Array Technologies Inc (ARRY) 2020 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Array Technologies Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded, and we have allocated 1 hour for prepared remarks and Q&A. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to [Anthony Rozmus], Investor Relations for Array Technologies. Thank you. You may begin.

早上好，歡迎參加 Array Technologies 2020 年第三季度收益電話會議。今天的電話會議正在錄音，我們分配了 1 個小時來準備發言和問答。這次，我想將會議轉交給 Array Technologies 投資者關係部的 [Anthony Rozmus]。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. I'd like to welcome everyone to Array Technologies' third quarter earnings call. On this call, management will be making statements based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from our forward-looking statements if any of our key assumptions are incorrect because of other factors discussed in today's earnings news release and the comments made during this conference call or in our latest reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, each of which can be found on our website, www.arraytechinc.com. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

謝謝你，接線員。我歡迎大家參加 Array Technologies 第三季度財報電話會議。在這次電話會議上，管理層將根據當前的預期和假設發表聲明，這些預期和假設存在風險和不確定性。如果我們的任何關鍵假設因今天的收益新聞稿中討論的其他因素以及本次電話會議或我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新報告和文件中發表的評論而出現錯誤，則實際結果可能與我們的前瞻性陳述存在重大差異，每個都可以在我們的網站 www.arraytechinc.com 上找到。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的責任。

Today's presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures. You should refer to the information contained in the company's third quarter press release for definitional information and reconciliations of historical non-GAAP measures to the comparable financial measures.

今天的演示還提到了非公認會計準則財務指標。您應該參考公司第三季度新聞稿中包含的信息，以了解歷史非公認會計準則指標與可比財務指標的定義信息和調節表。

With that, let me turn the call over to Jim Fusaro, Array's Technologies' CEO.

接下來，讓我將電話轉給 Array's Technologies 首席執行官 Jim Fusaro。

Thanks, Anthony, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our first earnings call as a public company. I'm joined today by Nipul Patel, our Chief Financial Officer; and Jeff Krantz, our Chief Commercial Officer. I'd like to start off by thanking our new investors for the tremendous support we received in our IPO. Going public was an important milestone for our company, and our entire team was energized by the result.

謝謝安東尼，大家早上好。感謝您參加我們作為上市公司的第一次財報電話會議。今天我們的首席財務官 Nipul Patel 也加入了我的行列。和我們的首席商務官 Jeff Krantz。首先，我要感謝我們的新投資者在我們的首次公開募股中獲得的巨大支持。上市對於我們公司來說是一個重要的里程碑，我們整個團隊都因這一結果而充滿活力。

Being that this is our first call, I would like to start off by providing a brief overview of Array Technologies for anyone who is new to our story, and then focus the rest of my remarks on the progress we are making on our growth initiatives, before turning it over to Nipul to talk about the quarter.

由於這是我們的第一次電話會議，我想首先為剛接觸我們故事的人提供 Array Technologies 的簡要概述，然後將我的其餘評論重點放在我們在增長計劃方面所取得的進展，然後將其交給Nipul 討論本季度的情況。

Array Technologies is, first and foremost, a technology company. We are one of the world's largest manufacturing of ground-mounting systems used in utility-scale solar energy projects. Our principal product is an integrated system of steel supports, electric motors, gearboxes, electronic controllers and software, commonly referred to as a single-access tracker. Trackers move solar panels throughout the day to maintain an optimal orientation to the sun, which significantly increase their energy production up to 25%. Our product is patent-protected and has a compelling value proposition. In fact, we have approximately 10 years left on our core patent and more than 10 years left on other patents. Since Array's inception, we've shipped over 21 gigawatts of product. To put some context around the scale of our business, over the last 12 months, we've shipped over 26,000 miles of trackers, which is enough to circle the globe. Finally, we are proud that more than 1 in every 4 solar modules in operation today in the U.S. is on our product.

Array Technologies 首先是一家科技公司。我們是全球最大的公用事業規模太陽能項目地面安裝系統製造商之一。我們的主要產品是鋼支架、電動機、變速箱、電子控制器和軟件的集成系統，通常稱為單通道跟踪器。跟踪器全天移動太陽能電池板，以保持對太陽的最佳方向，這可將其能源產量顯著提高高達 25%。我們的產品受專利保護，並具有引人注目的價值主張。事實上，我們的核心專利還剩下大約10年的時間，其他專利也還剩下10多年的時間。自 Array 成立以來，我們已售出超過 21 吉瓦的產品。為了說明我們的業務規模，在過去 12 個月裡，我們已經運送了超過 26,000 英里的追踪器，這足以繞地球一圈。最後，令我們感到自豪的是，目前美國每 4 個運行的太陽能組件中就有超過 1 個採用我們的產品。

We established a track record that is evidenced by our strong financial results, having delivered $692 million in revenue and $140 million in adjusted EBITDA during the 9 months ending September of this year, which represents 64% growth in revenue and 96% growth in adjusted EBITDA compared to the first 9 months in 2019.

我們建立了良好的業績記錄，截至今年9 月的9 個月內，我們實現了6.92 億美元的收入和1.4 億美元的調整後EBITDA 增長，這意味著收入增長了64%，調整後EBITDA 增長了96%與 2019 年前 9 個月相比。

With that background, I'd like to pivot to our growth initiatives. As many of you know from meeting with us during our IPO roadshow, there are 3 components to our growth strategy: continued growth and market share gains in our core U.S. business, international expansion and bolt-on acquisitions. I'm pleased to report that we have made progress on all 3 since our IPO priced. First, U.S. demand for our products continues to grow. Our order book, which we define as signed contracts and awarded orders, was $703 million on September 30, which represents an increase of 31% over the same time last year, and we are currently in advanced discussions on several large new projects, some of which we hope to be announcing soon. We believe that the ease of installation, superior reliability and lower LCOE of our products is increasingly becoming recognized by customers, and that we will continue to grow our share of demand here in the U.S.

