While both segments deliver cost-effective, highly reliable photonics solutions, the OLS business segment is focused on high performance laser sources and complex optical sub-systems typically used in microelectronics manufacturing, medical diagnostics and therapeutic applications, as well as in scientific research. Our ILS business segment delivers high performance laser sources, sub-systems and tools primarily used for industrial laser materials processing, serving important end markets like automotive, machine tool, consumer goods and medical device manufacturing.

Income from continuing operations is the measure of profit and loss that our CODM uses to assess performance and make decisions. Income from continuing operations represents the sales less the cost of sales and direct operating expenses incurred within the operating segments as well as allocated expenses such as shared sales and manufacturing costs. We do not allocate certain operating expenses to our operating segments and we manage them at the corporate level. These unallocated costs include stock-based compensation and corporate functions (certain advanced research and development, management, finance, legal and human resources) and are included in Corporate and other. Management does not consider unallocated Corporate and other costs in its measurement of segment performance.

We were originally incorporated in California on May 26, 1966 and reincorporated in Delaware on October 1, 1990. Our common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and we are a member of the Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 1000 Index.

Additional information about Coherent, Inc. (referred to herein as the Company, we, our, or Coherent) is available on our web site at www.coherent.com. We make available, free of charge on our web site, access to our annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), as soon as reasonably practicable after we file or furnish them electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Information contained on our web site is not part of this annual report or our other filings with the SEC. Any product, product name, process, or technology described in these materials is the property of Coherent.

RECENT EVENTS

In June 2019, we announced our plans to co-locate the manufacturing and engineering of our High Power Fiber Lasers ("HPFL") products at our Hamburg, Germany, facility to our Tampere, Finland, location and exit a portion of our HPFL business, expected to be completed during fiscal 2020. In conjunction with this announcement, we recorded restructuring charges in fiscal 2019 of $19.7 million. The charges primarily relate to estimated severance and write-offs of excess inventory, which is recorded in cost of sales. See Note 18, "Restructuring Charges" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 15 of this annual report.

We have also announced our intent to vacate our leased facility in Santa Clara at the end of the current lease term in calendar 2020 and combine operations at our Santa Clara headquarters. We did not incur material expenses in fiscal 2019 related to this project.

In April 2019, we announced that John Ambroseo will transition from being our President and Chief Executive Officer, a position he has served in since 2002, to a special advisor to the Company no later than April 2021.

In November 2018, we borrowed an additional $40.0 million under our revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Credit Facility") and subsequently repaid $30.0 million of these borrowings in July 2019.

On October 28, 2018, our board of directors authorized a stock repurchase program for up to $250.0 million of our common stock through December 31, 2019, with a limit of no more than $75.0 million per quarter. During fiscal 2019, we repurchased and retired 603,828 shares of outstanding common stock under this program at an average price of $128.20 per share for a total of $77.4 million.

On October 5, 2018, we acquired privately held Ondax, Inc. ("Ondax") for approximately $12.0 million, excluding transaction costs. Ondax develops and produces photonic components which are used on an OEM basis by the laser industry as well as incorporated into its own stabilized lasers and Raman Spectroscopy systems. See Note 4, "Business Combinations" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 15 of this annual report.

On October 5, 2018, we acquired certain assets of Quantum Coating, Inc. ("Quantum") for approximately $7.0 million, excluding transaction costs. See Note 4, "Business Combinations" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 15 of this annual report.

On March 8, 2018, we acquired privately held O.R. Lasertechnologie GmbH and certain assets of its U.S.-based affiliate (collectively "OR Laser") for approximately $47.4 million, excluding transaction costs. OR Laser produces laser-based material processing equipment for a variety of uses, including additive manufacturing, welding, cladding, marking, engraving and drilling. See Note 4, "Business Combinations" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 15 of this annual report.

On February 6, 2018, our board of directors authorized a stock repurchase program authorizing the Company to repurchase up to $100.0 million of our common stock from time to time through January 31, 2019. During fiscal 2018, we repurchased and retired 574,946 shares of outstanding common stock under this program at an average price of $173.91 per share for a total of $100.0 million, thereby repurchasing the full amount authorized under this program.

During fiscal 2018, we made payments on our senior secured term loan facility ("Euro Term Loan") of 141.7 million Euros, including voluntary payments of a total of 135.0 million Euros.

On November 7, 2016, we completed our acquisition of Rofin Sinar Technologies, Inc. ("Rofin") pursuant to the Merger Agreement dated March 16, 2016. Rofin was one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of high-performance industrial laser sources and laser-based solutions and components. As a condition of the acquisition, we were required to divest and hold separate Rofin's low power CO₂ laser business based in Hull, United Kingdom (the "Hull Business"), and reported this business separately as a discontinued operation until its divestiture. We completed the divestiture of the Hull Business on October 11, 2017, after receiving approval for the terms of the sale from the European Commission. On April 27, 2018, we completed the sale of several entities that we acquired in our acquisition of Rofin. See Note 19, "Discontinued Operations and Sale of Assets Held for Sale" in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 15 of this annual report.

INDUSTRY BACKGROUND

The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation." A laser emits an intense coherent beam of light with some unique and highly useful properties. Most importantly, a laser is orders of magnitude brighter than any lamp. As a result of its coherence, the beam can be focused to a very small and intense spot, useful for applications requiring very high power densities including cutting and other materials processing procedures. The laser's high spatial resolution is also useful for microscopic imaging and inspection applications. Laser light can be monochromatic—all of the beam energy is confined to a narrow wavelength band.

There are many types of lasers and one way of classifying them is by the material or medium used to create the lasing action. This can be in the form of a gas, liquid, semiconductor, solid state crystal or fiber. Lasers can also be classified by their output wavelength: ultraviolet, visible, infrared or wavelength tunable. We manufacture all of these laser types. There are also many options in terms of pulsed output versus continuous wave, pulse duration, output power, beam dimensions, etc. In fact, each application has its own specific requirements in terms of laser performance. The broad technical depth at Coherent enables us to offer a diverse set of product lines characterized by lasers targeted at growth opportunities and key applications. In all cases, we aim to be the supplier of choice by offering a high-value combination of superior technical performance and high reliability.

Photonics has taken its place alongside electronics as a critical enabling technology for the twenty-first century. Photonics-based solutions are entrenched in a broad array of industries that include microelectronics, flat panel displays, machine tool, automotive, and medical diagnostics, with adoption continuing in ever more diverse applications. Growth in these applications stems from two sources. First, there are many applications where the laser is displacing conventional technology

because it can do the job faster, better or more economically. Second, there are new applications where the laser is the enabling tool that makes the work possible, as in the conversion of amorphous silicon into poly crystalline silicon at low temperatures, where lasers are used in the manufacturing of high resolution rigid and flexible OLED displays found in the latest smart phones, tablets and laptop computers.

Key laser applications include: semiconductor inspection; manufacturing of advanced printed circuit boards ("PCBs"); flat panel display manufacturing; solar cell production; medical and bio-instrumentation; materials processing; metal cutting and welding; industrial process and quality control; marking; imaging and printing; graphic arts and display; and research and development. For example, ultraviolet ("UV") lasers are enabling the continuous move towards miniaturization, which drives innovation and growth in many markets. In addition, the advent of industrial grade ultrafast lasers continues to open up new applications for laser processing.

Coherent occupies a unique position in the industry thanks to the breadth and depth of our product and technology portfolio, which includes laser sources, critical or enabling photonics components and laser systems. Working closely with our customers we have developed specialized solutions that include lasers, delivery and process optics in complete assemblies (sub-systems), and for certain applications and markets we have also developed parts handling and automation to build complete laser systems.

OUR STRATEGY

We strive to develop innovative and proprietary products and solutions that meet the needs of our customers and that are based on our core expertise in lasers and optical technologies. In pursuit of our strategy, we intend to:

•

Leverage our technology portfolio and application engineering to lead the proliferation of photonics into broader markets—We will continue to identify opportunities in which our technology portfolio and application engineering can be used to offer innovative solutions and gain access to new markets. We plan to utilize our expertise to increase our market share in the mid to high power material processing applications.

•

Streamline our manufacturing structure and improve our cost structure—We will focus on optimizing the mix of products that we manufacture internally and externally. We will utilize vertical integration where our internal manufacturing process is considered proprietary and seek to leverage external sources when the capabilities and cost structure are well developed and on a path towards commoditization.

•

Focus on long-term improvement of adjusted EBITDA, in dollars and as a percentage of net sales—We define adjusted EBITDA as operating income adjusted for depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation expense, major restructuring costs and certain other non-operating income and expense items, such as costs related to our acquisition of Rofin. Key initiatives for EBITDA improvements include utilization of our Asian manufacturing locations, optimizing our supply chain and continued leveraging of our infrastructure.


•	Optimize our leadership position in existing markets—There are a number of markets where we have historically been at the forefront of technological development and product deployment and from which we have derived a substantial portion of our revenues. We plan to optimize our financial returns from these markets.

•

Maintain and develop additional strong collaborative customer and industry relationships—We believe that the Coherent brand name and reputation for product quality, technical performance and customer satisfaction will help us to further develop our loyal customer base. We plan to maintain our current customer relationships and develop new ones with customers who are industry leaders and work together with these customers to design and develop innovative product systems and solutions as they develop new technologies.


•	Develop and acquire new technologies and market share—We will continue to enhance our market position through our existing technologies and develop new technologies through our internal research and development efforts, as well as through the acquisition of additional complementary technologies, intellectual property, manufacturing processes and product offerings.

APPLICATIONS

Our products address a broad range of applications that we group into the following markets: Microelectronics, Materials Processing, OEM Components and Instrumentation and Scientific and Government Programs.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the percentages of total net sales by market application:



	Fiscal 2019		Fiscal 2018		Fiscal 2017
	Percentage of total net sales		Percentage of total net sales		Percentage of total net sales
Consolidated:
Microelectronics	44.2	%	54.5	%	51.9	%
Materials processing	28.3	%	27.4	%	29.7	%
OEM components and instrumentation	18.6	%	11.6	%	11.8	%
Scientific and government programs	8.9	%	6.5	%	6.6	%
Total	100.0	%	100.0	%	100.0	%

Microelectronics

Nowhere is the trend towards miniaturization and higher performance more prevalent than in the Microelectronics market where smart phones, tablets, personal computers ("PC's"), televisions ("TV's") and "wearables" are driving advances in displays, integrated circuits and PCBs. In response to market demands and consumer expectations, semiconductor and device manufacturers are continually seeking to improve their process and design technologies in order to manufacture smaller, more powerful and more reliable devices at lower cost. New laser applications and new laser technologies are a key element in delivering higher resolution and higher precision at lower manufacturing cost.

We primarily support three markets in the microelectronics industry: (1) flat panel display ("FPD") manufacturing, (2) semiconductor front-end and (3) advanced packaging and interconnects ("API").

Microelectronics—flat panel display manufacturing

The high-volume consumer market is driving the production of FPDs in applications such as mobile phones, tablets, laptop computers, TVs and wearables. There are several types of established and emerging displays based on quite different technologies, including liquid crystal ("LCD") and organic light emitting diodes ("OLED"). Each of these technologies utilize laser applications in their manufacturing process to enable improved yields, higher process speed, improved battery life, lower cost and/or superior display brightness, resolution and refresh rates.

Several display types require a high-density pattern of silicon thin film transistors ("TFTs"). If this silicon is polycrystalline as opposed to amorphous, the display performance is greatly enhanced. Excimer-based processes, such as excimer laser annealing ("ELA") have allowed high-volume production of low-temperature polysilicon ("LTPS") on conventional glass substrates as well as flexible displays based on plastic substrates. Our excimer lasers provide a unique solution for LTPS because they are the only industrial-grade excimer lasers optimized for this application. The current state-of-the-art product for this application is our excimer Vyper laser and Linebeam systems. These systems deliver power ranges of 1200W to 3600W, depending on the system, enabling a critical manufacturing process step on substrate sizes up to Generation 6. These systems are integral to the manufacturing process on all leading LTPS-based smart phone displays and hold the potential for deployment in a variety of screens, including tablet, laptop, automotive displays and OLED TV. Excimer-based LTPS is also enabling flexible OLED displays which have undergone rapid growth as they have been adopted into smart phones.

A modern flat panel display incorporates a number of different layers, some of which are thin films that need to be cut or structured. As film thicknesses decrease over time, lasers are becoming the tool of choice to process these materials. Our DIAMOND CO₂ and Rapid series ultrafast lasers are used for cutting FPD films.

We have developed a proprietary technology for cutting brittle materials such as glass and sapphire without debris and with zero kerf called SMART Cleave^TM, which is used for cutting brittle materials used in displays. This technology uses ultrafast lasers coupled with proprietary optics.

Our AVIA, Rapid, Monaco and DIAMOND CO₂ and CO lasers are also used in other production processes for FPDs. These processes include drilling, cutting, patterning, marking and yield improvement.

While the timing and adoption rate of an emerging display technology such as ‘micro’ LED (µLED) is still hard to gauge, it is likely to make use of both similar technologies such as a LTPS backplane, as well as new ones, e.g. new versions of laser lift-off (LLO) and laser induced forward transfer (LIFT). We expect that this will represent an expanding market opportunity into new display form factors for laser-based processes.

Microelectronics—semiconductor front-end

The term "front-end" refers to the production of semiconductor devices which occurs prior to packaging.

As semiconductor device geometries decrease in size, devices become increasingly susceptible to smaller defects during each phase of the manufacturing process and these defects can negatively impact yield. One of the semiconductor industry's responses to the increasing vulnerability of semiconductor devices to smaller defects has been to use defect detection and inspection techniques that are closely linked to the manufacturing process.

Detecting the presence of defects is only the first step in preventing their recurrence. After detection, defects must be examined in order to identify their size, shape and the process step in which the defect occurred. This examination is called defect classification. Identification of the sources of defects in the lengthy and complex semiconductor manufacturing process has become essential for maintaining high yield production. Semiconductor manufacturing has become an around-the-clock operation and it is important for products used for inspection, measurement and testing to be reliable and to have long lifetimes. Our Azure, Paladin, Excimer, Ion and OPSL lasers are used to detect and characterize defects in semiconductor chips.

Microelectronics—advanced packaging and interconnects

After a wafer is patterned, there are then a host of other processes, referred to as back-end processing, which finally result in a packaged encapsulated silicon chip. Ultimately, these chips are then assembled into finished products. The advent of high-speed logic and high-memory content devices has caused chip manufacturers to look for alternative technologies to improve performance and lower process costs. This search includes new types of materials, such as low-k and thinner silicon. Our AVIA, Rapid, Monaco and Matrix lasers provide economical methods of cutting and scribing these wafers while delivering higher yields than traditional mechanical methods.

There are similar trends in chip packaging and PCB manufacturing requiring more compact packaging and denser interconnects. In many cases, lasers present enabling technologies. For instance, lasers are now the only economically practical method for drilling blind microvias in chip substrates and in both rigid and flexible PCBs. These microvias are tiny interconnects that are essential for enabling high-density circuitry commonly used in smart phones, tablets and advanced computing systems. Our DIAMOND CO₂ and AVIA diode pumped solid state ("DPSS") lasers are the leading lasers in this application. The ability of these lasers to operate at very high repetition rates translates into faster drilling speeds and increased throughput in microvia processing applications. In addition, multi-layer circuit boards require more flexible production methods than conventional printing technologies can offer, which has led to widespread adoption of laser direct imaging ("LDI"). Our Paladin laser is used for this application.

We also offer market-leading solutions for laser marking of wafers and ICs, such as our PowerLine laser sub-systems.

