Quantum Reports 14% Sequential Growth in Third Quarter Fiscal 2021

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ: QMCO) announced today financial results for its fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2020. 

Third Quarter Fiscal 2021 Financial Summary

• Revenue grew 14% sequentially to $98.0 million
• Gross margin was 43.1%
• GAAP net loss was $2.7 million, or ($0.07) per share
• Non-GAAP adjusted net income improved to $0.01 million, $0.00 per share
• Adjusted EBITDA increased $0.6 million sequentially to $9.4 million

Jamie Lerner, Chairman and CEO, Quantum commented, "Revenue in the third quarter once again exceeded our guidance due to continued growth across our traditional market verticals, including with our hyperscale customers, as well as an initial recovery in our Media and Entertainment business, coupled with increasing evidence that our new strategy is resonating with customers. Notably, the higher-than-expected revenue resulted in continued improvement in adjusted EBITDA and our achievement of breakeven on an adjusted basis ahead of plan. These accomplishments are particularly noteworthy considering the higher sales and channel expenses incurred in the quarter to support our new product introductions as well as the expansion of our leadership team."

"In addition to our strong financial results, our business transformation continued with the introduction of multiple new products to classify, manage and protect unstructured data, on premise or in the cloud. We closed our first ATFS and StorNext 7 deals with the subscription software pricing, and we expect these solutions will drive a growing contribution of recurring revenue and higher margins, while also increasing the total addressable market of Quantum's solutions.  Also during the quarter, we further expanded our software offerings through the acquisition of Square Box Systems, including its flagship product, CatDV, a software platform that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to catalog and analyze digital assets."

"Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter, we expect to continue our recent momentum and are guiding for another quarter of solid operating performance in what has historically been a seasonally weak quarter for Quantum, driven by a combination of ongoing operational execution and incremental traction across our market verticals, including with our leading hyperscale and global web scale customers."

Third Quarter Fiscal 2021 vs. Prior Quarter

Revenue increased 14% sequentially to $98.0 million for the third quarter fiscal 2021, exceeding the Company's guidance of $91 million to $95 million. Gross profit in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 was $42.3 million, or 43.1% of revenue, compared to $38.7 million, or 45.1% of revenue, in the prior quarter. The decrease in gross margin reflected the higher product revenue in the quarter, which was comprised of a less favorable product mix.

Total operating expenses in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 were $36.2 million, or 36.9% of revenue, compared to $35.2 million, or 41.1% of revenue, in the prior quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $26.4 million in the quarter, compared to $23.4 million in the second fiscal quarter. Research and development expenses were $9.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021, compared to $10.2 million last quarter.

GAAP net loss in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 was $2.7 million, or ($0.07) per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million, or ($0.11) per share, in the second fiscal quarter. Excluding stock compensation, restructuring charges and other non-recurring costs, non-GAAP adjusted net income in the third fiscal quarter improved to $0.01 million, or $0.00 per basic and diluted share, compared to an adjusted net loss of $0.2 million, or ($0.01) per basic and diluted share last quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 increased to $9.4 million, compared to $8.9 million in the prior quarter.

For a full reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial results and additional cautionary language about the use of non-GAAP financial measures, please see the financial reconciliation tables below.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity 

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash amounted to $17.4 million as of December 31, 2020, compared to $12.3 million as of March 31, 2020. Both balances include $5.0 million in restricted cash required under the Company's Credit Agreements, and $0.8 million of short-term restricted cash. Outstanding debt as of December 31, 2020 on a gross basis was $201.2 million and $170.2 million on a net basis after netting $21 million in unamortized debt issuance costs. This compares to $167.8 million of outstanding debt as of March 31, 2020 on a gross basis, and was $154.1 million on a net basis after netting $13.7 million in unamortized debt issuance costs. Total interest expense was $7.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020.

Outlook

For the fourth fiscal quarter of 2021, the Company expects revenues to be $98 million, plus or minus $3 million. Non-GAAP adjusted net income (loss) is expected to be breakeven, plus or minus $1 million, and related adjusted earnings (loss) per share of $0.00, plus or minus $0.02. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $9 million, plus or minus $1 million.

Conference Call and Webcast

Management will host a live conference call today, January 27, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT) to discuss these results. The conference call will be accessible by dialing 888-506-0062 (U.S. Toll-Free) or +1-973-528-0011 (International). This conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet with a slide presentation and can be accessed by all interested parties on the investor relations section of the Company's website at http://investors.quantum.com under the events and presentations tab.

