ChargePoint Holdings Inc (CHPT) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. My name is Lisa, and I'll be your conference operator for today's call. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the ChargePoint Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Patrick Hamer, ChargePoint's Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations. Patrick, please go ahead.

女士們，先生們，下午好。我叫麗莎，我將擔任今天電話會議的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 ChargePoint 2023 財年第四季度收益電話會議和網絡直播。 （操作員說明）我現在想把電話轉給 ChargePoint 的資本市場和投資者關係副總裁 Patrick Hamer。帕特里克，請繼續。

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss ChargePoint's fourth quarter and full fiscal 2023 earnings results. This call is being webcast and can be accessed on the Investors section of our website at investors.chargepoint.com. With me on today's call are Pasquale Romano, our Chief Executive Officer; and Rex Jackson, our Chief Financial Officer. This afternoon, we issued our press release announcing results for the quarter and full year ended January 31, 2023, which can also be found on our website.

下午好，感謝您參加今天的電話會議，討論 ChargePoint 第四季度和 2023 財年的全部收益結果。此電話會議正在進行網絡直播，可在我們網站 investors.chargepoint.com 的“投資者”部分收聽。和我一起參加今天電話會議的有我們的首席執行官 Pasquale Romano；和我們的首席財務官 Rex Jackson。今天下午，我們發布了新聞稿，公佈了截至 2023 年 1 月 31 日的季度和全年業績，也可以在我們的網站上找到。

We'd like to remind you that during the conference call, management will be making forward-looking statements, including our outlook for the first quarter fiscal 2024. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. These forward-looking statements apply as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements after the call. For a more detailed description of certain factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to our Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on December 8, 2022 and our earnings release posted today on our website and filed with the SEC on Form 8-K.

我們想提醒您，在電話會議期間，管理層將做出前瞻性陳述，包括我們對 2024 財年第一季度的展望。這些前瞻性陳述涉及風險和不確定性，其中許多是我們無法控制的，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期存在重大差異。這些前瞻性陳述從今天起適用，我們不承擔在電話會議後更新這些陳述的義務。有關可能導致實際結果不同的某些因素的更詳細描述，請參閱我們於 2022 年 12 月 8 日向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-Q 表格以及我們今天在我們的網站上發布並以表格 8 向美國證券交易委員會提交的收益報告-K。

Also, please note that we use certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call, which we reconcile to GAAP in our earnings release for certain historical periods in the investor presentation posted on the Investors section of our website. And finally, we'll be posting the transcript of this call to our Investor Relations website under the Quarterly Results section. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Pasquale.

此外，請注意，我們在本次電話會議上使用了某些非 GAAP 財務指標，我們在我們網站投資者部分發布的投資者介紹中的特定歷史時期的收益發布中將其與 GAAP 進行了核對。最後，我們將在“季度業績”部分下將此次電話會議的記錄發佈到我們的投資者關係網站。有了這個，我會把電話轉給 Pasquale。

Thank you, Patrick, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. Yesterday marked our second anniversary of being a public company, and I'd like to start by recognizing the team here at ChargePoint that has worked tirelessly to continue to evolve the company, to fulfill the enormous role we play in the energy transition.

謝謝帕特里克，感謝大家今天加入我們。昨天是我們成為上市公司兩週年，首先我要表彰 ChargePoint 的團隊，他們孜孜不倦地工作，繼續發展公司，履行我們在能源轉型中發揮的巨大作用。

Before I get into a bit of retrospective on the full year and what the road ahead holds for us, I'll review the fourth quarter results for fiscal 2023. Our fourth quarter grew 93% year-on-year and 22% sequentially, making another record quarterly revenue level for the company, while improving non-GAAP margins by 3 points to 23%, delivering on our expectations set on our last call that we would sequentially improve gross margin.

在我對全年進行一些回顧以及我們未來的道路之前，我將回顧一下 2023 財年第四季度的業績。我們的第四季度同比增長 93%，環比增長 22%，使得公司的季度收入再創歷史新高，同時將非 GAAP 利潤率提高 3 個百分點至 23%，實現了我們在上次電話會議上設定的預期，即我們將連續提高毛利率。

However, on that same call, we effectively raised the midpoint of our full year guidance by $5 million. The revenue results for the full year was slightly below the original guidance midpoint and 2.5% below the revised guidance midpoint. Fourth quarter revenue results were below the guidance range and 7% short of the midpoint. This was due to a combination of special circumstances. The first is a decrease in North American commercial demand during the month of December; the second, while overall supply chain limitations have eased, they persist for certain hardware products; and lastly, we just missed shipment cutoffs for some customers that caused a larger gap between billings and revenue than historical norms.

然而，在同一次電話會議上，我們有效地將全年指導的中點提高了 500 萬美元。全年的收入結果略低於最初的指導中點，比修訂後的指導中點低 2.5%。第四季度收入結果低於指導範圍，比中點低 7%。這是由於多種特殊情況的結合。首先是 12 月份北美商業需求下降；第二，雖然整體供應鏈限制有所緩解，但某些硬件產品仍然存在；最後，我們剛剛錯過了一些客戶的發貨截止時間，這導致賬單和收入之間的差距比歷史標準更大。

To put that in perspective, the full year revenue was $468 million. Our business grew 94% this year versus last and over 90% year-on-year each quarter. We managed operating expenses through the year to achieve the improving operating leverage you see. And this is foundational to becoming cash flow positive in calendar 2024. We are exceptionally proud of crossing through an annualized subscription revenue benchmark of $100 million. We also demonstrated growth in fleet as a major vertical globally in our European business across all verticals. Both of these outpaced the 94% growth rate of the company to gain ground as a percentage of overall revenue.

從這個角度來看，全年收入為 4.68 億美元。我們的業務今年比去年增長了 94%，每個季度的同比增長超過 90%。我們全年管理運營費用，以實現您所看到的改善運營槓桿。這是在 2024 年實現正現金流的基礎。我們非常自豪能夠突破 1 億美元的年度訂閱收入基準。我們還展示了機隊的增長，這是我們在所有垂直領域的歐洲業務的全球主要垂直領域。這兩項都超過了公司 94% 的增長率，佔總收入的百分比有所提高。

A good example of our progress in fleet and the power of our ecosystem is the recent announcement of the United States Postal Service Award with our distribution partner, Rexel. Partnerships like these are critical pieces of our differentiated business model. In the fourth quarter, over 70% of billings were through our channel partners, consistent with historical results. And even with limitations on vehicle supply, in the vertical, fleet is already a significant component of our revenue and a coiled spring when the vehicles are readily available.

最近與我們的分銷合作夥伴 Rexel 一起宣布了美國郵政服務獎，這是我們在車隊和生態系統力量方面取得進步的一個很好的例子。像這樣的合作夥伴關係是我們差異化商業模式的關鍵部分。第四季度，超過 70% 的賬單來自我們的渠道合作夥伴，與歷史結果一致。即使在車輛供應有限的情況下，在垂直方向上，車隊已經是我們收入的重要組成部分，並且在車輛隨時可用時成為螺旋彈簧。

This is an essential part of our growth strategy. Participating in nearly every vertical of EV charging in both Europe and North America not only fuels our growth, but also provides resilience in the face of short-term emphasis shift across verticals and geographies. We benefited from this in COVID years and expect this diversity to be an asset as the market continues to develop for years to come.