Materials Processing

We primarily support four markets in the materials processing industry: (1) automotive, (2) machine tool, (3) medical device and (4) consumer goods, as well a number of smaller markets. It is the most diverse of all the segments we serve and a large cross section of our products are used in this segment. Our sales in this segment include components, laser sources, laser diagnostic equipment and complete laser systems. At a high level, the drivers for laser deployment within the materials processing segment are faster processing with higher yields, processing of new and novel materials, more environmentally friendly processes and higher precision. With the broadest product portfolio in the laser industry, we offer solutions for almost any application on any material to our customers. The most common applications include cutting, welding, joining, drilling, perforating, scribing, engraving and marking.

Lasers are used in a number of applications in the automotive industry, from fine processing of high precision parts to marking, as well as cutting of metals and welding large components such as gear boxes and car bodies, for customers including OEMs and their suppliers. We serve this industry with a number of our products including ultrafast, DPSS, CO₂, diode and fiber lasers as well as systems in the areas of marking, scribing, cutting and welding.

We serve the machine tool market with components, laser sources and systems in applications including cutting, welding, marking and additive manufacturing. We offer fiber lasers with different performance points in terms of power levels and beam profiles to address specific applications, including single mode lasers and advanced beam shaping options, e.g. the ARM advanced high power fiber laser where the beam parameters can be optimized to deliver higher quality welds which translate into higher customer yields. As a fully vertically integrated fiber and laser diode supplier, we are able to produce all key components in-house. Other products include our full line up of CO2 lasers, DPSS and ultrafast lasers. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is another growing market where lasers have seen rapid growth. We serve this market with our Laser Creator product that is a selective laser melting (SLM) system for 3D printing of metal parts as well as a portfolio of systems.

The medical device market is characterized by its need for high precision manufacturing with high levels of quality control which lends itself very well to laser manufacturing. Applications include fine cutting and welding in addition to high quality and specialized marking. We serve this market with a number of lasers as well as a portfolio of systems.

In the consumer goods market, we serve a large variety of applications in various industries, such as packaging, digital printing, jewelry, textiles, security and consumer electronics. We serve these industries with a broad offering of our products from lasers to laser tools. As a consequence, this market represents a stable and growing opportunity for us.

In summary, we serve the materials processing segment with a very broad product portfolio. Laser sources include the Diamond series mid-power CO and CO₂ lasers; the DC series of high power CO₂ lasers; Highlight FL high power fiber lasers; the DF series of high power diode laser systems; the Diamond mid-power and Q-Switched fiber; the COMPACT, MINI and EVOLUTION series of low and mid power diode lasers; the AViA, Matrix, Flare, and Helios DPSS lasers; and the Monaco and Rapid series of ultrafast lasers. Laser tools include the Performance, Select and Integral series of manual welding systems; the Exact, UW and MPS series of modular and highly configurable laser processing systems; the EasyMark, EasyJewel, LabelMarker Advanced and Combiline laser marking systems; the META laser cutting tools; and Laser Creator 3D metal printing system. Laser sub-systems, i.e. laser sources combined with software, beam delivery, processing heads, process monitoring, pattern recognition and vision, include the PowerLine series for marking; the StarFiber for welding and cutting; the PWS welding system; the QFS laser scribing system; and the StarShape CO₂ laser-based systems.

OEM Components and Instrumentation

Instrumentation is one of our more mature commercial applications. Representative applications within this market include bio-instrumentation, medical OEMs, graphic arts and display, machine vision and defense and aerospace applications. We also support the laser-based instrumentation market with a range of laser-related components, including diode lasers and optical fibers. Our OEM component business includes sales to other, less integrated laser manufacturers participating in OEM markets such as materials processing, scientific, and medical.

Bio-instrumentation

Laser applications for bio-instrumentation include confocal microscopy for biological imaging that allows researchers and clinicians to visualize cellular and subcellular structures and processes with an incredible amount of detail; DNA sequencing where lasers provide automation and data acquisition rates that would be impossible by any other method; drug discovery—genomic and proteomic analyses that enable drug discovery to proceed at very high throughput rates; flow cytometry for analyzing single cells or populations of cells in a heterogeneous mixture, including blood samples; and Raman spectroscopy which enables chemical analysis in a wide range of commercial applications. Our OBIS, Flare, Galaxy, Sapphire, BioRay and Genesis lasers are used in several bio-instrumentation applications.

Medical therapy

We sell a variety of components and lasers to medical laser companies for use in end-user applications such as ophthalmology, aesthetic, surgical, therapeutic and dentistry. Our DIAMOND series CO₂ lasers are widely used in ophthalmic, aesthetic and surgical markets. We have a leading position in Lasik and photorefractive keratectomy surgery methods with our ExciStar XS excimer laser platform. We also provide ultrafast lasers for use in cataract surgery and optical fibers for surgical applications.

The unique ability of our optically pumped semiconductor lasers ("OPSL") technology to match a wavelength to an application has led to the development of a high-power yellow (577nm) laser for the treatment of eye related diseases, such as Age Related Macular Degeneration and retinal diseases associated with diabetes. Other applications where our OBIS, Genesis and Sapphire series of lasers are used include the retinal scanning market in diagnostic imaging systems as well as new ground breaking in-vivo imaging.

Defense and aerospace

We serve the defense and aerospace markets with components and laser sources in a number of applications. In particular, directed energy has seen rapid growth in the last couple of years, driven largely by the promise of being able to deter and repel asymmetrical threats such as drones in an effective and economical manner. We supply both components and laser sources for directed energy applications. In addition, we have seen recent growth in demand for optics used in space and ground-based telescopes.

Scientific and Government Programs

We are widely recognized as a technology innovator and the scientific market has historically provided an ideal "test market" for our leading-edge innovations. These have included ultrafast lasers, DPSS lasers, continuous-wave ("CW") systems,

excimer gas lasers and water-cooled ion gas lasers. Our portfolio of lasers that address the scientific research market is broad and includes our Acuity, Chameleon, Chameleon Discovery, COMPexPro, Astrella, Revolution, Fidelity, Legend, Libra, Monaco, Vitara, Mephisto, Mira, Genesis and Verdi lasers. Many of the innovations and products pioneered in the scientific marketplace have become commercial successes for both our OEM customers and us.

We have a large installed base of scientific lasers which are used in a wide range of applications spanning virtually every branch of science and engineering. These applications include biology and life science, engineering, physical chemistry and physics. Most of these applications require the use of ultrafast lasers that enable the generation of pulses short enough to be measured in femto- or attoseconds (10^-15 to 10^-18 seconds). Because of these very short pulse durations, ultrafast lasers enable the study of fundamental physical and chemical processes with temporal resolution unachievable with any other tool. These lasers also deliver very high peak power and large bandwidths, which can be used to generate many exotic effects. Some of these are now finding their way into mainstream applications, such as microscopy or materials processing. The use of ultrafast lasers such as the Chameleon, Fidelity and Monaco in microscopy is now a common occurrence in bio-imaging labs, and they have become a crucial tool in modern neuroscience research.

FUTURE TRENDS

Microelectronics

Lasers are widely used in mass production microelectronics applications largely because they enable entirely new application capabilities that cannot be realized by any other known means. These laser-based fabrication and testing methods provide a level of precision, typically on a micrometer and nanometer level, that are unique, faster, are touch free, deliver superior end products, increase yields, and/or reduce production costs. We anticipate this trend to continue, driven primarily by the increasing sophistication and miniaturization of consumer electronic goods, resulting in increasing demand for better displays, more bandwidth and memory, and all packaged into devices which are lighter, thinner and consume less power. We believe that we are well positioned to continue to capitalize on the current market trends.

Excimer-based LTPS is a key technology for producing high resolution rigid and flexible OLED displays as well as future display technologies like µLEDs.

Demand for CO₂, Avia, Matrix, Rapid, Monaco, Helios and direct diode lasers correlate with the need for related FPD touch panel, film cutting, light guide technology, repair and frit welding applications.

The trend for thinner and lighter devices is impacting the glass substrates used in today's mobile devices requiring thinner glass with higher degrees of mechanical strength and scratch resistance. Mechanical means of cutting these glass and sapphire pieces are no longer adequate to meet future requirements and we expect lasers to play an increased role. Our CO, CO_2,Monaco and Rapid lasers together with our proprietary SmartCleave technology are well positioned to take advantage of this trend.

Semiconductor devices look set to continue shrinking device geometries, as well as expanding vertically into new 3D structures. As a result we believe our many UV laser sources (such as Azure, Paladin, Avia, Rapid, ExiStar, and OPSL) will continue to find increasing adoption, since their unique optical properties align well with the process demands of a nanometer scale world.

These same lasers, plus Monaco, Rapid, CO and CO₂ are also widely adopted for back end Advanced Packaging and Interconnect (API) applications. With dimension roadmaps showing a decade of dimension shrink on PCBs, interconnects, Silicon scribe widths and wafer thickness, driven by developments such as 5G, we believe that our portfolio of lasers aligns well with these demands as well as new processes that could be enabled by our lasers, to meet the increasing demands and decreasing tolerances of these markets.

While we experienced a softening of the demand in fiscal 2019, we anticipate a resumption of investment in OLED manufacturing capacity. It is difficult to precisely determine the timing and impact of OLED investment on our fiscal 2020 and longer term revenues even as additional vendors ramp their OLED production rates.

Materials processing

The materials processing segment is the most diverse of all the segments we serve and a large cross section of our products are used in this segment. We sell components, laser sources and complete laser systems. There are many drivers at play, but at a high level they involve faster processing with higher yields, processing of new materials, more environmentally friendly processes and higher precision.

The automotive industry is undergoing rapid changes that present opportunities for further use of lasers. Trends such as reduction in emissions from lighter cars and electric vehicles require new materials and new processes for welding, cutting and drilling. We believe this will lead to further adoption of lasers and tools based on high power fiber and diode lasers, as well as

ultrafast and CO₂ lasers. In particular, we believe our ARM laser technology offers competitive advantages versus alternative solutions.

We expect to see select opportunities for our products in the machine tool industry in a variety of broad-based applications including newer applications such as laser cladding and heat treatment.

We supply the medical device market with a variety of lasers and laser systems in applications such as fine cutting and welding as well as marking. This market is set to continue to grow in the foreseeable future as the population becomes older and advanced medical procedures spread outside the traditional markets in US, Europe and Japan.

In 3D printing we expect continued growth as the technology matures, particularly in the area of metal additive manufacturing where we supply SLM tools.

OEM components and instrumentation

The bio instrumentation market's most important areas: microscopy, flow cytometry and DNA sequencing, are all enjoying solid growth on a worldwide basis with some local variations. In this field, our OPSL technology gives us differentiated products at a number of important wavelengths. This advantage coupled with strong focus on meeting our customers' demands for more compact and cost effective sources as well as integrated laser sub-systems has resulted in growth for us in this market and we expect that to continue.

In the therapeutic area, we see stable business with several opportunities for growth. We supply excimer lasers used in refractive eye surgery and are actively involved in further developments in laser vision correction. We also have opportunities in dental procedures for both hard and soft tissue applications, with greatly improved patient comfort and outcome. In the area of photocoagulation, our Genesis OPSL yellow lasers are being used since the wavelength is particularly suitable for the treatment of blood vessels. We are an OEM supplier of CO₂ and semiconductor lasers to the major manufacturers of equipment used in the latest aesthetic procedures.

Governments have made and continue to make investments in the development of directed energy systems. We have a number of product offerings which support these development efforts.

Scientific and government programs

Worldwide scientific funding is expected to remain relatively stable, with some regions growing and others holding their current level. Bright spots include the strong push in neuroscience to better understand how the brain functions. Lasers play a very important role in imaging brain structure as well as tracking activity in animal brains using techniques such as optogenetics. We believe that our current and upcoming products are well positioned to take advantage of this exciting opportunity. In physics and chemistry applications, our recent product introductions of high performance and industrially hardened ultrafast products have been very well received. While this is a very competitive market, we expect that our new products will position us for growth.

MARKET APPLICATIONS

We design, manufacture and market lasers, laser tools, precision optics and related accessories for a diverse group of customers. The following table lists our major markets and the Coherent technologies serving these markets.*



Market	Application	Technology
Microelectronics	Flat panel display	CO, CO₂ DPSS Excimer Ultrafast Semiconductor Laser Sub-systems
	Semiconductor front-end	CO₂ DPSS OPSL Excimer Ion Laser Sub-systems



	Advanced packaging and interconnects	CO, CO₂ DPSS Excimer Ultrafast Laser Sub-systems
Materials processing	Automotive	CO₂ Fiber Laser Systems/ Laser Sub-systems Ultrafast
	Machine Tool	CO₂ Fiber DPSS Ultrafast Laser Systems/ Laser Sub-systems
	Medical Device	CO₂ DPSS Fiber Ultrafast Excimer Laser Systems/ Laser Sub-systems Components
	Consumer Goods	CO CO₂ Fiber DPSS Ultrafast Laser Systems/ Laser Sub-systems
OEM components and instrumentation	Bio-Instrumentation	DPSS OPSL Ultrafast Semiconductor
	Graphic arts and display	OPSL Semiconductor
	Medical therapy (OEM)	CO, CO₂ DPSS Ultrafast Excimer OPSL Semiconductor Components
	Defense and aerospace	Semiconductor Fiber Components
Scientific and government programs	All scientific applications	CO, CO₂ DPSS Excimer OPSL Ultrafast
*Coherent sells its laser measurement and control products into a number of these applications.

In addition to the products we provide, we invest routinely in the core technologies needed to create substantial differentiation for our products in the marketplace. Our semiconductor, crystal, fiber and large form factor optics facilities all maintain an external customer base providing value-added solutions. We direct significant engineering efforts to produce unique solutions targeted for internal consumption. These investments, once integrated into our broader product portfolio,

provide our customers with uniquely differentiated solutions and the opportunity to substantially enhance the performance, reliability and capability of the products we offer.

TECHNOLOGIES

Diode-pumped solid-state lasers (DPSS)

DPSS lasers use semiconductor lasers to pump a crystal to produce a laser beam. By changing the energy, optical components and the types of crystals used in the laser, different wavelengths and types of laser light can be produced.

The efficiency, reliability, longevity and relatively low cost of DPSS lasers make them ideally suited for a wide range of OEM and end-user applications, particularly those requiring 24-hour operations. Our DPSS systems are compact and self-contained sealed units. Unlike conventional tools and other lasers, our DPSS lasers require minimal maintenance since they do not have internal controls or components that require adjusting and cleaning to maintain consistency. They are also less affected by environmental changes in temperature and humidity, which can alter alignment and inhibit performance in many systems.

We manufacture a variety of DPSS laser types for different applications including semiconductor inspection; advanced packaging and interconnects; laser pumping; spectroscopy; bio-agent detection; DNA sequencing; drug discovery; flow cytometry; entertainment lighting (display); medical; rapid prototyping and marking, welding, engraving, cutting and drilling.

Fiber Lasers, Fiber Components and Fiber Assemblies

Fiber lasers use semiconductor lasers to pump a doped optical fiber to produce a laser beam. The unique features of a fiber laser make them suitable for producing high power, continuous wave laser beams. We manufacture differentiated fiber lasers that provide advantages and/or are enabling in certain applications. For example, our ARM laser offers dynamically adjustable beam profiles that improve welding results compared to standard fiber lasers and is able to weld new composite materials.

We are the world's leading OEM supplier of Active Fiber for fiber lasers - selected for our combination of high performance and consistent quality. In addition, we are a volume supplier of Specialty Passive Fiber, High Power Fiber Cables, Fiber Switches, Fiber-to-Fiber Couplers, amplifiers for directed energy applications and OEM Medical Fiber Assemblies. We produce our Medical assemblies in high volume in one of our ISO 13485 certified plants. In addition, many of the fiber components offered in the broader market, such as Fiber Bragg Gratings and Fiber Combiners, have our fiber components in them.