在此背景下，我想將重點轉向我們的增長計劃。正如你們許多人在 IPO 路演期間與我們會面時了解到的那樣，我們的增長戰略由 3 個組成部分組成：美國核心業務的持續增長和市場份額的增長、國際擴張和補強收購。我很高興地報告，自 IPO 定價以來，我們在這三個方面都取得了進展。首先，美國對我們產品的需求持續增長。截至9 月30 日，我們的訂單（我們定義為已簽署的合同和已授予的訂單）為7.03 億美元，比去年同期增長了31%，目前我們正在就幾個大型新項目進行深入討論，其中一些我們希望盡快宣布這一消息。我們相信，我們產品的易於安裝、卓越的可靠性和較低的平準化度電成本（LCOE）越來越受到客戶的認可，並且我們將繼續增加我們在美國的需求份額。

Second, we are beginning to see early returns on our investment in international sales resources. Of the orders that we are currently in advanced discussions on, a number of them are projects outside the U.S. Further, as evidence of our commitment to international expansion, over the last 9 months, we've increased the size of our international footprint by more than 50%, with resources now located in the U.K., Spain, Brazil, Mexico, China and Australia. And we remain committed to add strategic resources around the globe in the coming months as needed.

其次，我們開始看到國際銷售資源投資的早期回報。在我們目前正在進行深入討論的訂單中，其中許多是美國以外的項目。此外，作為我們致力於國際擴張的證據，在過去 9 個月裡，我們將國際足蹟的規模擴大了更多超過50% ，資源目前位於英國、西班牙、巴西、墨西哥、中國和澳大利亞。我們仍然致力於在未來幾個月內根據需要在全球範圍內增加戰略資源。

Third, we are actively pursuing our bolt-on acquisition strategy. Outside of panels, inverters and mounting systems, our customers purchase as much as $0.13 per watt in other products and components, many of which work directly with or are complementary to our tracker. Acquiring companies that make these products can be highly accretive to our margins because we can eliminate duplicate selling expenses since, in most cases, we'd be selling more product to the same customers we already have relationships with. While we cannot guarantee we'll be able to identify or execute any acquisitions, we are currently pursuing several targets.

第三，我們正在積極推行補強收購戰略。除了面板、逆變器和安裝系統之外，我們的客戶還以每瓦 0.13 美元的價格購買其他產品和組件，其中許多產品和組件直接與我們的跟踪器配合使用或作為補充。收購生產這些產品的公司可以極大地增加我們的利潤，因為我們可以消除重複的銷售費用，因為在大多數情況下，我們會向我們已經有關係的相同客戶銷售更多的產品。雖然我們不能保證我們能夠確定或執行任何收購，但我們目前正在追求幾個目標。

Now I will turn it over to Nipul for an update on the quarter.

現在我將把它交給 Nipul 以獲取本季度的最新情況。

Thanks, Jim. I would like to begin by providing some context for comparing our 2019 versus 2020 results. As most of you know, 2020 was the first of 3 annual step-downs in the ITC or investment tax credit for solar. As a reminder, the ITC was originally put in place to support the economics of solar and provide the runway for the industry to become increasingly competitive to other forms of generation through innovation and economies of scale. This has largely been accomplished as the marginal cost of utility-scale solar is now lower than that of natural gas without subsidies in many parts of the country. While there is a potential for the ITC to be extended at the original level, the current legislation gradually reduces the size of the credit over 3 years, eventually to 10%. The result of these step-downs is to incentivize customers to place orders in Q3 and Q4 and then take delivery in Q1 and Q2 of the following year.

謝謝，吉姆。首先，我想提供一些背景信息來比較 2019 年與 2020 年的結果。正如大多數人所知，2020 年是太陽能投資稅收抵免 (ITC) 連續三年下調的第一年。需要提醒的是，ITC 最初的設立是為了支持太陽能經濟，並為該行業提供跑道，通過創新和規模經濟提高相對於其他發電形式的競爭力。這在很大程度上已經實現，因為在該國許多地區，公用事業規模太陽能的邊際成本現在低於沒有補貼的天然氣。雖然 ITC 有可能在原來的水平上延長，但現行立法在 3 年內逐漸減少信貸規模，最終降至 10%。這些降壓的結果是激勵客戶在第三季度和第四季度下訂單，然後在次年第一季度和第二季度交貨。

As previously disclosed in our S-1 and road show, the impact on us is to concentrate more of our revenues in the first half than the second half, and that is what we saw this year and expect to see again next year. As a result, comparing a single quarter in 2020 to the same quarter in 2019 is not necessarily indicative of the trajectory of our business, since revenues in 2020 are skewed more to Q1 and Q2, while revenues in 2019 were more evenly distributed. It's also important to note that because of the large size of many of our orders, results in a single quarter are not necessarily indicative of what we may achieve over a full year.

正如我們之前在S-1 和路演中所披露的那樣，這對我們的影響是我們的收入更多地集中在上半年而不是下半年，這就是我們今年看到的情況，並預計明年還會出現這種情況。因此，將 2020 年單個季度與 2019 年同一季度進行比較並不一定能表明我們的業務軌跡，因為 2020 年的收入更多地偏向第一季度和第二季度，而 2019 年的收入分佈更加均勻。還需要注意的是，由於我們的許多訂單規模較大，單個季度的業績並不一定代表我們全年可能實現的業績。

Given the ITC change, I'll provide a brief summary of our third quarter results, including some commentary around how our results compared to our plans since there are not yet any consensus estimates available for our company and then provide comparatives for the 9 month periods.

鑑於 ITC 的變化，我將提供我們第三季度業績的簡要摘要，包括一些關於我們的業績與我們的計劃相比如何的評論，因為我們公司還沒有任何共識估計，然後提供 9 個月期間的比較。

For the third quarter, we generated revenues of $139.5 million, which was a decrease over the prior year period as a result of the changes in seasonal order patterns that I discussed earlier. Relative to our plan, third quarter revenues beat our expectations, primarily as a result of faster-than-anticipated conversion and delivery of projects in addition to more sales to smaller-sized projects. We are seeing trackers being used in all size ranges projects, with growing demand from the sub 50-megawatt market. ASPs from third quarter were largely unchanged from the second quarter. Gross margins in the third quarter were lower than the prior year period as a result of having less revenue to absorb fixed costs as well as higher logistics costs, largely driven by the global shipping constraints due to COVID-19. Importantly, we view both of these dynamics as short term in nature and not indicative of longer-term margin pressure.