這是我們增長戰略的重要組成部分。參與歐洲和北美幾乎所有的電動汽車充電垂直領域，不僅推動了我們的增長，而且在面對垂直領域和地域的短期重點轉移時也提供了彈性。我們在 COVID 年從中受益，並希望隨著市場在未來幾年繼續發展，這種多樣性將成為一種資產。

Let me give you a sense of where we have been this past year to help you gauge how well we are positioned for the future. We operate at the center of an expanding ecosystem that's highly invested in the electrification of mobility. We are now seeing that investment accelerate from these force multipliers. And this indicates that the ecosystem, not just the auto industry, is past the point of no return. Some examples, ChargePoint now has over a dozen automotive partnerships live, where ChargePoint's cloud service aggregates access to all major public charging networks in Europe and North America via the OEMs in-dash system or companion app. Partners added this year include Lexus, Mazda, Toyota and Fisker this year.

讓我向您介紹一下我們過去一年的進展情況，以幫助您衡量我們對未來的定位。我們在不斷擴大的生態系統的中心運營，該生態系統對移動電氣化進行了大量投資。我們現在看到，這些力量倍增器正在加速投資。這表明生態系統，而不僅僅是汽車行業，已經過了不歸路。例如，ChargePoint 現在擁有十幾個汽車合作夥伴關係，ChargePoint 的雲服務通過 OEM 儀表板系統或配套應用程序聚合了對歐洲和北美所有主要公共充電網絡的訪問。今年新增的合作夥伴包括雷克薩斯、馬自達、豐田和菲斯克。

Additionally, many auto OEMs offer our ChargePoint home charger and recommend us to their dealers for their charging needs. We added numerous fleet OEMs as partners as well. We continue to work with the iOS and Android platforms as well as the native Google car experience. We added UTA, a leading European fuel card provider to our long list of payment partners. We added Stem and other partners to enable charging to be integrated into broader site-wide energy management. We continue to grow our channel partner network and launched our mobile application for installers as our first step in creating an education and support platform for these key players. We continue to work with governments in North America and Europe to shape policy and programs such as NEVI to remove barriers and ensure a vibrant and consistent charging market. And lastly, we announced partnerships with Volvo and Starbucks as well as Mercedes-Benz and (inaudible) Energy to enable great brands serving the 30-minute retail economy with the EV charging to create a fantastic road trip experience for EV drivers.

此外，許多汽車原始設備製造商提供我們的 ChargePoint 家用充電器，並向他們的經銷商推薦我們以滿足他們的充電需求。我們還增加了許多車隊原始設備製造商作為合作夥伴。我們將繼續使用 iOS 和 Android 平台以及原生的 Google 汽車體驗。我們將領先的歐洲加油卡提供商 UTA 添加到我們的支付合作夥伴長名單中。我們增加了 Stem 和其他合作夥伴，使充電能夠集成到更廣泛的站點範圍的能源管理中。我們繼續發展我們的渠道合作夥伴網絡並推出我們的安裝程序移動應用程序，作為我們為這些主要參與者創建教育和支持平台的第一步。我們繼續與北美和歐洲的政府合作，制定 NEVI 等政策和計劃，以消除障礙並確保充滿活力和一致的充電市場。最後，我們宣布與沃爾沃和星巴克以及梅賽德斯-奔馳和（聽不清）Energy 建立合作夥伴關係，使偉大的品牌能夠通過 EV 充電服務於 30 分鐘的零售經濟，從而為 EV 駕駛員創造美妙的公路旅行體驗。

Turning to network, general customer and environmental statistics. We finished the quarter with over 225,000 active ports under management, including over 18,900 DC ports, with just under 1/3 of our overall ports in Europe. We also provided our drivers access to over 465,000 roaming ports with over 445,000 of those ports in Europe, significantly strengthening our EU offerings for (inaudible). We now call 80% of the 2021 Fortune 50 and 55% of the 2021 Fortune 500 as customers and over 70% of billings from existing customers consistent with historical norms and our land-and-expand strategy.

轉向網絡、一般客戶和環境統計。本季度結束時，我們管理著超過 225,000 個活躍港口，其中包括超過 18,900 個 DC 港口，佔歐洲港口總數的不到 1/3。我們還為我們的司機提供了超過 465,000 個漫遊端口的訪問權限，其中超過 445,000 個漫遊端口位於歐洲，顯著加強了我們的歐盟產品（聽不清）。我們現在將 80% 的 2021 年財富 50 強和 55% 的 2021 年財富 500 強稱為客戶，並且超過 70% 的現有客戶的賬單符合歷史規範和我們的土地擴張戰略。

As of the end of the quarter, we estimate that our network has now fueled approximately 5.6 billion electric miles avoiding approximately 224 million cumulative gallons of gasoline and over 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. While we are facing many of the same headwinds as the rest in the space, the momentum of the ecosystem in which we operate and our differentiated business model, are not only driving the near-term results we've seen, but position us to capitalize on what is clearly an inevitable long-term growth cycle.

截至本季度末，我們估計我們的網絡現在已經提供了大約 56 億電英里的燃料，避免了大約 2.24 億加侖的累計汽油消耗和超過 100 萬公噸的溫室氣體排放。雖然我們面臨著許多與該領域其他公司相同的逆風，但我們運營的生態系統的勢頭和我們差異化的商業模式不僅推動了我們所看到的近期結果，而且使我們能夠利用顯然這是不可避免的長期增長周期。

I'm proud of the ChargePoint team and our partners who made this year possible. Together, we are uniquely positioned to pursue this remarkable market opportunity, and I'm confident we are on the right trajectory heading into this year.

我為使今年成為可能的 ChargePoint 團隊和我們的合作夥伴感到自豪。我們一起處於獨特的位置，可以抓住這個非凡的市場機會，而且我相信我們在進入今年的正確軌道上。

Rex, over to you.

雷克斯，交給你了。

Thanks, Pasquale. As a reminder, please see our earnings release where we reconcile our non-GAAP results to GAAP, our principal exclusions or stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets and certain costs related to restructuring and to acquisitions. Also, we continue to report revenue along 3 lines: network charging systems, subscriptions and other. Network charging systems represents our connected hardware. Subscriptions include our cloud services, connecting that hardware, our Assure warranties and our ChargePoint-as-a-Service offerings, where we bundle our solutions into recurring subscriptions. The Other consists of energy credits, professional services and certain nonmaterial revenue items.