Gas lasers (CO, CO₂, Excimer, Ion)

The breadth of our gas laser portfolio is industry leading, encompassing CO, CO₂, excimer and ion laser technologies. Gas lasers derive their name from the use of one or more gases as a lasing medium. They collectively span an extremely diverse and useful emission range, from the very deep ultraviolet to the far infrared. This diverse range of available wavelengths, coupled with high optical output power, and an abundance of other attractive characteristics, makes gas lasers extremely useful and popular for a variety of microelectronics, scientific, therapeutic and materials processing applications.

Optically Pumped Semiconductor Lasers ("OPSL")

Our OPSL platform is a surface emitting semiconductor laser that is energized or pumped by a semiconductor laser. The use of optical pumping circumvents inherent power scaling limitations of electrically pumped lasers, enabling very high powered devices. A wide range of wavelengths can be achieved by varying the semiconductor materials used in the device and changing the frequency of the laser beam using techniques common in solid state lasers. The platform leverages high reliability technologies developed for telecommunications and produces a compact, rugged, high power, single-mode laser.

Our OPSL products are well suited to a wide range of applications, including the bio-instrumentation, therapeutics and graphic arts and display markets.

Semiconductor lasers

High power edge emitting semiconductor diode lasers use the same principles as widely-used CD and DVD lasers, but produce significantly higher power levels. The advantages of this type of laser include smaller size, longer life, enhanced reliability and greater efficiency. We manufacture a wide range of discrete semiconductor laser products with wavelengths ranging from 650nm to over 1000nm and output powers ranging from 1W to over 100W, with highly integrated products in the kW range. These products are available in a variety of industry standard form factors including the following: bare die, packaged and fiber coupled single emitters and bars, monolithic stacks and fully integrated modules with microprocessor controlled units that contain power supplies and active coolers.

Our semiconductor lasers are used internally as the pump lasers in DPSS, fiber and OPSL products that are manufactured by us, as well as a wide variety of external medical, OEM, defense and industrial applications, including aesthetic (hair removal, cosmetic dentistry), graphic arts, counter measures, rangefinders, target designators, cladding, hardening, brazing and welding.

Ultrafast ("UF") Lasers

Ultrafast lasers are lasers generating light pulses with durations of a few femtoseconds (10^-15 seconds) to a few tens of picoseconds (10^-12 seconds). These types of lasers are used for medical, advanced microelectronics and materials processing applications as well as scientific research. UF laser oscillators generate a train of pulses at 50-100 MHz, with peak powers of tens of kilowatts, and UF laser amplifiers generate pulses at 1-2000 kHz, with peak powers up to several Terawatts.

The extremely short duration of UF laser pulses enables temporally resolving fast events like the dynamics of atoms or electrons. In addition, the high peak power enables so-called non-linear effects where several photons can be absorbed by a molecule at the same time. This type of process enables applications like multi-photon excitation microscopy or ablation of materials with high precision and minimal thermal damage. The use of our ultrafast lasers in applications outside science has been growing rapidly over the last several years, particularly in microelectronics and materials processing applications.

Integrated Laser Solutions: Systems and Sub-systems

In most cases, our lasers are integrated into machine tools or systems to perform a specific task, e.g. manufacturing of electronic components or performing a procedure on a patient. Inside the system the laser is typically combined with delivery optics and beam steering devices, such as galvos, to deliver the laser beam to the workpiece. In addition to offering laser sources, we also offer solutions comprising beam delivery optics, mechanics and control electronics including software. We believe that these 'sub-systems' allow us to leverage our expertise in laser processing and optical design into superior solutions for our customers, with applications that can offer higher value and/or faster time to market. We have developed proprietary hardware, firmware and software in this area. Laser sub-systems often include vision systems, process monitoring and monitoring of the system itself. Our sub-system products include: PowerLine series for marking; the StarFiber for welding and cutting; the PWS welding system; the QFS laser scribing system; and the StarShape CO₂ laser-based systems.

In select cases we also offer complete laser systems which include the laser sub-system as well as a material handling system inside a class 1 laser safety enclosure, ready to be used in production or development environments. Our laser systems products include: the Laser Creator 3D metal printing system; the Performance, Select and Integral series of manual welding systems; the Exact, UW and MPS series of modular and highly configurable laser processing systems; the EasyMark, EasyJewel, LabelMarker Advanced and Combiline laser marking systems; the META laser cutting tools; and the PWS mini welding system.

SALES AND MARKETING

We primarily market our products in the United States through a direct sales force. We sell internationally through direct sales personnel located in Canada, France, Israel, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as through independent representatives in certain jurisdictions around the world. Our foreign sales are made principally to customers in South Korea, China, Germany, Japan and other European and Asia-Pacific countries. Foreign sales accounted for 76% of our net sales in fiscal 2019, 84% of our net sales in fiscal 2018 and 83% of our net sales in fiscal 2017. Sales made to independent representatives and distributors are generally priced in U.S. dollars. A large portion of foreign sales that we make directly to customers are priced in local currencies and are therefore subject to currency exchange fluctuations. Foreign sales are also subject to other normal risks of foreign operations such as protective tariffs, export and import controls and political instability.

We had one customer, Advanced Process Systems Corporation, who contributed more than 10% of revenue during fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017.

To support our sales efforts we maintain and continue to invest in a number of applications centers around the world, where our applications experts work closely with customers on developing laser processes to meet their manufacturing needs. The applications span a wide range, but are mostly centered around the materials processing and microelectronics markets. Locations include several facilities in the US, Europe and Asia.

We maintain customer support and field service staff in major markets within the United States, Europe, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan and other Asia-Pacific countries. This organization works closely with customers, customer groups and independent representatives in servicing equipment, training customers to use our products and exploring additional applications of our technologies.

We typically provide parts and service warranties on our lasers, laser-based systems, optical and laser components and related accessories and services. The length of warranties offered on our products and services varies, but primarily ranges from 12 to 24 months. Warranty reserves, as reflected on our consolidated balance sheets, have generally been sufficient to cover product warranty repair and replacement costs. The weighted average warranty period covered in our reserve is approximately 15 to 18 months.

MANUFACTURING

Since the acquisition of Rofin in November 2016, we have integrated Rofin into our organizational structure and both legacy organizations are operating as one company with common high level objectives, goals and processes. Strategies are being implemented to improve operating leverage, to execute synergies and to enhance our customers' experience. For example, in June 2019, we announced our plans to co-locate the manufacturing and engineering of our HPFL products at our Hamburg, Germany, facility to our Tampere, Finland, location and exit a portion of our HPFL business, expected to be completed during fiscal 2020. Common policies and guidelines have been communicated, key management and operating processes have been implemented and ERP systems at all of Rofin's sites in Asia and North America, and certain sites in Europe, have been integrated onto the same Oracle ERP and Agile planning platforms, consistent with the rest of Coherent. This integration process will continue into fiscal 2020.

Strategies

One of our core manufacturing strategies is to tightly control our supply of key parts, components, sub-assemblies and outsourcing partners. We primarily utilize vertical integration when we have proprietary internal capabilities that are not cost-effectively available from external sources. We believe this is essential to maintaining high quality products and enable rapid development and deployment of new products and technologies. We provide customers with products manufactured at the highest level of quality, leveraging Coherent's quality processes that are International Organization for Standardization ("ISO") certified at our principal manufacturing sites.

Committed to quality and customer satisfaction, we design and produce many of our own components and sub-assemblies in order to retain quality and performance control. We have also outsourced certain components, sub-assemblies and finished goods where we can maintain our high quality standards while improving our cost structure.

As part of our strategy to increase our market share and customer support in Asia as well as our continuing efforts to manage costs, we have transferred the production of additional products into both of our Singapore and Malaysia factories. With the acquisition of Rofin, we now have a manufacturing footprint in Nanjing, China. We are transferring additional products and volume to Nanjing and have consolidated our China repair activities in that facility. We have significantly increased our tube refurbishment capacity and footprint in our South Korea operations, which has allowed us to reduce service response time and inventories, providing benefits to us and to our customers. We have also increased our sourcing of materials from Asia through our International Procurement Office in Singapore, which has enabled us to reduce material costs on a global basis.

We have designed and implemented proprietary manufacturing tools, equipment and techniques in an effort to provide products that differentiate us from our competitors. These proprietary manufacturing techniques are utilized in a number of our product lines including our gas laser production, crystal growth, beam alignment as well as the wafer growth for our semiconductor, optically pumped semiconductor laser product family and fiber component and fiber laser product family.

Raw materials or sub-components required in the manufacturing process are generally available from several sources. However, we currently purchase several key components and materials, including exotic materials, crystals and optics, used in the manufacture of our products from sole source or limited source suppliers. We also purchase assemblies and turnkey solutions from contract manufacturers based on our proprietary designs. We rely on our own production and design capability to manufacture and specify certain strategic components, crystals, fibers, semiconductor lasers, lasers and laser-based systems.

For a discussion of the importance to our business of, and the risks attendant to sourcing, see "Risk Factors" in item 1A — "We depend on sole source or limited source suppliers, both internal and external, for some of our key components and materials, including exotic materials, certain cutting-edge optics and crystals, used in our products, which make us susceptible to supply shortages or price fluctuations that could adversely affect our business, particularly our ability to meet our customers' delivery requirements."

Operations

Our products are manufactured at our sites in California, Oregon, Arizona, Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire in the U.S.; Germany, Scotland, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain in Europe; and South Korea, China,

Singapore and Malaysia in Asia. In addition, we also use contract manufacturers for the production of certain assemblies and turnkey solutions.

Our ion gas lasers, a portion of our DPSS lasers that are used in microelectronics, scientific research and materials processing applications, semiconductor lasers, OPS lasers and ultrafast scientific lasers are manufactured at our Santa Clara, California site. Our laser diode module products, laser instrumentation products, test and measurement equipment products are manufactured in Wilsonville, Oregon. We manufacture exotic crystals in East Hanover, New Jersey and both active and passive fibers are manufactured in our Salem, New Hampshire facility. Our low power CO₂and CO gas lasers are manufactured in Bloomfield, Connecticut. We manufacture a portion of our DPSS lasers used in microelectronics and OEM components and instrumentation applications in Lübeck, Germany. We manufacture a portion of our DPSS lasers used in microelectronics, OEM components and instrumentation and materials processing applications in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Our excimer gas laser products are manufactured in Göttingen, Germany. We refurbish excimer tubes at our manufacturing sites in An-Seong, South Korea.

We manufacture the fiber-based lasers and a portion of our DPSS lasers used in microelectronics and scientific research applications in Glasgow, Scotland. Our facility in Sunnyvale, California grows the aluminum-free materials that are incorporated into our semiconductor lasers. Our facility in Richmond, California manufactures large form factor optics for our Linebeam excimer laser annealing systems. We manufacture and test high-power CO₂, solid-state and fiber laser macro products in Hamburg, Germany; Plymouth, Michigan; East Granby, Connecticut; Tampere, Finland; and Nanjing, China. Our laser marking products are manufactured and tested in Gilching-Munich, Germany; and Singapore. Our micro application products are manufactured and tested in Gilching-Munich, Germany; Tampere, Finland; Plymouth, Michigan; and Belp, Switzerland. Our diode laser products are manufactured and tested in Mainz and Freiburg, Germany; Tucson, Arizona; and Nanjing, China. Anodization of our Slab laser electrodes is performed in Overath, Germany. Our fiber optics and beam delivery systems are manufactured and tested in Molndal, Sweden, and power supplies are manufactured and tested in Starnberg-Munich, Germany. The Company's active and passive fibers and amplifiers are manufactured and tested in East Granby, Connecticut. Optical engines for fiber lasers, fiber lasers modules and wafer material are designed and manufactured in Tampere, Finland. We manufacture and test the laser tools for the Metal Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) market in Dieburg, Germany. As a result of our acquisition of Ondax in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, we manufacture critical components for diode lasers in Monrovia, California.

We have transferred several products and subassemblies for manufacture and repairs to our Singapore, Malaysia and Nanjing, China facilities and are continuing to transfer additional product manufacturing to these facilities as part of our worldwide manufacturing cost reduction strategy.

Coherent is committed to meeting internationally recognized manufacturing standards. All of our legacy Coherent facilities are ISO 9001 certified and several facilities are ISO 13485, ISO 14001, ISO 17025 and/or ISO 50001 certified depending on the products designed and manufactured at that facility. Substantially all of our legacy Rofin facilities are either ISO 9001 certified or are in the process of being certified.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. As of September 28, 2019, we held approximately 785 U.S. and foreign patents, which expire in calendar years 2019 through 2038 (depending on the payment of maintenance fees) and we have approximately 225 additional pending patent applications that have been filed. The issued patents cover various products in all of the major markets that we serve.

Some of our products are designed to include intellectual property licensed from third parties. It may be necessary in the future to seek or renew licenses relating to aspects of our products, processes and services. While we have generally been able to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms in the past, there is no guarantee that such licenses could be obtained on reasonable terms in the future or at all.

For a discussion of the importance to our business of, and the risks attendant to intellectual property rights, see "Risk Factors" in Item 1A — "If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology, our competitive advantage could be harmed" and "We may, in the future, be subject to claims or litigation from third parties, for claims of infringement of their proprietary rights or to determine the scope and validity of our proprietary rights or the proprietary rights of competitors or other rights holders. These claims could result in costly litigation and the diversion of our technical and management personnel. Adverse resolution of litigation may harm our operating results or financial condition."

COMPETITION

Competition in the various photonics markets in which we provide products is very intense. We compete against a number of large public and private companies including IPG Photonics Corporation, Lumentum Holdings Inc., MKS Instruments, Inc., Novanta Inc., nLIGHT, Inc., II-VI Incorporated, Wuhan Raycus Fiber Laser Technologies Co., Ltd, and TRUMPF GmbH, as well as other smaller companies. In addition, from time to time our customers may also decide to vertically integrate and build their own photonics products. We compete globally based on our broad product offering, reliability, cost, and performance advantages for the widest range of commercial and scientific research applications. Other considerations by our customers include warranty, global service and support and distribution.

BACKLOG

At fiscal 2019 year-end, our backlog of orders scheduled for shipment (within one year) was $502.1 million compared to $759.9 million at fiscal 2018 year-end. By segment, backlog for OLS was $309.5 million and $488.8 million at fiscal 2019 and 2018 year-ends, respectively. Backlog for ILS was $192.6 million and $271.1 million at fiscal 2019 and 2018 year-ends, respectively. The decrease in OLS backlog from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019 year-end was primarily due to lower orders for excimer laser annealing systems for the flat panel display market. The decrease in ILS backlog from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019 year-end was primarily due to lower orders in the materials processing and high power fiber laser markets. Orders used to compute backlog are generally cancellable and, depending on the notice period, are subject to rescheduling by our customers. We have not historically experienced a significant rate of cancellation or rescheduling, however the rate of cancellations or rescheduling may increase in the future. In the first quarter of fiscal 2019, one customer cancelled three purchase orders which included orders shippable within 12 months from fiscal 2018 year-end of $38.2 million and were included in backlog as of fiscal 2018 year-end. We reached agreement with this customer for compensation for such cancellation in the first quarter of fiscal 2019.

SEASONALITY

We have historically generally experienced decreased revenue in the first fiscal quarter compared to other quarters in our fiscal year due to the impact of time off and business closures at our facilities and those of many of our customers due to year-end holidays. For example, over the past 10 years, excluding certain recovery years, our first fiscal quarter revenues have ranged 2%-17% below the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal years. This historical pattern should not be considered a reliable indicator of the Company's future net sales or financial performance.

EMPLOYEES

As of fiscal 2019 year-end, we had 5,184 employees. Approximately 642 of our employees are involved in research and development; 3,366 of our employees are involved in operations, manufacturing, service and quality assurance; and 1,176 of our employees are involved in sales, order administration, marketing, finance, information technology, general management and other administrative functions. Our success will depend in large part upon our ability to attract and retain employees. We face competition in this regard from other companies, research and academic institutions, government entities and other organizations. We consider our relations with our employees to be good.

