Cirrus Logic Earnings 2020-03-28
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
| ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the Fiscal Year Ended March 28, 2020
| TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the Transition Period from to
Commission File Number 0-17795
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
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| Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None | ||||||||||||||
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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes þ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No þ
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 þ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes þ 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 the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
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| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | |||||||||
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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 Act). Yes ☐ No þ
The aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates was $2,157,695,761 based upon the closing price reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as of September 28, 2019. Stock held by directors, officers and stockholders owning 5 percent or more of the outstanding common stock were excluded as they may be deemed affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not a conclusive determination for any other purpose.
As of May 18, 2020, the number of outstanding shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value, was 58,363,550 .
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
CIRRUS LOGIC, INC.
FORM 10-K
For The Fiscal Year Ended March 28, 2020
INDEX
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PART I
ITEM 1. Business
Cirrus Logic, Inc. (“Cirrus Logic,” “We,” “Us,” “Our,” or the “Company”) is a leader in low-power, high-precision mixed-signal processing solutions that create innovative user experiences for the world’s top mobile and consumer applications.
We were incorporated in California in 1984, became a public company in 1989 and were reincorporated in the State of Delaware in February 1999. Our primary facility housing engineering, sales and marketing, and administrative functions is located in Austin, Texas. We also have offices in various other locations in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Our common stock, which has been publicly traded since 1989, is listed on the NASDAQ's Global Select Market under the symbol CRUS.
We maintain a website with the address www.cirrus.com. We are not including the information contained on our website as a part of, or incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We make available free of charge through our website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to these reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish such material to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We also routinely post other important information on our website, including information specifically addressed to investors. We intend for the investor relations section of our website to be a recognized channel of distribution for disseminating information to the securities marketplace in general. To receive a free copy of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, please forward your written request to Cirrus Logic, Inc., Attn: Investor Relations, 800 W. 6th Street, Austin, Texas 78701, or via email at Investor.Relations@cirrus.com. In addition, the SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements filed electronically with the SEC by Cirrus Logic.
Company Strategy
Cirrus Logic targets growing markets where we can leverage our expertise in analog and mixed-signal processing to solve complex problems. Our approach has been to develop custom and general market components that embody our latest innovations, which we use to engage key players in a particular market or application. We focus on building strong engineering relationships with our customers’ product teams and work to develop highly differentiated components that address their technical and price requirements across product tiers. Many of our products include programmable aspects and are comprised of our best-in-class hardware which incorporates software algorithms from some combination of our own intellectual property (“IP”), algorithms that have been ported to our platform by an ecosystem of third-party partners, and our customers’ IP. When we have been successful with this approach, one initial design win has often expanded into additional products. This strategy gives us the opportunity to increase our content with a customer over time through the incorporation of new features, the integration of other system components into our products and the addition of new components.
Markets and Products
The following provides a detailed discussion regarding our portable and non-portable and other product lines.
Portable Products: Low-power, low-latency, high-precision analog and mixed-signal components designed for portable devices including smartphones, tablets, wearables and digital headsets.
Non-Portable and Other Products: High-precision analog and mixed-signal components targeting the non-mobile consumer, automotive, energy, and industrial markets, which are utilized in such applications as home theater systems, laptops, automotive entertainment systems, musical instruments, and satellite radio systems.
PORTABLE PRODUCTS
Cirrus Logic is a leading supplier of low power, low-latency, high-precision analog and mixed-signal components that are used in a variety of portable applications including smartphones, tablets, wearables, and digital headsets. We have an extensive portfolio of products, including “codecs” - chips that integrate analog-to-digital converters (“ADCs”) and digital-to-analog converters (“DACs”) into a single integrated circuit ("IC"), “smart codecs” - codecs with digital signal processing integrated, boosted amplifiers, haptic and sensing solutions, as well as standalone digital signal processors (“DSPs”). Additionally, the Company’s SoundClear® technology consists of a broad portfolio of tools, software and algorithms that help to differentiate our customers’ products by improving the user experience with features such as enhanced voice quality, voice capture, speech recognition and audio playback.
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NON-PORTABLE AND OTHER PRODUCTS
We provide high-precision analog and mixed-signal ICs for a variety of products in the automotive, energy, industrial, and non-mobile consumer markets, including the emerging smart home market. The Company supplies a wide range of products including codecs, ADCs, DACs, digital interfaces and amplifiers. Within the consumer market our products are utilized in laptops, home theater systems, musical instruments, automotive entertainment systems and satellite radio systems. Our products are also used in a wide array of high-precision industrial and energy-related applications including digital utility meters, power supplies, energy control, energy measurement, and energy exploration applications.
Customers, Marketing, and Sales
We offer products worldwide through both direct and indirect sales channels. Our major customers are among the world’s leading electronics manufacturers. We target both large existing and emerging customers that derive value from our expertise in advanced analog and mixed-signal design processing, systems-level integrated circuit engineering and embedded software development. We derive our revenues from both domestic and international sales. Our domestic sales force includes a network of direct sales offices located primarily in California and Texas. International sales offices and staff are located in Japan, People’s Republic of China, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. We supplement our direct sales force with external sales representatives and distributors. We have technical support centers in China, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. Our worldwide sales force provides geographically specific support to our customers and specialized selling of product lines with unique customer bases. See Note 19—Segment Information, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8 for further detail and for additional disclosure regarding sales and property, plant and equipment, net, by geographic locations.
Since the components we produce are largely proprietary and generally not available from second sources, we generally consider our end customer to be the entity specifying the use of our component in their design. These end customers may then purchase our products directly from us, through distributors or third party manufacturers contracted to produce their designs. For fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, our ten largest end customers, represented approximately 93 percent, 91 percent, and 92 percent, of our sales, respectively. For fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, we had one end customer, Apple, Inc., who purchased through multiple contract manufacturers and represented approximately 79 percent, 78 percent, and 81 percent, of the Company’s total sales, respectively. No other customer or distributor represented more than 10 percent of net sales in fiscal years 2020, 2019, or 2018.
Manufacturing
As a fabless semiconductor company, we contract with third parties for wafer fabrication and product assembly and test. We use a variety of foundries in the production of wafers, primarily supplied by TSMC and GLOBALFOUNDRIES. The Company’s primary assembly and test houses include Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc., STATS ChipPAC Pte. Ltd, Amkor Technology Inc., and SFA Semicon Co., Ltd. Our outsourced manufacturing strategy allows us to concentrate on our design strengths and minimize fixed costs and capital expenditures while giving us access to advanced manufacturing facilities. It also provides the flexibility to source multiple leading-edge technologies through strategic relationships. After wafer fabrication by the foundry, third-party assembly vendors package the wafer die. The finished products are then tested before shipment to our customers. While we do have some redundancy of fabrication processes by using multiple outside foundries, any interruption of supply by one or more of these foundries could materially impact the Company. As a result, we maintain some amount of business interruption insurance to help reduce the risk of wafer supply interruption, but we are not fully insured against such risk. Our supply chain management organization is responsible for the management of all aspects of the manufacturing, assembly, and testing of our products, including process and package development, test program development, and production testing of products in accordance with our ISO-certified quality management system.
Although our products are made from basic materials (principally silicon, metals and plastics), all of which are available from a number of suppliers, capacity at wafer foundries sometimes becomes constrained. The limited availability of certain materials may impact our suppliers’ ability to meet our demand needs or impact the price we are charged. The prices of certain other basic materials, such as metals, gases and chemicals used in the production of circuits can increase as demand grows for these basic commodities. In most cases, we do not procure these materials ourselves; nevertheless, we are reliant on such materials for producing our products because our outside foundry and package and test subcontractors must procure them. To help mitigate risks associated with constrained capacity, we use multiple foundries, assembly and test sources.
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Patents, Licenses and Trademarks
We rely on patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws to protect our intellectual property, products, and technology. As of March 28, 2020, we held approximately 3,400 pending and issued patents worldwide, which include approximately 1,160 granted U.S. patents, 475 U.S. pending patent applications and various international patents and applications. Our U.S. patents expire in calendar years 2020 through 2039. While our patents are an important element of our success, our business as a whole is not dependent on any one patent or group of patents. We do not anticipate any material effect on our business due to any patents expiring in 2020, and we continue to obtain new patents through our ongoing research and development.
We have maintained U.S. federal trademark registrations for CIRRUS LOGIC, CIRRUS, Cirrus Logic logo designs, and SoundClear, among others. These U.S. registrations may be renewed as long as the marks continue to be used in interstate commerce. We have also filed or obtained foreign registration for these marks in other countries or jurisdictions where we conduct, or anticipate conducting, `international business. To complement our own research and development efforts, we have also licensed and expect to continue to license, a variety of intellectual property and technologies important to our business from third parties.
Segments
We determine our operating segments in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) guidelines. Our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) has been identified as the chief operating decision maker as defined by these guidelines.
The Company operates and tracks its results in one reportable segment, but reports revenue performance in two product lines: Portable and Non-Portable and Other. Our CEO receives and uses enterprise-wide financial information to assess financial performance and allocate resources, rather than detailed information at a product line level. Additionally, our product lines have similar characteristics and customers. They share operations support functions such as sales, public relations, supply chain management, various research and development and engineering support, in addition to the general and administrative functions of human resources, legal, finance and information technology. Therefore, there is no discrete financial information maintained for these product lines.
See Note 19 — Segment Information, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8 for further details including sales by product line, as well as sales and property, plant and equipment, net, by geographic locations.
Research and Development
We concentrate our research and development efforts on the design and development of new products for each of our principal markets. We also fund certain advanced-process technology development, as well as other emerging product opportunities. Our future success is highly dependent upon our ability to develop complex new products, transfer new products to volume production, introduce them into the marketplace in a timely fashion, and have them selected for design into products of systems manufacturers. Our future success may also depend on assisting our customers with integration of our components into their new products, including providing support from the concept stage through design, launch and production ramp.
Competition
Markets for our products are highly competitive and we expect that competition will continue to increase. Our ability to compete effectively and to expand our business will depend on our ability to continue to recruit key engineering talent, execute on new product developments, partner with customers to include these new products into their applications, and provide cost efficient versions of existing products. We compete with other semiconductor suppliers that offer standard semiconductors, application-specific standard products and fully customized ICs, including embedded software, chip and board-level products.
While no single company competes with us in all of our product lines, we face significant competition in all markets where our products are available. Within Portable, Cirrus Logic is a leading IC supplier with the complete end-to-end solution from capture to playback including codecs, smart codecs, boosted amplifiers, haptic and sensing solutions, and DSPs. We expect to face additional competition from new entrants in our markets, which may include both large domestic and international IC manufacturers and smaller, emerging companies. Our primary competitors include, but are not limited to AKM Semiconductor Inc., Analog Devices Inc., Dialog Semiconductor PLC, DSP Group, Goodix Technology, Maxim Integrated Products Inc., Qualcomm Incorporated, Realtek Semiconductor Corporation, Shanghai Awinic Technology Co., Ltd., Skyworks Solutions Inc., ST Microelectronics N.V., Synaptics Incorporated and Texas Instruments, Inc.
The principal competitive factors in our markets include: time to market; quality of hardware/software design and end-market systems expertise; price; product performance, features, quality and compatibility with standards; access to advanced process and packaging technologies at competitive prices; and sales and technical support, which includes assisting our customers with integration of our components into their new products and providing support from the concept stage through design, launch and production ramp.
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Product life cycles may vary greatly by product category. For example, many portable audio devices have shorter design-in cycles; therefore, our competitors have increasingly frequent opportunities to achieve design wins in next-generation systems. Conversely, this also provides us frequent opportunities to displace competitors in products that have previously not utilized our design. The non-portable and other markets typically have longer life cycles, which provide continued revenue streams over longer periods of time.
Backlog
Sales are made primarily pursuant to short-term purchase orders for delivery of products. The quantity actually ordered by the customer, as well as the shipment schedules, are frequently revised, without significant penalty, to reflect changes in the customer’s needs. The majority of our backlog is typically requested for delivery within six months. In markets where the end system life cycles are relatively short, customers typically request delivery in six to twelve weeks. We believe a backlog analysis at any given time gives little indication of our future business except on a short-term basis, principally within the next 60 days.