謝謝，帕斯誇萊。提醒一下，請參閱我們的收益發布，其中我們將我們的非 GAAP 結果與 GAAP、我們的主要排除或基於股票的薪酬、無形資產攤銷以及與重組和收購相關的某些成本進行了核對。此外，我們繼續按照 3 條路線報告收入：網絡收費系統、訂閱和其他。網絡充電系統代表我們連接的硬件。訂閱包括我們的雲服務、連接硬件、我們的 Assure 保修和我們的 ChargePoint-as-a-Service 產品，我們將我們的解決方案捆綁到定期訂閱中。其他包括能源信貸、專業服務和某些非物質收入項目。

Moving to results. Fourth quarter revenue was strong at $153 million, up 93% year-on-year and 22% sequentially, but below our previously announced guidance range of $160 million to $170 million, as Pasquale noted. So again, the shortfall was principally due to supply issues with our DC product lines as availability was better, but that's still not sufficient to hit the significant ramp from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. A lack of linearity to 4 shipments too late in the quarter, to meet our revenue cutoff criteria and softer North American commercial demand than expected also contributed. Network charging systems at $122 million was 80% of fourth quarter revenue, up 109% year-on-year and 25% sequentially.

轉向結果。正如 Pasquale 指出的那樣，第四季度收入強勁，達到 1.53 億美元，同比增長 93%，環比增長 22%，但低於我們之前宣布的 1.6 億美元至 1.7 億美元的指導範圍。同樣，短缺主要是由於我們的 DC 產品線的供應問題，因為可用性更好，但這仍然不足以實現從第三季度到第四季度的顯著增長。本季度 4 出貨量缺乏線性度太晚，無法滿足我們的收入截止標準以及北美商業需求比預期疲軟也有所貢獻。網絡充電系統收入為 1.22 億美元，佔第四季度收入的 80%，同比增長 109%，環比增長 25%。

Subscription revenue at $26 million was 17% of total revenue, in line with its third quarter percentage contribution, up 50% year-on-year and 19% sequentially. Importantly, as Pat mentioned, this quarter, we hit a significant milestone of $100 million in annual run rate for this revenue line. Further, our deferred revenue from subscriptions representing future recurring revenue from existing customer commitments and payments continued to grow nicely, finishing the quarter at $199 million, up from $175 million at the end of the third quarter. Other revenue was $5 million and 3% of total revenue, increased 37% year-on-year but was down 22% sequentially, largely due to decreased values of LCFS credits.

訂閱收入為 2600 萬美元，佔總收入的 17%，與第三季度的百分比貢獻一致，同比增長 50%，環比增長 19%。重要的是，正如帕特所提到的，本季度，我們在該收入線的年運行率上達到了 1 億美元的重要里程碑。此外，我們來自訂閱的遞延收入代表來自現有客戶承諾和付款的未來經常性收入繼續良好增長，本季度結束時為 1.99 億美元，高於第三季度末的 1.75 億美元。其他收入為 500 萬美元，佔總收入的 3%，同比增長 37%，但環比下降 22%，這主要是由於 LCFS 信貸價值下降。

Turning to verticals. We continue to report them from a billings perspective, which approximates the revenue split. Fourth quarter billings percentages were, commercial 69%, fleet 19%, residential 11% and other at less than 1%, and representing a [7-point] gain for our fleet business versus last year. From a geographic perspective, fourth quarter North America revenue was 86%, Europe was 14% as our European business continues to expand. In the fourth quarter, Europe delivered $22 million in revenue, growing 129% year-on-year and 26% sequentially.

轉向垂直領域。我們繼續從賬單的角度報告它們，這接近於收入分配。第四季度的賬單百分比為商業 69%、車隊 19%、住宅 11% 和其他不到 1%，與去年相比，我們的車隊業務增長了 [7 個百分點]。從地理角度來看，第四季度北美收入為 86%，歐洲為 14%，因為我們的歐洲業務不斷擴大。第四季度，歐洲實現收入 2200 萬美元，同比增長 129%，環比增長 26%。

Turning to gross margin. Non-GAAP gross margin for the fourth quarter was 23%, up from the third quarter at 20%. We were particularly pleased with this progress, as cost reductions, higher ASPs and incrementally lower supply chain headwinds more than offset certain product transition costs. Specifically, we saw a 4-point drag from supply chain impact during the quarter. Non-GAAP operating expenses for the fourth quarter were $81 million, a year-on-year increase of 5% and a sequential increase of 2%.

轉向毛利率。第四季度非美國通用會計準則毛利率為 23%，高於第三季度的 20%。我們對這一進展感到特別高興，因為成本降低、平均售價提高和供應鏈逆風逐漸降低，足以抵消某些產品轉型成本。具體來說，我們看到本季度供應鏈的影響拖累了 4 個百分點。第四季度非美國通用會計準則運營費用為 8100 萬美元，同比增長 5%，環比增長 2%。

We continue to manage operating expenses carefully and with several key product releases achieved earlier in 2022, new product introduction costs were lower in the fourth quarter. Stock-based compensation in the fourth quarter was $26 million. Recall that our annual refresh cycle will be in our second fiscal quarter.

我們繼續謹慎管理運營費用，並且在 2022 年早些時候實現了幾個關鍵產品的發布，第四季度的新產品引入成本較低。第四季度基於股票的薪酬為 2600 萬美元。回想一下，我們的年度更新周期將在我們的第二個財政季度進行。

Looking at cash and equivalents. We finished the quarter with $400 million, slightly higher than $398 million at the end of the third quarter as we used our ATM or at-the-market offering program to raise $50 million in December. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had approximately 348 million shares outstanding. Turning to the year. Annual revenue was $468 million, up 94% year-on-year. Network charging systems, at $364 million, was 78% of total revenue for the year and up 109% year-on-year. Subscription revenue of $85 million was 18% of total revenue and up 59% year-on-year. Other represented the balance of 4%.

查看現金和等價物。我們以 4 億美元結束了本季度，略高於第三季度末的 3.98 億美元，因為我們在 12 月使用我們的 ATM 或市場發售計劃籌集了 5000 萬美元。截至第四季度末，我們約有 3.48 億股流通股。轉向年。年收入為4.68億美元，同比增長94%。網絡充電系統為 3.64 億美元，佔全年總收入的 78%，同比增長 109%。 8500 萬美元的訂閱收入佔總收入的 18%，同比增長 59%。其他佔4%的餘額。

Quickly covering verticals for the year, billings by vertical. For the full year, with commercial 69%, fleet 17%, residential 12% and other 1% like the fourth quarter record reflecting particular strength in fleet. From a geographic perspective, full year revenue from North America was 84% and Europe was 16% as Europe outpaces our overall growth rate. In fiscal 2023, our European business delivered $73 million in revenue up 190% year-on-year.

快速涵蓋當年的垂直領域，按垂直領域計費。全年來看，商業 69%、機隊 17%、住宅 12% 和其他 1% 與第四季度的記錄一樣反映了機隊的特殊實力。從地理角度來看，北美全年收入為 84%，歐洲為 16%，因為歐洲超過了我們的整體增長率。在 2023 財年，我們的歐洲業務實現了 7300 萬美元的收入，同比增長 190%。

Turning to gross margin. Non-GAAP gross margin for the year was 20%, down from 24% in the previous year, principally due to a higher mix of DC products and to an approximately 5 percentage point supply chain and logistics impact. Non-GAAP operating expenses for the year were $324 million, a year-on-year increase of 35% and managed well below our original targets for the year. Again, we are focused on delivering improved operating leverage as non-GAAP operating expenses as a percentage of revenue went from 103% in the first quarter to 53% in the fourth quarter.