ACQUISITIONS

On October 5, 2018, we acquired privately held Ondax for approximately $12.0 million, excluding transaction costs. Ondax develops and produces photonic components which are used on an OEM basis by the laser industry as well as incorporated into its own stabilized lasers and Raman Spectroscopy systems.

On October 5, 2018, we acquired certain assets of Quantum for approximately $7.0 million, excluding transaction costs.

On March 8, 2018, we acquired privately held OR Laser for approximately $47.4 million, excluding transaction costs. OR Laser produces laser-based material processing equipment for a variety of uses, including additive manufacturing, welding, cladding, marking, engraving and drilling.

On November 7, 2016, we acquired Rofin, one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of high-performance industrial laser sources and laser-based solutions and components, for approximately $936.3 million. Rofin's operating results have been included primarily in our Industrial Lasers & Systems segment.

Please refer to Note 4, "Business Combinations" of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 15 of this annual report for further discussion of recent acquisitions completed.

RESTRUCTURINGS AND CONSOLIDATION

In the first quarter of fiscal 2017, we began the implementation of planned restructuring activities in connection with the acquisition of Rofin. The activities to date under this plan primarily related to exiting our legacy high power fiber laser product

line, change of control payments to Rofin officers, the exiting of two product lines acquired in the acquisition of Rofin, realignment of our supply chain due to segment reorganization and consolidation of sales and distribution offices as well as certain manufacturing sites. These activities resulted in charges primarily for employee termination, other exit related costs associated with the write-off of property and equipment and inventory and early lease termination costs.

The fiscal 2018 severance related costs are primarily comprised of severance pay for employees being terminated due to the consolidation of certain manufacturing sites. The fiscal 2018 asset write-offs are primarily comprised of inventory and equipment write-offs due to the consolidation of certain manufacturing sites.

In June 2019, we announced our plans to co-locate the manufacturing and engineering of our HPFL products at our Hamburg, Germany, facility to our Tampere, Finland, location and exit a portion of our HPFL business, expected to be completed during fiscal 2020. In conjunction with this announcement, we recorded restructuring charges in fiscal 2019 of $19.7 million. The charges primarily relate to estimated severance and write-offs of excess inventory, which is recorded in cost of sales.

We plan to continue additional restructuring activities in fiscal 2020 related to the relocation of our HPFL products and our acquisition of Rofin. We have also announced our intent to vacate our leased facility in Santa Clara at the end of the current lease term in calendar 2020 and combine operations at our Santa Clara headquarters. We did not incur material expenses in fiscal 2019 related to this project.

GOVERNMENT REGULATION

Environmental regulation

Our operations are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign environmental regulations relating to the use, storage, handling and disposal of regulated materials, chemicals, various radioactive materials and certain waste products. In the United States, we are subject to the federal regulation and control of the Environmental Protection Agency. Comparable authorities are involved in other countries. Such rules are subject to change by the governing agency and we monitor those changes closely. We expect all operations to meet the legal and regulatory environmental requirements and believe that compliance with those regulations will not have a material adverse effect on our capital expenditures, earnings and competitive and financial position.

Although we believe that our safety procedures for using, handling, storing and disposing of such materials comply with the standards required by federal and state laws and regulations, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of such an accident involving such materials, we could be liable for damages and such liability could exceed the amount of our liability insurance coverage and the resources of our business.

We face increasing complexity in our product design and procurement operations due to the evolving nature of environmental compliance regulations and standards, as well as specific customer compliance requirements. These regulations and standards have an impact on the material composition of our products entering specific markets. Such legislation has gone into effect at various time across the worldwide markets. For example, in the European Union ("EU"), the Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) went into effect in 2006, and was subsequently revised in 2011 (as RoHS 2) and again in 2015 (as RoHS 2 amended or commonly known as RoHS3) and came into in effect in July 2019. The Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) went into effect in 2007, and is updated with additional substances of very high concern (SVHC) every six months as well as restricted and authorized substances periodically. China enacted the Management Methods for Controlling Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products Regulation (China-RoHS) in 2007, which was revised and renamed in 2016 as the Administrative Measures for the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products (known as China RoHS 2). The first catalog of products under China RoHS 2 was published in March 2018 and covers primarily consumer type products and does not presently include Coherent products. Another example is the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Conflict Minerals Act) which requires manufacturers to provide disclosures about the use of specified conflict minerals emanating from the Democratic Republic of Congo and nine adjoining countries (Covered Countries). In addition to these regulations and directives, we may face costs and liabilities in connection with product take-back legislation. For example, beginning in 2006 (with several subsequent revisions), the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2012/19/EU made producers of electrical goods financially responsible for specified collection, recycling, recovery, treatment and disposal of past and future covered products. Similar laws are now pending in various jurisdictions around the world, including the United States.

Environmental liabilities

Our operations are subject to various laws and regulations governing the environment, including the discharge of pollutants and the management and disposal of hazardous substances. As a result of our historic as well as on-going operations, we could incur substantial costs, including remediation costs. The costs under environmental laws and the timing of these costs

are difficult to predict. Our accruals for such costs and liabilities may not be adequate because the estimates on which the accruals are based depend on a number of factors including the nature of the matter, the complexity of the site, site geology, the nature and extent of contamination, the type of remedy, the outcome of discussions with regulatory agencies and other Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) at multi-party sites and the number and financial viability of other PRPs.

We further discuss the impact of environmental regulation under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A — "Compliance or the failure to comply with current and future environmental regulations could cause us significant expense."

Regulatory Compliance

Lasers that are manufactured or sold in the United States are classified under the applicable rules and regulations of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health ("CDRH") of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). A similar classification system is applied in the European markets.

CDRH regulations require a self-certification procedure pursuant to which a manufacturer must submit a filing to the CDRH with respect to each product incorporating a laser, make periodic reports of sales and purchases, and comply with product labeling standards, product safety and design features and informational requirements. The CDRH is empowered to seek fines and other remedies for violations of their requirements. We believe that our products are in material compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of CDRH relating to lasers manufactured or sold in the United States.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the followings risks when considering an investment in our common stock. These risks could materially affect our business, results of operations or financial condition, cause the trading price of our common stock to decline materially or cause our actual results to differ materially from those expected or those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by us. These risks are not exclusive, and additional risks to which we are subject include, but are not limited to, the factors mentioned under “Forward-Looking Statements” and the risk of our businesses described elsewhere in this annual report. Additionally, these risks and uncertainties described herein are not the only ones facing us. Other events that we do not currently anticipate or that we currently deem immaterial also may affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our operating results, including net sales, net income (loss) and adjusted EBITDA in dollars and as a percentage of net sales, as well as our stock price have varied in the past, and our future operating results will continue to be subject to quarterly and annual fluctuations based upon numerous factors, including those discussed in this Item 1A and throughout this report. Our stock price will continue to be subject to daily variations as well. Our future operating results and stock price may not follow any past trends or meet our guidance and expectations.

Our net sales and operating results, such as adjusted EBITDA percentage, net income (loss) and operating expenses, and our stock price have varied in the past and may vary significantly from quarter to quarter and from year to year in the future. We believe a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control, could cause these variations and make them difficult to predict, including:


•	general economic uncertainties in the macroeconomic and local economies facing us, our customers and the markets we serve, particularly in China and the Eurozone;

•

impact of government economic policies on macroeconomic conditions, such as recently instituted, proposed or threatened changes in trade policies by the U.S. and any corresponding retaliatory actions by affected countries, in particular with respect to China, and trade restrictions the Japanese government has recently instituted affecting the export to South Korea of certain products and materials used in the manufacture of flat panel displays and in the semiconductor industry;


•	fluctuations in demand for our products or downturns in the industries that we serve, particularly the continued build-out of “phase 2” of the capacity for the manufacture of OLED and the increased use of the installed base of our products in such manufacturing;


•	the ability of our suppliers, both internal and external, to produce and deliver components and parts, including sole or limited source components, in a timely manner, in the quantity, quality and prices desired;


•	the timing of receipt of bookings and the timing of and our ability to ultimately convert bookings to net sales;


•	the concentration of a significant amount of our backlog, and resultant net sales, with a few customers in the Microelectronics market;


•	rescheduling of shipments or cancellation of orders by our customers;


•	fluctuations in our product mix;


•	the ability of our customers' other suppliers to provide sufficient material to support our customers' products;


•	currency fluctuations and stability, in particular the Euro, the Japanese Yen, the South Korean Won, the Chinese RMB and the U.S. Dollar as compared to other currencies;


•	commodity pricing;


•	interpretation and impact of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act;


•	introductions of new products and product enhancements by our competitors, entry of new competitors into our markets, pricing pressures and other competitive factors;


•	the increasing focus by companies in China to vertically integrate and consolidate their supply chains fully with products manufactured in China;


•	our ability to develop, introduce, manufacture and ship new and enhanced products in a timely manner without defects;


•	our ability to manage our manufacturing capacity across our diverse product lines and that of our suppliers, including our ability to successfully expand our manufacturing capacity in various locations around the world;


•	our ability to successfully and fully integrate acquisitions, such as the historical Rofin businesses, into our operations and management;

•

our ability to successfully internally transfer the manufacturing of products and related operations as part of our integration and internal reorganization efforts and to realize anticipated benefits (including savings) therefrom, such as with our recently announced plan to co-locate the manufacturing and engineering of our High Power Fiber Lasers ("HPFL") products at our Hamburg, Germany, facility to our Tampere, Finland, location and exit a portion of our HPFL business, expected to be completed during fiscal 2020;


•	our reliance on contract manufacturing;


•	our reliance in part upon the ability of our OEM customers to develop and sell systems that incorporate our laser products;


•	our customers' ability to manage their susceptibility to adverse economic conditions;


•	the rate of market acceptance of our new products;


•	the ability of our customers to pay for our products;


•	expenses associated with acquisition-related activities, including the costs of acquiring businesses or technologies;


•	seasonal sales trends, including with respect to Rofin's historical business, which has traditionally experienced a reduction in sales during the first half of its fiscal year as compared to the second half of its fiscal year;


•	jurisdictional capital and currency controls negatively impacting our ability to move funds from or to an applicable jurisdiction;


•	access to applicable credit markets by us, our customers and their end customers;


•	the impact of rising Chinese consumer debt and eroding consumer confidence and spending in China;


•	delays or reductions in customer purchases of our products in anticipation of the introduction of new and enhanced products by us or our competitors;


•	our ability to control expenses;


•	the level of capital spending of our customers;


•	potential excess and/or obsolescence of our inventory;


•	costs and timing of adhering to current and developing governmental regulations and reviews relating to our products and business, including import and export regulations in multiple jurisdictions;


•	impairment of goodwill, intangible assets and other long-lived assets;


•	our ability to meet our expectations and forecasts and those of public market analysts and investors;


•	the availability of research funding by governments with regard to our customers in the scientific business, such as universities;


•	continued government spending on defense-related and scientific research projects where we are a vendor directly or as a subcontractor;


•	maintenance of supply relating to products sold to the government on terms which we would prefer not to accept;


•	changes in policy, interpretations, or challenges to the allowability of costs incurred under government cost accounting standards;


•	our ability and the ability of our contractual counterparts to comply with the terms of our contracts;


•	damage to our reputation as a result of coverage in social media, Internet blogs or other media outlets;


•	managing our and other parties' compliance with contracts in multiple languages and jurisdictions;


•	managing our internal and third party sales representatives and distributors, including compliance with all applicable laws;


•	costs, expenses and damages arising from litigation;


•	costs associated with designing around or payment of licensing fees associated with issued patents in our fields of business;


•	individual employees intentionally or negligently failing to comply with our internal controls;


•	government support of alternative energy industries, such as solar;

•

negative impacts related to the "Brexit" vote by the United Kingdom, including uncertainties regarding the effects of an increasingly prolonged Brexit process and the possibility of a “no-deal” exit by the United Kingdom from the European Union, particularly with regard to any potential negative effects on our sales from our Glasgow, Scotland facility to other jurisdictions and purchases of supplies from outside the United Kingdom by such facility;


•	negative impacts related to the recent independence movement in Catalonia, Spain, particularly with regard to holding and operating some of our foreign entities in an efficient manner from a tax, business and legal perspective;


•	negative impacts related to government instability in any jurisdiction in which we operate, such as the recent difficulties in forming a governing coalition in Germany;


•	the future impact of legislation, rulemaking, and changes in accounting, tax, defense procurement and export policies; and


•	distraction of management related to acquisition, integration or divestment activities.

In addition, we often recognize a substantial portion of our sales in the last month of our fiscal quarters. Our expenses for any given quarter are typically based on expected sales, and if sales are below expectations in any given quarter, the adverse impact of the shortfall on our operating results may be magnified by our inability to adjust spending quickly enough to compensate for the shortfall. We also base our manufacturing on our forecasted product mix for the quarter. If the actual product mix varies significantly from our forecast, we may not be able to fill some orders during that quarter, which would result in delays in the shipment of our products. Accordingly, variations in timing of sales, particularly for our higher priced, higher margin products, can cause significant fluctuations in quarterly operating results.

Due to these and other factors, we believe that quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year comparisons of our historical operating results may not be meaningful. You should not rely on our results for any quarter or year as an indication of our future performance. Our operating results in future quarters and years may be below public market analysts' or investors' expectations, which would likely cause the price of our stock to fall. In addition, over the past several years, U.S. and global equity markets have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have affected the stock prices of many technology companies both in and outside our industry. There has not always been a direct correlation between this volatility and the performance of particular companies subject to these stock price fluctuations. These factors, as well as general economic and political

conditions or investors' concerns regarding the credibility of corporate financial statements, may have a material adverse effect on the market price of our stock in the future.

We depend on sole source or limited source suppliers, as well as on our own production capabilities, for some of the key components and materials, including exotic materials, certain cutting-edge optics and crystals, used in our products, which make us susceptible to supply shortages or price fluctuations that could adversely affect our business, particularly our ability to meet our customers' delivery requirements.

We currently purchase several key components and materials used in the manufacture of our products from sole source or limited source suppliers. In particular, from time-to-time our customers require us to ramp up production and/or accelerate delivery schedules of our products. Our key suppliers may not have the ability to increase their production in line with our customers' demands. This can become acute during times of high growth in our customers' businesses. Our failure to timely receive these key components and materials would likely cause delays in the shipment of our products, which would likely negatively impact both our customers and our business. Some of these suppliers are relatively small private companies that may discontinue their operations at any time and which may be particularly susceptible to prevailing economic conditions. Some of our suppliers are located in regions which may be susceptible to natural and man-made disasters, such as the flooding in Thailand and the earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster in Japan and severe flooding and power loss in the Eastern part of the United States and in California. We typically purchase our components and materials through purchase orders or agreed upon terms and conditions, and we do not have guaranteed supply arrangements with many of these suppliers. For certain long-lead time supplies or in order to lock-in pricing, we may be obligated to place non-cancellable purchase orders or otherwise assume liability for a large amount of the ordered supplies, which limits our ability to adjust down our inventory liability in the event of market downturns or other customer cancellations or rescheduling of their purchase orders for our products.

Some of our products, particularly in the flat panel display industry, require designs and specifications that are at the cutting-edge of available technologies and change frequently to meet rapidly evolving market demands. By their very nature, the types of components used in such products can be difficult and unpredictable to manufacture and may only be available from a single supplier, which increases the risk that we may not obtain such components in a timely manner. Identifying alternative sources of supply for certain components could be difficult and costly, result in management distraction in assisting our current and future suppliers to meet our and our customers' technical requirements, and cause delays in shipments of our products while we identify, evaluate and test the products of alternative suppliers. Any such delay in shipment would result in a delay or cancellation of our ability to convert such order into revenues. Furthermore, financial or other difficulties faced by these suppliers or significant changes in demand for these components or materials could limit their availability. We continue to consolidate our supply base and move supplier locations. When we transition locations, we may increase our inventory of such products as a "safety stock" during the transition, which may cause the amount of inventory reflected on our balance sheet to increase. Additionally, many of our customers rely on sole source suppliers. In the event of a disruption of our customers' supply chain, orders from our customers could decrease or be delayed.