We utilize backlog as an indicator to assist us in production planning. However, backlog is influenced by several factors including market demand, pricing, and customer order patterns in reaction to product lead times. Quantities actually purchased by customers, as well as prices, are subject to variations between booking and delivery because of changes in customer needs or industry conditions. As a result, we believe that our backlog at any given time is an incomplete indicator of future sales.
Employees
As of March 28, 2020, we had 1,443 full-time employees. Of our full-time employees, 68 percent were engaged in research and product development activities, 27 percent in sales, marketing, general and administrative activities, and 5 percent in manufacturing-related activities. We also employ individuals on a temporary basis and use the services of contractors as necessary, particularly in our software development and test organization. Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified technical, marketing, engineering, and administrative personnel.
We have never had a work stoppage and the majority of our employees are not represented by collective bargaining agreements. We consider our employee relations to be good.
Forward—Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K and certain information incorporated herein by reference contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, other than statements that are purely historical, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements are identified by words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “target,” “project,” “believe,” “goals,” “estimates,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “can,” “may,” “plan,” and “intend”, and other similar types of words and expressions. Variations of these types of words and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Any statements that refer to our plans, expectations, strategies or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are predictions based on management's expectations as of the date of this filing and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in this report, as well as in the documents filed by us with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on Form 10-Q and 8-K, each as it may be amended from time to time.
We caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and we undertake no obligation, and expressly disclaim any duty, to revise or update this information, whether as a result of new information, events or circumstances after the filing of this report with the SEC, except as required by law. We urge readers to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made in this Annual Report on Form 10–K and in other documents we file from time to time with the SEC that disclose risks and uncertainties that may affect our business. All forward-looking statements, expressed or implied, included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and attributable to Cirrus Logic are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. This cautionary statement should also be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that we may make or persons acting on our behalf may issue.
ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
Our business faces significant risks. The risk factors set forth below may not be the only risks that we face and there is a risk that we may have failed to identify all possible risk factors. Additional risks that we are not aware of yet or that currently are not significant may adversely affect our business operations. You should read the following cautionary statements in
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conjunction with the factors discussed elsewhere in this and other Cirrus Logic filings with the SEC. These cautionary statements are intended to highlight certain factors that may affect the financial condition and results of operations of Cirrus Logic and are not meant to be an exhaustive discussion of risks that apply to companies such as ours.
We face risks related to global health epidemics that could impact our sales, supply chain and operations, resulting in significantly reduced revenue and operating results.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic related to a novel coronavirus (now termed COVID-19). While we expect the impacts of COVID-19 to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, we are unable to predict the extent or nature of these impacts at this time. The COVID-19 pandemic will likely heighten or exacerbate many of the other risks described in the risk factors listed in this Form 10-K and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Any increase in the severity of the outbreak or additional government measures restricting movement or business operations, could cause a disruption to our supply of products to our customers – particularly with respect to the manufacture of semiconductor wafers that would have to go through extensive qualification to relocate manufacturing to a different fabrication facility. Even if our suppliers and service providers are operational, other third-party suppliers may be closed or not fully operational, resulting in a shortage of some components needed for our products or our customers’ end products. Any disruption of our suppliers or customers and their contract manufacturers would likely impact our inventory, backlog, sales and operating results, as customers may cancel or reschedule orders on short notice. In addition, we have seen some reductions in commercial airline and cargo flights, and disruption to ports and other shipping infrastructure that resulted in increased transport times, which, if those disruptions were to intensify, could affect our ability to timely deliver our products.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have also experienced, and expect to continue to experience, disruptions to our business operations resulting from government stay-at-home directives, quarantines, self-isolations, travel restrictions, or other restrictions on the ability of our employees to perform their jobs that may impact our ability to develop and design our products in a timely manner, meet required milestones, or win new business. Any increased or additional disruptions to our business operations due to these restrictions would likely impact our ability to continue to maintain current levels of productivity.
In the longer term, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to continue to adversely affect the economies and financial markets of many countries, leading to a global economic downturn and potentially a recession. This would also likely continue to adversely affect the demand environment for our products and those of our customers, particularly consumer products such as smartphones, which may, in turn, negatively affect our revenue and operating results.
We depend on a limited number of customers and distributors for a substantial portion of our sales, and the loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from, or pricing on products sold to, any key customer or distributor could significantly reduce our sales and our profitability.
While we generate sales from a broad base of customers worldwide, the loss of any of our key customers, or a significant reduction in sales or selling prices to any key customer, or reductions in selling prices made to retain key customer relationships, would significantly reduce our revenue, margins and earnings and adversely affect our business. For the twelve-month periods ending March 28, 2020, March 30, 2019, and March 31, 2018, our ten largest end customers represented approximately 93 percent, 91 percent, and 92 percent of our sales, respectively. For the twelve-month periods ending March 28, 2020, March 30, 2019, and March 31, 2018, we had one end customer, Apple Inc., who purchased through multiple contract manufacturers and represented approximately 79 percent, 78 percent and 81 percent of the Company’s total sales, respectively.
We may not be able to maintain or increase sales to certain of our key customers for a variety of reasons, including the following:
▪most of our customers can stop incorporating our products into their own products with limited notice to us and suffer little or no penalty;
▪our agreements with our customers typically do not require them to purchase a minimum quantity of our products;
▪many of our customers have pre-existing or concurrent relationships with our current or potential competitors that may affect the customers’ decisions to purchase our products;
▪many of our customers have sufficient resources to internally develop technology solutions and semiconductor components that could replace the products that we currently supply in our customers’ end products;
▪our customers face intense competition from other manufacturers that do not use our products; and
▪our customers regularly evaluate alternative sources of supply in order to diversify their supplier base, which increases their negotiating leverage with us and their ability to either obtain or dual source components from other suppliers.
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In addition, our dependence on a limited number of key customers may make it easier for them to pressure us on price reductions. We have experienced pricing pressure from certain key customers and we expect that the average selling prices for certain of our products will decline from time to time, potentially reducing our revenue, our margins and our earnings.
Our key customer relationships often require us to develop new products that may involve significant technological challenges. Our customers frequently place considerable pressure on us to meet their tight development schedules. In addition, we have, and may again in the future, enter into customer agreements providing for exclusivity periods during which we may only sell specified products or technology to a specific customer. Even without exclusivity periods, the products that we develop are often specific to our customer's system architecture and frequently cannot be sold to other customers. Accordingly, we may have to devote a substantial amount of resources to strategic relationships, which could detract from or delay our completion of other important development projects or the development of next generation products and technologies.
Moreover, our reliance on certain customers may continue to increase, which could heighten the risks associated with having key customers, including making us more vulnerable to significant reductions in revenue, margins and earnings, pricing pressure, and other adverse effects on our business.
Our lack of diversification in our revenue and customer base increases the risk of an investment in our company, and our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and stock price may deteriorate if we fail to diversify.
Although we continue to investigate, invest in, and try to develop opportunities to diversify our revenue and customer base, our sales, marketing, and development efforts have historically been focused on a limited number of customers and opportunities. Larger companies have the ability to manage their risk by product, market, and customer diversification. However, we lack diversification, in terms of both the nature and scope of our business, which increases the risk of an investment in our company. If we cannot diversify our customer and revenue opportunities, our financial condition and results of operations could deteriorate.
We frequently develop our products for the specific system architecture of our customers’ end products. If our customers were to change system architectures, develop competing technologies and integrated circuits, or incorporate some of the functionality of our products into other parts of the system, we risk the potential loss of revenue and reduced average selling prices.
Our customers, particularly in the portable market, could potentially transition to different audio architectures, develop their own competing technologies and integrated circuits, or integrate the functionality that our integrated circuits and software have historically provided into other components in their audio systems. In addition, some of the audio and voice functionality that we have historically provided could be performed outside of our customers’ end product — for example, through the use of “cloud-based” systems to perform audio and voice processing. If our customers were to transition to these different system architectures, our results of operations could be adversely affected by the elimination of the need for our current technology and products, resulting in reduced average selling prices for our components and loss of revenue.
Our results may be affected by fluctuation in sales in the consumer electronics and smartphone markets.
Because we sell products primarily in the consumer electronics and smartphone markets, we are likely to be affected by any decrease in demand or unit volumes, seasonality in the sales of our products, and the cyclical nature of these markets. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, slowing growth in a maturing smartphone market, due to, among other factors, market saturation in developed countries, lengthening replacement cycles, and a growing market for refurbished devices. Further, a decline in consumer confidence and consumer spending relating to economic conditions, terrorist attacks, armed conflicts, oil prices, global health conditions, natural disasters, and/or the political stability of countries in which we operate or sell products could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may be adversely impacted by global economic conditions. As a result, our financial results and the market price of our common shares may decline.
Global economic conditions could make it difficult for our customers, our suppliers, and us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities, and could cause global businesses to defer or reduce spending on our products, or increase the costs of manufacturing our products. During challenging economic times our customers and distributors may face issues gaining timely access to sufficient credit, which could impact their ability to make timely payments to us. If that were to occur, we may be required to increase our allowance for doubtful accounts and our days sales outstanding would increase. Additionally, if our own supply chain or others from whom our customers source are financially impacted and ultimately unable to deliver their required component(s), then our customers may delay or cancel their orders from us.
We cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any economic slowdown or subsequent economic recovery. If the economy or markets in which we operate were to deteriorate, our business, financial condition, and results of operations will likely be materially and/or adversely affected.
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We have entered into joint development agreements, custom product arrangements, and strategic relationships with some of our largest customers. These arrangements subject us to a number of risks, and any failure to execute on any of these arrangements could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We have entered into joint development, product collaboration and technology licensing arrangements with some of our largest customers, and we expect to enter into new strategic arrangements of these kinds from time to time in the future. Such arrangements can magnify several risks for us, including loss of control over the development and development timeline of jointly developed products, risks associated with the ownership of the intellectual property that is developed pursuant to such arrangements, and increased risk that our joint development activities may result in products that are not commercially successful or that are not available in a timely fashion. In addition, any third party with whom we enter into a joint development, product collaboration or technology licensing arrangement may fail to commit sufficient resources to the project, change its policies or priorities or abandon or fail to perform its obligations related to such arrangement. In addition, we have previously and may in the future enter into customer product arrangements that provide for exclusivity periods during which we may only sell specified products or technologies to that particular customer. Any failure to timely develop commercially successful products through our joint development activities as a result of any of these and other challenges could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Our failure to develop and ramp new products into production in a timely manner could harm our operating results.
Our success depends upon our ability to develop new products for new and existing customers, and to introduce these products in a timely and cost-effective manner. New product introductions involve significant investment of resources and potential risks. Delays in new product introductions or less-than-anticipated market acceptance of our new products are possible and would have an adverse effect on our sales and earnings. The development of new products is highly complex and, from time-to-time, we have experienced delays in developing and introducing these new products. Successful product development and introduction depend on a number of factors including, but not limited to:
▪proper new product definition;
▪timely completion of design and testing of new products;
▪assisting our customers with integration of our components into their new products, including providing support from the concept stage through design, launch and production ramp;
▪successfully developing and implementing the software necessary to integrate our products into our customers’ products;
▪achievement of acceptable manufacturing yields;
▪availability of wafer fabrication, assembly, and test capacity; and
▪market acceptance of our products and the products of our customers.
Both sales and/or margins may be materially affected if new product introductions are delayed, or if our products are not designed into successive generations of new or existing customers’ products. Our failure to develop and introduce new products successfully could harm our business and operating results.
In addition, difficulties associated with adapting our technology and product design to the proprietary process technology and design rules of outside foundries can lead to reduced yields of our products. Since low yields may result from either design or process technology failures, yield problems may not be effectively determined or resolved until an actual product exists that can be analyzed and tested to identify process sensitivities relating to the design rules that are used. As a result, yield problems may not be identified until well into the production process, and resolution of yield problems may require cooperation between our manufacturer and us. This risk could be compounded by the offshore location of certain of our manufacturers, increasing the effort and time required to identify, communicate and resolve manufacturing yield problems. Manufacturing defects that we do not discover during the manufacturing or testing process may lead to costly product recalls. These risks may lead to increased costs or delayed product delivery, which would harm our profitability and customer relationships.
Changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and export restrictions, could have an adverse impact on our business operations and sales.
The United States has recently enacted changes in government trade policies that could adversely impact our ability to sell products in certain countries, particularly in China. For example, the U.S. government has imposed tariffs on certain Chinese imports and, in return, the Chinese government has imposed or proposed tariffs on certain U.S. products. Additionally, export restrictions imposed by the U.S. government, including the addition of licensing requirements by the Bureau of Industry and Security ("BIS") through the addition of companies to the BIS Entity List, may require us to suspend our business with certain international customers if we conclude or are notified by the U.S. government that such business presents a risk of noncompliance with U.S. regulations. We cannot predict what actions may ultimately be taken with respect to tariffs or trade relations between the U.S. and other countries, what products may be subject to such actions, or what actions may be taken by
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other countries in response. It also may not be possible to anticipate the timing or duration of such tariffs, export restrictions, or other U.S. regulatory actions. These government trade policies may materially adversely affect our sales and operations with current customers as well as impede our ability to develop relationships with new customers.
While we have received a license to sell to Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei"), it is limited to specific products and there is no guarantee that we will be able to obtain a license for future products or for other entities if the U.S government adds other companies to the Entity List and/or subjects them to additional trade restrictions. Despite our receipt of licenses, Entity List restrictions may also encourage Huawei or other foreign customers to seek to obtain a greater supply of similar or substitute products from our competitors that are not subject to these restrictions or to develop their own solutions, especially as the Chinese government invests in developing its domestic semiconductor industry. This decreases our long-term competitiveness as a supplier to Chinese customers.
There is a risk of further escalation and retaliatory actions between the two countries. If significant tariffs or other restrictions are placed on goods imported into the United States from China or any related counter-measures are taken by China, our revenue and results of operations may be materially harmed. These tariffs may also make our customers' products more expensive for consumers, which may reduce consumer demand.
There is also a risk that the U.S. government may seek to implement more protective trade measures, not just with respect to China but with respect to other countries as well. This could include new or higher tariffs and even more restrictive trade barriers, such as prohibiting certain types of, or all sales of certain products or products sold by certain parties into the U.S. Any increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade could have a materially adverse impact on our business and financial results.
We are subject to the export control regulations of the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Commerce. A violation of these export control regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business or our results of operations, cash flows, or financial position.
The nature of our international business subjects us to the export control regulations of the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Commerce. Any changes regarding such regulations or U.S. trade policy more generally, including potential adoption and expansion of trade restrictions, particularly with respect to China, might impact overall customer demand for our products or affect our ability to manufacture and/or sell our products overseas. Although we currently have a license to provide certain products and support to Huawei, it is possible that the U.S. government may view some of our efforts as outside the scope of our license, particularly given the complex and dynamic nature of export control regulations. Violation of these export control regulations could result in monetary penalties and denial of export privileges. The U.S. government is very strict with respect to compliance and has served notice generally that failure to comply with these regulations may subject violators to fines and/or imprisonment. Although we are not aware of any material violation of any export control regulations, a failure to comply with any of these regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We continue to invest in research and development efforts for several new markets. If we are unable to commercialize these technologies, our future results and profits could be negatively affected.
Our investments into new markets, for example user authentication, subjects us to additional risks. We may have limited or no experience in these markets, and our customers may not adopt our new offerings. These new offerings may present new and difficult challenges, including risks related to technology, customers, competitors, product cycles, customer demand, terms and conditions and other industry specific issues which could negatively affect our operating results. These developing products and market segments may not grow as significantly as projected, or at all, and we may not realize an adequate return on our investments or may be required to write-down the value of certain tangible and intangible assets.
Our products are increasingly complex and could contain defects, which could result in material costs to us.
Product development in the markets we serve is becoming more focused on the integration of multiple functions on individual devices. There is a general trend towards increasingly complex products, including software or firmware developed by Cirrus Logic and/or third parties. The greater integration of functions and complexity of operations of our products increases the risk that we or our customers or end users could discover latent defects or subtle faults after volumes of product have been shipped. Quality and reliability issues could result in material costs and other adverse consequences to us, including, but not limited to:
▪reduced margins;
▪damage to our reputation;
▪replacement costs for product warranty and support;
▪payments to our customers related to recall claims, or the delivery of product replacements as part of a recall claim, as a result of various industry or business practices, contractual requirements, or in order to maintain good customer relationships;
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▪an adverse impact to our customer relationships by the occurrence of significant defects;
▪a delay in recognition or loss of revenues, loss of market share, or failure to achieve market acceptance;
▪writing off or reserving the value of inventory of such products; and
▪a diversion of the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts.
In addition, any defects or other problems with our products could result in financial losses or other damages to our customers who could seek damages from us for their losses. A product liability or warranty claim brought against us, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time consuming and costly to defend. In particular, the sale of systems and components that are incorporated into certain applications for the automotive industry and/or secure applications using our user authentication solutions involves a high degree of risk that such claims may be made.
While we believe that we are reasonably insured against some of these risks and that we have attempted to contractually limit our financial exposure with many of our customers, a warranty or product liability claim against us in excess of our available insurance coverage and established reserves, or a requirement that we participate in a customer product recall, could have material adverse effects on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We are subject to risks relating to product concentration.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from a limited number of products, and we expect these products to represent a large percentage of our revenues in the near term. Customer acceptance of these products is critical to our future success. Our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows could therefore be adversely affected by:
▪a decline in demand for any of our more significant products;
▪a decline in the average selling prices of our more significant products;
▪failure of our products to achieve continued market acceptance;
▪competitive products;
▪new technological standards or changes to existing standards that we are unable to address with our products;
▪manufacturing or supply issues that prevent us from meeting our customers’ demand for these products;
▪a failure to release new products or enhanced versions of our existing products on a timely basis; and
▪the failure of our new products to achieve market acceptance.
In general, our customers may cancel or reschedule orders on short notice without incurring significant penalties; therefore, our sales and operating results in any quarter are difficult to forecast.
In general, we rely on customers issuing purchase orders to buy our products rather than long-term supply contracts. Customers may cancel or reschedule orders on short notice without incurring significant penalties. This risk is potentially heightened for those customers with whom we have less experience regarding the reliability of their forecasts. Therefore, cancellations, reductions, or delays of orders from any significant customer could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In addition, a significant portion of our sales and earnings in any quarter depends upon customer orders for our products that we receive and fulfill in that quarter. Because our expense levels are based in part on our expectations as to future revenue and to a large extent are fixed in the short term, we likely will be unable to adjust spending on a timely basis to compensate for any unexpected shortfall in sales or reductions in average selling prices. Accordingly, any significant shortfall of sales in relation to our expectations could hurt our operating results.
Strong competition in the semiconductor market may harm our business.
The IC industry is intensely competitive and is frequently characterized by rapid technological change, price erosion, technological obsolescence, and a push towards IC component integration. Because of shortened product life cycles and even shorter design-in cycles in a number of the markets that we serve, our competitors have increasingly frequent opportunities to achieve design wins in next-generation systems. As markets mature and components become commoditized, competitors that can tolerate lower margins/operating income pose a risk to our profitability and growth. In the event that competitors succeed in supplanting our products, our market share may not be sustainable and our net sales, gross margin and operating results would be adversely affected.
We compete in a number of markets. Our principal competitors in these markets include AKM Semiconductor Inc., Analog Devices Inc., Dialog Semiconductor PLC, DSP Group, Goodix Technology, Maxim Integrated Products Inc., Qualcomm Incorporated, Realtek Semiconductor Corporation, Shanghai Awinic Technology Co., Ltd., Skyworks Solutions Inc., ST Microelectronics N.V., Synaptics Incorporated and Texas Instruments, Inc. Many of these competitors have greater financial, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, technical, distribution, and other resources; broader product lines; and
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broader intellectual property portfolios. We also expect intensified competition from emerging companies and from customers who develop their own IC products. In addition, some of our current and future competitors maintain their own fabrication facilities, which could benefit them in connection with cost, capacity, and technical issues.
Increased competition could adversely affect our business. We cannot provide assurances that we will be able to compete successfully in the future or that competitive pressures will not adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Competitive pressures could reduce market acceptance of our products and result in price reductions and increases in expenses that could adversely affect our business and our financial condition.
Our sales could be materially impacted by the failure of other component suppliers to deliver required parts needed in the final assembly of our customers’ end products.
The products we supply our customers are typically a portion of the many components provided from multiple suppliers in order to complete the final assembly of an end product. If one or more of these other component suppliers are unable to deliver their required component(s) in order for the final end product to be assembled, our customers may delay, or ultimately cancel, their orders from us.
We are dependent on third-party manufacturing and supply chain relationships for the majority of our products. Our reliance on third-party foundries and suppliers involves certain risks that may result in increased costs, delays in meeting our customers’ demand, and loss of revenue.
We do not own or operate a semiconductor fabrication facility and do not have the resources to manufacture the majority of our products internally. We use third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test the vast majority of our products. As a result, we are subject to risks associated with these third parties, including:
▪insufficient capacity available to meet our demand;
▪inadequate manufacturing yields and excessive costs;
▪inability of these third parties to obtain an adequate supply of raw materials;
▪difficulties selecting and integrating new subcontractors;
▪limited warranties on products supplied to us;
▪potential increases in prices; and
▪increased exposure to potential misappropriation of our intellectual property.
Our outside foundries and assembly and test suppliers generally manufacture our products on a purchase order basis, and we have few long-term supply arrangements with these suppliers. Therefore, our third-party manufacturers and suppliers are not obligated to supply us with products for any specific period of time, quantity, or price, except as may be provided in any particular purchase order or in relation to an existing supply agreement. A manufacturing or supply disruption experienced by one or more of our outside suppliers or a disruption of our relationship with an outside foundry could negatively impact the production of certain of our products for a substantial period of time.
In addition, difficulties associated with adapting our technology and product design to the proprietary process technology and design rules of outside foundries can lead to reduced yields of our products. Since low yields may result from either design or process technology failures, yield problems may not be effectively determined or resolved until an actual product exists that can be analyzed and tested to identify process sensitivities relating to the design rules that are used. As a result, yield problems may not be identified until well into the production process, and resolution of yield problems may require cooperation between our manufacturer and us. This risk could be compounded by the offshore location of certain of our manufacturers, increasing the effort and time required to identify, communicate and resolve manufacturing yield problems. Manufacturing defects that we do not discover during the manufacturing or testing process may lead to costly product recalls. These risks may lead to increased costs or delayed product delivery, which would harm our profitability and customer relationships.
In some cases, our requirements may represent a small portion of the total production of the third-party suppliers. As a result, we are subject to the risk that a producer will cease production of an older or lower-volume process that it uses to produce our parts. We cannot provide any assurance that our external foundries will continue to devote resources to the production of parts for our products or continue to advance the process design technologies on which the manufacturing of our products are based. Each of these events could increase our costs, lower our gross margin, and cause us to hold more inventories, or materially impact our ability to deliver our products on time.
We may experience difficulties developing and transitioning to advanced manufacturing process technologies, which could materially adversely affect our results.
Our future success depends in part on our ability to transition our current development and production efforts to advanced manufacturing process technologies. We are currently making a significant investment to transition our products and intellectual property to next-generation circuit geometries, for example 22 nanometers. If we are unable to reliably model
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behaviors required for circuit design and product requirements, then our product development may be adversely impacted. To the extent that we do not timely develop or transition to smaller geometries, experience difficulties in shifting to smaller geometries, or have significant quality or reliability issues at these smaller geometries, our results could be materially adversely affected.
System security risks, data protection breaches, cyber-attacks and other related cyber security issues could disrupt our internal operations and/or supply chain, and any such disruption could increase our expenses, damage our reputation and adversely affect our stock price.
Security measures at Cirrus Logic and/or within our manufacturing and supply chain are subject to third-party security breaches, employee error, malfeasance, faulty password management, and other irregularities. We manage and store various proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data relating to our business. In addition, we manage and store a significant amount of proprietary and sensitive or confidential information from third parties, such as our customers. Hackers may be able to penetrate our security controls and misappropriate or compromise such confidential information, create system disruptions or cause shutdowns. Hackers also may be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that attack our websites, products or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities. This risk may be heightened when our employees are working remotely.