第三季度，我們的收入為 1.395 億美元，比去年同期有所下降，這是由於我之前討論的季節性訂單模式的變化。相對於我們的計劃，第三季度收入超出了我們的預期，主要是由於項目的轉換和交付速度快於預期，以及小型項目的銷售增加。我們看到跟踪器被用於各種規模的項目，並且 50 兆瓦以下市場的需求不斷增長。第三季度的平均售價與第二季度基本持平。第三季度的毛利率低於去年同期，原因是用於吸收固定成本的收入減少以及物流成本上升，這主要是由於 COVID-19 造成的全球運輸限制。重要的是，我們認為這兩種動態本質上都是短期的，並不表明長期的利潤壓力。

Operating expenses were roughly flat compared to prior period, excluding professional fees related to our IPO and change for contingent consideration, reflecting tight controls on expenses. We recorded an operating loss in the quarter of $5.1 million, primarily as a result of the $13.6 million charge we took for the fair value of contingent consideration as well as $1.8 million of professional fees and expenses related to our IPO and recapitalization. The chart for the contingent consideration relates primarily to an earn-out obligation we have with our founder in connection with his sale of the company to Oaktree in 2016.

運營費用與上期相比大致持平，不包括與我們的 IPO 相關的專業費用和或有代價的變更，反映出對費用的嚴格控制。我們在本季度錄得510 萬美元的運營虧損，主要是由於我們為或有對價的公允價值收取了1,360 萬美元的費用，以及與我們的IPO 和資本重組相關的180 萬美元的專業費用和開支。或有對價圖表主要涉及我們與創始人在 2016 年將公司出售給橡樹資本時所承擔的盈利義務。

Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes the impact of the earn-out obligations, the IPO expenses and approximately $1 million of other nonrecurring and noncash costs, was $16.6 million for the third quarter, which exceeded our plan by a double-digit margin.

第三季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 1660 萬美元，其中不包括盈利義務、IPO 費用以及約 100 萬美元的其他非經常性和非現金成本的影響，超出了我們的計劃兩位數。

Now turning to our 9-month results. Revenues for the 9 months ended September 30, 2020, increased 64% to $692.1 million compared to $423.2 million for the prior year period, driven by increases in the volume of trackers delivered. Gross profits increased 86% to $167.3 million compared to $90.2 million in the prior year period, driven primarily by higher revenues. Gross margins increased 24.2% from 21.3% in the prior year period, driven by reductions in purchase materials resulting from improved supplier arrangements and shifting volumes for certain components to new lower-cost suppliers and greater leverage of fixed costs against higher sales volumes.

現在來看我們 9 個月的結果。截至 2020 年 9 月 30 日的 9 個月的收入增長了 64%，達到 6.921 億美元，而去年同期為 4.232 億美元，這主要得益於跟踪器交付量的增加。毛利潤增長 86%，達到 1.673 億美元，而上年同期為 9020 萬美元，這主要是由於收入增加所致。毛利率從上年同期的21.3% 增長了24.2%，原因是供應商安排改善、將某些零部件的數量轉移到新的低成本供應商以及固定成本對銷量增加的更大影響，導致採購材料減少。

Operating expenses increased to $69.9 million compared to $47.3 million during the same period in the prior year, primarily as a result of the $13.6 million charge for contingent consideration and $1.8 million of professional fees related to our recapitalization and initial public offering in the third quarter that I discussed earlier.

運營費用從上年同期的4730 萬美元增加到6990 萬美元，主要是由於第三季度的或有對價費用為1360 萬美元，以及與我們的資本重組和首次公開募股相關的專業費用為180 萬美元。我之前討論過。

Income from operations increased 127% to $97.5 million compared to $42.9 million during the same period in the prior year. Net income increased 431% to $68.8 million compared to $13 million during the same period in the prior year, and basic and diluted income per share was $0.57 compared to $0.11 during the same period in the prior year. Adjusted net income increased 116% to $93.4 million compared to $43.2 million during the same period in the prior year, and adjusted net income per share was $0.78 compared to $0.36 during the same period in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 96% to $140.5 million compared to $71.8 million for the prior year period.

運營收入增長 127%，達到 9,750 萬美元，而上年同期為 4,290 萬美元。淨利潤增長 431%，達到 6880 萬美元，而上年同期為 1300 萬美元，每股基本和稀釋收益為 0.57 美元，而上年同期為 0.11 美元。調整後淨利潤增長 116%，達到 9340 萬美元，而上年同期為 4320 萬美元；調整後每股淨利潤為 0.78 美元，而上年同期為 0.36 美元。調整後 EBITDA 增長 96%，達到 1.405 億美元，而上年同期為 7180 萬美元。

We decided to provide guidance for the full year 2020 to give our new public investors additional insight into our outlook for the remainder of the year. Going forward, we will be providing annual guidance as part of our fourth quarter and full year earnings announcements. We will not be providing quarterly guidance in future periods.

我們決定為 2020 年全年提供指導，以便我們的新公眾投資者對我們今年剩餘時間的前景有更多的了解。展望未來，我們將在第四季度和全年收益公告中提供年度指導。我們不會在未來提供季度指導。

For the full year 2020 ending December 31, 2020, we expect revenues to be in the range of $845 million to $865 million, adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $156 million to $160 million, adjusted net income per share to be in the range of $0.82 to $0.86. This assumes diluted shares outstanding for the 3 months ending December 31, 2020, of 126,123,723 shares and diluted shares outstanding for the 12 months ending December 31, 2020, of 121,535,154. Our guidance excludes the impact of any onetime charges, expenses related to the recapitalization and IPO, income or expense related to contingent consideration as well as any related tax impacts.