轉向毛利率。全年非美國通用會計準則毛利率為 20%，低於上一年的 24%，這主要是由於 DC 產品組合增加以及供應鍊和物流影響約 5 個百分點。全年非美國通用會計準則運營費用為 3.24 億美元，同比增長 35%，遠低於我們當年的原定目標。同樣，我們專注於提高運營槓桿，因為非 GAAP 運營費用佔收入的百分比從第一季度的 103% 上升到第四季度的 53%。

To maintain our path to profitability, we responded to fiscal 2023 gross margin shortfalls by spending $35 million less in non-GAAP operating expenses relative to our original annual guidance and essentially kept quarterly non-GAAP OpEx flat each quarter of the year. Turning to guidance. As you all know, we guided for the full year last year on revenue, gross margin and operating expenses. We did this because we were a newly public company and analyst estimates varied from our expectations too greatly across these measures. As we look at fiscal 2024, there's far less dispersion in external estimates. Accordingly, we believe annual guidance is not necessary this year.

為了保持我們的盈利之路，我們通過相對於我們最初的年度指導減少 3500 萬美元的非 GAAP 運營支出來應對 2023 財年的毛利率不足，並且基本上保持每個季度的季度非 GAAP 運營支出持平。轉向指導。眾所周知，我們去年全年的收入、毛利率和運營費用都給出了指引。我們這樣做是因為我們是一家新上市的公司，分析師的估計與我們對這些指標的預期相差太大。當我們展望 2024 財年時，外部估計的差異要小得多。因此，我們認為今年沒有必要進行年度指導。

For the first quarter of fiscal 2024, we expect revenue to be $122 million to $132 million, a year-over-year increase of 56% at the midpoint. As you may recall, we typically see a seasonal drop in revenue from the fourth quarter to the first quarter at (inaudible) reload budgets and construction slows in the winter. However, keep in mind that in addition to being seasonally down from the fourth quarter, our first quarter historically contributes a significantly lower percentage of our annual revenue than quarters 2 through 4.

對於 2024 財年第一季度，我們預計收入為 1.22 億美元至 1.32 億美元，中間值同比增長 56%。您可能還記得，我們通常會看到從第四季度到第一季度的收入季節性下降（聽不清）重新加載預算和冬季建設放緩。但是，請記住，除了從第四季度開始出現季節性下降外，我們第一季度在歷史上對年收入的貢獻比第二至第四季度要低得多。

On other measures, we expect continued sequential improvement in gross margin this year as supply chain challenges continue to ease, our cost-down efforts continue and we get the benefit of volume on newer products. Regarding operating expenses, we expect leverage to be lower in the first quarter on lower revenue, but then to improve through the balance of the year and for the year. Advances in these metrics are key to our commitments to turning cash flow positive in the fourth quarter of 2024. Reaching this milestone next year with the North American EV passenger fleet estimated by Bloomberg and you have another 5%, another 8% in Europe, should position the company well early in the industry's growth cycle.

在其他方面，我們預計今年毛利率將繼續改善，因為供應鏈挑戰繼續緩解，我們繼續努力降低成本，並且我們從新產品的銷量中獲益。關於運營費用，我們預計第一季度的槓桿率會因收入下降而降低，但隨後會在今年餘下時間和全年有所改善。這些指標的進步是我們承諾在 2024 年第四季度將現金流轉為正數的關鍵。彭博社估計，明年北美電動汽車客運車隊達到這一里程碑，你還有 5%，歐洲另外 8%，應該將公司置於行業增長周期的早期。

Operator, let's move to Q&A.

接線員，讓我們進入問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) We'll go first to Colin Rusch, Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們將首先聯繫 Oppenheimer 的 Colin Rusch。

I wanted to just dig into the seasonality piece of this because we see this in a variety of industries. And what it looks like as it's happened in the first quarter of your fiscal year as you end up (inaudible) about 18% to 20% of the annual revenue and you're guiding to something a little bit north of 50% here. I guess what can you say about the backlog and your visibility into the balance of the year? And how you're thinking about the seasonal trajectory of revenue throughout the balance of the fiscal year.

我只想深入研究其中的季節性，因為我們在各個行業都看到了這一點。它看起來像在你的財政年度第一季度發生的那樣，你最終（聽不清）年收入的大約 18% 到 20%，你正在指導這里略高於 50%。我想您對積壓的工作和您對年度餘額的可見性有何看法？以及您如何考慮整個財政年度餘額中收入的季節性軌跡。

Colin, thanks for the question. So if you look at our Q1 outlook, as I said in the prepared remarks, it's a -- we're a growth company, right? So you end up with a lower percentage in Q1 relative to the percentage just for Qs 2 through 4. So you can extrapolate, I think, successfully from there. Looking at your models and our historical performance, I think that that's something that you guys can do.

科林，謝謝你的提問。因此，如果你看看我們的第一季度展望，正如我在準備好的發言中所說的那樣——我們是一家成長型公司，對吧？因此，相對於 Qs 2 到 4 的百分比，您最終在 Q1 中得到的百分比較低。所以我認為，您可以從那裡成功推斷。看看你們的模型和我們的歷史表現，我認為這是你們可以做的事情。

From a backlog perspective, we actually did a nice job in Q4 of burning off some of the historical backlog. As we've said in prior quarters, we don't actually think that backlog is necessarily a virtue. We're not a backlog business, particularly maybe that changes as fleet continues to become a broader part of the company's business, but we're a land-and-expand business, and we want product out the door and then people's hands on it in the ground. So we're going to bring that down. And it was a nice backstop for Q4. It's a decent backstop for Q1, but we're going to work that off as we go through next year.

從積壓的角度來看，我們實際上在第四季度做得很好，消除了一些歷史積壓。正如我們在前幾個季度所說的那樣，我們實際上並不認為積壓一定是一種美德。我們不是積壓業務，尤其是隨著車隊繼續成為公司業務的更廣泛組成部分，這種情況可能會發生變化，但我們是一家土地擴張業務，我們希望產品走出大門，然後人們動手操作在地上。所以我們要降低它。這是第四季度的一個很好的支持。這是第一季度的一個不錯的支持，但我們將在明年完成時解決這個問題。

Okay. And then just in terms of the texture of the client engagement right now, can you talk a little bit about what trends you're seeing in terms of incremental customers that you're adding into that, that land part of the land-and-expand strategy and the velocity of sales in terms of whether it's accelerating or decelerating with the existing customers as you get into the first part of this year?

好的。然後就目前客戶參與的結構而言，你能談談你在增加客戶方面看到的趨勢嗎？在進入今年上半年時，根據現有客戶是加速還是減速來擴展戰略和銷售速度？

So Colin, I think the easiest way to answer that is to point you at a statistic in our prepared remarks. The rebuy rate as a percentage of our revenue in the quarter was very consistent with historical norms, which indicates that the customer add rate is holding. So there's no further color to add.