Our development and sale of security-related products, such as user authentication solutions, may make us a particularly attractive target of cyber-attacks. Sophisticated individuals or entities acting maliciously may attempt to penetrate our networks in an effort to undermine or disclose information related to the design and security of our user authentication products. Any failure to prevent or mitigate security breaches and improper access to the algorithms, techniques, or authentication keys used in our user authentication solution could harm our business reputation, diminish our competitive position in that market, and expose us to significant expense and liability associated with a customer's implementation of our solution.
The costs to us to eliminate or alleviate cyber or other security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and our efforts to address these problems may not be successful and could result in interruptions, delays, cessation of service and loss of existing or potential customers that may impede our sales, manufacturing, distribution or other critical functions.
Any breach of our security measures or the accidental loss, inadvertent disclosure or unapproved dissemination of proprietary information or sensitive or confidential data about us or our customers, including the potential loss or disclosure of such information or data as a result of fraud, trickery or other forms of deception, could result in litigation and potential liability for us, damage our brand and reputation or otherwise harm our business.
We have significant international sales, and risks associated with these sales could harm our operating results.
International sales represented 99 percent of our net sales in fiscal year 2020, and 98 percent of our net sales in each of fiscal years 2019 and 2018. We expect international sales to continue to represent a significant portion of product sales. This reliance on international sales subjects us to the risks of conducting business internationally, including risks associated with political and economic instability, global health conditions, currency controls, exchange rate fluctuations and changes in import/export regulations, and tariff and freight rates. For example, the political or economic instability in a given region may have an adverse impact on the financial position of end users in the region, which could affect future orders and harm our results of operations. Our international sales operations involve a number of other risks including, but not limited to:
▪unexpected changes in government regulatory requirements;
▪sales, VAT, or other indirect tax regulations and treaties and potential changes in regulations and treaties in the United States and in and between countries in which we manufacture or sell our products;
▪changes to countries’ banking and credit requirements;
▪changes in diplomatic and trade relationships;
▪delays resulting from difficulties in obtaining export licenses for technology, particularly in China;
▪any changes in U.S. trade policy, including potential adoption and expansion of trade restrictions, higher tariffs, or cross border taxation by the U.S. government involving other countries, particularly China, that might impact overall customer demand for our products or affect our ability to manufacture and/or sell our products overseas;
▪tariffs and other barriers and restrictions, particularly in China;
▪competition with non-U.S. companies or other domestic companies entering the non-U.S. markets in which we operate;
▪longer sales and payment cycles;
▪problems in collecting accounts receivable;
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▪changes to economic, social, or political conditions in countries such as China, where we have significant operations; and
▪the burdens of complying with a variety of non-U.S. laws.
In addition, our competitive position may be affected by the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against other currencies. While our sales are predominately denominated in U.S. dollars, increases in the value of the dollar would increase the price in local currencies of our products in non-U.S. markets and make our products relatively more expensive. We cannot provide assurances that regulatory, political and other factors will not adversely affect our operations in the future or require us to modify our current business practices.
We could be subject to changes in tax laws, the adoption of new U.S. or international tax legislation or exposure to additional tax liabilities.
We are subject to taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, where a number of our subsidiaries are organized. Due to economic and political conditions, tax laws in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change. Our future effective tax rates could be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, or changes in tax laws or their interpretation, including in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. We are also subject to the examination of our tax returns and other tax matters by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States (the “IRS”) and other tax authorities and governmental bodies. We regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for taxes. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of these examinations. If our effective tax rates were to increase, particularly in the U.S. or the United Kingdom, or if the ultimate determination of taxes owed is for an amount in excess of amounts previously accrued, our operating results, cash flows, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Significant judgment is required in the calculation of our tax provision and the resulting tax liabilities. Our estimates of future taxable income and the regional mix of this income can change as new information becomes available. Any such changes in our estimates or assumptions can significantly impact our tax provision in a given period.
Our international operations subject our business to additional political and economic risks that could have an adverse impact on our business.
In addition to international sales constituting a large portion of our net sales, we maintain international operations, sales, and technical support personnel. International expansion has required, and will continue to require, significant management attention and resources. There are risks inherent in expanding our presence into non-U.S. regions, including, but not limited to:
▪difficulties in staffing and managing non-U.S. operations;
▪failure in non-U.S. regions to adequately protect our intellectual property, patent, trademarks, copyrights, know-how, and other proprietary rights;
▪global health conditions and potential natural disasters, including those resulting from climate change;
▪political and economic instability in international regions;
▪international currency controls and exchange rate fluctuations;
▪vulnerability to terrorist groups targeting American interests abroad; and
▪legal uncertainty regarding liability and compliance with non-U.S. laws and regulatory requirements.
If we are unable to successfully manage the demands of our international operations, it may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom (U.K.) held a referendum in which voters approved an exit from the European Union (the “E.U.”), commonly referred to as “Brexit.” Following the referendum result, the British government invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on March 29, 2017, and the U.K. formally left the E.U. on 31 January 2020. The E.U. and the U.K. have until 31 December 2020, the end of a “transition period,” to negotiate an agreement on the terms of the U.K.’s withdrawal, i.e., the U.K.'s future relationship with the E.U. It is still unknown what those terms will be, however, it is recognized that there will be greater restrictions on immigration between the U.K. and E.U. countries that make it more difficult to staff our U.K. operations, changes in tax laws that negatively impact our effective tax rate, restrictions on imports and exports between the U.K. and E.U. member states, and increased regulatory complexities. It remains possible that there could still be a “no deal” outcome, whereby the U.K. exits the transition period without an agreement related to the withdrawal from the E.U., or that the transition period is extended beyond 31 December 2020. These changes may adversely affect our operations and financial results.
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Because we depend on subcontractors internationally to perform key manufacturing functions for us, we are subject to political, economic, and natural disaster risks that could disrupt the fabrication, assembly, packaging, or testing of our products.
We depend on third-party subcontractors, primarily in Asia, for the fabrication, assembly, packaging, and testing of most of our products. International operations may be subject to a variety of risks, including political instability, global health conditions, currency controls, exchange rate fluctuations, changes in import/export regulations, tariff and freight rates, as well as the risks of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods. Although we seek to reduce our dependence on any one subcontractor, this concentration of subcontractors and manufacturing operations in Asia subjects us to the risks of conducting business internationally, including associated political and economic conditions. If we experience manufacturing problems at a particular location, or a supplier is unable to continue operating due to financial difficulties, natural disasters, or other reasons, we would be required to transfer manufacturing to a backup supplier. The substantial majority of our semiconductor wafers are manufactured by TSMC at fabs in Taiwan, and Global Foundries in Singapore and Germany. Converting or transferring manufacturing from a primary supplier to a backup facility could be expensive and time consuming. As a result, delays in our production or shipping by the parties to whom we outsource these functions could reduce our sales, damage our customer relationships, and damage our reputation in the marketplace, any of which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Our products may be subject to average selling prices that decline over time. If we are unable to maintain average selling prices for existing products, increase our volumes, introduce new or enhanced products with higher selling prices, or reduce our costs, our business and operating results could be harmed.
Historically in the semiconductor industry, average selling prices of products have decreased over time. Moreover, our dependence on a limited number of key customers may make it easier for key customers to pressure us to reduce the prices of the products we sell to them. If the average selling price of any of our products declines and we are unable to increase our unit volumes, introduce new or enhanced products with higher margins, and/or reduce manufacturing costs to offset anticipated decreases in the prices of our existing products, our operating results may be adversely affected. In addition, because of procurement lead times, we are limited in our ability to reduce total costs quickly in response to any reductions in prices or sales shortfalls. Because of these factors, we may experience material adverse fluctuations in our future operating results on a quarterly or annual basis.
As we carry only limited insurance coverage, uninsured or under-insured losses could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Our insurance policies may not be adequate to fully offset losses from covered incidents, and we do not have coverage for certain losses. For example, there is limited coverage available with respect to the services provided by our third-party foundries and assembly and test subcontractors. Although we believe that our existing insurance coverage is consistent with common practices of companies in our industry, our insurance coverage may be inadequate to protect us against product recalls, natural disasters, cybersecurity attacks, and other unforeseen catastrophes that could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Shifts in industry-wide capacity and our practice of ordering and purchasing our products based on sales forecasts may result in significant fluctuations in inventory and our quarterly and annual operating results.
We rely on independent foundries and assembly and test houses to manufacture our products. Our reliance on these third- party suppliers involves certain risks and uncertainties. For example, shifts in industry-wide capacity from shortages to oversupply, or from oversupply to shortages, may result in significant fluctuations in our quarterly and annual operating results. In addition, we may order wafers and build inventory in advance of receiving purchase orders from our customers. Because our industry is highly cyclical and is subject to significant downturns resulting from excess capacity, overproduction, reduced demand, order cancellations, or technological obsolescence, there is a risk that we will forecast inaccurately and produce excess inventories of particular products. In addition, if we experience supply constraints or manufacturing problems at a particular supplier, we could be required to switch suppliers or qualify additional suppliers. The substantial majority of our semiconductor wafers are manufactured at a limited number of fabrication facilities and, for a given product, the wafers are typically sourced at a single facility. Switching and/or qualifying additional suppliers could be an expensive process and take as long as six to twelve months to complete, which could result in material adverse fluctuations to our operating results.
We generally order our products through non-cancelable purchase orders from third-party foundries based on our sales forecasts, and our customers can generally cancel or reschedule orders they place with us without significant penalties. If we do not receive orders as anticipated by our forecasts, or our customers cancel orders that are placed, we may experience increased inventory levels.
Due to the product manufacturing cycle characteristic of IC manufacturing and the inherent imprecision in the accuracy of our customers’ forecasts, product inventories may not always correspond to product demand, leading to shortages or
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surpluses of certain products. As a result of such inventory imbalances, future inventory write-downs and charges to gross margin may occur due to lower of cost or market accounting, excess inventory, and inventory obsolescence.
We have historically experienced fluctuations in our operating results and expect these fluctuations to continue in future periods.
Our quarterly and annual operating results are affected by a wide variety of factors that could materially and adversely affect our net sales, gross margin, and operating results. If our operating results fall below expectations of market analysts or investors, the market price of our common stock could decrease significantly. We are subject to business cycles and it is difficult to predict the timing, length, or volatility of these cycles. These business cycles may create pressure on our sales, gross margin, and/or operating results.
Factors that could cause fluctuations and materially and adversely affect our net sales, gross margin and/or operating results include, but are not limited to:
▪the volume and timing of orders received;
▪changes in the mix of our products sold;
▪market acceptance of our products and the products of our customers;
▪excess or obsolete inventory;
▪pricing pressures from competitors and key customers;
▪our ability to introduce new products on a timely basis;
▪the timing and extent of our research and development expenses;
▪the failure to anticipate changing customer product requirements;
▪disruption in the supply of wafers, assembly, or test services;
▪reduction of manufacturing yields;
▪certain production and other risks associated with using independent manufacturers, assembly houses, and testers; and
▪product obsolescence, price erosion, competitive developments, and other competitive factors.
We may be unable to protect our intellectual property rights.
Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain patents and to preserve our other intellectual property rights covering our products. We seek patent protection for those inventions and technologies for which we believe such protection is suitable and is likely to provide a competitive advantage to us. We also rely on trade secrets, proprietary technology, non-disclosure and other contractual terms, and technical measures to protect our technology and manufacturing knowledge. We actively work to foster continuing technological innovation to maintain and protect our competitive position. We cannot provide assurances that steps taken by us to protect our intellectual property will be adequate, that our competitors will not independently develop or design around our patents, or that our intellectual property will not be misappropriated. In addition, the laws of some non-U.S. countries may not protect our intellectual property as well as the laws of the United States.
Any of these events could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, or financial condition. Policing infringement of our technology is difficult, and litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights. Any such litigation could be expensive, take significant time, and divert management’s attention.