截至2020年12月31日的2020年全年，我們預計收入將在8.45億至8.65億美元之間，調整後的EBITDA將在1.56億至1.6億美元之間，調整後每股淨利潤將在0.82 美元至0.86 美元。假設截至2020年12月31日的3個月的稀釋後流通股為126,123,723股，截至2020年12月31日的12個月的稀釋後流通股為121,535,154股。我們的指導不包括任何一次性費用、與資本重組和首次公開募股相關的費用、與或有對價相關的收入或費用以及任何相關稅收影響的影響。

Now I will turn it back over to Jim for some closing remarks.

現在我將把它轉回給吉姆做一些結束語。

Thanks, Nipul. I'd like to wrap up by saying we are incredibly optimistic about the future of this company. The drive to decarbonized energy is only accelerating, and we are a direct beneficiary of that transition. Solar with single-access trackers has proven to be one of the cleanest and lowest cost forms of generation, and we see demand for trackers growing faster than the overall market for solar as customers convert from fixed tilt. Moreover, customers are increasingly recognizing the superior reliability and durability of our tracking system, and that is leading to market share gains for our products. These factors, combined with our strong order book, give us confidence that we are very well positioned to have another year of substantial growth in 2021.

謝謝，尼普爾。最後，我想說我們對這家公司的未來非常樂觀。能源脫碳的進程只會加速，而我們是這一轉變的直接受益者。事實證明，配備單通道跟踪器的太陽能是最清潔、成本最低的發電形式之一，隨著客戶從固定傾斜轉向，我們看到對跟踪器的需求增長速度快於整個太陽能市場。此外，客戶越來越認識到我們的跟踪系統卓越的可靠性和耐用性，這導致我們產品的市場份額增加。這些因素加上我們強勁的訂單量，讓我們有信心在 2021 年再次實現大幅增長。

Thank you. Operator, please open the line for questions.

謝謝。接線員，請開通提問線路。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自高盛的 Brian Lee。

Congrats on first quarter out as a public company. I guess just a couple of questions around the model to begin with maybe. Can you give us what the U.S. and rest of world mix was for the quarter on revenue and megawatts?

祝賀第一季度成為上市公司。我想一開始可能只是圍繞模型提出幾個問題。您能否告訴我們本季度美國和世界其他地區的收入和兆瓦數情況？

Brian, it's Nipul. Yes, we're not going to be reporting megawatts. I can give you the mix of that revenue for the quarter. It was 10% international and the remainder are U.S.

布萊恩，我是尼普爾。是的，我們不會報告兆瓦數。我可以向您提供該季度的收入組合。其中 10% 為國際市場，其餘為美國市場。

Okay. That's helpful. And then you mentioned, Nipul, the ASPs were flat from 2Q to 3Q. I assume that's a comment on the overall mix of business. Would you say the trends, ASP wise, were pretty similar across the 2 regions?

好的。這很有幫助。然後你提到，Nipul，平均售價從第二季度到第三季度持平。我認為這是對整體業務組合的評論。您是否認為這兩個地區的平均售價趨勢非常相似？

Yes. We're not seeing any changes in the pricing environment.

是的。我們沒有看到定價環境發生任何變化。

Okay. Great. And then maybe just kind of a bigger picture question. You spent several minutes outlining the safe harbor situation and kind of how the mechanics of that work for your business model. So that was very helpful. Is there some quantification you can provide as to how much volume you saw in megawatts and dollars in 2019 from a safe harbor perspective?

好的。偉大的。然後也許只是一個更大的問題。您花了幾分鐘概述了安全港的情況以及其機制如何適用於您的商業模式。這非常有幫助。從安全港的角度來看，您是否可以提供一些量化數據來說明您在 2019 年看到的兆瓦和美元銷量？

And then it sounds like you're anticipating more of that in the end of 2020 and early '21. We have heard from some other component vendors through 3Q earnings that they seem to be expecting a much more muted safe harbor volume impact this year versus what they saw last year. So just trying to maybe square up a little bit what the impact might be for you and why it could be different versus what we've heard from some of the other technology peers that are out there?

聽起來你預計 2020 年底和 21 年初會有更多這樣的事情發生。我們從其他一些組件供應商的第三季度收益中獲悉，他們似乎預計今年安全港銷量的影響將比去年小得多。因此，只是想弄清楚這可能會對您產生什麼影響，以及為什麼它可能與我們從其他一些技術同行那裡聽到的不同？

Yes, sure. Thanks, Brian. So yes, we're -- I would say we're in line with that at last year fourth quarter. It was about $100 million of safe harbor orders, and we're seeing a slightly lower number here in our Q4 of this year in the guidance we provided.

是的，當然。謝謝，布萊恩。所以是的，我想說我們與去年第四季度的情況一致。安全港訂單約為 1 億美元，我們在今年第四季度提供的指導中發現這一數字略低。

Our next question is from Paul Coster with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的保羅·科斯特。

Yes. Welcome to the public markets. Jim, perhaps we can just focus on the international initiative a little bit. Can you talk to us a little bit about the approach you're taking here? Is it -- are you sort of building it and hoping they will come in terms of infrastructure? Or are you following your clients into that market? What's the time line that investors should expect for a material change? And can you talk a little bit about the pricing and margins in that market?

是的。歡迎來到公共市場。吉姆，也許我們可以稍微關註一下國際倡議。您能和我們談談您在這裡採取的方法嗎？是嗎——你正在建造它並希望它們能以基礎設施的形式出現嗎？或者您是否正在跟隨您的客戶進入該市場？投資者預計重大變化的時間表是怎樣的？您能談談該市場的定價和利潤嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Paul. It's really the latter, as you alluded to. We're going to continue to work with our customers with respect to their growth in the various regions and countries. Having said that, I just wanted to kind of give you a quick update.