所以科林，我認為最簡單的回答方法是在我們準備好的評論中指出一個統計數據。本季度的再購買率占我們收入的百分比與歷史標準非常一致，這表明客戶添加率保持不變。所以沒有更多的顏色可以添加。

Next, we'll hear from James West, Evercore ISI.

接下來，我們將聽取 Evercore ISI 的 James West 的意見。

So Rex, a question -- so a question for you, Rex, just to clarify the revenue shortfall versus your guidance for the quarter. If you had -- if those shipments have gone out in time, would you still have been within or even above your guidance range because it's not really revenue, you're not going to get it because it comes at a different time?

所以雷克斯，一個問題 - 一個問題，雷克斯，只是為了澄清收入短缺與你對本季度的指導。如果你有 - 如果這些貨物及時發出，你是否仍然在你的指導範圍內甚至超出你的指導範圍，因為它不是真正的收入，你不會因為它是在不同的時間來的而得到它？

Yes. I mean that's a good question, right? So first thing I would say is, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves going from Q3 to Q4, the big uptick, and we accomplished most of it. But I don't actually know the number, but I think the -- at the end of the quarter, the semitrucks were sort of lined up around the block. So we fundamentally just had a back-end linearity issue of getting products either built from a DC standpoint because you ran out of gas on that from a supply chain standpoint and then on the trucks in time at the end of the quarter. So would we have made it -- the short answer is yes.

是的。我的意思是這是個好問題，對吧？所以我要說的第一件事是，從第三季度到第四季度，我們給自己施加了很大的壓力，大幅上漲，我們完成了大部分。但我實際上並不知道這個數字，但我認為 - 在本季度末，半卡車在街區周圍排成一排。因此，從根本上說，我們只是遇到了一個後端線性問題，即從 DC 的角度構建產品，因為從供應鏈的角度來看，你用完了汽油，然後在本季度末及時將其裝上卡車。那麼我們會成功嗎——簡短的回答是肯定的。

Okay. Okay. Got it. That's very helpful. And then another question maybe for Pat is, with your customer and the customer engagement right now, do you have a sense for how much of your business is new customers putting up charging stations versus existing customers adding to their charging networks.

好的。好的。知道了。這很有幫助。然後，對於 Pat 來說，另一個問題可能是，對於您的客戶和客戶的參與，您是否了解您的業務中有多少是新客戶建立充電站，而現有客戶增加了他們的充電網絡。

Yes. I mean I think that's just a different way of asking the same question that Colin asked previously. About 30% of the quarter was new customers, and there was no deal size anomaly in that. So if the revenue split percentage is very consistent with historical norms, the new customer add rate is consistent with that.

是的。我的意思是，我認為這只是提出與 Colin 之前提出的相同問題的不同方式。本季度約有 30% 是新客戶，交易規模沒有異常。因此，如果收入分成比例與歷史規範非常一致，那麼新客戶添加率也與此一致。

Our next question is Gabe Daoud, TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題是 Gabe Daoud，TD Cowen。

Maybe just starting on the margin side. You obviously showed sequential improvement on a non-GAAP basis. Could you Rex, maybe -- just give us a little bit of color on the trajectory there and maybe what some of the puts and takes are with respect to margin. Is it fair to assume maybe you continue to churn out like a 100-basis point improvement sequentially throughout the rest of the year?

也許只是從邊際開始。您顯然在非 GAAP 基礎上顯示了連續改進。你能不能雷克斯，也許 - 只是給我們一些關於那裡軌蹟的顏色，也許一些看跌期權和看跌期權與保證金有關。可以假設在今年餘下的時間裡，您可能會繼續像 100 個基點的改進一樣連續生產嗎？

Yes. So if you look at the year, we were [17, 19, 20 and 23] non-GAAP, of course, through the year, and we're hard at work in terms of driving that forward. The supply chain thing has been as high as [6 or 7] now, it's more like [4] that helps. We banked through the fact that mix shifted this year meaningfully in favor of DC, which is one good from a resilience standpoint, but it's not the highest margin product that we do. So we managed to bank through that and those margins have come up nicely our upstream, delivering meaningful cost downs and then the price increases that we did last year.

是的。因此，如果你看一下這一年，我們當然是 [17、19、20 和 23] 非 GAAP，在這一年中，我們正在努力推動這一進程。供應鏈的事情現在已經高達 [6 或 7]，它更像是 [4] 有幫助。我們通過今年的組合有意義地轉向有利於 DC 的事實，從彈性的角度來看，這是一個很好的，但它不是我們所做的利潤率最高的產品。因此，我們設法度過難關，這些利潤率很好地提高了我們的上游，帶來了有意義的成本下降，然後是我們去年所做的價格上漲。

So mix makes it hard for all these other factors are contributing to being able to add to the number. As you look to next year, if you remember in my prepared remarks, I gave [IG] we have lower revenue in Q1. Therefore, the operating expense leverage is going to go the wrong way for Q1, but they next go back the right way in Qs 2, 3 and 4. But I did say sequential improvement in gross margins throughout the year, next year. So I wouldn't put a number on it, like, is it 1 or is it 2, don't know or can't guide, but I do think there's going to be a steady progression next year.

因此，混合使得所有這些其他因素都難以增加數量。展望明年，如果你記得我在準備好的評論中，我給 [IG] 我們在第一季度的收入較低。因此，第一季度的運營費用槓桿將走錯路，但接下來它們會在第二、第三和第四季度回到正確的方向。但我確實說過明年全年毛利率的連續改善。所以我不會在上面加上一個數字，比如，是 1 還是 2，不知道或無法指導，但我確實認為明年會有穩定的進展。

Okay. Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe, Pasquale, just going to your comment around seeing a little bit less demand in December. I mean is that, that's seasonality? Obviously, then setting up a seasonally weak 1Q? Or are you concerned at all with like a lot of your -- maybe tech giant customers in California kind of tightening the strings a bit on spending. Is that creeping into demand issues as well? Could you maybe help us think about that?

好的。好的。這很有幫助。然後，Pasquale，也許只是關於您看到 12 月份的需求有所減少的評論。我的意思是，那是季節性的？顯然，然後設置一個季節性疲軟的 1Q？或者你是否擔心你的很多 - 也許是加利福尼亞的科技巨頭客戶有點收緊開支。這是否也蔓延到需求問題中？你能幫我們考慮一下嗎？

Yes. So I think the easiest way to put -- get some overarching color on that is the revenue diversity has increased meaningfully over time in the company. I made some comments in my prepared remarks about the increased percentage on fleet and Europe overall as a percentage of revenue. And I'll remind you that it had to outpace what was already a blistering year-over-year growth rate for the company. So it's just fundamentally very hard for subsegments like that to overcome a growth rate in the core business, which is very mature in North America, and we managed to do that.