Any interruption or delay in the supply of any of these components or materials, or the inability to obtain these components and materials from alternate sources at acceptable prices and within a reasonable amount of time, or our failure to properly manage these moves, would impair our ability to meet scheduled product deliveries to our customers and could cause customers to cancel orders. Furthermore, we have historically relied exclusively on our own production capability to manufacture certain strategic components, crystals, semiconductor lasers, fiber, lasers and laser-based systems. We also manufacture certain large format optics. Because we manufacture, package and test these components, products and systems at our own facilities, and such components, products and systems are not readily available from other sources, any interruption in manufacturing would adversely affect our business. Since many of our products have lengthy qualification periods, our ability to introduce multiple suppliers for parts may be limited. In addition, our failure to achieve adequate manufacturing yields of these items at our manufacturing facilities may materially and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

We participate in the microelectronics market, which requires significant research and development expenses to develop and maintain products and a failure to achieve market acceptance for our products could have a significant negative impact on our business and results of operations.

The microelectronics market is characterized by rapid technological change, frequent product introductions, the volatility of product supply and demand, changing customer requirements and evolving industry standards. The nature of this market requires significant research and development expenses to participate, with substantial resources invested in advance of material sales of our products to our customers in this market. Additionally, our product offerings may become obsolete given the frequent introduction of alternative technologies. In the event either our customers' or our products fail to gain market

acceptance, or the microelectronics market fails to grow, it would likely have a significant negative effect on our business and results of operations.

We participate in the flat panel display market, which has a relatively limited number of end customer manufacturers. Our backlog, timing of net sales and results of operations could be negatively impacted in the event we face any significant periods with few or no orders or our customers reschedule or cancel orders.

In the flat panel display market, there are a relatively limited number of manufacturers who are the end customers for our annealing products. In fiscal 2019, Advanced Process Systems Corporation, an integrator in the flat panel display market based in South Korea, contributed more than 10% of our revenue. Given macroeconomic conditions, varying consumer demand and technical process limitations at manufacturers, we may see fluctuations in orders, including periods with no or few orders, and our customers may seek to reschedule or cancel orders. For example, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, a customer requested a change of delivery date resulting in a significant order being rescheduled from the first to the second quarter of fiscal 2019. In addition, in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, one customer cancelled three purchase orders which included backlog shippable within 12 months of $38.2 million as well as some additional orders which were unscheduled.

These larger flat panel-related systems have large average selling prices. Any significant periods with few or no orders or any rescheduling or canceling of such orders by our customers will likely have a significant impact on our quarterly or annual net sales and results of operations and could negatively impact inventory values and backlog. Additionally, challenges in meeting evolving technological requirements for these complex products by us and our suppliers could also result in delays in shipments and rescheduled or cancelled orders by our customers. This could negatively impact our backlog, timing of net sales and results of operations.

As of September 28, 2019, flat panel display systems represented 25% of our backlog. Since our flat panel display systems have higher average selling prices than other products in our backlog, any delays or cancellation of shipments could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

We may not be able to integrate the business of Rofin successfully with our own, realize the anticipated benefits of the merger or manage our expanded operations, any of which would adversely affect our results of operations.

We have devoted, and expect to continue to devote, significant management attention and resources to integrating our business practices with those of Rofin. Such integration efforts are costly due to the large number of processes, policies, procedures, locations, operations, technologies and systems to be integrated, including purchasing, accounting and finance, sales, service, operations, payroll, pricing, marketing and employee benefits. Integration expenses could, particularly in the short term, exceed the savings we expect to achieve from the elimination of duplicative expenses and the realization of economies of scale, which could result in significant charges to earnings that we cannot currently quantify. Potential difficulties that we may encounter as part of the integration process include the following:


•	the inability to successfully combine our business with Rofin in a manner that permits the combined company to achieve the full synergies and other benefits anticipated to result from the merger;

•

complexities associated with managing the combined businesses, including difficulty addressing possible differences in corporate cultures and management philosophies and the challenge of integrating products, services, complex and different information technology systems (including different Enterprise Management Systems), control and compliance processes, technology, networks and other assets of each of the companies in a cohesive manner;


•	diversion of the attention of our management;


•	the disruption of, or the loss of momentum in, our business; and


•	inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures or policies.

Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and other constituencies or our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the merger, or could reduce our earnings or otherwise adversely affect our business and financial results. For example, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, difficulties in implementing our Enterprise Management Systems at one of our manufacturing sites located in Germany, which was historically part of Rofin, resulted in a shortage of manufacturing parts and shippable inventory to meet demands, resulting in a reduction of revenue for that quarter. If similar difficulties arise in the future and we are unable to resolve them in a timely

manner, we may experience a shortage of parts and inventory or otherwise be unable to meet demand, which could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.

Following the merger, the size and complexity of the business of the combined company has increased significantly. Our future success depends, in part, upon our ability to manage this expanded business, which has and will pose substantial challenges for management, including challenges related to the management and monitoring of new operations and associated increased costs and complexity. For example, we recently announced two planned site consolidations: (1) the relocation of the manufacturing and engineering of our HPFL products from our Hamburg, Germany, facility to our Tampere, Finland, location and the exit from a portion of our HPFL business, expected to be completed during fiscal 2020, and (2) vacating our leased facility in Santa Clara at the end of the current lease term in calendar 2020 and combining the operations at our Santa Clara headquarters. The execution of these consolidation projects could result in temporary loss of productivity or operational efficiency, interruptions in manufacturing or other unforeseen challenges while the projects are ongoing. Moreover, there can be no assurances that we will be successful in realizing the anticipated savings in connection with these consolidations or with our broader efforts to manage our expanded business or that we will realize the expected synergies and benefits anticipated from the merger.

Charges to earnings resulting from the application of the purchase method of accounting to the Rofin acquisition may adversely affect our results of operations.

In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, we have accounted for the Rofin acquisition using the purchase method of accounting. Under the purchase method of accounting, we allocated the total purchase price of Rofin's net tangible and identifiable intangible assets based upon their estimated fair values at the acquisition date. The excess of the purchase price over net tangible and identifiable intangible assets was recorded as goodwill. We have incurred and will continue to incur additional depreciation and amortization expense over the useful lives of certain of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired in connection with the acquisition. In addition, to the extent the value of goodwill or intangible assets with indefinite lives becomes impaired, we may be required to incur material charges relating to the impairment of those assets. These depreciation, amortization and potential impairment charges could have a material impact on our results of operations.

Our indebtedness following the Rofin merger is substantially greater than our indebtedness prior to the merger. This increased level of indebtedness could adversely affect us, including by decreasing our business flexibility, and will increase our borrowing costs.

In November 2016, we entered into a credit agreement (the "Credit Agreement"), which provided for a 670.0 million Euro term loan, all of which was drawn, and a $100.0 million revolving credit facility, under which a 10 million Euro letter of credit was issued. As of September 28, 2019, 364.9 million Euros were outstanding under the term loan. As of September 28, 2019, the revolving credit facility had been used for guarantees of 10.0 million Euros as well as borrowings of $10.0 million. We may incur additional indebtedness in the future by accessing the revolving credit facility and/or entering into new financing arrangements. Our ability to pay interest and repay the principal of our current indebtedness is dependent upon our ability to manage our business operations and the ongoing interest rate environment. There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage any of these risks successfully.

The Credit Agreement contains customary affirmative covenants, including covenants regarding the payment of taxes and other obligations, maintenance of insurance, reporting requirements and compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and negative covenants, including covenants limiting the ability of us and our subsidiaries to, among other things, incur debt, grant liens, make investments, make certain restricted payments, transact with affiliates, and sell assets. The Credit Agreement also requires us and our subsidiaries to maintain a senior secured net leverage ratio as of the last day of each fiscal quarter of less of than or equal to 3.50 to 1.00. The Credit Agreement contains customary events of default that include, among other things, payment defaults, cross defaults with certain other indebtedness, violation of covenants, inaccuracy of representations and warranties in any material respect, change in control of us and Coherent Holding BV & Co. K.G. (formerly Coherent Holding GmbH), judgment defaults, and bankruptcy and insolvency events. If an event of default exists, the lenders may require the immediate payment of all obligations and exercise certain other rights and remedies provided for under the Credit Agreement, the other loan documents and applicable law. The acceleration of such obligations is automatic upon the occurrence of a bankruptcy and insolvency event of default. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient financial resources or we will be able to arrange financing to repay our borrowings at such time.

Our substantially increased indebtedness and higher debt-to-equity ratio as a result of the Rofin merger in comparison to that prior to the merger will have the effect, among other things, of reducing our flexibility to respond to changing business and economic conditions and will increase our borrowing costs. In addition, the amount of cash required to service our increased indebtedness levels and thus the demands on our cash resources will be greater than the amount of cash flows required to

service our indebtedness or that of Rofin individually prior to the merger. The increased levels of indebtedness could also reduce funds available for our investments in product development as well as capital expenditures, dividends, share repurchases and other activities and may create competitive disadvantages for us relative to other companies with lower debt levels.

Some of our laser systems are complex in design and may contain defects that are not detected until deployed by our customers, which could increase our costs and reduce our net sales.

Lasers and laser systems are inherently complex in design and require ongoing regular maintenance. The manufacture of our lasers, laser products and systems involves a highly complex and precise process. As a result of the technological complexity of our products, in particular our excimer laser annealing tools used in the flat panel display market, changes in our or our suppliers' manufacturing processes or the inadvertent use of defective materials by us or our suppliers could result in a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields and product reliability. To the extent that we do not achieve and maintain our projected yields or product reliability, our business, operating results, financial condition and customer relationships would be adversely affected. We provide warranties on a majority of our product sales, and reserves for estimated warranty costs are recorded during the period of sale. The determination of such reserves requires us to make estimates of failure rates and expected costs to repair or replace the products under warranty. We typically establish warranty reserves based on historical warranty costs for each product line. If actual return rates and/or repair and replacement costs differ significantly from our estimates, adjustments to cost of sales may be required in future periods which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our customers may discover defects in our products after the products have been fully deployed and operated, including under the end user's peak stress conditions. In addition, some of our products are combined with products from other vendors, which may contain defects. As a result, should problems occur, it may be difficult to identify the source of the problem. If we are unable to identify and fix defects or other problems, we could experience, among other things:


•	loss of customers or orders;


•	increased costs of product returns and warranty expenses;


•	damage to our brand reputation;


•	failure to attract new customers or achieve market acceptance;


•	diversion of development, engineering and manufacturing resources; and


•	legal actions by our customers and/or their end users.

The occurrence of any one or more of the foregoing factors could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Continued volatility in the advanced packaging and semiconductor manufacturing markets could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A portion of our net sales in the microelectronics market depends on the demand for our products by advanced packaging applications and semiconductor equipment companies. These markets have historically been characterized by sudden and severe cyclical variations in product supply and demand, which have often severely affected the demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, including laser-based tools and systems. The timing, severity and duration of these market cycles are difficult to predict, and we may not be able to respond effectively to these cycles. The continuing uncertainty in these markets severely limits our ability to predict our business prospects or financial results in these markets.

During industry downturns, our net sales from these markets may decline suddenly and significantly. Our ability to rapidly and effectively reduce our cost structure in response to such downturns is limited by the fixed nature of many of our expenses in the near term and by our need to continue our investment in next-generation product technology and to support and service our products. In addition, due to the relatively long manufacturing lead times for some of the systems and subsystems we sell to these markets, we may incur expenditures or purchase raw materials or components for products we cannot sell. Accordingly, downturns in the semiconductor capital equipment market may materially harm our operating results. Conversely, when upturns in these markets occur, we must be able to rapidly and effectively increase our manufacturing capacity to meet increases in customer demand that may be extremely rapid, and if we fail to do so we may lose business to our competitors and our relationships with our customers may be harmed.

Worldwide economic conditions and related uncertainties could negatively impact demand for our products and results of operations.

Volatility and disruption in the capital and credit markets, depressed consumer confidence, government economic policies, negative economic conditions, volatile corporate profits and reduced capital spending could negatively impact demand for our products. In particular, it is difficult to develop and implement strategy, sustainable business models and efficient operations, as well as effectively manage supply chain relationships, in the face of such conditions, including uncertainty regarding the ability of some of our suppliers to continue operations and provide us with uninterrupted supply flow. Our ability to maintain our research and development investments in our broad product offerings may be adversely impacted in the event that our future sales decline or remain flat. Spending and the timing thereof by consumers and businesses have a significant impact on our results and, where such spending is delayed or cancelled, it could have a material negative impact on our operating results. Current global economic conditions remain uncertain and challenging. Weakness in our end markets could negatively impact our net sales, gross margin and operating expenses, and consequently have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Uncertainty in global fiscal policy has likely had an adverse impact on global financial markets and overall economic activity in recent years. Should this uncertain financial policy continue to occur or recur, it would likely continue to, and may in the future, negatively impact global economic activity. Any weakness in global economies would also likely have negative repercussions on U.S. and global credit and financial markets, and further exacerbate sovereign debt concerns in the European Union. All of these factors would likely adversely impact the global demand for our products and the performance of our investments, and would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Financial turmoil affecting the banking system and financial markets, as has occurred in recent years, could result in tighter credit markets and lower levels of liquidity in some financial markets. There could be a number of follow-on effects from a tightened credit environment on our business, including the insolvency of key suppliers or their inability to obtain credit to finance development and/or manufacture products resulting in product delays; inability of customers to obtain credit to finance purchases of our products and/or customer insolvencies; and failure of financial institutions negatively impacting our treasury functions. In the event our customers are unable to obtain credit or otherwise pay for our shipped products it could significantly impact our ability to collect on our outstanding accounts receivable. Other income and expense also could vary materially from expectations depending on gains or losses realized on the sale or exchange of financial instruments; impairment charges resulting from revaluations of debt and equity securities and other investments; interest rates; cash balances; and changes in fair value of derivative instruments. Volatility in the financial markets and any overall economic uncertainty increase the risk that the actual amounts realized in the future on our financial instruments could differ significantly from the fair values currently assigned to them. Uncertainty about global economic conditions could also continue to increase the volatility of our stock price.

In addition, political and social turmoil related to international conflicts, terrorist acts, civil unrest and mass migration may put further pressure on economic conditions in the United States and the rest of the world. Unstable economic, political and social conditions make it difficult for our customers, our suppliers and us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities. If such conditions persist, our business, financial condition and results of operations could suffer. Additionally, unstable economic conditions can provide significant pressures and burdens on individuals, which could cause them to engage in inappropriate business conduct. See "Part II, Item 9A. Controls and Procedures."

Our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments are managed through various banks around the world and volatility in the capital and credit market conditions could cause financial institutions to fail or materially harm service levels provided by such banks, both of which could have an adverse impact on our ability to timely access funds.

World capital and credit markets have been and may continue to experience volatility and disruption. In some cases, the markets have exerted downward pressure on stock prices and credit capacity for certain issuers, as well as pressured the solvency of some financial institutions. These financial institutions, including banks, have had difficulty timely performing regular services and in some cases have failed or otherwise been largely taken over by governments. We maintain our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments with a number of financial institutions around the world. Should some or all of these financial institutions fail or otherwise be unable to timely perform requested services, we would likely have limited ability to timely access our cash deposited with such institutions, or, in extreme circumstances the failure of such institutions could cause us to be unable to access cash for the foreseeable future. If we are unable to quickly access our funds when we need them, we may need to increase the use of our existing credit lines or access more expensive credit, if available. If we are unable to access our cash or if we access existing or additional credit or are unable to access additional credit, it could have a negative

impact on our operations, including our reported net income. In addition, the willingness of financial institutions to continue to accept our cash deposits will impact our ability to diversify our investment risk among institutions.