是的。謝謝，保羅。正如您提到的，實際上是後者。我們將繼續與客戶合作，促進他們在各個地區和國家的發展。話雖如此，我只是想給你一個快速的更新。

We continue to expand out our resources with respect to those regions. We've actually increased the number of personnel, whether it's technical sales, business development in the countries such as the U.K., Spain, Brazil, Mexico and China and Australia. So as our customers go into those regions, we will follow accordingly. And I would just reflect back with what Nipul said on ASPs. They remain somewhat stable. And as we consider the margin performance, we're going to continue to build out our infrastructure, namely our supply chain, for local content in order to cause that to be an accelerant for margin improvement going forward on the international side.

我們繼續擴大在這些地區的資源。我們實際上增加了人員數量，無論是在英國、西班牙、巴西、墨西哥以及中國和澳大利亞等國家的技術銷售、業務開發。因此，當我們的客戶進入這些地區時，我們也會相應地跟進。我只想回顧 Nipul 關於 ASP 的言論。它們保持一定程度的穩定。當我們考慮利潤率表現時，我們將繼續為本地內容建設我們的基礎設施，即我們的供應鏈，以便使其成為國際方面利潤率改善的促進劑。

And what about time line?

那麼時間線呢？

I'm sorry. One more time, Paul?

對不起。再來一次，保羅？

Yes. What kind of time line before we see material sort of impact of the international expansion program?

是的。在我們看到國際擴張計劃的實質性影響之前需要什麼樣的時間？

Yes. We're going to be reporting that out on an annualized basis. So right now, our sales internationally are roughly 10%, and that's going to materially change as we go forward into next year, but I don't want to provide too much guidance on the international mix for next year.

是的。我們將按年報告這一情況。目前，我們的國際銷售額約為 10%，隨著明年的到來，這一情況將會發生重大變化，但我不想對明年的國際組合提供太多指導。

Paul, we'll also provide more information during the annual call, the split between international and U.S.

保羅，我們還將在年度電話會議期間提供更多信息，即國際和美國之間的分歧。

Our next question is from Stephen Byrd with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的斯蒂芬·伯德。

Congrats on your first quarter as a public company.

祝賀您作為上市公司的第一個季度。

Thanks.

謝謝。

I wanted to just pick up on the commentary you laid out in the release about increased customer activity, discussions around some potential sizable new orders. Are there any particular drivers you're seeing? Any trends? Or is this just specific to different customers? I'm just curious sort of, of late, if you're seeing something different than what you've seen in the past.

我想了解一下您在新聞稿中發表的有關客戶活動增加的評論，以及圍繞一些潛在的大量新訂單的討論。您看到過哪些特定的驅動程序嗎？有什麼趨勢嗎？或者這只是針對不同的客戶？我只是有點好奇，最近你是否看到了與過去不同的東西。

No, Stephen, it's really the same. Our thesis remains the same with respect to the growth of solar overall. Having said that, we will be announcing, in very short order, a large deal with a very strategic customer that includes not only domestic but international growth as well. So our customers continue to see the value of our product, and those trends really haven't changed. If anything, they continue to strengthen on the basis of our value proposition.

不，斯蒂芬，真的是一樣的。關於太陽能整體增長的論點保持不變。話雖如此，我們將在很短的時間內宣布與一個非常具有戰略意義的客戶達成一項大交易，其中不僅包括國內增長，還包括國際增長。因此，我們的客戶繼續看到我們產品的價值，而且這些趨勢確實沒有改變。如果說有什麼不同的話，那就是它們在我們的價值主張的基礎上繼續得到加強。

Okay. Understood. And then I wanted to step way back and talk about U.S. policy, and I know we're in a period of a lot of uncertainty. But to this yet that there is a U.S. stimulus package, and that includes the extension of the solar ITC, I just was curious, sort of big picture when you talk to your customers, when you think about the growth profile longer term, how important that ITC is versus just the core importance of how very cheap solar has become? I'm just kind of curious how you think about that relative shift that we might see from a stimulus package.

好的。明白了。然後我想退一步談談美國政策，我知道我們正處於一個充滿不確定性的時期。但對於美國的刺激計劃，其中包括太陽能 ITC 的延期，我只是很好奇，當你與客戶交談時，當你考慮長期增長狀況時，這有多麼重要ITC 是否只是太陽能變得多麼便宜的核心重要性？我只是有點好奇你如何看待我們可能從刺激計劃中看到的相對轉變。

Yes. Stephen, it's really the latter. Our thesis remains the same with respect to the growth in solar. And that is just based on its cost structure, that's really the driving force, and then coupled with the mega trends of decarbonization and corporate America, those corporations globally. That continues to be the fuel. I would let the individual speculate on what U.S. policy would do. I'm not going to comment there, but just -- we see the cornerstone of growth being just the cost competitiveness of solar going forward and the other attributes I just spoke to.

是的。斯蒂芬，確實是後者。關於太陽能的增長，我們的論點保持不變。這只是基於其成本結構，這確實是驅動力，然後再加上脫碳和美國企業、全球企業的大趨勢。這仍然是燃料。我會讓個人推測美國的政策會做什麼。我不會對此發表評論，但我們認為增長的基石就是太陽能未來的成本競爭力以及我剛才談到的其他屬性。

Very fair. And then just last one for me. You've had a couple of questions already on sort of the international growth, and I'm pleased to see the increase in infrastructure that you're talking to. Is there a potential that you would see essentially enough growth there that you want to make an investment over the next, say, 6 to 12 months, that is your spending, your expenses could be maybe a little bit bigger than you had planned initially. But ultimately, you conclude that's worth it because you just see an increased volume of ultimate revenue there. How are you kind of thinking about that cadence of spending and infrastructure you need? Again, I don't view it as a negative signal at all, but I'm just curious if you kind of feel like you need to make more of an investment than maybe you'd initially planned just to make sure you can execute on all the opportunities.

很公平。然後是我的最後一個。您已經就國際增長提出了幾個問題，我很高興看到您正在談論的基礎設施的增加。您是否有可能看到那裡有足夠的增長，以至於您想在接下來的 6 到 12 個月內進行投資，這就是您的支出，您的支出可能比您最初計劃的要多一點。但最終，您會得出結論，這是值得的，因為您只會看到最終收入的增加。您如何看待所需的支出和基礎設施的節奏？再說一次，我根本不認為這是一個負面信號，但我只是好奇你是否覺得你需要進行比最初計劃更多的投資，只是為了確保你可以執行所有的機會。

Yes, Stephen, that's great. Our saying here is how much for how much. Every opportunity we're going to look at is going to be on an ROI basis and if we need to invest in a said region and put infrastructure in place to support the customer's growth, and that said region will absolutely do that. But we look at every opportunity on an ROI basis.