Potential intellectual property claims and litigation could subject us to significant liability for damages and could invalidate our proprietary rights.
The IC industry is characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. We may find it necessary to initiate lawsuits to assert our patent or other intellectual property rights. These legal proceedings could be expensive, take significant time, and divert management’s attention. We cannot provide assurances that we will ultimately be successful in any lawsuit, nor can we provide assurances that any patent owned by us will not be invalidated, circumvented, or challenged. We cannot provide assurances that rights granted under our patents will provide competitive advantages to us, or that any of our pending or future patent applications will be issued with the scope of the claims sought by us, if at all.
As is typical in the IC industry, our customers and we have, from time to time, received and may in the future receive, communications from third parties asserting patents, mask work rights, or copyrights. In the event third parties were to make a valid intellectual property claim and a license was not available on commercially reasonable terms, our operating results could be harmed. Litigation, which could result in substantial cost to us and diversion of our management, technical and financial resources, may also be necessary to defend us against claimed infringement of the rights of others. An unfavorable outcome in any such litigation could have an adverse effect on our future operations and/or liquidity.
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If we fail to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel, we may not be able to develop, market, or sell our products or successfully manage our business.
Competition for highly qualified personnel in our industry is intense. The number of technology companies in the geographic areas in which we operate is greater than it has been historically and we expect competition for qualified personnel to intensify. There are only a limited number of individuals in the job market with the requisite skills. Furthermore, changes in immigration laws and regulations, or the administration or enforcement of such laws or regulations, can also impair our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. Anticipated changes to the immigration system in the U.K. brought about by Brexit will make it harder to employ E.U. nationals to work in the U.K. Our Human Resources organization focuses significant efforts on attracting and retaining individuals in key technology positions. The loss of the services of key personnel or our inability to hire new personnel with the requisite skills or to assimilate talent could restrict our ability to develop new products or enhance existing products in a timely manner, sell products to our customers, or manage our business effectively.
We may acquire other companies or technologies, which may create additional risks associated with our ability to successfully integrate them into our business.
We continue to consider future acquisitions of other companies, or their technologies or products, to improve our market position, broaden our technological capabilities, and expand our product offerings. If we are able to acquire companies, products or technologies that would enhance our business, we could experience difficulties in integrating them. Integrating acquired businesses involves a number of risks, including, but not limited to:
▪the potential disruption of our ongoing business;
▪unexpected costs or incurring unknown liabilities;
▪the diversion of management resources from other strategic and operational issues;
▪the inability to retain the employees of the acquired businesses;
▪difficulties relating to integrating the operations and personnel of the acquired businesses;
▪adverse effects on our existing customer relationships or the existing customer relationships of acquired businesses;
▪the potential incompatibility of the acquired business or their business customers;
▪adverse effects associated with entering into markets and acquiring technologies in areas in which we have little experience; and
▪acquired intangible assets, including goodwill, becoming impaired as a result of technological advancements or worse-than-expected performance of the acquired business.
If we are unable to successfully address any of these risks, our business could be harmed.
Our stock price has been and is likely to continue to be volatile.
The market price of our common stock fluctuates significantly. This fluctuation has been or may be the result of numerous factors, including, but not limited to:
▪actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results;
▪announcements concerning our business or those of our competitors, customers, or suppliers;
▪loss of a significant customer, or customers;
▪changes in financial estimates by securities analysts or our failure to perform as anticipated by the analysts;
▪news, commentary, and rumors emanating from the media relating to our customers, the industry, or us. These reports may be unrelated to the actual operating performance of the Company, and in some cases, may be potentially misleading or incorrect;
▪announcements regarding technological innovations or new products by us or our competitors;
▪announcements by us of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, or capital commitments;
▪announcements by us of significant divestitures or sale of certain assets or intellectual property;
▪litigation arising out of a wide variety of matters, including, among others, employment matters and intellectual property matters;
▪departure of key personnel;
▪a significant stockholder selling for any reason;
▪general conditions in the IC industry; and
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▪general market conditions and interest rates.
Our foreign currency exposures may change over time as the level of activity in foreign markets grows and could have an adverse impact upon financial results.
As a global enterprise, we face exposure to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates. Certain of our assets, including certain bank accounts, exist in non-U.S. dollar-denominated currencies, which are sensitive to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. The non-U.S. dollar-denominated currencies are principally the British Pound Sterling. We also have a significant number of employees that are paid in foreign currency, the largest group being United Kingdom-based employees who are paid in British Pounds Sterling.
If the value of the U.S. dollar weakens relative to these specific currencies, the cost of doing business in terms of U.S. dollars rises. With the growth of our international business, our foreign currency exposures may grow and under certain circumstances, could harm our business.
If we do not hedge against these risks, or our attempts to hedge against these risks are not successful, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our debt obligations may be a burden on our future cash flows and cash resources.
On July 12, 2016, Cirrus Logic entered into an amended and restated credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) which provides for a $300 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Credit Facility”). As of March 28, 2020, the Company did not have an outstanding balance under the Credit Facility. The Credit Facility matures on July 12, 2021. To the extent the Company has an outstanding balance, our ability to repay the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. Our business may not generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to satisfy our obligations or to make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as reducing or delaying investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, or refinancing or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance any indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on the Credit Agreement.
Our Credit Agreement contains restrictions that could limit our flexibility in operating our business.
Our Credit Agreement contains various covenants that could limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions under certain conditions. These covenants could limit our ability to, among other things:
▪pay dividends on, repurchase or make distributions in respect of our capital stock or make other restricted payments;
▪incur additional indebtedness or issue certain preferred shares;
▪make certain investments;
▪sell certain assets;
▪create liens;
▪consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets; and
▪enter into certain transactions with our affiliates.
A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under the Credit Agreement. In the event of a default under the Credit Agreement, the lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding to be immediately due and payable. If our lenders accelerate the repayment of borrowings, we may not be able to repay our debt obligations. If we were unable to repay amounts due to the lenders under our credit facility, those lenders could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness.
We have provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, and are subject to certain provisions of Delaware law, which could prevent, delay or impede a change of control of our company. These provisions could affect the market price of our stock.
Certain provisions of Delaware law and of our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if our stockholders support the acquisition. These provisions include, but are not limited to:
▪the inability of stockholders to call a special meeting of stockholders;
▪a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent; and
▪a requirement that stockholders provide advance notice of any stockholder nominations of directors or any proposal of new business to be considered at any meeting of stockholders.
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We are also subject to the anti-takeover laws of Delaware that may prevent, delay or impede a third party from acquiring or merging with us, which may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
We are subject to the risks of owning real property.
We currently own our U.S. headquarters and research facility in Austin, Texas. The ownership of our U.S. properties subjects us to the risks of owning real property, which may include:
▪the possibility of environmental contamination and the costs associated with correcting any environmental problems;
▪adverse changes in the value of these properties, due to interest rate changes, changes in the neighborhood in which the property is located, or other factors; and
▪the risk of financial loss in excess of amounts covered by insurance, or uninsured risks, such as the loss caused by damage to the buildings as a result of fire, floods, or other natural disasters.
ITEM 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
ITEM 2. Properties
As of March 28, 2020, our principal facilities are located in Austin, Texas and Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. The Austin facilities, which we own, consist of approximately 155,000 square feet of office space and are primarily occupied by research and development personnel and testing equipment. In addition, our failure analysis and reliability facility occupies approximately 27,000 square feet.
Additionally, we have various leased facilities in Austin, Texas, consisting of approximately 157,000 square feet. This includes approximately 151,000 square feet of leased space that houses a mixture of administrative personnel as well as research and development personnel.
In connection with our acquisition of Wolfson Microelectronics (“Wolfson”) on August 21, 2014, we acquired Wolfson’s corporate headquarters located in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. This building consisted of approximately 50,000 square feet of office space. We sold this building in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019 and recorded a $4.9 million gain on the sale. This gain is presented as a separate line item in the Consolidated Statements of Income as “Gain on sale of assets”. Additionally, we lease approximately 110,000 square feet of office space and 27,000 square feet of high quality lab space in Edinburgh. See further details below in Results of Operation.
Below is a detailed schedule that identifies our principal locations of occupied leased and owned property as of March 28, 2020, with various lease terms through calendar year 2028. We believe that these facilities are suitable and adequate to meet our current operating needs.
| Design Centers | Sales Support Offices – International | |||||||
| Austin, Texas | Hong Kong, China | |||||||
| Mesa, Arizona | Shanghai, China | |||||||
| Salt Lake City, Utah | Shenzhen, China | |||||||
| Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom | Tokyo, Japan | |||||||
| Newbury, England, United Kingdom | Singapore | |||||||
| London, England, United Kingdom | Seoul, South Korea | |||||||
| Madrid, Spain | Taipei, Taiwan | |||||||
See Note 14 — Commitments and Contingencies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8 for further detail.
ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings
From time to time, we are involved in legal proceedings concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of our business activities. We regularly evaluate the status of legal proceedings in which we are involved to assess whether a loss is probable or there is a reasonable possibility that a loss or additional loss may have been incurred and to determine if accruals are appropriate. We further evaluate each legal proceeding to assess whether an estimate of possible loss or range of loss can be made.
Based on current knowledge, management does not believe that there are any pending matters that could potentially have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, we are engaged in various legal actions in the normal course of business. While there can be no assurances in light of the inherent uncertainties
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involved in any potential legal proceedings, some of which are beyond our control, an adverse outcome in any legal proceeding could be material to our results of operations or cash flows for any particular reporting period.
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 traded on the NASDAQ's Global Select Market under the symbol CRUS.
As of May 18, 2020, there were approximately 390 holders of record of our common stock.
The information under the caption “Equity Compensation Plan Information” in the proxy statement to be delivered to stockholders in connection with our Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on July 31, 2020 (the “Proxy Statement”) is incorporated herein by reference.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
The following table provides information about purchases of equity securities that are registered by us pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act during the three months ended March 28, 2020 (in thousands, except per share amounts):
| Monthly Period | Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid Per Share | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1) | |||||||||||||||||||
| December 29, 2019 - January 25, 2020 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||||||||||
| January 26, 2020 - February 22, 2020 | 255 | 78.43 | 255 | 149,981 | |||||||||||||||||||
| February 23, 2020 - March 28, 2020 | 428 | 70.06 | 428 | 120,001 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 683 | $ | 73.18 | 683 | $ | 120,001 | ||||||||||||||||
(1) The Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program of up to $200 million in January 2019. The Company repurchased 0.7 million shares of its common stock for $50.0 million during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020. All of these shares were repurchased in the open market and were funded from existing cash. All shares of our common stock that were repurchased were retired as of March 28, 2020. The repurchases are to be funded from existing cash and intended to be effected from time to time in accordance with applicable securities laws through the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The timing of the repurchases and the actual amount purchased depend on a variety of factors including general market and economic conditions and other corporate considerations. The programs do not have an expiration date, do not obligate the Company to repurchase any particular amount of common stock, and may be modified or suspended at any time at the Company's discretion.
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Stock Price Performance Graph
The following graph and table show a comparison of the five-year cumulative total stockholder return, calculated on a dividend reinvestment basis, for Cirrus Logic, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite Index (the “S&P 500 Index”), and the Semiconductor Subgroup of the Standard & Poor’s Electronics Index (the “S&P 500 Semiconductors Index”).
| 3/28/2015 | 3/26/2016 | 3/25/2017 | 3/31/2018 | 3/30/2019 | 3/28/2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cirrus Logic, Inc. | 100.00 | 103.54 | 180.41 | 122.05 | 126.37 | 186.00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| S&P 500 Index | 100.00 | 100.93 | 118.70 | 136.43 | 149.38 | 136.61 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| S&P 500 Semiconductors Index | 100.00 | 100.74 | 139.11 | 192.13 | 201.41 | 210.86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(1)The graph assumes that $100 was invested in our common stock and in each index at the market close on March 28, 2015, and that all dividends were reinvested. No cash dividends were declared on our common stock during the periods presented.
(2)Stockholder returns over the indicated period should not be considered indicative of future stockholder returns.