We are exposed to credit risk and fluctuations in the market values of our investment portfolio.

Although we have not recognized any material losses on our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, future declines in their market values could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results. Given the global nature of our business, we have investments both domestically and internationally. There has recently been growing pressure on the creditworthiness of sovereign nations, particularly in Europe where a significant portion of our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments are invested, which results in corresponding pressure on the valuation of the securities issued by such nations. Additionally, our overall investment portfolio is often concentrated in government-issued securities such as U.S. Treasury securities and government agencies, corporate notes, commercial paper and money market funds. Credit ratings and pricing of these investments can be negatively impacted by liquidity, credit deterioration or losses, financial results, or other factors. Additionally, liquidity issues or political actions by sovereign nations could result in decreased values for our investments in certain government securities. As a result, the value or liquidity of our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments could decline or become materially impaired, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results. See "Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk."

Our future success depends on our ability to increase our sales volumes and decrease our costs to offset potential declines in the average selling prices ("ASPs") of our products and, if we are unable to realize greater sales volumes and lower costs, our operating results may suffer.

Our ability to increase our sales volume and our future success depends on the continued growth of the markets for lasers, laser systems and related accessories, as well as our ability to identify, in advance, emerging markets for laser-based systems and to manage our manufacturing capacity to meet customer demands. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully identify, on a timely basis, new high-growth markets in the future. Moreover, we cannot assure you that new markets will develop for our products or our customers' products, or that our technology or pricing will enable such markets to develop. Future demand for our products is uncertain and will depend to a great degree on continued technological development and the introduction of new or enhanced products. If this does not continue, sales of our products may decline and our business will be harmed.

We have in the past experienced decreases in the ASPs of some of our products. As competing products become more widely available or lower-cost products come to market, the ASPs of our products may decrease. If we are unable to offset any decrease in our ASPs by increasing our sales volumes, our net sales will decline. In addition, to maintain our gross margins, we must continue to reduce the cost of manufacturing our products while maintaining their high quality. From time to time, our products, like many complex technological products, may fail in greater frequency than anticipated. This can lead to further charges, which can result in higher costs, lower gross margins and lower operating results. Furthermore, as ASPs of our current products decline, we must develop and introduce new products and product enhancements with higher margins. If we cannot maintain our gross margins, our operating results could be seriously harmed, particularly if the ASPs of our products decrease significantly.

Our future success depends on our ability to develop and successfully introduce new and enhanced products that meet the needs of our customers.

Our current products address a broad range of commercial and scientific research applications in the photonics markets. We cannot assure you that the market for these applications will continue to generate significant or consistent demand for our products. Demand for our products could be significantly diminished by disrupting technologies or products that replace them or render them obsolete. Furthermore, the new and enhanced products in certain markets generally continue to be smaller in size and have lower ASPs, and therefore, we have to sell more units to maintain revenue levels. Accordingly, we must continue to invest in research and development in order to develop competitive products.

Our future success depends on our ability to anticipate our customers' needs and develop products that address those needs. Introduction of new products and product enhancements will require that we effectively transfer production processes from research and development to manufacturing and coordinate our efforts with those of our suppliers to achieve volume production rapidly. If we fail to transfer production processes effectively, develop product enhancements or introduce new products in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of our customers as scheduled, our net sales may be reduced and our business may be harmed.

We face risks associated with our foreign operations and sales that could harm our financial condition and results of operations.

For fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017, 76%, 84%, and 83%, respectively, of our net sales were derived from customers outside of the United States. We anticipate that foreign sales, particularly in Asia, will continue to account for a significant portion of our net sales in the foreseeable future.

A global economic slowdown or a natural disaster could have a negative effect on various foreign markets in which we operate, such as the earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster in Japan and the flooding in Thailand. Such a slowdown may cause us to reduce our presence in certain countries, which may negatively affect the overall level of business in such countries. Our foreign sales are primarily through our direct sales force. Additionally, some foreign sales are made through foreign distributors and representatives. Our foreign operations and sales are subject to a number of risks, including:


•	compliance with applicable import/export regulations, tariffs and trade barriers, including recently instituted or proposed changes in trade policies by the U.S. and any corresponding retaliatory actions by affected countries, in particular with respect to China;


•	longer accounts receivable collection periods;


•	the impact of recessions and other economic conditions in economies outside the United States, including, for example, recent dips in the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index ("PMI") as well as the Institute of Supply Management ("ISM") data in the Eurozone, in particular in Germany;


•	unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;


•	certification requirements;


•	environmental regulations;


•	reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries;


•	potentially adverse tax consequences;


•	political and economic instability, such as the current situation between the governments of Japan and South Korea, which has led to the imposition of trade restrictions by the Japanese government affecting the export to South Korea of certain products and materials used in the manufacture of flat panel displays and in the semiconductor industry;


•	compliance with applicable United States and foreign anti-corruption laws;


•	less than favorable contract terms;


•	reduced ability to enforce contractual obligations;


•	cultural and management differences;


•	reliance in some jurisdictions on third party sales channel partners;


•	preference for locally produced products; and


•	shipping and other logistics complications.

Our business could also be impacted by international conflicts, terrorist and military activity including, in particular, any such conflicts on the Korean peninsula, civil unrest and pandemic illness, any of which could cause a slowdown in customer orders, cause customer order cancellations or negatively impact availability of supplies or limit our ability to timely service our installed base of products.

We are also subject to the risks of fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates, which could materially adversely affect the sales price of our products in foreign markets, as well as the costs and expenses of our foreign subsidiaries. While we use

forward exchange contracts and other risk management techniques to hedge our foreign currency exposure, we remain exposed to the economic risks of foreign currency fluctuations.

If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology, our competitive advantage could be harmed.

Maintenance of intellectual property rights and the protection thereof is important to our business. We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. Our patent applications may not be approved, any patents that may be issued may not sufficiently protect our intellectual property and any issued patents may be challenged by third parties. Other parties may independently develop similar or competing technology or design around any patents that may be issued to us. We cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent the misappropriation of our intellectual property, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. Further, we may be required to enforce our intellectual property or other proprietary rights through litigation, which, regardless of success, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management's attention. Additionally, there may be existing patents of which we are unaware that could be pertinent to our business and it is not possible for us to know whether there are patent applications pending that our products might infringe upon since these applications are often not publicly available until a patent is issued or published.

We may, in the future, be subject to claims or litigation from third parties, for claims of infringement of their proprietary rights or to determine the scope and validity of our proprietary rights or the proprietary rights of competitors or other rights holders. These claims could result in costly litigation and the diversion of our technical and management personnel. Adverse resolution of litigation may harm our operating results or financial condition.

In recent years, there has been significant litigation in the United States and around the world involving patents and other intellectual property rights. This has been seen in our industry, for example in the concluded patent-related litigation between IMRA America, Inc. ("Imra") and IPG Photonics Corporation and in Imra's concluded patent-related litigation against two of our German subsidiaries. From time to time, like many other technology companies, we have received communications from other parties asserting the existence of patent rights, copyrights, trademark rights or other intellectual property rights which such third parties believe may cover certain of our products, processes, technologies or information. In the future, we may be a party to litigation to protect our intellectual property or as a result of an alleged infringement of others' intellectual property whether through direct claims or by way of indemnification claims of our customers, as, in some cases, we contractually agree to indemnify our customers against third-party infringement claims relating to our products. These claims and any resulting lawsuit, if successful, could subject us to significant liability for damages or invalidation of our proprietary rights. These lawsuits, regardless of their success, would likely be time-consuming and expensive to resolve and would divert management time and attention. In addition to paying possibly significant monetary damages, any potential intellectual property litigation could also force us to do one or more of the following:


•	stop manufacturing, selling or using our products that use the infringed intellectual property;


•	obtain from the owner of the infringed intellectual property right a license to sell or use the relevant technology, although such license may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all; or


•	redesign the products that use the technology.

If we are forced to take any of these actions or are otherwise a party to lawsuits of this nature, we may incur significant losses and our business may be seriously harmed. We do not have insurance to cover potential claims of this type.

If our goodwill or intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.

Under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, we review our intangible assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Goodwill is required to be tested for impairment at least annually. Factors that may be considered in determining whether a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of our goodwill or other intangible assets may not be recoverable include declines in our stock price and market capitalization or future cash flows projections. A decline in our stock price, or any other adverse change in market conditions, particularly if such change has the effect of changing one of the critical assumptions or estimates we used to calculate the estimated fair value of our reporting units, could result in a change to the estimation of fair value that could result in an impairment charge. Any such material charges, whether related to goodwill or purchased intangible assets, may have a material negative impact on our financial and operating results.

We depend on skilled personnel to operate our business effectively in a rapidly changing market, and if we are unable to retain existing or hire additional personnel when needed, or manage transitions among members of our leadership team, in particular the recently announced upcoming transition of our President and Chief Executive Officer, our ability to develop and sell our products could be harmed.

Our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel will be a critical factor in determining whether we will be successful in the future. Recruiting and retaining highly skilled personnel in certain functions continues to be difficult. At certain locations where we operate, the cost of living is extremely high and it may be difficult to retain key employees and management at a reasonable cost. We may not be successful in attracting, assimilating or retaining qualified personnel to fulfill our current or future needs, which could adversely affect our growth and our business.

Our future success depends upon the continued services of our executive officers and other key engineering, sales, marketing, manufacturing and support personnel, any of whom may leave and our ability to effectively transition to their successors. In April 2019, we announced that John Ambroseo will transition from being our President and Chief Executive Officer, a position he has served in since 2002, to a special advisor to the Company no later than April 2021. In addition, we also announced that Paul Sechrist transitioned from being our Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Service, a position he has served in since 2011, to a special advisor to our Chief Executive Officer at the end of fiscal 2019. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to find suitable successors to key roles such as these as transitions occur, in particular for the role of Chief Executive Officer, or that any identified successor will be successfully integrated into our management team. Our inability to do so, or to retain other key employees or effectively transition to their successors, or any delay in filling any such positions, could harm our business and our results of operations.

The long sales cycles for our products may cause us to incur significant expenses without offsetting net sales.

Customers often view the purchase of our products as a significant and strategic decision. As a result, customers typically expend significant effort in evaluating, testing and qualifying our products before making a decision to purchase them, resulting in a lengthy initial sales cycle. While our customers are evaluating our products and before they place an order with us, we may incur substantial sales and marketing and research and development expenses to customize our products to the customers' needs. We may also expend significant management efforts, increase manufacturing capacity and order long lead-time components or materials prior to receiving an order. Even after this evaluation process, a potential customer may not purchase our products. As a result, these long sales cycles may cause us to incur significant expenses without ever receiving net sales to offset such expenses.

The markets in which we sell our products are intensely competitive and increased competition could cause reduced sales levels, reduced gross margins or the loss of market share.

Competition in the various photonics markets in which we provide products is very intense. We compete against a number of large public and private companies, including IPG Photonics Corporation, Lumentum Holdings Inc., MKS Instruments, Inc., Novanta Inc., nlight, Inc., II-VI Incorporated, Wuhan Raycus Fiber Laser Technologies Co., Ltd, and Trumpf GmbH, as well as other smaller companies. Some of our competitors are large companies that have significant financial, technical, marketing and other resources. These competitors may be able to devote greater resources than we can to the development, promotion, sale and support of their products. Some of our competitors are much better positioned than we are to acquire other companies in order to gain new technologies or products that may displace our product lines. Any of these acquisitions could give our competitors a strategic advantage. Any business combinations or mergers among our competitors, forming larger companies with greater resources, could result in increased competition, price reductions, reduced margins or loss of market share, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Additional competitors may enter the markets in which we serve, both foreign and domestic, and we are likely to compete with new companies in the future. For example, in recent years there have been a growing number of companies in China that, in some cases aided by government subsidies, are targeting our markets and are exerting significant price pressure in certain of our product markets, in particular the HPFL products used in the metal cutting market in China. These companies will likely in the future be able to expand into broader product markets, which may result in additional competitive pressures on us. We may also encounter potential customers that, due to existing relationships with our competitors, are committed to the products offered by these competitors. Further, our current or potential customers may determine to develop and produce products for their own use which are competitive to our products. Such vertical integration could reduce the market opportunity for our products. As a result of the foregoing factors, we expect that competitive pressures may result in price reductions, reduced margins, loss of sales and loss of market share. In addition, in markets where there are a limited number of customers, competition is particularly intense.

If we fail to accurately forecast component and material requirements for our products, we could incur additional costs and incur significant delays in shipments, which could result in a loss of customers.

We use rolling forecasts based on anticipated product orders and material requirements planning systems to determine our product requirements. It is very important that we accurately predict both the demand for our products and the lead times required to obtain the necessary components and materials. We depend on our suppliers for most of our product components and materials. Lead times for components and materials that we order vary significantly and depend on factors including the specific supplier requirements, the size of the order, contract terms and current market demand for components. For substantial increases in our sales levels of certain products, some of our suppliers may need at least nine months lead-time. If we overestimate our component and material requirements, we may have excess inventory, which would increase our costs. If we underestimate our component and material requirements, we may have inadequate inventory, which could interrupt and delay delivery of our products to our customers. Any of these occurrences would negatively impact our net sales, business or operating results.

Our reliance on contract manufacturing and outsourcing may adversely impact our financial results and operations due to our decreased control over the performance and timing of certain aspects of our manufacturing.

Our manufacturing strategy includes partnering with contract manufacturers to outsource non-core subassemblies and less complex turnkey products, including some performed at international sites located in Asia and Eastern Europe. Our ability to resume internal manufacturing operations for certain products and components in a timely manner may be eliminated. The cost, quality, performance and availability of contract manufacturing operations are and will be essential to the successful production and sale of many of our products. Our financial condition or results of operation could be adversely impacted if any contract manufacturer or other supplier is unable for any reason, including as a result of the impact of worldwide economic conditions, to meet our cost, quality, performance, and availability standards. We may not be able to provide contract manufacturers with product volumes that are high enough to achieve sufficient cost savings. If shipments fall below forecasted levels, we may incur increased costs or be required to take ownership of the inventory. Also, our ability to control the quality of products produced by contract manufacturers may be limited and quality issues may not be resolved in a timely manner, which could adversely impact our financial condition or results of operations.

If we fail to effectively manage our growth or, alternatively, our spending during downturns, our business could be disrupted, which could harm our operating results.

Growth in sales, combined with the challenges of managing geographically dispersed operations, can place a significant strain on our management systems and resources, and our anticipated growth in future operations could continue to place such a strain. The failure to effectively manage our growth could disrupt our business and harm our operating results. Our ability to successfully offer our products and implement our business plan in evolving markets requires an effective planning and management process. In economic downturns, we must effectively manage our spending and operations to ensure our competitive position during the downturn, as well as our future opportunities when the economy improves, remain intact. The failure to effectively manage our spending and operations could disrupt our business and harm our operating results.

Historically, acquisitions have been an important element of our strategy. However, we may not find suitable acquisition candidates in the future and we may not be able to successfully integrate and manage acquired businesses. Any acquisitions we make could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition.

We have in the past made strategic acquisitions of other corporations and entities, including Ondax in October 2018, OR Laser in March 2018 and Rofin in November 2016, as well as asset purchases, and we continue to evaluate potential strategic acquisitions of complementary companies, products and technologies. In the event of any future acquisitions, we could:


•	issue stock that would dilute our current stockholders' percentage ownership;


•	pay cash that would decrease our working capital;


•	incur debt;


•	assume liabilities; or


•	incur expenses related to impairment of goodwill and amortization.