是的。所以我認為最簡單的方式 - 獲得一些總體色彩是公司的收入多樣性隨著時間的推移顯著增加。我在準備好的評論中就機隊和歐洲整體收入百分比的增加發表了一些評論。而且我會提醒你，它必須超過公司已經非常驚人的同比增長率。因此，從根本上說，像這樣的細分市場很難克服核心業務的增長率，而核心業務在北美非常成熟，而我們做到了。

And so what that's leading to is, we do see some softness in effectively businesses that have more of a discretionary stance with respect to when they -- the timing around when they put in charging, and I want to emphasize this, eventually, the attach rates prevail. And so in a set of verticals more so in North America than in Europe, you are seeing some delays or delays of ordering, but we don't see it as a fundamental shift at all. We see it as effectively aligned with the macro -- and with the increased resilience in the business with respect to just the spread, there's no hotspots. If you look at the residential business, commercial, fleet, when you look at the geographies, you've seen us make meaningful progress in all those fronts. So while there's definitely an economic overhang in a couple of verticals, I'm really very pleased that the business doesn't have any significant over rates because if that were the case, I would comment otherwise.

因此，這導致的是，我們確實看到一些有效的企業出現了一些疲軟，這些企業在他們何時 - 何時收費方面有更多的自由裁量權立場，我想強調這一點，最終，附件利率為準。因此，在北美比歐洲更是如此的一系列垂直領域中，您會看到一些訂單延遲或延遲，但我們根本不認為這是根本性的轉變。我們認為它與宏觀經濟有效地保持一致——而且隨著業務在價差方面的彈性增強，沒有熱點。如果你看看住宅業務、商業、車隊，當你看看地理區域時，你就會看到我們在所有這些方面都取得了有意義的進展。因此，雖然在幾個垂直領域肯定存在經濟過剩，但我真的很高興該業務沒有任何顯著的超額利率，因為如果是這樣的話，我會發表其他評論。

Our next question comes from Bill Peterson, JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的比爾彼得森。

And I apologize for the background noise. I wanted to ask what your thoughts were around cash flow for operating network. I would think that it wouldn't have a lot of impact on -- you talked about the verticals you just said that home, fleet, work, areas like Level 2 or front of a store or a restaurant. I wouldn't think there would be really any impact, but maybe large retail locations and maybe some DC fast. Just trying to understand the threat of Tesla or maybe other car companies that have their own networks, of course, you work with the same subset yourselves. But in terms of the competitive environment, how does that -- how could that play out?

我為背景噪音道歉。我想問一下您對運營網絡的現金流有何看法。我認為這不會產生太大影響——你談到了你剛才所說的垂直領域，即家庭、車隊、工作、2 級或商店或餐廳前面的區域。我認為不會有任何影響，但可能會有大型零售點和一些 DC 快速。只是想了解特斯拉或其他擁有自己網絡的汽車公司的威脅，當然，你自己也使用相同的子集。但就競爭環境而言，這如何——如何發揮作用？

Yes. So, no, I get the question often. And in fact, I think I got it on several previous earnings calls. So the overarching response to that is -- the fast charge market in the passenger car sector serves very narrow use case. It's for when you're driving beyond your battery range. So it is not the significant driver for our revenue.

是的。所以，不，我經常收到這個問題。事實上，我想我是在之前的幾次財報電話會議上了解到的。因此，對此的總體反應是——乘用車領域的快速充電市場服務於非常狹窄的用例。適用於超出電池續航里程的情況。所以它不是我們收入的重要驅動力。

Now let's not be making any excuses or saying that you're right on Tesla opening up their network either. We're also seeing now a tremendous sudden attention from what we refer to as players in the 30-minute retail economy that traditionally serve people on road trips, they now want to embrace because the broader EV market has shown up. It's not 1 OEM now. It's a multiplicity of OEMs. They're all moving in the right direction with electrifying their offerings, in fact, completely disinvesting in their ICE cars, that's given the players in the 30-minute retail economy, a lot of confidence that they can start to move the ball down the field with respect to investments at their own properties. So we see this as a massive opportunity with respect to placing fast chargers along with partners. And if you see how Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, 2 announcements we made this year, have worked into a 30-minute retail economy sort of aligned network announcement, we think that's going to continue.

現在讓我們不要找任何藉口或說你對特斯拉開放他們的網絡也是正確的。我們現在還看到，我們稱之為 30 分鐘零售經濟的參與者突然引起了極大的關注，這些參與者傳統上為公路旅行的人們提供服務，他們現在想要擁抱，因為更廣泛的電動汽車市場已經出現。現在不是 1 個 OEM。這是許多原始設備製造商。他們都在朝著正確的方向前進，使他們的產品電氣化，事實上，完全撤回了對他們的 ICE 汽車的投資，這給了 30 分鐘零售經濟中的參與者很大的信心，他們可以開始將球向下移動關於投資自己財產的領域。因此，我們認為這是與合作夥伴一起放置快速充電器的巨大機會。如果您看到梅賽德斯-奔馳和沃爾沃，我們今年發布的 2 項公告，如何在 30 分鐘的零售經濟類網絡公告中發揮作用，我們認為這將繼續下去。

Yes. You likened the fleet opportunity to a coiled spring and lack of vehicles. And we've talked about this, but are you seeing any signs that this should accelerate through the year? I guess, I know it's already a meaningful part of your business, but how should we think about your fleet opportunity as this spring uncoils.

是的。您將車隊機會比作螺旋彈簧和車輛短缺。我們已經討論過這個問題，但您是否看到任何跡象表明這會在今年加速？我想，我知道這已經是您業務的重要組成部分，但隨著今年春天的到來，我們應該如何考慮您的機隊機會。

So how you should think about fleet is that it's more land than expand right now. I mean, honestly, it doesn't have the expansion rate within customers that we've won that the more granular commercial business has, because passenger cars are increasing in diversity and availability from a lot of OEMs, while on the fleet side, we are severely vehicle limited maybe with the exception of transit buses, but transit buses represent a very small on a vehicle count basis, percentage of fleets globally. So hence the coiled spring analogy, if you're landing more than you're expanding, but the expanding has to follow, we're in good position when our customer base decides to actually get -- well, when they can actually get vehicles and can expand.

所以你應該如何看待艦隊是它現在比擴張更多的土地。我的意思是，老實說，它沒有我們贏得的更精細的商業業務所擁有的客戶擴展率，因為許多原始設備製造商的乘用車的多樣性和可用性正在增加，而在車隊方面，我們車輛嚴重受限，也許公交車除外，但公交車在車輛數量和全球車隊中所佔的比例非常小。因此，螺旋彈簧類比，如果你著陸的比你擴張的多，但擴張必須隨之而來，當我們的客戶群決定實際購買時，我們處於有利位置 - 好吧，當他們可以實際購買車輛時並且可以擴展。

And if you look at the announcement we just made with USPS, for example, you're starting to see the clouds break, so to speak, with respect to a very large fleet that's positioned across the United States, start to get commitments from vehicle manufacturers that they're going to see those vehicles come in earnest. So as that -- as things like that start to happen, I think you're going to see a much more balanced expand versus land mix, and it should result in an acceleration of revenue even within our customer base.