The information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K appearing under the heading “Stock Price Performance Graph” is being “furnished” pursuant to Item 201(e) of Regulation S-K under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C, other than as provided in Item 201(e) of Regulation S-K, or to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
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ITEM 6. Selected Financial Data
The information contained below should be read along with Item 7 – Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data (amounts in thousands, except per share amounts).
| Fiscal Years | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | (1) | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net sales | $ | 1,281,124 | $ | 1,185,524 | $ | 1,532,186 | $ | 1,538,940 | $ | 1,169,251 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | 159,498 | 89,991 | 161,995 | 261,209 | 123,630 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic earnings per share | $ | 2.74 | $ | 1.50 | $ | 2.55 | $ | 4.12 | $ | 1.96 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted earnings per share | $ | 2.64 | $ | 1.46 | $ | 2.46 | $ | 3.92 | $ | 1.87 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Financial position at year end: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents, restricted investments and marketable securities | $ | 597,700 | $ | 445,323 | $ | 434,500 | $ | 450,979 | $ | 250,006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total assets | 1,592,677 | 1,352,640 | 1,430,117 | 1,413,470 | 1,181,883 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Working capital | 491,559 | 509,443 | 473,465 | 631,853 | 378,005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Long-term liabilities | 204,261 | 96,860 | 128,180 | 117,703 | 194,276 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | $ | 1,229,779 | $ | 1,140,240 | $ | 1,161,728 | $ | 1,151,692 | $ | 859,483 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
(1)Refer to the consolidated financial statements and the Notes thereto contained in Item 8 of this Form 10-K for fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, for an expanded discussion of factors that materially affect the comparability of the information reflected in the selected consolidated financial data presented above.
ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Please read the following discussion in conjunction with our audited historical consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which are included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains statements that are forward-looking. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risk, uncertainties and other factors. Actual results could differ materially because of the factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Form 10-K and elsewhere in this report, as well as in the documents filed by us with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K, each as it may be amended from time to time.
Critical Accounting Policies
Our discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations are based upon the consolidated financial statements included in this report, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts. We evaluate the estimates on an on-going basis. We base these estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions.
We believe the following critical accounting policies involve significant judgments and estimates that are used in the preparation of the consolidated financial statements:
▪We recognize revenue upon the transfer of promised goods or services to customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. See Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Revenue Recognition of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8 for discussion on the identification of the Company's performance obligations and determination of transaction price, including treatment of rebates, right of returns, warranties, price protection and stock rotation.
▪Inventories are recorded at the lower of cost or net realizable value, with cost being determined on a first-in, first-out basis. We write down inventories to net realizable value based on forecasted demand while taking into account product release schedules and product life cycles, which may drive management judgment. We also review and write down inventory, as appropriate, based on the age and condition of the inventory. Actual demand and market conditions may be different from those projected by management, which could have a material effect on our operating
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results and financial position. See Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8.
▪We evaluate the recoverability of property, plant, and equipment and intangible assets by testing for impairment losses on long-lived assets used in operations when indicators of impairment are present and the undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by those assets are less than the assets’ carrying amounts. An impairment loss is recognized in the event the carrying value of these assets exceeds the fair value of the applicable assets. Impairment evaluations involve management estimates of asset useful lives and future cash flows. Actual useful lives and cash flows could be different from those estimated by management, which could have a material effect on our operating results and financial position. See Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Note 7 — Intangibles, net and Goodwill of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8. See also Note 11 - Restructuring Costs for discussion of fiscal year 2020 asset disposals related to the MEMS restructuring.
▪The Company evaluates goodwill and other intangible assets. Goodwill is recorded at the time of an acquisition and is calculated as the difference between the total consideration paid for an acquisition and the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired. The Company tests goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment on an annual basis or more frequently if the Company believes indicators of impairment exist. Impairment evaluations involve management’s assessment of qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that goodwill and other intangible assets are impaired. If management concludes from its assessment of qualitative factors that it is more likely than not that impairment exists, then a quantitative impairment test will be performed involving management estimates of asset useful lives and future cash flows. Significant management judgment is required in the forecasts of future operating results that are used in these evaluations. If our actual results, or the plans and estimates used in future impairment analyses, are lower than the original estimates used to assess the recoverability of these assets, we could incur additional impairment charges in a future period. The Company has recorded no goodwill impairments in fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018. There were no material intangible asset impairments in fiscal years 2019 and 2018. See Note 11 - Restructuring Costs for discussion of fiscal year 2020 impairments related to the MEMS restructuring.
▪We are subject to the possibility of loss contingencies for various legal matters. See Note 15 — Legal Matters of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8. We regularly evaluate current information available to us to determine whether any accruals should be made based on the status of the case, the results of the discovery process and other factors. If we ultimately determine that an accrual should be made for a legal matter, this accrual could have a material effect on our operating results and financial position and the ultimate outcome may be materially different than our estimate.
▪We report income taxes under the asset and liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting basis and tax basis of assets and liabilities, which are measured using the enacted tax laws and tax rates that will be in effect when the differences are expected to reverse. We assess the likelihood that the deferred tax assets will be realized. A valuation allowance is established against deferred tax assets to the extent the Company believes that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will not be realized, taking into consideration the level of historical taxable income and projections for future taxable income over the periods in which the temporary differences are deductible.
The calculation of our tax liabilities involves assessing uncertainties with respect to the application of complex tax rules. Uncertain tax positions must meet a more likely than not threshold to be recognized in the financial statements and the tax benefits recognized are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon final settlement. See Note 18 — Income Taxes of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8 for additional details.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-02, Leases, which the Company adopted in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020. The new standard provides a number of optional practical expedients in transition. We elected the use-of-hindsight practical expedient and the ‘package of practical expedients’ which permit us not to reassess our prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and initial direct costs. The new standard also provides practical expedients for an entity’s ongoing accounting. We elected the short-term lease recognition exemption for all leases that qualify. This means, for qualifying leases, which are those with terms of less than twelve months, we will not recognize right-of-use ("ROU") assets or lease liabilities. We also do not separate lease and non-lease components for all classes of assets. Most of our operating lease commitments were subject to the new standard and recognized as ROU assets and operating lease liabilities upon adoption, which materially increased the total assets and total liabilities that we reported relative to such amounts prior to adoption.
In applying the use-of-hindsight practical expedient, we re-assessed whether we were reasonably certain to exercise extension options within our lease agreements. This resulted in the lease term being extended on a number of leases. The
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previously capitalized initial direct costs and accrued lease payments were recalculated assuming these extended lease terms had always applied, resulting in an adjustment of $0.7 million net of tax, to opening retained earnings on transition.
On adoption, we recognized additional operating liabilities, with corresponding ROU assets based on the present value of the lease payments over the lease term under current leasing contracts for existing operating leases. In addition, existing capitalized initial direct costs and accrued lease payments were reclassified from prepayments and accruals to the ROU asset. There was no income statement or cash flow statement impact on adoption, nor were prior periods adjusted.
The effects of the changes made to our balance sheet at adoption were as follows (in thousands):
| Balance at March 30, 2019 | Impact from ASU 2016-02 Adoption | Balance at March 31, 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial statement line item: | |||||||||||||||||
| Prepaid assets | $ | 30,794 | $ | (2,833) | $ | 27,961 | |||||||||||
| Right-of-use lease assets | — | 149,746 | 149,746 | ||||||||||||||
| Lease liabilities | — | (14,899) | (14,899) | ||||||||||||||
| Other accrued liabilities | (16,339) | 11,071 | (5,268) | ||||||||||||||
| Non-current lease liabilities | — | (143,085) | (143,085) | ||||||||||||||
| Other long-term liabilities | (9,889) | (965) | (10,854) | ||||||||||||||
| Accumulated deficit | $ | (222,430) | $ | 965 | $ | (221,465) | |||||||||||
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments — Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. This ASU requires credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities to be presented as an allowance rather than a write-down. Unlike current U.S. GAAP, the credit losses could be reversed with changes in estimates, and recognized in current year earnings. This ASU is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those annual periods. Early adoption is permitted for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU, but does not expect a material impact to the financial statements upon adoption in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021.
In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-04, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. This ASU eliminates step two of the goodwill impairment test. An impairment charge is to be recognized for the amount by which the current value exceeds the fair value. This ASU is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods. Early adoption is permitted, for interim or annual goodwill impairment tests performed after January 1, 2017, and should be applied prospectively. An entity is required to disclose the nature of and reason for the change in accounting principle upon transition. That disclosure should be provided in the first annual period and in the interim period within the first annual period when the entity initially adopts the amendments in this update. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU, but does not expect a material impact to the financial statements upon adoption.
In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-02, Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income. This ASU allows for the classification of stranded tax effects resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings. This ASU is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. The standard should be applied in the period of adoption or retrospectively to each period (or periods) in which the effect of the change in tax rate is recognized. The Company adopted this ASU in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020 and elected to reclassify the stranded tax effects of $0.3 million from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings in the period of adoption.
In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-07, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting. This ASU expands the scope of Topic 718 to include all share-based payment transactions for acquiring goods and services from nonemployees and will apply to all share-based payment transactions in which the grantor acquires goods and services to be used or consumed in its own operations by issuing share-based payment awards. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within that fiscal year, with early adoption permitted. The Company adopted this ASU in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, with no material impact to the financial statements.
In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework-Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement. This ASU adjusts current required disclosures related to
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fair value measurements. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within that fiscal year, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU, but does not expect a material impact to the financial statements upon adoption.
In August 2018, the Commission adopted the final rule under SEC Release No. 33-10532, Disclosure Update and Simplification, amending certain disclosure requirements that were redundant, duplicative, overlapping, outdated or superseded. In addition, the amendments expanded the disclosure requirements on the analysis of stockholders' equity for interim financial statements. Under the amendments, an analysis of changes in each caption of stockholders' equity presented in the balance sheet must be provided in a note or separate statement. The analysis should present a reconciliation of the beginning balance to the ending balance of each period for which a statement of comprehensive income is required to be filed. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on October 4, 2018, effective November 5, 2018. The Company adopted the amendments in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020.
In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. The ASU removes certain exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740 and also clarifies and amends existing guidance to improve consistent application. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within that fiscal year, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU, but does not expect a material impact to the financial statements upon adoption.
In January 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-01, Investments - Equity Securities (Topic 321) - Investments - Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323), and Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) – Clarifying the Interactions between Topic 321, Topic 323, and Topic 815 (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force). This ASU clarifies the interaction of the accounting for equity securities, investments accounted for under the equity method of accounting, and the accounting for certain forward contracts and purchased options. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within that fiscal year, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU, but does not expect a material impact to the financial statements upon adoption.
In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting. The ASU, effective immediately for reporting periods through December 31, 2022, provides accounting relief for contract modifications that replace an interest rate impacted by reference rate reform (e.g., LIBOR) with a new alternative reference rate. The guidance is applicable to investment securities, receivables, debt, leases, hedging relationships and other contractual arrangements. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU, but does not expect a material impact to the financial statements upon adoption.
Overview
Cirrus Logic develops low-power, high-precision mixed-signal processing solutions for a broad range of customers. We track operating results in one reportable segment, but report revenue performance by product line, currently portable and non-portable and other products. In fiscal year 2020, the Company increased our penetration of new and existing customers, primarily driven by demand for our boosted amplifiers and haptic drivers in the smartphone market, gained share in tablets, wearables and truly wireless headsets, broadened our customer base, and executed on new product development activities. The Company also made progress with our longer-term investments in audio, voice and other adjacent mixed-signal processing markets. With an extensive product roadmap, we are dedicated to delivering differentiated products that we believe will enable us to capitalize on the increasing demand for complex analog and mixed-signal processing, which we expect to drive our long-term success.
Fiscal Year 2020
Fiscal year 2020 net sales of $1.28 billion represented an increase over fiscal year 2019 net sales of $1.19 billion. Portable product line sales of $1.15 billion in fiscal year 2020 increased from fiscal year 2019 sales of $1.03 billion, attributable to strong demand for components shipping in smartphones. Non-portable and other product line sales of $134.2 million represented a 12.6 percent decrease from fiscal year 2019 sales of $153.5 million.