Acquisitions also involve numerous risks, including:


•	problems combining the acquired operations, systems, technologies or products;


•	an inability to realize expected operating efficiencies or product integration benefits;


•	difficulties in coordinating and integrating geographically separated personnel, organizations, systems and facilities;


•	difficulties integrating business cultures;


•	unanticipated costs or liabilities, including the costs associated with improving the internal controls of the acquired company;


•	diversion of management's attention from our core businesses;


•	adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers;


•	potential loss of key employees, particularly those of the purchased organizations;


•	incurring unforeseen obligations or liabilities in connection with acquisitions; and


•	the failure to complete acquisitions even after signing definitive agreements which, among other things, would result in the expensing of potentially significant professional fees and other charges in the period in which the acquisition or negotiations are terminated.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully identify appropriate acquisition candidates, to integrate any businesses, products, technologies or personnel that we might acquire in the future or achieve the anticipated benefits of such transactions, which may harm our business.

Our market is unpredictable and characterized by rapid technological changes and evolving standards demanding a significant investment in research and development, and, if we fail to address changing market conditions, our business and operating results will be harmed.

The photonics industry is characterized by extensive research and development, rapid technological change, frequent new product introductions, changes in customer requirements and evolving industry standards. Because this industry is subject to rapid change, it is difficult to predict its potential size or future growth rate. Our success in generating net sales in this industry will depend on, among other things:


•	maintaining and enhancing our relationships with our customers;


•	the education of potential end-user customers about the benefits of lasers and laser systems; and


•	our ability to accurately predict and develop our products to meet industry standards.

We cannot assure you that our expenditures for research and development will result in the introduction of new products or, if such products are introduced, that those products will achieve sufficient market acceptance or to generate sales to offset the costs of development. Our failure to address rapid technological changes in our markets could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We are exposed to lawsuits in the normal course of business which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, or financial condition.

We are exposed to lawsuits in the normal course of our business, including product liability claims, if personal injury, death or commercial losses occur from the use of our products. As a public company our stock price fluctuates for a variety of different reasons, some of which may be related to broader industry and/or market factors. As a result, from time-to-time we may be subject to the risk of litigation due to the fluctuation in stock price or other governance or market-related factors. While we typically maintain business insurance, including directors' and officers' policies, litigation can be expensive, lengthy, and disruptive to normal business operations, including the potential impact of indemnification obligations for individuals named in any such lawsuits. We may not, however, be able to secure insurance coverage on terms acceptable to us in the future.

Moreover, the results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict. An unfavorable resolution of a particular lawsuit, including a recall or redesign of products if ultimately determined to be defective, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, or financial condition.

We use standard laboratory and manufacturing materials that could be considered hazardous and we could be liable for any damage or liability resulting from accidental environmental contamination or injury.

Although most of our products do not incorporate hazardous or toxic materials and chemicals, some of the gases used in our excimer lasers and some of the liquid dyes used in some of our scientific laser products are highly toxic. In addition, our operations involve the use of standard laboratory and manufacturing materials that could be considered hazardous. Also, if a facility fire were to occur at our Sunnyvale, California site and were to spread to a reactor used to grow semiconductor wafers, it could release highly toxic emissions. We believe that our safety procedures for handling and disposing of such materials comply with all federal, state and offshore regulations and standards. However, the risk of accidental environmental contamination or injury from such materials cannot be entirely eliminated. In the event of such an accident involving such materials, we could be liable for damages and such liability could exceed the amount of our liability insurance coverage and the resources of our business which could have an adverse effect on our financial results or our business as a whole.

Compliance or the failure to comply with current and future environmental regulations could cause us significant expense.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and foreign environmental regulations relating to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of hazardous chemicals used during our manufacturing process or requiring design changes or recycling of products we manufacture. If we fail to comply with any present and future regulations, we could be subject to future liabilities, the suspension of production or a prohibition on the sale of products we manufacture. In addition, such regulations could restrict our ability to expand our facilities or could require us to acquire costly equipment, or to incur other significant expenses to comply with environmental regulations, including expenses associated with the recall of any non-compliant product and the management of historical waste.

From time to time new regulations are enacted, and it is difficult to anticipate how such regulations will be implemented and enforced. We continue to evaluate the necessary steps for compliance with regulations as they are enacted. These regulations include, for example, the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances ("REACH"), the Restriction on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive ("RoHS") and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive ("WEEE") enacted in the European Union, which regulate the use of certain hazardous substances in, and require the collection, reuse and recycling of waste from, certain products we manufacture. This and similar legislation that has been or is in the process of being enacted in Japan, China, South Korea and various states of the United States may require us to re-design our products to ensure compliance with the applicable standards, for example by requiring the use of different types of materials. These redesigns or alternative materials may detrimentally impact the performance of our products, add greater testing lead-times for product introductions or have other similar effects. We believe we comply with all such legislation where our products are sold, and we will continue to monitor these laws and the regulations being adopted under them to determine our responsibilities. In addition, we are monitoring legislation relating to the reduction of carbon emissions from industrial operations to determine whether we may be required to incur any additional material costs or expenses associated with our operations. We are not currently aware of any such material costs or expenses. The SEC has promulgated rules requiring disclosure regarding the use of certain "conflict minerals" mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries and procedures regarding a manufacturer's efforts to prevent the sourcing of such minerals. The implementation of such rules has required us to incur additional expense and internal resources and may continue to do so in the future, particularly in the event that only a limited pool of suppliers are available to certify that products are free from "conflict minerals." Our failure to comply with any of the foregoing regulatory requirements or contractual obligations could result in our being directly or indirectly liable for costs, fines or penalties and third-party claims, and could jeopardize our ability to conduct business in the United States and foreign countries.

Our and our customers' operations would be seriously harmed if our logistics or facilities or those of our suppliers, our customers' suppliers or our contract manufacturers were to experience catastrophic loss.

Our operations, logistics and facilities and those of our customers, suppliers and contract manufacturers could be subject to a catastrophic loss from fire, flood, earthquake, volcanic eruption, work stoppages, power outages, acts of war, pandemic illnesses, energy shortages, theft of assets, other natural disasters or terrorist activity. A substantial portion of our research and development activities, manufacturing, our corporate headquarters and other critical business operations are located near major earthquake faults in Santa Clara, California, an area with a history of seismic events. Any such loss or detrimental impact to any of our operations, logistics or facilities could disrupt our operations, delay production, shipments and net sales and result in large expenses to repair or replace the facility. While we have obtained insurance to cover most potential losses, after reviewing

the costs and limitations associated with earthquake insurance, we have decided not to procure such insurance. We believe that this decision is consistent with decisions reached by numerous other companies located nearby. We cannot assure you that our existing insurance coverage will be adequate against all other possible losses.

Difficulties with our enterprise resource planning ("ERP") system and other parts of our global information technology system could harm our business and results of operation. If our network security measures are breached and unauthorized access is obtained to a customer's data or our data or our information technology systems, we may incur significant legal and financial exposure and liabilities.

Like many modern multinational corporations, we maintain a global information technology system, including software products licensed from third parties. Any system, network or Internet failures, misuse by system users, the hacking into or disruption caused by the unauthorized access by third parties or loss of license rights could disrupt our ability to timely and accurately manufacture and ship products or to report our financial information in compliance with the timelines mandated by the SEC. Any such failure, misuse, hacking, disruptions or loss would likely cause a diversion of management's attention from the underlying business and could harm our operations. In addition, a significant failure of our global information technology system could adversely affect our ability to complete an evaluation of our internal controls and attestation activities pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Our information systems are subject to attacks, interruptions and failures.

As part of our day-to-day business, we store our data and certain data about our customers in our global information technology system. While our system is designed with access security, if a third party gains unauthorized access to our data, including any regarding our customers, such a security breach could expose us to a risk of loss of this information, loss of business, litigation and possible liability. Our security measures may be breached as a result of third-party action, including intentional misconduct by computer hackers, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise. Additionally, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or customers into disclosing sensitive information such as user names, passwords or other information in order to gain access to our customers' data or our data, including our intellectual property and other confidential business information, or our information technology systems. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, or to sabotage systems, change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Any unauthorized access could result in a loss of confidence by our customers, damage our reputation, disrupt our business, lead to legal liability and negatively impact our future sales. Additionally, such actions could result in significant costs associated with loss of our intellectual property, impairment of our ability to conduct our operations, rebuilding our network and systems, prosecuting and defending litigation, responding to regulatory inquiries or actions, paying damages or taking other remedial steps.

Changes in tax rates, tax liabilities or tax accounting rules could affect future results.

As a global company, we are subject to taxation in the United States and various other countries and jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required to determine our worldwide tax liabilities. A number of factors may affect our future effective tax rates including, but not limited to:


•	interpretation and impact of the recently enacted and aforementioned U.S. tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act");


•	changes in our current and future global structure based on the Rofin acquisition and restructuring that involved significant movement of U.S. and foreign entities and our ability to maintain favorable tax treatment as a result of various Rofin restructuring efforts and business activities;


•	the outcome of discussions with various tax authorities regarding intercompany transfer pricing arrangements;


•	changes that involve other acquisitions, restructuring or an increased investment in technology outside of the United States to better align asset ownership and business functions with revenues and profits;


•	changes in the composition of earnings in countries or states with differing tax rates;


•	the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities, and in particular, the outcome of the German tax audits of Coherent and Rofin tax returns for fiscal 2010-2016 and the appeals of the South Korean fiscal 2014-2017 tax audits through the Competent Authority process between South Korea, Germany and the United States;


•	adjustments to estimated taxes upon finalization of various tax returns;


•	increases in expenses not deductible for tax purposes, including impairments of goodwill in connection with acquisitions;


•	our ability to meet the eligibility requirements for tax holidays of limited time tax-advantage status;


•	changes in available tax credits;


•	changes in share-based compensation;


•	changes in other tax laws or the interpretation of such tax laws, including the Base Erosion Profit Shifting action plan implemented by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; and


•	changes in generally accepted accounting principles.

As indicated above, we are engaged in discussions with various tax authorities regarding the appropriate level of profitability for Coherent entities and this may result in changes to our worldwide tax liabilities. In addition, we are subject to regular examination of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") and other tax authorities. We regularly assess the likelihood of favorable or unfavorable outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any final determination will not be materially different from the treatment reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

From time to time the United States, foreign and state governments make substantive changes to tax rules and the application of rules to companies. For example, the Tax Act has a significant impact on the taxation of Coherent including the U.S. tax treatment of our foreign operations. The Tax Act is subject to further interpretation by the U.S. federal and state governments and regulatory organizations, legislative updates or new regulations, or changes in accounting standards for income taxes. These actions may have a material impact on our financial results.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure may create uncertainty regarding compliance matters.

Federal securities laws, rules and regulations, as well as the rules and regulations of self-regulatory organizations such as NASDAQ and the NYSE, require companies to maintain extensive corporate governance measures, impose comprehensive reporting and disclosure requirements, set strict independence and financial expertise standards for audit and other committee members and impose civil and criminal penalties for companies and their chief executive officers, chief financial officers and directors for securities law violations. These laws, rules and regulations have increased and will continue to increase the scope, complexity and cost of our corporate governance, reporting and disclosure practices, which could harm our results of operations and divert management's attention from business operations. Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure may create uncertainty regarding compliance matters. New or changed laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations in many cases. As a result, their application in practice may evolve over time. We are committed to maintaining high standards of ethics, corporate governance and public disclosure. Complying with evolving interpretations of new or changed legal requirements may cause us to incur higher costs as we revise current practices, policies and procedures, and may divert management time and attention from revenue generating to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new or changed laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, our reputation may also be harmed.

Governmental regulations, including tariffs and duties, affecting the import or export of products could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The United States, Germany, the European Union, the United Kingdom, China, South Korea, Japan and many other foreign governments impose tariffs and duties on the import and export of products, including some of those which we sell. In particular, given our worldwide operations, we pay duties on certain products when they are imported into the United States for repair work as well as on certain of our products which are manufactured by our foreign subsidiaries. These products can be subject to a duty on the product value. Additionally, the United States and various foreign governments have imposed tariffs, controls, export license requirements and restrictions on the import or export of some technologies, especially encryption technology. From time to time, government agencies have proposed additional regulation of encryption technology, such as requiring the escrow and governmental recovery of private encryption keys. Governmental regulation of encryption technology

and regulation of imports or exports, or our failure to obtain required import or export licenses or other approvals for our products, could harm our international and domestic sales and adversely affect our net sales.

The U.S. has recently instituted or proposed changes in trade policies that include the negotiation or termination of trade agreements, the imposition of higher tariffs on imports into the United States including, in particular, on Chinese goods, economic sanctions on individuals, corporations or countries and other government regulations affecting trade between the United States and other countries where we conduct our business. In addition, the Japanese government has recently instituted trade restrictions affecting the export to South Korea of certain products and materials used in the manufacture of flat panel displays and in the semiconductor industry. These policy changes and proposals could require time-consuming and expensive alterations to our business operations and may result in greater restrictions and economic disincentives on international trade, which could negatively impact our competitiveness in jurisdictions around the world as well as lead to an increase in costs in our supply chain. Given that we are a multinational corporation, with manufacturing located both in the United States and internationally, we may face additional susceptibility to negative impacts from these tariffs or change in trade policies regarding our inter-company trade practices. For example, we have recently seen a drop in export demand for our Chinese customers particularly in the materials processing space. As a result, some of these customers are reevaluating expansion plans and delaying and, in limited cases, cancelling orders. In addition, new tariffs and other changes in U.S. trade policy could trigger retaliatory actions by affected countries, and certain foreign governments, including the Chinese government (which has imposed retaliatory tariffs on a range of U.S. goods including certain photonics products), have instituted or are considering imposing trade sanctions on certain U.S. manufactured goods. Such changes by the United States and other countries have the potential to adversely impact U.S. and worldwide economic conditions, our industry and the global demand for our products, and as a result, could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a multinational corporation, we may be subject to audits by tax, export and customs authorities, as well as other government agencies. For example, we were audited in South Korea for customs duties and value added tax for the period from March 2009 to March 2014. We were liable for additional payments, duties, taxes and penalties of $1.6 million, which we paid in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. Any future audits could lead to assessments that could have a material adverse effect on our business or financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

In addition, compliance with the directives of the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and other international jurisdictions' export control restrictions may result in substantial expenses and diversion of management's attention. Any failure to adequately address these directives could result in civil fines or suspension or loss of our export privileges, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business or financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

Failure to maintain effective internal controls may cause a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements or cause us to delay filing our periodic reports with the SEC and adversely affect our stock price.

The SEC, as directed by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, adopted rules requiring public companies to include a report of management on internal control over financial reporting in their annual reports on Form 10-K that contain an assessment by management of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Although we test our internal control over financial reporting in order to ensure compliance with the Section 404 requirements, our failure to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting could result in an adverse reaction in the financial marketplace due to a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements or a delay in our ability to timely file our periodic reports with the SEC, which ultimately could negatively impact our stock price.

Provisions of our charter documents and Delaware law, and our Change of Control and Leadership Change Severance Plan, may have anti-takeover effects that could prevent or delay a change in control.

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as the terms of our Change of Control and Leadership Change Severance Plan, may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition, make a merger or acquisition more costly for a potential acquirer, or make removal of incumbent directors or officers more difficult. These provisions may discourage takeover attempts and bids for our common stock at a premium over the market price. These provisions include:


•	the ability of our Board of Directors to alter our bylaws without stockholder approval;


•	limiting the ability of stockholders to call special meetings; and


•	establishing advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our Board of Directors or for proposing matters that can be acted on by stockholders at stockholder meetings.