例如，如果你看一下我們剛剛與 USPS 發布的公告，你會開始看到烏雲破滅，可以說，對於遍布美國的非常龐大的車隊，開始獲得車輛的承諾製造商表示，他們將認真地看到這些車輛。因此——隨著這樣的事情開始發生，我認為你會看到一個更加平衡的擴展與土地組合，它應該會導致甚至在我們的客戶群中加速收入。

Next we'll hear from Kashy Harrison, Piper Sandler.

接下來我們將聽取 Kashy Harrison、Piper Sandler 的講話。

So just the first one for me. So the liquidity position improved a few million to $400 million in cash and short-term investments, $400 million. You mentioned the $50 million ATM offering. Could you speak to the driver behind the utilization of the ATM in December, just given that you already had a pretty strong liquidity position before that? And then maybe just talk about how we should be thinking about like strategically the strategy behind the ATM in the future?

所以對我來說只是第一個。因此，流動性狀況改善了數百萬至 4 億美元的現金和 4 億美元的短期投資。你提到了 5000 萬美元的 ATM 產品。考慮到您在此之前已經擁有相當強勁的流動性頭寸，您能否談談 12 月份 ATM 使用背後的驅動因素？然後也許只是談談我們應該如何從戰略上考慮未來 ATM 背後的戰略？

Sure. So as I mentioned, yes, we definitely tapped the ATM in December for $50 million. One of the things that is paramount for this company is we have a strong balance sheet, and we want to keep it that way. And when you map that to what is then, and we hope continues to be a very strong growth rate. We need to be able to support the business. The thing that I would focus you on as we've talked about our path to profitability, the burn that you see, call it, adjusted EBITDA, call it, whatever you want to call it, that's going to decline meaningfully over time over the next year or 2 because getting to 0 across (inaudible) something that's super important.

當然。所以正如我提到的，是的，我們確實在 12 月以 5000 萬美元的價格使用了自動取款機。對這家公司來說最重要的事情之一是我們擁有強大的資產負債表，我們希望保持這種狀態。當你將其映射到當時的情況時，我們希望繼續保持非常強勁的增長率。我們需要能夠支持業務。當我們談論我們的盈利之路時，我會讓你關注的事情，你看到的燒傷，稱之為調整後的 EBITDA，無論你想怎麼稱呼它，它都會隨著時間的推移顯著下降明年或 2 年，因為在（聽不清）一些非常重要的事情上達到 0。

So I think that the need to address that will decline over time as those metrics get better -- but the bottom line is we just need to maintain a strong balance sheet and relatively -- I think we have the best in the industry, and we need to stay there. And then bottom line from a -- would we use it again, it's opportunistic. It's based on price and circumstances and timing and everything else. So we're just going to keep an eye on it.

因此，我認為隨著這些指標的改善，解決這個問題的需求會隨著時間的推移而減少——但底線是我們只需要保持強勁的資產負債表，相對而言——我認為我們擁有業內最好的，而且我們需要留在那裡。然後是 - 我們會再次使用它的底線，它是機會主義的。它基於價格、環境、時間和其他一切。所以我們將繼續關注它。

Okay. Fair enough. And then just my follow-up question. As you pointed out, I think both of you pointed out in the prepared remarks, you effectively held the non-GAAP OpEx flat all year, roughly $80 million and the -- as a percentage of sales, down to 50% from 100% earlier in the year. Can you talk about your operating expense strategy for 2020 -- calendar '23 as well? Should we expect flattish OpEx again? Or should we expect a little bit of an uplift as the business is growing and there's also wage inflation. So just some thoughts on OpEx would be great.

好的。很公平。然後是我的後續問題。正如你們所指出的，我想你們倆在準備好的發言中都指出，你們全年有效地保持了非 GAAP 運營支出持平，約為 8000 萬美元，佔銷售額的百分比從之前的 100% 降至 50%在這一年。你能談談你 2020 年的運營費用策略——也包括 23 年的日曆嗎？我們是否應該再次期待持平的 OpEx？或者，隨著業務的增長和工資上漲，我們是否應該期待一點點的提升。所以只是對 OpEx 的一些想法會很棒。

Yes. You sort of answered your own question. So yes, there will be a uptick in Q1. The combination of an uptick in Q1 relative to Q4. But the fact is that we're seasonally lower on revenue, it's going to make our operating expense leverage, then we got into in the wrong way for the first time in 3 or 4 quarters. But the drivers are exactly what you just said. It's -- we've got -- our annual rate cycle is now and then we'll have the full impact in Q1 of new hires in Q4. So those are the main components that will drive it up a bit. But then what you'll see is there's sort of this uptick in Q1 and it doesn't keep doing that Q2, Q3, Q4 is it's a very -- our view currently is a very, very modest series of increases throughout the year. So they can uptick in Q1 and slowly higher for the rest of the year.

是的。你有點回答了你自己的問題。所以是的，第一季度會有所上升。第一季度相對於第四季度有所上升的組合。但事實是，我們的收入季節性下降，這將使我們的運營費用產生槓桿作用，然後我們在 3 或 4 個季度中首次以錯誤的方式進入。但是驅動程序正是您剛才所說的。這是 - 我們已經 - 我們的年度費率週期是現在，然後我們將在第 4 季度對新員工的第 1 季度產生全面影響。所以這些是將它推高一點的主要組成部分。但隨後你會看到，第一季度出現了這種上升趨勢，而第二季度、第三季度、第四季度並沒有繼續這樣做——我們目前認為，全年的增長非常、非常適度。因此，它們可以在第一季度上升，並在今年餘下時間緩慢上升。

We will now hear from David Kelley, Jefferies.

我們現在將聽到 Jefferies 的 David Kelley 的講話。

I was hoping maybe to start -- if you could update us on momentum in Europe. You delivered really meaningful growth in fiscal 2023 and the markets coming off of a really robust EV penetration ramp last year. So how are you thinking about the regional opportunity across the pond in 2024?

我希望也許可以開始——如果你能向我們介紹歐洲的發展勢頭。您在 2023 財年實現了真正有意義的增長，去年市場從真正強勁的電動汽車普及率上升中脫穎而出。那麼，您如何看待 2024 年整個池塘的區域機遇？

We think about it the same way we think about the opportunity in North America, frankly, and it's driven by, as you said, the differential is driven a little bit by a differential in car penetration from a new car sales perspective. But our strategy is virtually identical in Europe, as it is in North America with respect to product we're offering, business model, et cetera. And I'll just remind you that we've said on many earnings calls that at the root of our forecasting and modeling, it's all factored off of new car projections, net new vehicles in the installed base in the markets we serve.

坦率地說，我們以與考慮北美機會相同的方式來考慮它，正如您所說，從新車銷售的角度來看，差異是由汽車普及率的差異驅動的。但我們在歐洲的戰略與在北美的戰略在我們提供的產品、商業模式等方面幾乎完全相同。我只想提醒你，我們在許多財報電話會議上都說過，在我們預測和建模的基礎上，這都是新車預測的因素，我們服務的市場中已安裝的淨新車。

You had a kind of sub question in there about the subregions. We are serving predominant markets in Europe. We're not in every country, but the ones we're not in are small. And so we are, we're just assuming that across the entire continent of Europe, we should be able to continue to be successful with the product line that we've been successful with on the previous year. There's no real difference.

