ITEM 2: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Cautionary Statement for Purposes of the “Safe Harbor” Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Some of the information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward‑looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. You can identify these statements by forward‑looking words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue” and similar words. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they: (1) discuss our future expectations; (2) contain projections of our future operating results or financial condition; or (3) state other “forward‑looking” information. However, we may not be able to predict future events accurately. The risk factors listed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as well as any cautionary language in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, provide examples of risks, uncertainties and events that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations we describe in our forward‑looking statements. You should be aware that the occurrence of any of the events described in these risk factors and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q could materially and adversely affect our business.
Summary of Operations
We are primarily engaged in the development and sale of biometrics products, solutions and services. Our software products are used in government and commercial systems and applications and fulfill a broad range of functions critical to secure biometric enrollment, authentication, identification and transactions. Principal government applications of biometrics systems include border control, visa applicant screening, law enforcement, national defense, intelligence, secure credentialing, access control, and background checks. Principal commercial applications include: i) user enrollment and authentication used for login to mobile devices, computers, networks, and software programs; ii) user authentication for financial transactions and purchases (online and in-person); iii) physical access control to buildings; and iv) identity proofing of prospective employees and customers. We sell our biometrics software products and services globally through a multifaceted distribution strategy using systems integrators, OEMs, VARs, partners, and directly to end user customers. We also derive a portion of our revenue from the sale of imaging software licenses to OEMs and systems integrators that incorporate our software into medical imaging products and medical systems.
Summary of Financial Results
We use revenue and results of operations to summarize financial results as we believe these measurements are the most meaningful way to understand our operating performance.
Revenue and operating loss for the three months ended March 31, 2023 were $4.3 million and $1.9 million, respectively. These results compared to revenue of $4.7 million and operating loss of $1.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022. The decrease in revenue and the increase in operating loss in the current three month period was primarily due to a decrease in software license revenue.
These and all other financial results are discussed in more detail in the results of operations section that follows.
Results of Operations
Software licenses. Software licenses consist of revenue from the sale of biometrics and imaging software products. Sales of software products depend on our ability to win proposals to supply software for biometrics systems projects either directly to end user customers or indirectly through channel partners.
Software license revenue decreased 20% from $2.6 million in the three months ended March 31, 2022 to $2.1 million in the same three month period in 2023. As a percentage of total revenue, software license revenue decreased from 56% in the first quarter of 2022 to 49% in the current year quarter. The $0.5 million decrease in software license revenue was due primarily to a decrease in perpetual licenses sales which historically and we expect to fluctuate since they are based on the timing of projects with our customers.
Our market strategy is to continue to focus on our legacy government biometrics markets and expand into new commercial biometrics markets. We are unable to predict future revenue from commercial markets as these are emerging markets.
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Software maintenance. Software maintenance consists of revenue from the sale of software maintenance contracts. Software maintenance contracts entitle customers to receive software support and software updates, if and when they become available, during the term of the contract.
Software maintenance revenue increased 10% from $1.7 million in the three months ended March 31, 2022 to $1.8 million in the same three month period in 2023. As a percentage of total revenue, software maintenance revenue increased from 35% in the first quarter of 2022 to 43% in the current year quarter.
For the three month period ended March 31, 2023, the increase in software maintenance revenue was primarily due to software maintenance related to our subscription based licenses.
Services and other revenue. Services revenue consists of fees we charge to perform software development, integration, installation, and customization services. Similar to software license revenue, services revenue depends on our ability to win biometrics systems projects either directly with end user customers or in conjunction with channel partners. Other revenue consists of hardware fees that are included with some of our software licenses. Services and other revenue will fluctuate when we commence new projects and/or when we complete projects that were started in previous periods.
Services and other revenue was $0.4 million and 9% of total revenue in each three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022.
Cost of services and other revenue. Cost of services and other revenue consists primarily of engineering costs to perform customer services projects and other third-party costs that are included with some of our software licenses. Such costs primarily include: i) engineering salaries, stock-based compensation, fringe benefits, and facilities; ii) engineering consultants and contractors; iii) software license fees; and iv) hardware costs.
Cost of services and other revenue was $0.3 million in the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. Cost of services and other revenue as a percentage of services and other revenue increased from 78% in first quarter of 2022 to 82% in the current year quarter.
The increase in cost of services and other revenue as a percentage of services and other revenue was primarily due to lower service and other revenue resulting from less active contracts with services during the period.
Gross margins on services and other revenue are a function of: i) the nature of the projects; ii) the level of engineering difficulty and labor hours required to complete project tasks; and iii) how much we were able to charge. We expect that gross margins on services and other revenue will continue to fluctuate in future periods based on the nature, complexity, and pricing of future projects.