We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in a merger, asset or stock sale or other transaction with an interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date such person became an interested stockholder, unless prior approval of our board of directors is obtained or as otherwise provided. These provisions of Delaware law also may discourage, delay or prevent someone from acquiring or merging with us without obtaining the prior approval of our board of directors, which may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In addition, we have adopted a change of control severance plan, which provides for the payment of a cash severance benefit to each eligible employee based on the employee's position. If a change of control occurs, our successor or acquirer will be required to assume and agree to perform all of our obligations under the change of control severance plan which may discourage potential acquirers or result in a lower stock price.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not Applicable.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our corporate headquarters is located in Santa Clara, California. At fiscal 2019 year-end, our manufacturing locations were as follows (all acreage and square footage is approximate) (unless otherwise indicated, each property is utilized jointly by our two segments):



	Description	Use	Term*
Santa Clara, CA	8.5 acres of land, 200,000 square feet	Corporate headquarters, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Santa Clara, CA	90,120 square feet	Office	Leased through July 2020**
Richmond, CA (2)	several buildings totaling 68,635 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through November 2022
Sunnyvale, CA (1)	24,159 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through December 2023
Tucson, AZ (1)	13,369 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through November 2023
Bloomfield, CT (1)	72,996 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through December 2022
East Granby, CT (1)	68,135 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through January 2027
Plymouth, MI (1)	52,128 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through May 2022
Salem, NH (1)	44,153 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through October 2024
East Hanover, NJ (2)	29,932 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through January 2025 (early exit planned)
Mount Olive, NJ (2)	88,000 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through June 2028
Wilsonville, OR (2)	41,250 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through December 2023
Tampere, Finland (1)	4.9 acres of land, 50,074 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Dieburg, Germany (1)	37,947 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through January 2032
Freiburg, Germany (1)	12,686 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through September 2024
Gilching, Germany (1)	4.2 acres of land, 184,869 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Göttingen, Germany (2)	14.2 acres of land, several buildings totaling 238,744 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Hamburg, Germany (1)	4.6 acres of land, 119,724 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Kaiserslautern, Germany (2)	33,740 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through September 2020



Lübeck, Germany (2)	several buildings totaling 89,150 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through March 2022
Lübeck, Germany (2)	7.4 acres of land	Future office, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Mainz, Germany (1)	1.2 acres of land, 46,984 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Mainz, Germany (1)	71,342 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased primarily through September 2022
Overath, Germany (1)	20,236 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through October 2022
Starnberg, Germany (1)	19,375 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through May 2021
Glasgow, Scotland (2)	2.0 acres of land, 68,220 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Owned
Pamplona, Spain (1)	0.3 acres of land, 24,654 square feet	Office, manufacturing	Owned
Gothenburg, Sweden (1)	49,514 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through August 2020
Belp, Switzerland (1)	15,403 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through February 2021
Nanjing, China (1)	51,122 square feet	Office, manufacturing, R&D	Leased through November 2023
Penang, Malaysia	21,356 square feet	Office, manufacturing	Leased through August 2020
Kallang Sector, Singapore	42,723 square feet	Office, manufacturing	Leased through January 2022
Ansung, South Korea (1)	60,257 square feet	Office, manufacturing	Leased through September 2027

_________________________________________


(1)	This facility is utilized primarily by our ILS operating segment.


(2)	This facility is utilized primarily by our OLS operating segment.


*	We currently plan to renew leases on buildings as they expire, as necessary.


**	We currently plan to vacate building at end of lease term.

We maintain other sales and service offices under varying leases expiring from fiscal 2020 through 2029 in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Israel, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

We consider our facilities to be both suitable and adequate to provide for current and near term requirements and that the productive capacity in our facilities is substantially being utilized or we have plans to utilize it.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are subject to legal claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business, such as product liability, employment or intellectual property claims, including, but not limited to, the matters described below.

On May 14, 2013, IMRA America (“Imra”) filed a complaint alleging patent infringement against two of our subsidiaries in the Regional Court of Düsseldorf, Germany. Our subsidiaries subsequently filed a separate nullity action with the Federal Patent Court in Munich, Germany, requesting that the court hold that the patent in question was invalid based on prior art. The court found the patent to be invalid, and Imra appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Justice, the highest civil jurisdiction court in Germany. The Federal Court of Justice dismissed the appeal on March 27, 2018, effectively ending the case in favor of Coherent. In addition, as of April 3, 2019, all of the involved courts had finalized the granting of costs and statutory attorneys’ fees to Coherent of an aggregate amount of approximately $0.1 million. Imra has since paid this amount.

Although we do not expect that such legal claims and litigation will ultimately have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows, an adverse result in one or more matters could negatively affect our results in the period in which they occur.

The United States and many foreign governments impose tariffs and duties on the import and export of certain products we sell. From time to time our customs compliance, product classifications, duty calculations and payments are reviewed or audited by government agencies. Any adverse result in such a review or audit could negatively affect our results in the period in which they occur. For example, we are currently in discussions with the German government regarding an export compliance matter involving one of our German subsidiaries. We believe that this matter involves less than approximately 1.5 million

Euros in transactions over the past three years and do not believe that the final resolution of this matter will be material to our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows. However, the German government investigation is ongoing and it is possible that substantial payments, fines, penalties or damages could result. Even though we do not currently expect this matter to be material to our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows, circumstances could change as the investigation progresses.

Income Tax Audits

We are subject to taxation and file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and in many state and foreign jurisdictions. Our most significant tax jurisdictions are the U.S. and Germany. For U.S. federal and German income tax purposes, all years prior to fiscal 2016 and 2010, respectively, are closed to examination. In our other major foreign jurisdictions and our major state jurisdictions, the years prior to fiscal 2013 and 2015, respectively, are closed. Earlier years in our various jurisdictions may remain open for adjustment to the extent that we have tax attribute carryforwards from those years.

In Germany, various Coherent and legacy Rofin entities are under audit for the years 2010 through 2016. The South Korean tax authorities also performed an audit focused on intercompany transfer pricing arrangements for fiscal years 2014 through 2017. In May 2019, the South Korean tax authorities issued transfer pricing assessments for taxes, royalties and sales commissions, which we are in the process of appealing and contesting through the Competent Authority process between South Korea, Germany and the United States. Accordingly, there is no change to our tax position at the time of filing of this annual report. We are continuing to monitor and evaluate this situation.

The timing and the resolution of income tax examinations is highly uncertain, and the amounts ultimately paid, if any, upon resolution of the issues raised by the taxing authorities may differ materially from the amounts accrued for each year. Management believes that it has adequately provided for any adjustments that may result from tax examinations. We regularly engage in discussions and negotiations with tax authorities regarding tax matters in various jurisdictions. Although the timing of resolution, settlement and closure of audits is not certain, we do not believe it is reasonably possible that our unrecognized tax benefits will materially change in the next 12 months.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market exchange with the ticker symbol of COHR.

The number of stockholders of record as of November 22, 2019 was 512. While we paid a cash dividend in fiscal 2013 and may elect to pay dividends in the future, we have no present intention to declare cash dividends. Our line of credit agreement, signed on November 7, 2016, includes certain restrictions on our ability to pay cash dividends.

There were no sales of unregistered securities in fiscal 2019.

There were no stock repurchases during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019.

Refer to Note 12 "Stock Repurchases" of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 15 of this annual report for discussion on repurchases during fiscal 2019 and 2018.

COMPANY STOCK PRICE PERFORMANCE

The following graph shows a five-year comparison of cumulative total stockholder return, calculated on a dividend reinvestment basis and based on a $100 investment, from September 27, 2014 through September 28, 2019 comparing the return on our common stock with the Russell 1000 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index. Prior to fiscal 2017, we were a member of the Russell 2000 Index and had historically included the Russell 2000 Index in this graph. During fiscal 2017, we moved to the Russell 1000 Index. Beginning with this annual report, we will only report our current Russell Index. The stock price performance shown on the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.

COMPARISON OF FIVE-YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN AMONG COHERENT, INC.,

THE RUSSELL 1000 INDEX AND THE NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX.



		INDEXED RETURNS
	Base Period	Years Ending
Company Name / Index	9/27/2014	10/3/2015	10/1/2016	9/30/2017	9/29/2018	9/28/2019
Coherent, Inc.	100	86.88	175.63	373.64	273.58	240.77
Russell 1000 Index	100	100.48	113.58	134.64	158.56	163.83
Nasdaq Composite Index	100	105.57	120.60	149.17	186.71	186.28

The information contained above under the caption "Company Stock Price Performance" shall not be deemed to be "soliciting material" or to be "filed" with the SEC, nor will such information be incorporated by reference into any future SEC filing except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The information set forth below is not necessarily indicative of results of future operations and should be read in conjunction with Item 7. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this annual report.

We derived the consolidated statement of operations data for fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of fiscal 2019 and 2018 year-end from our audited consolidated financial statements, and accompanying notes, contained in this annual report. The consolidated statements of operations data for fiscal 2016 and 2015 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of fiscal 2017, 2016 and 2015 year-end are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements which are not included in this annual report.



Consolidated financial data	Fiscal 2019 (1)		Fiscal 2018 (2)		Fiscal 2017 (3)		Fiscal 2016 (4)		Fiscal 2015 (5)
	(in thousands, except per share data)
Net sales	$	1,430,640	$	1,902,573	$	1,723,311	$	857,385	$	802,460
Gross profit	$	486,465	$	830,691	$	750,269	$	381,392	$	335,399
Net income from continuing operations	$	53,825	$	247,360	$	208,644	$	87,502	$	76,409
Net income per share from continuing operations:
Basic	$	2.23	$	10.07	$	8.52	$	3.62	$	3.09
Diluted	$	2.22	$	9.95	$	8.42	$	3.58	$	3.06
Shares used in computation:
Basic	24,118		24,572		24,487		24,142		24,754
Diluted	24,279		24,851		24,777		24,415		24,992
Total assets *	$	2,083,169	$	2,259,969	$	2,337,800	$	1,161,148	$	968,947
Long-term obligations	$	392,238	$	420,711	$	589,001	$	—	$	—
Other long-term liabilities *	$	165,881	$	151,956	$	166,390	$	48,826	$	49,939
Stockholders' equity	$	1,284,736	$	1,314,464	$	1,163,264	$	910,828	$	796,418

*In November 2015, the FASB issued amended guidance that clarifies that in a classified statement of financial position, an entity shall classify deferred tax liabilities and assets as noncurrent amounts. This guidance superseded ASC 740-10-45-5 which required the valuation allowance for a particular tax jurisdiction be allocated between current and noncurrent deferred tax assets for that tax jurisdiction on a pro rata basis. We elected to early adopt the standard retrospectively in fiscal 2016, which resulted in the reclassification of current deferred income tax assets to non-current deferred income tax assets and non-current deferred income tax liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets for fiscal 2017, 2016 and 2015.

_______________________________________________________________________________


(1)	Includes $16.0 million of after-tax restructuring charges, $0.4 million of after-tax amortization of purchase accounting step-up, $1.1 million of benefit from amounts received on a resolved asset recovery matter, $1.7 million non-recurring income tax net expense and $2.5 million of excess tax benefits for employee stock-based compensation.

(2)

Includes $2.9 million of after-tax restructuring charges, $0.8 million impairment and other charges, $0.7 million of after-tax acquisition costs, $0.6 million of after-tax amortization of purchase accounting step-up, $26.7 million of tax charges due to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act transition tax and deferred tax remeasurement, $3.3 million tax charge due to an increase in valuation allowances against deferred tax assets and $12.8 million of tax benefit from the adoption of new rules for accounting for excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies for employee stock-based compensation.

(3)

Includes $19.0 million of after-tax amortization of purchase accounting step-up, $17.4 million of after tax costs related to the acquisition of Rofin, $8.4 million of after-tax restructuring charges, an after-tax charge of $1.9 million for the impairment of net assets of several entities held for sale, $1.8 million after-tax interest expense on the commitment of our term loan to finance the acquisition of Rofin, a $7.1 million after-tax gain on our hedge of our foreign exchange risk related to the commitment of our term loan and the issuance of debt to finance the acquisition of Rofin, a $3.4 million after-tax gain on our sale of previously owned Rofin shares and a benefit of $1.4 million from the closure of R&D tax audits.

Closing Price ($)	Shares Out (MM)	Market Cap ($MM)
$0.00	24	$3,303

10-K	2019-11-26	Annual: 2019-09-28
10-Q	2019-08-07	Quarter: 2019-06-29
10-Q	2019-05-08	Quarter: 2019-03-30
10-Q	2019-02-06	Quarter: 2018-12-29
10-K	2018-11-27	Annual: 2018-09-29
10-Q	2018-08-07	Quarter: 2018-06-30
10-Q	2018-05-09	Quarter: 2018-03-31
10-Q	2018-02-07	Quarter: 2017-12-30
10-K	2017-11-28	Annual: 2017-09-28
10-Q	2017-08-09	Quarter: 2017-07-01
10-Q	2017-05-10	Quarter: 2017-04-01
10-Q	2017-02-09	Quarter: 2016-12-31
10-K	2016-11-29	Annual: 2016-10-01
10-Q	2016-08-10	Quarter: 2016-07-02
10-Q	2016-05-11	Quarter: 2016-04-02
10-Q	2016-02-10	Quarter: 2016-01-02
10-K	2015-12-01	Annual: 2015-10-03
10-Q	2015-08-12	Quarter: 2015-07-04
10-Q	2015-05-14	Quarter: 2015-04-04
10-Q	2015-02-04	Quarter: 2014-12-27
10-K	2014-11-25	Annual: 2014-09-27
10-Q	2014-08-05	Quarter: 2014-06-28
10-Q	2014-05-06	Quarter: 2014-03-29
10-Q	2014-02-06	Quarter: 2013-12-28
10-K	2013-11-27	Annual: 2013-09-28
10-Q	2013-08-07	Quarter: 2013-06-29
10-Q	2013-05-07	Quarter: 2013-03-30
10-Q	2013-02-06	Quarter: 2012-12-29
10-K	2012-11-28	Annual: 2012-09-29
10-Q	2012-08-08	Quarter: 2012-06-30
10-Q	2012-05-09	Quarter: 2012-03-31
10-Q	2012-02-08	Quarter: 2011-12-31
10-K	2011-11-30	Annual: 2011-09-30
10-Q	2011-08-10	Quarter: 2011-07-02
10-Q	2011-05-11	Quarter: 2011-04-02
10-Q	2011-02-09	Quarter: 2011-01-01
10-K	2010-12-15	Annual: 2010-10-02
10-Q	2010-08-11	Quarter: 2010-07-03
10-Q	2010-05-13	Quarter: 2010-04-03
10-Q	2010-02-10	Quarter: 2010-01-02

8-K	2019-11-05	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2019-07-30	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2019-05-05	Officers, Exhibits
8-K	2019-04-30	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2019-04-13	Officers, Exhibits
8-K	2019-02-28	Shareholder Vote
8-K	2019-01-29	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2018-12-06	Officers, Exhibits
8-K	2018-11-13	Officers
8-K	2018-11-06	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2018-10-22	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2018-09-25	Officers, Exhibits
8-K	2018-07-31	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2018-05-01	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2018-03-01	Shareholder Vote
8-K	2018-02-07	Earnings, Exhibits
8-K	2018-01-28	Amend Bylaw, Exhibits

EX-4.1	coherent-exhibit41desc.htm
EX-10.11	a201910k1011.htm
EX-10.13	a201910k1013.htm
EX-21.1	ex211bycountry201910k.htm
EX-23.1	ex231consent201910k.htm
EX-31.1	ex311201910k.htm
EX-31.2	ex312201910k.htm
EX-32.1	ex321201910k.htm
EX-32.2	ex322201910k.htm