是的，斯蒂芬，那太好了。我們這裡說的是多少錢多少。我們要考慮的每一個機會都將以投資回報率為基礎，如果我們需要在上述地區投資並建立基礎設施來支持客戶的增長，那麼該地區絕對會這樣做。但我們會根據投資回報率來看待每一個機會。

Our next question is from Shar Pourreza with Guggenheim Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自古根海姆合夥人公司的 Shar Pourreza。

Congrats, echoing Stephen's comments on your first outing as a public company. Jim, you mentioned you're in the process of sort of evaluating potential acquisition targets. I know there are like sort of multiple areas of the balance of system-related solar products and utility products that you sort of target. But maybe if you could just provide some color on what type of acquisitions you're pursuing first, and then sort of, obviously, the source of funds for the acquisitions, assuming you're going to be tapping the revolver capacity?

恭喜，呼應斯蒂芬對您作為上市公司的首次亮相的評論。吉姆，您提到您正在評估潛在的收購目標。我知道您的目標是與系統相關的太陽能產品和公用事業產品的平衡的多個領域。但也許你可以提供一些關於你首先追求什麼類型的收購的信息，然後顯然是收購的資金來源（假設你要利用左輪手槍產能）？

Yes. Well, first of all, thanks, Shar. I don't want to give too much detail surrounding any acquisition targets because that obviously is highly sensitive. I would say, with respect to those bolt-on acquisitions, we do see opportunity across the board as we are selling to the same customers those various components and services that complement our tracker. And we just maintain a very healthy pipeline of opportunities that we vet accordingly.

是的。嗯，首先，謝謝，莎爾。我不想提供有關任何收購目標的太多細節，因為這顯然是高度敏感的。我想說，對於這些補強收購，我們確實看到了全面的機會，因為我們正在向相同的客戶銷售那些補充我們的跟踪器的各種組件和服務。我們只是維持一個非常健康的機會渠道，並進行相應的審查。

And with respect to how we would transact, I'll defer to Nipul on that one.

至於我們如何進行交易，我會聽從 Nipul 的意見。

Yes. So Shar, so this -- obviously, these bolt-on -- these bolt-on acquisitions, we see we can handle with our free cash flow as well as our tapping the revolver, if needed.

是的。所以，夏爾，所以這——顯然，這些附加的——這些附加的收購，我們看到我們可以處理我們的自由現金流以及我們的左輪手槍，如果需要的話。

Got it. Got it. And so we're a little over a month into the fourth quarter when you sort of expect to see a large increase in orders. Can you just share what you're seeing so far in terms of orders? Is the percentage of full year order volume in line with last year? Or is it a little less, because last year was the first year of the ITC step down. And then sort of how should we sort of think about this dynamic in '21 and '22?

知道了。知道了。因此，第四季度已經過去一個月多了，您預計會看到訂單大幅增加。您能分享一下您目前所看到的訂單情況嗎？全年訂單量佔比與去年持平嗎？或者是少一點，因為去年是 ITC 下台的第一年。那麼我們應該如何思考 21 和 22 年的這種動態？

Yes. So I would go back to our filing when we talked about our backlog, where our backlog was $703 million at the end of the quarter, and that was an increase, up -- over 30% from the same period of last year. So we continue to see higher activity in Q4, which we feel really good about.

是的。因此，當我們談論我們的積壓訂單時，我會回到我們的備案，截至本季度末，我們的積壓訂單為 7.03 億美元，這是一個增長，比去年同期增長了 30% 以上。因此，我們繼續看到第四季度的活動有所增加，我們對此感到非常滿意。

Got it. And then last one for me. A question for you again, Nipul. Gross margins were up around 3%, driven by sort of the supplier arrangements year-to-date versus last year. How should we maybe sort of think about the shape of the margins over time, especially as you start to increase your footprint internationally and also look to renegotiate contracts with your suppliers? So there's a couple of counteracting items here.

知道了。然後是我的最後一張。尼普爾，又問你一個問題。與去年相比，今年迄今為止的供應商安排推動了毛利率增長了 3% 左右。隨著時間的推移，我們應該如何考慮利潤的形狀，特別是當您開始擴大國際影響力並尋求與供應商重新談判合同時？所以這裡有一些抵消因素。

Yes. And as we had -- we believe our margins that -- for -- the way to look at our margins is really on a full year basis. And the way that we see our margins is kind of what we said in the high 20s for the full year -- or low 20s, excuse me, for the full year.

是的。正如我們所相信的那樣，我們的利潤率實際上是基於全年的。我們看待利潤率的方式類似於我們所說的全年利潤率在 20 多歲左右，或者全年的利潤率在 20 多歲左右。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is from Michael Weinstein with Crédit Suisse.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸銀行的邁克爾·韋恩斯坦（Michael Weinstein）。

Congratulations again. Just in terms of the targeted acquisitions and bolt-on acquisitions, can you give us maybe at least an idea, are these in the U.S. or are these foreign acquisitions, overseas? Where is the emphasis going to be?

再次恭喜。就目標收購和補強收購而言，您至少能給我們一個想法嗎？這些收購是在美國還是海外的外國收購？重點會放在哪裡？

Again, I don't like to give too much detail on that, Michael, but I would just kind of point back to the synergies that we see with respect to our tracker and how that would complement the customer base.

再次強調，邁克爾，我不想對此提供太多細節，但我只想回顧一下我們在跟踪器方面所看到的協同效應，以及這將如何補充客戶群。

Are these in -- on specific types of technologies or say, a technological ramp up that you're trying to achieve? Like what's the goal of the bolt-on strategy?