Overall, gross margin for fiscal year 2020 was 52.6 percent. The increase in gross margin for fiscal year 2020 was primarily due to favorable product mix and cost reductions on certain products, and, to a lesser extent, the benefit of lower reserves and supply chain efficiencies in the current fiscal year versus the prior year. The Company’s number of employees decreased to 1,443 as of March 28, 2020. The Company achieved net income of $159.5 million in fiscal year 2020, which included an income tax provision in the amount of $21.8 million.
Fiscal Year 2019
Fiscal year 2019 net sales of $1.19 billion represented a decrease from fiscal year 2018 net sales of $1.53 billion. Portable product line sales of $1.03 billion in fiscal year 2019 decreased from fiscal year 2018 sales of $1.36 billion, attributable primarily to reduced unit volumes of our portable products shipping in smartphones, which was partially offset by increased
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amplifier sales at Android customers. Non-portable and other product line sales of $153.5 million represented an 8.8 percent decrease from fiscal year 2018 sales of $168.3 million.
Overall, gross margin for fiscal year 2019 was 50.4 percent. The increase in gross margin for fiscal year 2019 was primarily due to more favorable product mix on certain portable products, and, to a lesser extent, supply chain efficiencies versus the prior year. The Company’s number of employees decreased to 1,551 as of March 30, 2019. The Company achieved net income of $90.0 million in fiscal year 2019, which included an income tax provision in the amount of $3.8 million.
Results of Operations
The following table summarizes the results of our operations for each of the past three fiscal years as a percentage of net sales. All percentage amounts were calculated using the underlying data, in thousands:
| Fiscal Years Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
| March 28, 2020 | March 30, 2019 | March 31, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Net sales | 100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Gross margin | 53 | % | 50 | % | 50 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 27 | % | 32 | % | 24 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 10 | % | 11 | % | 9 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Restructuring | 2 | % | — | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||
| Gain on sale of assets | — | % | (1) | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | 14 | % | 8 | % | 17 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Interest income | — | % | 1 | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | — | % | — | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||
| U.K. pension settlement | — | % | (1) | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||
| Other expense | — | % | — | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes | 14 | % | 8 | % | 17 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 2 | % | — | % | 6 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Net income | 12 | % | 8 | % | 11 | % | ||||||||||||||
Net Sales
We report sales in two product categories: portable products and non-portable and other products. Our sales by product line are as follows (in thousands):
| Fiscal Years Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
| March 28, 2020 | March 30, 2019 | March 31, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Portable Products | $ | 1,146,918 | $ | 1,032,049 | $ | 1,363,876 | ||||||||||||||
| Non-Portable and Other Products | 134,206 | 153,475 | 168,310 | |||||||||||||||||
| $ | 1,281,124 | $ | 1,185,524 | $ | 1,532,186 | |||||||||||||||
Net sales for fiscal year 2020 increased by 8.1% percent, to $1.28 billion from $1.19 billion in fiscal year 2019. The increase in net sales reflects a $114.9 million increase in portable product sales and a $19.3 million decrease in non-portable and other product sales. The portable product line experienced an increase in net sales attributable to content gains, primarily in smartphones and, to a lesser extent, higher unit volumes. In Android, increased sales of boosted amplifiers and haptic drivers were offset somewhat by a reduction in smart codec revenue. Non-portable and other product line sales of $134.2 million represented a 12.6 percent decrease from fiscal year 2019 sales of $153.5 million, which was primarily attributable to decreases in legacy product sales.
Net sales for fiscal year 2019 decreased by 22.6%, to $1.19 billion from $1.53 billion in fiscal year 2018. The decrease in net sales reflects a $331.8 million decrease in portable product sales and a $14.8 million decrease in non-portable and other product sales. The portable product line experienced a decrease in net sales attributable to a reduction in sales of portable products shipping in smartphones, along with digital headsets and adaptors, which was partially offset by increased amplifier sales at Android customers. Non-portable and other product line sales of $153.5 million represented a 8.8% decrease from fiscal year 2018 sales of $168.3 million, which was primarily attributable to decreases in legacy product sales.
Sales to non-U.S. customers, principally located in Asia, including sales to U.S.-based end customers that manufacture products through contract manufacturers or plants located overseas, were approximately $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2020, $1.2
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billion in fiscal year 2019 and $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2018, representing 99 percent of net sales in fiscal year 2020 and 98 percent of net sales in fiscal years 2019 and 2018. Our sales are denominated primarily in U.S. dollars.
Gross Margin
Overall gross margin of 52.6 percent for fiscal year 2020 reflects an increase from fiscal year 2019 gross margin of 50.4 percent. The increase was primarily attributable to favorable product mix and cost reductions on certain products, and, to a lesser extent, the benefit of lower reserves and supply chain efficiencies in the current fiscal year versus the prior year. Changes in excess and obsolete inventory charges, including scrapped inventory, and sales of product written down in prior periods did not have a material impact on margin in fiscal year 2020.
Overall gross margin of 50.4 percent for fiscal year 2019 reflects an increase from fiscal year 2018 gross margin of 49.6 percent. The increase was primarily attributable to favorable product mix on certain portable products, and, to a lesser extent, supply chain efficiencies versus fiscal year 2018. Changes in excess and obsolete inventory charges, including scrapped inventory, and sales of product written down in prior periods did not have a material impact on margin in fiscal year 2019.
Research and Development Expenses
Fiscal year 2020 research and development expenses of $347.6 million reflect a decrease of $27.5 million, or 7 percent, from fiscal year 2019. The overall decrease was attributable to reduced amortization of intangibles and increased R&D incentives, offset by increases in employee-related expenses, primarily variable compensation and stock-based compensation.
Fiscal year 2019 research and development expenses of $375.1 million reflect an increase of $8.7 million, or 2 percent, from fiscal year 2018. The increase was attributable to an increase in average monthly research and development headcount during fiscal year 2019 versus the prior fiscal year and the associated salary and employee-related expenses, higher facilities and infrastructure-related costs, and fiscal year 2018 adjustments to contingent consideration, offset by decreases to product development expenses and amortization of acquisition-related intangibles.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Fiscal year 2020 selling, general and administrative expenses of $131.1 million reflect an increase of $4.6 million, or 4 percent, compared to fiscal year 2019. The primary drivers were employee-related expenses, primarily variable compensation, in fiscal year 2020.
Fiscal year 2019 selling, general and administrative expenses of $126.5 million reflect a decrease of $5.3 million, or 4 percent, compared to fiscal year 2018. The decrease was primarily attributable to decreased salary and employee-related expenses in fiscal year 2019.
Restructuring Costs
During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020, the Company approved a restructuring plan (the "MEMS Restructuring"), including discontinuing efforts relating to the MEMS microphone product line. The Company recorded charges of approximately $21.9 million as part of the MEMS Restructuring, which included equipment disposal costs, asset impairment and write-off of intangible assets, and other nonrecurring costs. See Note 11 - Restructuring Costs for additional details.
Gain on Sale of Assets
In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019, the Company sold the previously-acquired Edinburgh, Scotland property, for a gain of $4.9 million, presented as "Gain on sale of assets" in the Consolidated Statements of Income. See Item 2. Properties for additional information.
Interest Income
Interest income in fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, was $10.5 million, $8.0 million, and $4.8 million, respectively. The increase in interest income in fiscal year 2020 and 2019 was due to higher earnings on higher average cash, cash equivalent, and marketable securities balances throughout the year versus the previous year.
Interest Expense
The Company reported interest expense of $1.1 million, $1.1 million and $1.2 million for fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively, primarily as a result of the revolving credit facility, described in Note 8.
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U.K. Pension Settlement
The Company settled its defined benefit pension scheme in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019. A settlement loss of $13.8 million was recognized, which was the amount of the previously recorded unamortized actuarial pension loss in AOCI. The loss is presented as a separate line item in the Consolidated Statements of Income under the caption "U.K. pension settlement". The Company has no further contribution obligations going forward.
Other Expense
In fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018 the Company reported $1.6 million, $0.2 million, and $1.0 million respectively, in other expense, primarily related to remeasurement on foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities.
Provision for Income Taxes
We recorded income tax expense of $21.8 million in fiscal year 2020 on a pre-tax income of $181.3 million, yielding an effective tax rate of 12.0 percent. Our effective tax rate was lower than the U.S. statutory rate of 21.0 percent, primarily due to the effect of income earned in certain foreign jurisdictions that is taxed below the federal statutory rate, excess benefits from stock-based compensation, and the release of prior year unrecognized tax benefits during fiscal year 2020.
We recorded income tax expense of $3.8 million in fiscal year 2019 on a pre-tax income of $93.7 million, yielding an effective tax rate of 4.0 percent. Our effective tax rate was lower than the U.S. statutory rate of 21.0 percent, primarily due to a decrease in the provisional enactment-date effects of the legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), as well as the U.S. federal research and development tax credit and the effect of income earned in certain foreign jurisdictions that is taxed below the federal statutory rate. This overall decrease was partially offset by an increase in valuation allowance related to certain U.S. federal deferred tax assets and state tax attributes due to the likelihood that they will expire or go unutilized.
We recorded income tax expense of $103.1 million in fiscal year 2018 on pre-tax income of $265.1 million, yielding an effective tax provision rate of 38.9 percent. Our effective tax rate was higher than the blended U.S. statutory rate of 31.6 percent, primarily due to the inclusion of the provisional enactment-date tax effects of the Tax Act, partially offset by income earned in certain foreign jurisdictions that is taxed below the federal statutory rate and excess benefits from stock-based compensation. The reduction in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate was administratively effective at the beginning of our fiscal year 2018, resulting in a blended U.S. federal corporate income tax rate of 31.6% for the annual period.
The Tax Act was enacted on December 22, 2017. The Tax Act reduced the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, restricted the deductibility of certain business expenses, required companies to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax-deferred, and created new taxes on certain foreign sourced earnings, among other provisions. We recognized a provisional amount of $60.1 million during fiscal year 2018, which was included as a component of income tax expense from continuing operations. Our accounting for the enactment-date effects of the Tax Act was completed during the quarter ended December 29, 2018 and we recognized an $11.1 million reduction to the provisional amounts, which was included as a component of income tax expense from continuing operations during fiscal year 2019.
For additional discussion about our income taxes, see Note 18 - Income Taxes.
Outlook
Given the wide array of uncertainties surrounding the implications of COVID-19 and the macroeconomic environment and their unknown impact on smartphone volumes, it is difficult to predict our revenue, gross margin and operating expense outlook for fiscal year 2021. Cirrus Logic made meaningful progress in fiscal year 2020 with numerous strategic initiatives that we believe position the Company for growth in the coming years.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
In fiscal year 2020, cash flow from operations was $295.8 million. Operating cash flow during fiscal year 2020 was related to the cash components of our net income, offset by a $2.8 million unfavorable change in working capital. The unfavorable change in working capital was driven primarily by an increase in accounts receivable, partially offset by an increase in payables. In fiscal year 2019, cash flow from operations was $206.7 million. Operating cash flow during fiscal year 2019 was related to the cash components of our net income, offset by a $23.4 million unfavorable change in working capital. The unfavorable change in working capital was driven primarily by a decrease in payables and an increase in accounts receivable, partially offset by a decrease in inventories. In fiscal year 2018, cash flow from operations was $318.7 million. Operating cash flow during fiscal year 2018 was related to the cash components of our net income, and a $29.1 million favorable change in working capital. The favorable change in working capital was driven primarily by a decrease in accounts receivable and an increase in income taxes payable, partially offset by an increase in inventories during the period.
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In fiscal year 2020, the Company used $100.2 million in cash for investing activities primarily related to $78.6 million in net purchases of marketable securities, and capital expenditures and technology investments of $21.6 million. In fiscal year 2019, the Company used approximately $54.7 million in cash for investing activities principally related to $28.0 million in net purchases of marketable securities, and capital expenditures and technology investments of $35.8 million. In fiscal year 2018, the Company used approximately $184.7 million in cash for investing activities primarily related to $100.2 million in net purchases of marketable securities, and capital expenditures and technology investments of $59.3 million. In addition, the Company purchased certain tangible and intangible assets for $25.2 million as part of a technology acquisition.