A telephone replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the conference call and will be available through February 3, 2021. To access the replay dial 1-877-481-4010 and enter the pass code 39583 at the prompt. International callers should dial +1-919-882-2331 and enter the same passcode. Following the conclusion of the live call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the Company's website for at least 90 days.

About Quantum

Quantum technology and services help customers capture, create and share digital content – and preserve and protect it for decades.  With solutions built for every stage of the data lifecycle, Quantum's platforms provide the fastest performance for high-resolution video, images, and industrial IoT. That's why the world's leading entertainment companies, sports franchises, researchers, government agencies, enterprises, and cloud providers are making the world happier, safer, and smarter on Quantum. Quantum is listed on Nasdaq (QMCO) and was added to the Russell 2000® Index in 2020 as part of the index's annual constitution. For more information visit www.quantum.com/.

Quantum and the Quantum logo are registered trademarks of Quantum Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Information

The information provided in this press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act"). These forward-looking statements are largely based on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends affecting our business. Such forward-looking statements include, in particular, statements related to future projections of our financial results; that our newly introduced products will drive a growing contribution of recurring revenue and deliver higher margins, while also increasing the total addressable market of our solutions; and our expectations to continue our operational execution and to gain incremental traction across our market verticals, including with our leading hyperscale and global web scale customers.

These forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "anticipates", "believes", "can", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "may", "plans", "projects", "targets", "will", and similar expressions or variations of these terms and similar phrases. Additionally, statements concerning future matters and other statements regarding matters that are not historical are forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements relate to future events or our future performance and are subject to business, economic, and other risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, including without limitation, the following: risks related to the need to address the many challenges facing our business; the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, including potential disruptions to our supply chain, employees, operations, sales and overall market conditions; the competitive pressures we face; risks associated with executing our strategy; the distribution of our products and the delivery of our services effectively; our ability to integrate the business, products, employees and other aspects of Square Box Systems; the development and transition of new products and services and the enhancement of existing products and services to meet customer needs and respond to emerging technological trends; estimates and assumptions related to the cost (including any possible disruption of our business) and the anticipated benefits of the transformation and restructuring plans; the outcome of any claims and disputes; and other risks that are described herein, including but not limited to the items discussed in "Risk Factors" in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Committee on June 24, 2020. We do not intend to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law or regulation.

Investor Relations Contact:
Shelton Group
Leanne K. Sievers, President
P: 949-224-3874
E: [email protected]

NON-U.S. GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

To provide investors with additional information regarding our financial results, we have presented Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Loss), non-U.S. GAAP financial measures defined below.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure defined by us as net loss before interest expense (net), provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, restructuring charges, long-term debt related costs, costs related to the financial restatement and related activities described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2020, and other non-recurring expenses.

Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure defined by us as net loss before restructuring charges, stock-based compensation expense, long-term debt related costs, business acquisition costs, costs related to the financial restatement and related activities described in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2020 and other non-recurring (income) expenses. The Company calculates Adjusted Net Income (Loss) per Basic and Diluted share using the Company's above-referenced definition of Adjusted Net Income (Loss).

The Company considers other non-recurring expenses to be expenses that have not been incurred within the prior two years and are not expected to recur within the next two years. Such expenses include certain strategic and financial restructuring expenses.

We have provided below a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) to Net Income (Loss), the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure. We have presented Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management and the board of directors to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget and to develop short and long-term operating plans. In particular, we believe that the exclusion of the amounts eliminated in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core business performance. We believe Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) per Basic and Diluted Share serve as appropriate measures to be used in evaluating the performance of our business and help our investors better compare our operating performance over multiple periods. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and our board of directors.

Our use of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these limitations are as follows:

• Although depreciation and amortization expense are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash capital expenditure requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements;

• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect: (1) interest and tax payments that may represent a reduction in cash available to us; (2) capital expenditures, future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments; (3) changes in, or cash requirements for, working capital needs; (4) the potentially dilutive impact of stock-based compensation expense; (5) potential future costs related to our long-term debt; (6) potential future restructuring expenses; (7) potential future costs related to business acquisitions; or (8) potential future costs related to our financial statement restatement and other related activities;

• Adjusted Net Income (Loss) does not reflect: (1) potential future restructuring activities; (2) the potentially dilutive impact of stock-based compensation expense; (3) potential future costs related to our long-term debt; (4) potential future costs related to business acquisitions; (5) potential future costs related to our financial statement restatement and other related activities; and

• Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income (Loss) or similarly titled measures differently, which reduces its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these and other limitations, you should consider Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) along with other U.S. GAAP-based financial performance measures, including various cash flow metrics and our U.S. GAAP financial results.

The following is a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to the most comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, Net Loss (in thousands):

SOURCE Quantum Corp.