Markforged - Q2 2024

Executive Summary

• Q2 2024 revenue was $21.7M, down 14.7% YoY but up 5.6% sequentially; GAAP gross margin expanded to 50.2% and non-GAAP gross margin to 51.9%, reflecting operational efficiencies and product mix.
• Management announced a $25M cost reduction program, targeting an OpEx run-rate of ~$70M in 2025; FY24 revenue guidance was reduced to $90–$95M from $95–$105M, while non-GAAP gross margin is now guided to the upper end of 48–50% and non-GAAP operating loss remains $42.5–$47M.
• FX10 shipments accelerated and the first PX100 shipped in Q2; management expects low-single-digit QoQ growth in Q3 and a return to double-digit YoY growth in H2 driven by new products, positioning the company for H2 reacceleration.
• Legal overhang: if post-trial royalty claims are successful, management estimates a 5–7 percentage point near-term reduction to gross margin; restricted cash of $19.1M posted for the verdict highlights balance sheet encumbrance.
• Stock reaction catalysts: the combination of a guidance cut offset by cost actions and product momentum (FX10/PX100) creates a “show-me” setup; progress on H2 growth and visibility into legal resolution likely drives near-term sentiment.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Margin expansion: GAAP gross margin rose to 50.2% (vs. 47.0% YoY), and non-GAAP gross margin to 51.9% (vs. 48.3% YoY), aided by efficiencies and mix; CFO: “This margin expansion was driven by operational efficiencies and product mix.”.
• Product milestones: accelerated FX10 shipments and first PX100 shipment; CEO: “FX10 shipments have also accelerated… we shipped the first PX100… positioning the Company to return to growth in the second half.”.
• Cost discipline: announced $25M cost reduction to reach ~$70M OpEx run-rate in 2025; “not expected to compromise our ability to grow”.

What Went Wrong

• Top-line pressure: Q2 revenue down 14.7% YoY on lower system sales amid high interest rates; CFO cited “tough market conditions with high interest rates” pressuring systems.
• Guidance cut: FY24 revenue outlook lowered to $90–$95M (from $95–$105M), acknowledging more persistent macro headwinds.
• Legal risk to margins: potential royalties on certain U.S. sales could reduce gross margin by 5–7 percentage points near-term if awarded; restricted cash posted for judgment constrains liquidity flexibility.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Greetings, and welcome to the Markforged second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Austin Bohlig, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you, Austin. You may begin.

Austin Bohlig (Director of Investor Relations)

Good afternoon. I'm Austin Bohlig, Director of Investor Relations of Markforged Holding Corporation. Welcome to our second quarter of 2024 results conference call. We will be discussing the results announced in our earnings press release, issued after market close today. With me on the call is our President and CEO, Shai Terem, and CFO, Assaf Zipori. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that management will be making statements during this call that include estimates and other forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that are not statements of historical facts should be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These statements represent management's views as of today, August 8, 2024, and are subject to material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

A description of these risks and uncertainties and other factors that could affect our financial results and performance are included in our SEC filings, including in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and subsequent quarter reports on our Form 10-Q, which may be obtained on the SEC's website and on our investor relations website. Markforged disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise forward-looking statements. Also, during the course of today's call, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures should be considered as a supplement to and not a substitute for our GAAP financial measures. There's a reconciliation schedule showing the GAAP versus non-GAAP results currently available in our press release issued after market close today, which can also be found on our investor relations website at investors.markforged.com.

I'll now turn the call over to Shai Terem, President and CEO of Markforged.

Shai Terem (President and CEO)

Thank you, Austin, and thank you everyone for joining us on our Q2 2024 earnings call. We demonstrated strong execution in Q2 while effectively navigating industry sector challenges. We remain encouraged by the market response to our new products. The positive feedback and growing pipeline underscore the strength of our newest innovations and our ability to meet the needs of our manufacturing customers. As we look ahead to the second half of the year, we see a restoration of growth, driven by the continued rollout of our newest platform innovations, the FX10, FX20, PX100, and new materials. To maximize our cash resources and best enable us to achieve sustainable growth, we're implementing a $25 million cost reduction initiative that we expect will reduce our annual operating expenses run rate to approximately $70 million in 2025.

These cost reduction actions have been initiated, and we expect to be completed by the end of the year. We have a strong product line, and these cost reductions are not expected to compromise our ability to grow and keep us on a sustainable growth trajectory. In Q2, we also accelerated shipments of the FX10, underscoring the product's innovative features and superior capabilities for printing mission-critical parts for the factory floor. We enter Q3 with a robust pipeline and intend to release additional capabilities, which increases our confidence that this momentum will continue to drive growth in the second half of the year. We also launched two new materials, Onyx FR, flame retardant, and Vega, with high temperature continuous fiber.