這些是特定類型的技術，還是您想要實現的技術提升？比如補充戰略的目標是什麼？

It's a complement of both. Yes, it's a complement of technology as well as products and services. And the way to really look at it is the balance of systems that we obviously want to address for the customer base, how we can continue to increase the value for them as well as our shareholders.

它是兩者的補充。是的，它是技術、產品和服務的補充。真正看待這個問題的方法是我們顯然希望為客戶群解決的系統平衡問題，以及我們如何繼續為他們以及我們的股東增加價值。

Got you. And just one more for me. What other additional disclosures can we expect in future quarters that go beyond what you're providing today?

明白你了。還給我一個。除了您今天提供的內容之外，我們在未來幾個季度還可以期待哪些其他披露？

So from a disclosure perspective, for the annual call, we'll obviously provide full year guidance for 2021, but we'll also include the split on a revenue perspective from an international and domestic perspective.

因此，從披露的角度來看，對於年度電話會議，我們顯然會提供 2021 年全年指引，但我們也會從國際和國內角度考慮收入方面的劃分。

Great. How about on EBITDA basis? Is that only going to be consolidated?

偉大的。以 EBITDA 為基礎怎麼樣？難道只有這樣才能合併嗎？

Yes. We will -- we'll provide EBITDA -- obviously, EBITDA guidance. We'll give you some color around what that EBITDA is comprised of.

是的。我們將——我們將提供 EBITDA——顯然是 EBITDA 指導。我們將向您介紹 EBITDA 的組成部分。

Our next question is from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自科林·魯什和奧本海默。

With the fourth quarter guidance, how many megawatts are related to safe harboring? And how much -- I guess, how many megawatts related to safe harboring do you expect to recognize those revenue?

根據第四季度的指導，有多少兆瓦與安全港相關？我想，您預計有多少與安全港相關的兆瓦電量能夠確認這些收入？

Colin, this is Nipul. So yes, for that guidance, as it's implied, I would say that there's a portion related to safe harbor, which is -- we're not going to provide the exact amounts, but there is a portion that's smaller than what I mentioned in the $100 million for the Q4 last year.

科林，這是尼普爾。所以，是的，對於該指導，正如它暗示的那樣，我會說有一部分與安全港相關，即——我們不會提供確切的金額，但有一部分比我在中提到的要小去年第四季度的1 億美元。

Okay. And then with the backlog, the $703 million, how much is related to safe harbor -- to pass safe harbor orders? And what's the expected time line for the delivery on that full book?

好的。然後，在積壓的 7.03 億美元中，有多少與安全港相關——通過安全港訂單？那整本書的預計交付時間是多少？

Yes. That full book, like all of our backlog, there's things coming in and out of it, but we'd expect that full book to deliver by the end of 2021.

是的。這本完整的書，就像我們所有的積壓工作一樣，有一些東西進出，但我們預計整本書將在 2021 年底交付。

Okay. Great. And then just -- actually, I'll take the rest off-line.

好的。偉大的。然後——實際上，我會把剩下的部分下線。

Our next question is from Jeff Osborne with Cowen and Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen and Company 的傑夫·奧斯本 (Jeff Osborne)。

Most of them have been asked. I just had 2. One, will the 10-Q be out today or no?

大多數人都被問過。我剛吃了 2。第一，10-Q 今天會上市嗎？

Jeff, this is -- as you know, being -- going public just a couple of weeks ago and doing our first 10-Q, it's going to take a little bit longer. We expect it to be out probably sometime next week. It won't go out today.

傑夫，正如你所知，幾週前剛剛上市並進行了我們的第一個 10-Q，這將需要更長的時間。我們預計它可能會在下周某個時候發布。今天不會出去。

And just to follow-up on Michael's question. The 10-Q will not have megawatts or geographic split of revenue? That's only something you're going to publish or disclose annually?

只是為了跟進邁克爾的問題。 10-Q 不會有兆瓦級收入或地理收入分配嗎？這只是您每年都會發布或披露的內容嗎？

Correct. It will have -- the 10-Q will have the change in megawatts in our MD&A section, not the exact megawatt shift.

正確的。 10-Q 將在我們的 MD&A 部分中以兆瓦為單位進行變化，而不是確切的兆瓦變化。

So just given you have 3 objectives as a company, I just want to focus on the first 2, gaining share in the U.S. and then growing internationally. How would you encourage your new shareholders to track your progress on those 2 initiatives? Is it just once a year that you want to be measured on that?

因此，鑑於您作為一家公司有 3 個目標，我只想專注於前 2 個目標，即在美國獲得份額，然後在國際上發展。您將如何鼓勵您的新股東跟踪您在這兩項舉措上的進展？您是否只想每年進行一次測量？

No, we will provide qualitative information throughout the quarter. So I apologize, that's -- we won't be providing exact dollar numbers or figures, but we will absolutely provide qualitative figures, so the market and the new shareholders can follow.

不，我們將在整個季度提供定性信息。所以我很抱歉，我們不會提供確切的美元數字或數字，但我們絕對會提供定性數據，以便市場和新股東可以遵循。

Got it. And then maybe just for Jim. Can you just touch on the decision to go after China? I think in the latest Wood Mackenzie report, the pricing in China is about $0.04 a watt less than the U.S. So certainly competitive. Obviously, a huge opportunity. But I would have thought your partners that you have in the U.S. are less focused on China's utility-scale market and maybe more in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, some of the other markets that you referenced. So can you just touch on China, in particular, in the decision to go after that market?

知道了。然後也許只是為了吉姆。您能談談針對中國的決定嗎？我認為在最新的 Wood Mackenzie 報告中，中國的定價比美國每瓦低約 0.04 美元，因此肯定具有競爭力。顯然，這是一個巨大的機會。但我本以為你們在美國的合作夥伴不太關注中國的公用事業規模市場，也許更多地關注墨西哥、巴西、西班牙以及你提到的其他一些市場。那麼，您能否談談中國，特別是在決定進軍中國市場時？

Yes, Jeff, let me clarify. We're not going after the market in China. We have resources internationally. China is 1 where we have technical resources and supply chain resources. So as we discussed on the road show, that's kind of where we're focusing resources for Asia overall. So the resources that we have in China, you can think of actually handling supply chain as well as some of the technical interfaces for suppliers out there.

