--- the subscriber area has no ads and those above are not selected or endorsed by this site ---


MicroVision 3Q17 report ?4

13:38 02-Nov-17


I've just finished reviewing the rest of MicroVision's conference call.  Apparently the market is having trouble digesting the shifting plans regarding the LiDAR and the interactive engine.  This will delay projected sales but I still see the reaction as overdone, especially following a report where the company brought in more revenue than at any other point in its history.  That should be repeated for the current quarter, as the Ragentek order is concluded, and management says there are discussions for future product supply.

The reason for the shift is that customers want a brighter interactive display engine to integrate into smart speaker products, amongst other things.  That will require new electronics, where management cited the cost for new ASIC development at under $1M.  At the same time, management believes the company is making great strides in LiDAR by cutting size by a factor of 8 and improving bandwidth to 5.5M points per second.  It is prioritizing this development in order to pursue opportunities in automated driving and robotics. 

I can understand the market wanting a more focused product roadmap toward near-term profitability, but the company is producing results.  Other commercial launches of the existing display engine are anticipated in 1H18.  The Augmented Reality & ADAS development projects have just been completed, revenue has been recognized, and the company is awaiting feedback on next steps.  Maybe there will be none, but the commentary indicates lack of visibility is just as likely to be a timing issue.  The $24M major development project has been making progress on a higher resolution LBS system, with $1.8M recognized last quarter.  That higher recognition rate is expected to be maintained, albeit with some variability.

The issue here should be balancing cost against incoming revenue.  There has bee some additional dilution, with the share count up to 78M.  Going forward, management mentioned limiting cash burn and coordinating it with income.  Volatility is common for stocks like this, and the market hates uncertainty.  Even so, the increasing revenue stream makes it seem to me like things are getting marginally better, rather than worse.

On 11/02/2017 08:15 AM, Esekla wrote:

MicroVision has released its earnings report for the third quarter:

  • a loss of 7 cents per share is in-line
  • on revenue of $6.1M, which beats by $900M
The company began volume shipments to Ragentek in July, and they are ongoing.  It is also accelerating plans for its LiDAR engine to make it available by year-end, due to customer interest.  By contrast, the interactive development kit has been receiving feedback and requests for performance enhancements.  MicroVision plans to upgrade the engine and launch a commercial version in the second half of 2018.  I'll dig further into the numbers after the conference call, which begins shortly.