These new materials further expand the capabilities of the Digital Forge, and especially the FX20, which will help our manufacturing customers to solve even more applications on the factory floor. We believe these innovations amplify the capabilities of our newest platforms and will support the increased adoption and growth. I'm also excited to announce that we have successfully shipped the first PX100 in Q2, marking a significant milestone in our company's journey. This milestone is the culmination of extensive development and rigorous testing to ensure we deliver high-quality, innovative solutions to our customers. Our customers believe in the PX100's potential to set new standards in highly regulated markets such as automotive, medical, aerospace, and luxury goods, thereby supporting Markforged's future growth. We remain on plan to ship additional units in the second half of this year.

Our customers across the world increasingly recognize the Digital Forge as a powerful platform to reduce costs and improve manufacturing operations. Farason Corporation, which designs and delivers custom automation and robotic systems to manufacturers, provides a good example. A prominent American snack food company engaged Farason to automate the collection and transport of small food product lines. When conventional manufacturing approaches proved incapable of meeting their customer's needs, Farason's team turned to the Digital Forge to boost design flexibility and production opportunities. Farason produced over 80 small packaging containers that were production-ready for the packaging line, while meeting a lean manufacturing budget for the customer. This is just one of many examples of how Farason is solving its customer packaging challenges with the Digital Forge.

Another example is with Suntory Products Limited, a leading global company specializing in the production of a premium non-alcoholic beverages, which also solves manufacturing challenges using the Digital Forge. They have logged over 12,000 hours with the Digital Forge, producing over 1,000 parts, such as jigs for tube replacement, for a fraction of the cost of traditional sourcing. Success at the Haruna Plant led to expansion across Suntory products and the entire Suntory Group, enhancing productivity and innovation at multiple sites. Driven by innovative new products, as well as robust utilization rates across our growing install base, we are on plan to return to growth in the second half of the year. There is a massive opportunity to help manufacturers bring industrial production to the point of need, and we remain confident that Markforged offers the best solution.

With effective cost controls, prudent cash management, and our new product lines, we remain excited about the future of the company and our ability to continue to drive the adoption of additive manufacturing on the factory floor. With that, I now turn the call over to Assaf Zipori, our CFO, who will offer more details on our financial performance and guidance for the remainder of the year.

Assaf Zipori (CFO)

Thank you, Shai, and good evening, everyone. I will now be covering our financial results for the second quarter of 2024 and the outlook for the full year. Please note that my comments reflect our non-GAAP results and outlook. For your reference, our earnings press release, issued earlier this afternoon and posted to our investor relations website, includes our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation to assist with my commentary. Revenue for Q2 was $21.7 million, compared to $25.4 million in the second quarter of 2023. Our revenue performance was largely driven by lower system revenue, which continues to be impacted by tough market conditions with high interest rates. Gross margin for the quarter was 51.9%, up 3.6% from the second quarter of 2023. This margin expansion was driven by operational efficiencies and product mix.

Operating expenses were $23.3 million in the second quarter of 2024, down from $26.6 million in the second quarter of 2023. This improvement is a result of our ongoing efforts to reduce operating expenses and optimize our cash utilization. As we previously highlighted, we initiated an approximately $25 million annualized cost reduction initiative that is expected to reduce our annual OpEx run rate to approximately $70 million in 2025. We expect savings to begin to be realized in Q3 2024, with the cost reduction program almost entirely completed by the end of the year 2024. I also want to note that in Q3, we reached an agreement to terminate the lease agreement covering our previous headquarters location in Watertown, Massachusetts.

As consideration for the lease termination, we made a one-time payment of $2.75 million to the landlord, avoiding approximately $600,000 of rent in 2024, and we expect to save a cumulative additional amount of approximately $6.2 million in 2025 and beyond. Our operating loss for the quarter was $12 million, an improvement from $14.3 million in the second quarter of 2023. Net loss in the second quarter of 2024 was $10.8 million, an improvement from a loss of $12.5 million in Q2 2023. Second quarter loss per share was $0.05, based on our weighted average shares outstanding for the quarter of 201.3 million. Our net cash used in operating activities in the first six months of 2024 was $21.9 million.

which is an improvement of approximately 29% from the first six months of 2023. We expect our cash utilized in operations to improve throughout 2025 as a result of higher revenues, gross margin expansion, cost saving initiatives, and working capital efficiencies. Our cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, were $93.9 million at the end of Q2, down from $109.4 million from the end of Q1. Our restricted cash includes $19.1 million to cover certain liabilities associated with the Continuous Composites lawsuit and a judgment of $17.3 million in monetary damages, +$1.8 million of interest for the prejudgment period and the expected duration of the appeal process.

We expect these funds will remain in restricted cash as we continue to explore and pursue all available options with respect to the Continuous Composites matter, including seeking to overturn the verdict through the appeal process. Following the verdict, Continuous Composites also asserted, through post-trial motion, claim for royalty payments for sale of certain products manufactured and or sold in the United States after December 31, 2023. We anticipate a ruling on the post-trial royalty claim to occur during the second half of 2024. As we note in our 10-Q filing for the period ended June 30, 2024, filed today with the SEC, and available on our investor relations website, we estimated the loss contingency related to Continuous Composites royalty payment claimed to be in the range of $0-$2.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024.