Research and development expense. Research and development expense consists of costs for: i) engineering personnel, including salaries, stock-based compensation, fringe benefits, and facilities; ii) engineering consultants and contractors, and iii) other engineering expenses such as supplies, equipment depreciation, dues and memberships and travel. Engineering costs incurred to develop our technology and products are classified as research and development expense. As described in the cost of services section, engineering costs incurred to provide engineering services for customer projects are classified as cost of services and other revenue, and are not included in research and development expense.
The classification of total engineering costs to research and development expense and cost of services and other revenue was (in thousands):
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Three Months Ended
March 31, |
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2023 |
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2022 |
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Research and development expense |
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$ |
2,381 |
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$ |
2,424 |
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Cost of services and other revenue |
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298 |
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314 |
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Total engineering costs |
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$ |
2,679 |
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$ |
2,738 |
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Total engineering costs were $2.7 million in each of the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. As a percentage of total revenue, total engineering costs increased from 58% in the first three months of 2022 to 62% in the same current year quarter in 2023.
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We anticipate that we will continue to focus our future research and development activities on enhancing our existing products and developing new products with our growing internal resources.
Selling and marketing expense. Selling and marketing expense primarily consists of costs for: i) sales and marketing personnel, including salaries, sales commissions, stock-based compensation, fringe benefits, travel, and facilities; and ii) advertising and promotion expenses.
Selling and marketing expense increased 12% from $1.8 million in the three months ended March 31, 2022 to $2.0 million in the same three month period of 2023. As a percentage of total revenue, selling and marketing expense increased from 38% in the first quarter of 2022 to 46% in the corresponding period in 2023.
The spending increase for the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared to the same prior year period was primarily due to higher employee costs due to increased headcount and contracted sales agents.
We expect to expand our sales and marketing force to address additional opportunities.
General and administrative expense. General and administrative expense consists primarily of costs for: i) officers, directors and administrative personnel, including salaries, bonuses, director compensation, stock-based compensation, fringe benefits, and facilities; ii) professional fees, including legal and audit fees; iii) public company expenses; and iv) other administrative expenses, such as insurance costs and bad debt provisions.
General and administrative expense was $1.5 million for each of the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. As a percentage of total revenue, general and administrative was 31% in the first quarter of 2022 and 35% in the first three months of 2023.
We expect general and administrative expense to increase in absolute dollars, but to generally decrease as a percentage of net revenues, while fluctuating depending on specific activities in a period.
Interest Income. Interest income increased from nine thousand dollars in the three months ended March 31, 2022 to $0.3 million in the three months ended March 31, 2023. The dollar increase in interest income was primarily due higher interest rates related to our marketable securities of U.S Treasury notes and bonds and corporate bonds during the three months ended March 31, 2023, as well as higher interest rates within our money market accounts.
We expect interest income to increase in absolute dollars in the next 12 months and to fluctuate depending on interest rates.
Income taxes. We had no income tax benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The Act contained specific relief and stimulus measures including allowing net operating losses originating in 2018 through 2020 to be carried back five years to offset taxable income in the carryback period.
Separately, the enactment of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act in 2017 allowed taxpayers to claim a refund for federal tax credits over a period of years. The CARES Act enacted during the first quarter allows for the entire amount of the credit to be refunded.
We have reviewed the impact of the CARES Act enactment on the income tax provision and have determined that, as a result of the net operating loss carryback provision, we can obtain a tax benefit if we were to carry back the 2020 net operating loss to the five year carryback period.
The carryback of the estimated loss would result in a refundable federal tax credit of approximately $1.4
million and an increase in research credit carryforwards previously utilized. The federal tax credit can be refunded in the future, as we decided to carry back the loss reported on the filed 2020 tax return. Upon filing our 2020 tax return and the related carry back claim that is on file with the IRS as of March 31, 2022, we classified the federal tax credit as a current receivable which has yet to be received as of March 31, 2023. Due to the recent loss history, continued investments in the Company, and our future projections of income, we will benefit from the 2020 loss to the extent of the available tax refund and will maintain a full valuation allowance on all other deferred tax assets, including any increase in research credit carryforward resulting from a potential carryback.
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We maintained a full valuation allowance against our net deferred tax assets as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
At March 31, 2023, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $27.3 million, which represented a decrease of $2.0 million from December 31, 2022. The decrease in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities was primarily due to the impact of our use of $1.5 million of cash used in operating activities and $0.3 million of cash for repurchases of our common stock.
While we cannot assure you that we will not require additional financing, or that such financing will be available to us, we believe that our cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of this filing and to meet our known long-term cash requirements. Whether these resources are adequate to meet our liquidity needs beyond that period will depend on our future growth, operating results, and the investments needed to support our operations. If we require additional capital resources, we may utilize available funds or additional external financing.
To date, inflation has not had a material impact on our financial results. There can be no assurance, however, that inflation will not adversely affect our financial results in the future.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 1 to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 1.
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