In fiscal year 2020, the Company used $119.6 million related to financing activities. In fiscal year 2019, the Company used $171.5 million in financing activities. In fiscal year 2018, the Company used $249.6 million in financing activities. Payments against revolver balances in fiscal year 2018 were $60.0 million. See Note 8 and Revolving Credit Facility below for more information relating to debt agreements and terms that existed during the periods. Additionally, in fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, the Company utilized approximately $120.0 million, $160.0 million, and $175.8 million, respectively, in cash to repurchase and retire portions of its outstanding common stock. See Note 16 for a description of our share repurchase programs.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including the rate of sales growth, market acceptance of our products, the timing and extent of research and development projects, potential acquisitions of companies or technologies and the expansion of our sales and marketing activities. We believe our expected future cash earnings, existing cash, cash equivalents, investment balances, and available borrowings under our Credit Facility will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements both domestically and internationally, through at least the next 12 months, although we could be required, or could elect, to seek additional funding prior to that time.
Revolving Credit Facility
On July 12, 2016, Cirrus Logic entered into an amended and restated credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Administrative Agent, and the Lenders party thereto, for the purpose of refinancing an existing credit facility and providing ongoing working capital. The Credit Agreement provides for a $300 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Credit Facility”). The Credit Facility matures on July 12, 2021. Cirrus Logic must repay the outstanding principal amount of all borrowings, together with all accrued but unpaid interest thereon, on the maturity date. The Credit Facility is required to be guaranteed by all of Cirrus Logic’s material domestic subsidiaries (the “Subsidiary Guarantors”). The Credit Facility is secured by substantially all of the assets of Cirrus Logic and any Subsidiary Guarantors, except for certain excluded assets.
Borrowings under the Credit Facility may, at our election, bear interest at either (a) a base rate plus the applicable margin (“Base Rate Loans”) or (b) a LIBOR rate plus the applicable margin (“LIBOR Rate Loans”). The applicable margin ranges from 0% to 0.50% per annum for Base Rate Loans and 1.25% to 2.00% per annum for LIBOR Rate Loans based on the Leverage Ratio (as defined below). A commitment fee accrues at a rate per annum ranging from 0.20% to 0.30% (based on the Leverage Ratio) on the average daily unused portion of the commitment of the lenders. The Credit Agreement contains certain financial covenants providing that (a) the ratio of consolidated funded indebtedness to consolidated EBITDA for the prior four fiscal quarters must not be greater than 3.00 to 1.00 (the “Leverage Ratio”) and (b) the ratio of consolidated EBITDA for the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters to consolidated fixed charges (including amounts paid in cash for consolidated interest expenses, capital expenditures, scheduled principal payments of indebtedness, and income taxes) for the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters must not be less than 1.25 to 1.00 as of the end of each fiscal quarter. The Credit Agreement also contains negative covenants limiting the Company’s or any Subsidiary’s ability to, among other things, incur debt, grant liens, make investments, effect certain fundamental changes, make certain asset dispositions, and make certain restricted payments.
As of March 28, 2020, the Company had no amounts outstanding under the Credit Facility and was in compliance with all covenants under the Credit Agreement.
See also Note 8 — Revolving Credit Facility.
Off Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of March 28, 2020, the Company did not have any off-balance-sheet arrangements, as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of SEC Regulation S-K, that were reasonably likely to have a material effect on our financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.
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Contractual Obligations
In our business activities, we incur certain commitments to make future payments under contracts such as debt agreements, purchase orders, operating leases and other long-term contracts. Maturities under these contracts are set forth in the following table as of March 28, 2020:
| Payment due by period (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| < 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | > 5 years | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Facilities leases, net | $ | 12,501 | $ | 24,742 | $ | 24,823 | $ | 147,593 | $ | 209,659 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wafer purchase commitments | 131,911 | — | — | — | 131,911 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assembly purchase commitments | 4,003 | — | — | — | 4,003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Outside test purchase commitments | 14,983 | — | — | — | 14,983 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other purchase commitments | 17,808 | 3,806 | — | — | 21,614 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest on revolving line of credit (1) | 610 | 325 | — | — | 935 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 181,816 | $ | 28,873 | $ | 24,823 | $ | 147,593 | $ | 383,105 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
(1)Our debt is subject to a variable interest rate based on LIBOR. The interest included in the table above is based on forecasted commitment fees.
Certain of our operating lease obligations include escalation clauses. These escalating payment requirements are reflected in the table.
We are unable to make a reasonably reliable estimate as to when or if a cash settlement with taxing authorities will occur related to our unrecognized tax benefits. Therefore, our liability of $36.2 million for unrecognized tax benefits is not included in the table above. See Note 18 — Income Taxes, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
ITEM 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
We are exposed to market risks associated with interest rates on drawn balances of our Revolving Credit Facility and marketable securities, and to currency movements on non-U.S. dollar denominated assets and liabilities. We assess these risks on a regular basis and have established policies that are designed to protect against the adverse effects of these and other potential exposures. All of the potential changes noted below are based on sensitivity analyses as of March 28, 2020. Actual results may differ materially.
Interest Rate Risk
Our primary financial instruments include cash equivalents, marketable securities, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and accrued liabilities. The Company’s investments are managed by outside professional managers within investment guidelines set by the Company. These guidelines include security type, credit quality, and maturity, and are intended to limit market risk by restricting the Company’s investments to high quality debt instruments with relatively short-term maturities. The Company does not currently use derivative financial instruments in its investment portfolio. Due to the short-term nature of our investment portfolio and the current low interest rate environment, our downside exposure to interest rate risk is minimal.
To provide a meaningful assessment of the interest rate risk associated with our investment portfolio, the Company performed a sensitivity analysis to determine the impact a change in interest rates would have on the value of the investment portfolio assuming a 100 basis point parallel shift in the yield curve. Based on investment positions as of March 28, 2020 and March 30, 2019, a hypothetical 100 basis point increase in interest rates across all maturities would result in a $5.3 million and $3.3 million decline in the fair market value of the portfolio, respectively. Such losses would only be realized if the Company sold the investments prior to maturity.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
Our revenue and spending is transacted primarily in U.S. dollars; however, in fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, we entered into routine transactions in other currencies to fund the operating needs of certain legal entities outside of the U.S. Our balance sheet also reflects monetary assets and liabilities in certain entities which are remeasured to each entity’s functional currency. Beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, we began using forward contracts to manage exposure to foreign currency exchange risk attributable to certain non-U.S. dollar balance sheet exposures. Gains and losses from these foreign currency forward contracts are recognized currently in earnings along with the gains and losses resulting from remeasuring the underlying exposures. Because most of the aggregate balance sheet exposure is hedged by forward currency exchange contracts, at the end of any fiscal period a hypothetical 10% plus or minus fluctuation in exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar would result in an immaterial pretax currency exchange gain or loss. See Note 5 - Derivative Financial Instruments for additional information related to our hedging activities.
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ITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Index to Consolidated Financial Statements
31
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Cirrus Logic, Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Cirrus Logic, Inc. (the Company) as of March 28, 2020 and March 30, 2019, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three fiscal years in the period ended March 28, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at March 28, 2020 and March 30, 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three fiscal years in the period ended March 28, 2020, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of March 28, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) and our report dated May 20, 2020 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Adoption of ASU No. 2016-02
As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed its method for accounting for leases in fiscal year 2020 due to the adoption of ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842).
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.
32
| Inventory valuation | ||||||||
| Description of the Matter | At March 28, 2020, the Company’s net inventory balance was $146.7 million. As discussed in Note 2 of the financial statements, inventories are stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value, which includes considerations for inventory becoming obsolete or in excess of management’s forecasted customer unit demand. The Company writes down inventories to net realizable value based on forecasted customer unit demand while taking into account product release schedules and product life cycles. The Company also writes down inventory, as appropriate, based on the age and condition of the inventory. Auditing management’s estimate of excess and obsolete inventory involved subjective auditor judgment because management’s determination of whether a write down is warranted is judgmental and the estimate is sensitive to changes in assumptions, including management’s assumptions over forecasted demand which may be impacted by, among other things, future market and economic conditions outside of the Company’s control. | |||||||
| How We Addressed the Matter in Our Audit | We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of controls that address the risks of material misstatement relating to the valuation of inventory. For example, we tested controls over management’s review of forecasted demand, the significant assumptions, and the data underlying the excess and obsolete inventory valuation estimate. Among other audit procedures performed, we evaluated the significant assumptions discussed above, including the forecasted customer unit demand utilized in the estimate, and tested the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used in management’s calculation. We evaluated adjustments to forecasted demand for specific product considerations, assessed the historical accuracy of management’s estimates by performing a retrospective analysis comparing prior period forecasted demand to actual historical sales and inspected historical gross margins to assess whether any items were being sold at a loss. | |||||||
| Uncertain tax positions | ||||||||
| Description of the Matter | As described in Note 18 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company has recorded accrued liabilities relating to unrecognized tax benefits resulting from uncertain tax positions of $36.2 million as of March 28, 2020. The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to U.S. federal income tax as well as income tax in multiple state and foreign jurisdictions. Furthermore, the Company’s fiscal years 2017 to 2020 remain open to examination by the major taxing jurisdictions. Auditing management’s analysis of the uncertainties in its tax positions was complex and judgmental because the Company’s evaluation and measurement of each tax position involves assessing uncertainties with respect to the application of complex tax rules, which are subject to interpretation. The Company uses significant judgment in determining whether a tax position is more likely than not to be sustained and measuring the amount of tax benefit that qualifies for recognition. | |||||||
| How We Addressed the Matter in Our Audit | We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of controls that address the risks of material misstatement relating to the existence of uncertain tax positions and measurement of the benefit of those positions. For example, we tested controls over management’s review of the technical merits of tax positions, the events and information that impacted tax positions, the estimate of the most likely outcome, and the data utilized in the estimate. To test the valuation of uncertain tax positions, our audit procedures included, among others, analyzing the Company’s assumptions and data used to determine the amount of tax benefit to recognize and testing the accuracy of the calculations. In considering the measurement criteria, we involved our tax professionals to assess the technical merits of the Company’s tax positions. This included assessing the Company’s correspondence with the relevant tax authorities and evaluating income tax opinions or other third-party advice obtained by the Company. We also used our knowledge of, and experience with, the application of international and local income tax laws by the relevant income tax authorities to evaluate the Company’s accounting for those tax positions. We also evaluated the Company’s income tax disclosures included in Note 18 to the consolidated financial statements in relation to these matters. | |||||||
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1984.
Austin, Texas
May 20, 2020
33
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Cirrus Logic, Inc.
Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We have audited Cirrus Logic, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of March 28, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, Cirrus Logic, Inc. (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of March 28, 2020, based on the COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of March 28, 2020 and March 30, 2019, and related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three fiscal years in the period ended March 28, 2020, and the related notes and our report dated May 20, 2020 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Basis for Opinion
The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Austin, Texas
May 20, 2020
34
CIRRUS LOGIC, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands)
| March 28, 2020 | March 30, 2019 | |||||||||||||
| Assets | ||||||||||||||
| Current assets: | ||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Marketable securities | ||||||||||||||
| Accounts receivable, net | ||||||||||||||
| Inventories | ||||||||||||||
| Prepaid assets | ||||||||||||||
| Other current assets | ||||||||||||||
| Total current assets | ||||||||||||||
| Long-term marketable securities | ||||||||||||||
| Right-of-use lease assets | — | |||||||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | ||||||||||||||
| Intangibles, net | ||||||||||||||
| Goodwill | ||||||||||||||
| Deferred tax assets | ||||||||||||||
| Other assets | ||||||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity | ||||||||||||||
| Current liabilities: | ||||||||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Accrued salaries and benefits | ||||||||||||||
| Software license agreements | ||||||||||||||
| Current lease liabilities | — | |||||||||||||
| Other accrued liabilities | ||||||||||||||
| Total current liabilities | ||||||||||||||
| Long-term liabilities: | ||||||||||||||
| Software license agreements | ||||||||||||||
| Non-current income taxes | ||||||||||||||
| Non-current lease liabilities | — | |||||||||||||
| Other long-term liabilities | ||||||||||||||