In accordance with applicable accounting standards and guidance, we recorded no accrual for Q2 because the low end of this range was estimated to be zero, and we believe that no amount within this range was a better estimate than any other amount. These estimates were based on information available to us at the time of assessment. As additional information becomes available, or there are future developments in the case, we may reassess the potential liability related to this matter and may revise our estimates. In the event Continuous Composites post-trial royalty payment claims are successful and royalties are awarded, we expect the court's remedy to be a fixed fee assessment of royalty payments for each machine sold and or manufactured in the United States after December 31, 2023. That includes our carbon fiber reinforcement technology.

In the near term, we would expect royalty payments, if awarded, to result in a 5%-7% point reduction in our gross margins. There may be additional impacts as well, which are discussed in our Form 10-Q filing for the period ended June 30, 2024, a copy of which is available on our investor relations website. As discussed previously, we continue to strongly disagree with the verdict in the Continuous Composites case and the associated post-trial royalty claims. We have engaged a leading law firm to support us through the appeal process and defend against the post-trial royalty claims, and continue to explore all other available options. We are also exploring measures to help mitigate the impact of an ongoing royalty payment obligation, if awarded by the court, such as shifting more of our manufacturing operations to sites outside of the United States.

Now moving on to our guidance. At this time, our guidance does not reflect any additional relief Continuous Composites may receive as a result of its post-trial claim. Our guidance does not include adjustment in future quarters to account for developments in the ongoing Continuous Composites litigation. We anticipate fiscal year 2024 revenues to be between $90 million-$95 million, which acknowledges more persistent macroeconomic headwinds than previously anticipated. However, we expect revenues to grow low single digits quarter over quarter in Q3 and continue to see double digits year-over-year growth return in the second half, driven by sales of new products, particularly the FX10. Given strong execution over the first half, we now expect non-GAAP gross margins to be in the upper range of our previous 48%-50% guidance.

Non-GAAP operating loss is expected to be in the range of $42.5 million-$47 million for the year, resulting in a non-GAAP loss per share in the range of $0.19-$0.22 per share. That concludes our prepared remarks today. Please open the call for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is from Brian Drab with William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

Brian Drab (Co-Group Head)

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. If just as we were closing, talking about the legal issues, I'm wondering, maybe I missed, but can you talk about how much the legal issues have cost you at this point, just in terms of legal fees, cumulatively, you know, where we're seeing that in the P&L?

Assaf Zipori (CFO)

So, Brian, this is Assaf. The legal fees are available in the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation. It's excluded from the non-GAAP P&L. You can see that number over there.

Brian Drab (Co-Group Head)

Okay. Do you have it top of mind? I guess I'll look for it. No problem.

Assaf Zipori (CFO)

Yes, I can provide it to you.

Brian Drab (Co-Group Head)

Okay. I'll just look for it, Assaf. No problem. No problem. I'll look for it in the file. I just haven't had time to look through all the numbers yet. And can you elaborate a little bit on the cost reduction initiative and what areas are you focused on? What, you know, functions or a little bit more. I think you touched on some of the areas, but can you just put a little more detail around where you're cutting?

Shai Terem (President and CEO)

Sure. So thank you for the question, Brian.

Brian Drab (Co-Group Head)

Thanks, Shai.

Shai Terem (President and CEO)

As you see, we announced a $25 million cost saving initiative. We are really committed to get to what we see as sustainable growth for our company. The majority of the savings are now coming from the R&D side, and now as we release the three new platforms, we're ready to start growing with them. That's the right, prudent thing to do to get to sustainable growth.

Brian Drab (Co-Group Head)

Right. Okay. Okay, thanks. Just last one is, you have, you know, I know the guidance has come down a little bit, and it's really tough macro environment. But, you know, can you just talk a little bit about, you know, why we're going to see a increase in revenue from, you know, a little over $40 million in the first half to, you know, $50-ish-$55 million in the second half? Thanks.

Shai Terem (President and CEO)

Sure. So see, there's a slight growth between Q2 and Q1. And we see our pipelines growing, and that's our leading indicator, so assuming that the conversions stay the same, we believe that we will see the growth, and it's highly based on the new innovation. We see the pipeline growing significantly with the FX10. As you see, we shipped the first PX100, and there's more to come. So I think it consists of kind of still challenging interest environment for capital equipment, but the new innovation definitely supports the growth in the second half.

Brian Drab (Co-Group Head)

Yeah. Okay. All right. Thanks very much.

Shai Terem (President and CEO)

Thank you, Brian.

Operator (participant)

As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Shai Terem for any closing comments.

Shai Terem (President and CEO)

Thank you, everyone, for joining us for our second quarter results. We'll talk again in Q3.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.