是的，傑夫，讓我澄清一下。我們不會追求中國市場。我們擁有國際資源。中國是我們擁有技術資源和供應鏈資源的第一名。正如我們在路演中討論的那樣，這就是我們為整個亞洲集中資源的地方。因此，我們在中國擁有的資源，您可以考慮實際處理供應鏈以及供應商的一些技術接口。

Our next question is from Paul Coster with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的保羅·科斯特。

Nipul, I wonder if you'd be kind enough to just sort of give us a sense of where the debt will stand at year-end and what the capital allocation strategy is with respect to the debt over the next couple of years?

Nipul，我想知道您是否願意讓我們了解年底債務狀況以及未來幾年債務的資本配置策略是什麼？

Sure. Yes. We -- as far as the debt, from the free cash flow that we're going to generate, we're going to -- let me start with the second part of your question there, Paul, is from the free cash flow we're going to generate -- our key is to look at the high ROI projects and then -- and look at potential bolt-on acquisitions and then delever to keep under that 3x leverage, as I had mentioned previously. But from a perspective of debt, we think it's -- we're going to be between (inaudible) at year-end. That's what we're forecasting at this point.

當然。是的。就債務而言，我們將要產生的自由現金流，我們將——讓我從你問題的第二部分開始，保羅，來自我們的自由現金流。正如我之前提到的，我們的關鍵是關注高投資回報率項目，然後關注潛在的補強收購，然後去槓桿化以保持在3 倍槓桿以下。但從債務的角度來看，我們認為到年底我們將處於兩者之間（聽不清）。這就是我們目前的預測。

Next question is from Philip Shen with ROTH Capital Partners.

下一個問題由羅斯資本合夥人 (ROTH Capital Partners) 的 Philip Shen 提出。

In terms of market share for next year, what do you expect it to be in the U.S. for you guys given the backlog that you see?

就明年的市場份額而言，考慮到你們所看到的積壓情況，你們預計美國的市場份額會是多少？

Yes. Philip, I'm not going to comment on next year's share of demand, whether it's here in the U.S. or internationally. I would just defer back to Nipul. We'll continue to report on a quarterly basis of how we're doing.

是的。菲利普，我不會評論明年的需求份額，無論是在美國還是在國際上。我只會推遲回到尼普爾。我們將繼續每季度報告我們的進展情況。

Great. And then in a bunch of the checks that we've done with customers, it seems like the preferences for trackers are quite strong. Some really prioritize the O&M savings, others prefer some of the other features that peers might offer. Just wondering, as you guys go and sell and try to gain that share, how do you work to change these very entrenched preferences?

偉大的。然後，在我們與客戶進行的一系列檢查中，似乎對跟踪器的偏好相當強烈。有些人確實優先考慮運營和維護節省，另一些人則更喜歡同行可能提供的一些其他功能。只是想知道，當你們去銷售並試圖獲得份額時，你們如何努力改變這些根深蒂固的偏好？

Yes. Philip, we just continue to drive the value proposition, namely where we stand with respect to levelized cost of electricity or energy, I should say, where we believe we have a distinct advantage, our O&M advantage, zero scheduled maintenance. It's a very highly technical sale, and that continues to resonate with our customers. So really no change in how we're selling. It's just really driving that value across the board with the customers.

是的。菲利普，我們只是繼續推動價值主張，即我們在電力或能源平準化成本方面的立場，我應該說，我們相信我們擁有明顯的優勢，我們的運營和維護優勢，零定期維護。這是一次技術含量非常高的銷售，並持續引起我們客戶的共鳴。所以我們的銷售方式確實沒有改變。它確實全面推動了客戶的價值。

Great. And you mentioned, I think, earlier, Jim, that you expect a nice order with a strategic customer to come up both domestically and internationally. Can you talk about the number of those orders that might be in the pipeline? Is it more than one? Or -- and from a timing standpoint, do you think we could hear about that customer or the other customers sometime this year? Or do you think it might be earlier next year?

偉大的。我想，吉姆，你早些時候提到過，你希望在國內和國際上都能與戰略客戶達成良好的訂單。您能談談可能正在處理中的訂單數量嗎？是否不止一個？或者 - 從時間的角度來看，您認為我們會在今年的某個時候聽到該客戶或其他客戶的消息嗎？或者你認為可能是明年早些時候？

Yes. So we're going to be announcing -- it's planned, tentatively planned for next week, and it's going to be north of 1 gigawatt, and it will be projects, domestic and international. And it will talk about enablement of the said decision by that customer. So we're actually very excited about this one.

是的。因此，我們將宣布——已計劃，暫定計劃在下週進行，裝機容量將超過 1 吉瓦，而且將是國內和國際項目。它將討論該客戶對上述決定的支持。所以我們實際上對此非常興奮。

Great. And then what's the mix of international business in that order?

偉大的。那麼國際業務的組合按順序是怎樣的呢？

I can't disclose that. That's the customer's decision.

我不能透露這一點。這是客戶的決定。

Can you share which country or region of the world that might be in?

您能分享一下可能位於世界哪個國家或地區嗎？

No, unfortunately, I can't do that.

不，不幸的是，我不能這樣做。

Okay. Great. Congrats on being a public company, and I'll pass it on.

好的。偉大的。恭喜你成為一家上市公司，我會把它傳遞下去。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉交管理層發表閉幕詞。

So thank you, operator. For those on the call, again, I want to thank you again and just reiterate how happy we are with the results of this quarter and our outlook going forward. We continue to execute on all fronts, very excited and very pleased. And again, a heartfelt thank you to everyone.

謝謝你，接線員。對於那些參加電話會議的人，我想再次感謝你們，並重申我們對本季度的業績和未來的前景感到非常高興。我們繼續在各個方面執行，非常興奮和高興。再次向大家表示衷心的感謝。

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與，祝您度過愉快的一天。