你有一個關於次區域的子問題。我們服務於歐洲的主要市場。我們不在每個國家，但我們不在的國家很小。所以我們是，我們只是假設在整個歐洲大陸，我們應該能夠繼續成功地使用我們在前一年取得成功的產品線。沒有真正的區別。

Okay. Got it. That's helpful. And then one quick follow-up on the supply chain situation. I guess are you seeing improvement Q1 to date relative to the fourth quarter? And how should we think about that, that 4-point margin headwind, I think you referenced, does that continue to lessen here into 2024?

好的。知道了。這很有幫助。然後是對供應鏈情況的快速跟進。我猜你是否看到 Q1 相對於第四季度有所改善？我們應該如何考慮，我認為你提到的 4 個百分點的逆風，到 2024 年是否會繼續減弱？

Well, no one -- I mean, as we've said many times, no one has a perfect crystal ball on that one. So taking -- maintaining a vigilant stance with respect to supply chain is what we're doing. What we have said before and what I can repeat now based on our experience in Q4 is that the supply chain hotspots have narrowed considerably from the peak of the crisis. So we have all our management bandwidth looking at a much smaller set of problems. The problems you couldn't, you may have, you may still have issues with availability of supply of a fewer number of components that still limits your build, but it's certainly a lot easier to put in mitigation strategies around right now. And we hope that over the year, supply comes into alignment with demand. And it's too hard to call exactly what quarter we can say that all of it's gone.

好吧，沒有人——我的意思是，正如我們多次說過的，沒有人擁有完美的水晶球。因此，我們正在做的就是對供應鏈保持警惕。根據我們在第四季度的經驗，我們之前說過，現在我可以重複的是，供應鏈熱點已從危機高峰期大大縮小。因此，我們所有的管理帶寬都在關註一組更小的問題。你不能解決的問題，你可能遇到的問題，你可能仍然有供應較少數量組件的問題，這仍然限制了你的構建，但現在實施緩解策略肯定容易得多。我們希望在這一年裡，供應與需求保持一致。而且很難準確地說出哪個季度我們可以說所有這些都消失了。

Stephen Gengaro from Stifel is up next.

接下來是來自 Stifel 的 Stephen Gengaro。

Two for me. The first, Rex, you mentioned how full -- how consensus numbers for the year seem relatively tight, but you're not giving full year guidance. But it sort of suggests to me that you think the consensus is reasonable by making that comment. Am I thinking about that correctly?

兩個給我。首先，雷克斯，你提到了今年的共識數字看起來相對緊張，但你沒有給出全年的指導。但這對我來說有點暗示你認為通過發表評論達成共識是合理的。我的想法是否正確？

I'm only chuckling just because I did not say consensus. What I said was, and this is an important distinction, analysts develop their models and then they make judgments based on why I believe this. I think this is going to be better. This is going to be worse and they come to a conclusion, and we used the word dispersion.

我只是咯咯地笑，因為我沒有說共識。我說的是，這是一個重要的區別，分析師開發他們的模型，然後他們根據我相信這一點的原因做出判斷。我認為這會更好。這會變得更糟，他們得出結論，我們使用了分散這個詞。

Last year through no fault of their own because we're a newly public company, and who could have modeled us from the outside last year, I wouldn't expect you guys to be able to do that. So the numbers were all over the place. So I felt like we needed to help get it centered. But I think the dialogue we've had with analysts over the last year and people's understanding of the business and their ability to form their own conclusions about what the outlook should be has vastly improved versus last year. And so I just think -- I just -- I think having you be 100% the author of where you are is the right answer.

去年不是他們自己的錯，因為我們是一家新上市的公司，去年誰可以從外部模仿我們，我不希望你們能夠做到這一點。所以數字無處不在。所以我覺得我們需要幫助讓它居中。但我認為，與去年相比，我們在過去一年與分析師進行的對話以及人們對業務的理解以及他們對前景應該如何形成自己的結論的能力有了很大的改善。所以我只是想 - 我只是 - 我認為讓你 100% 成為你所處位置的作者是正確的答案。

Okay. No, that's it. The other question I was curious if you could add some color to is any thoughts on the NEVI program and your strategy and how you benefit from that over the next couple of years and how you're positioned there?

好的。不，就是這樣。另一個我很好奇的問題是你是否可以添加一些顏色是關於 NEVI 計劃和你的戰略的任何想法以及你在未來幾年如何從中受益以及你在那裡的定位如何？

So as we look at the NEVI program, not unlike how we approached many other programs that are similar in color. It's a very corridor-oriented program. It's implemented by each state. So each state has its own take on the federal guidelines and we're quite used to that. Our policy team has been instrumental in commenting and helping to shape the program. So it offers what we think is a good platform for a broad range of our customers to be able to take advantage of it, and that's the key there, is the broad range of our customers.

因此，當我們查看 NEVI 程序時，與我們處理許多其他顏色相似的程序的方式並無不同。這是一個非常面向走廊的程序。它由每個州實施。所以每個州對聯邦指導方針都有自己的看法，我們已經習慣了。我們的政策團隊在評論和幫助制定該計劃方面發揮了重要作用。因此，它提供了我們認為是一個很好的平台，讓我們的廣大客戶能夠利用它，而這就是我們廣泛的客戶的關鍵。

So how do we approach it? Because we don't own and operate stations ourselves and how we have approached similar programs in the past. So this is not a departure in approach at all. As we look into our current customer base and our potential future customer base, we do deep analysis, we have this capability internally, deep analysis on the state's requirements of where exactly they want chargers. We look at the correlation between available utility capacity, availability of partners that we have that are in good location, spacing, et cetera, construction ease or lack thereof of construction. And we put together a set of partners and jointly bid into the programs.

那麼我們如何處理呢？因為我們自己不擁有和經營電台，也不知道我們過去是如何處理類似項目的。所以這根本不是方法上的偏離。當我們調查我們當前的客戶群和我們潛在的未來客戶群時，我們會進行深入分析，我們在內部擁有這種能力，深入分析國家對他們想要充電器的確切要求。我們著眼於可用的公用設施容量、位置優越的合作夥伴的可用性、間距等、施工難易程度或施工難易程度之間的相關性。我們召集了一組合作夥伴並共同競標這些項目。

And in many cases, there are multiple bidders that are based on our technology. We've already seen that in Ohio in -- because of that -- those bids we already do, and we expect to see that on a go-forward basis. And that's not unlike how we've accessed previous programs that, again, have had similar structure in the past. So we're sort of kind of the bones behind the organization of the collection of players, sites, technologies, et cetera, that can go into a bid. So that's how we approach it. We think the formula works for us.

在許多情況下，有多個投標人基於我們的技術。我們已經在俄亥俄州看到了這一點——正因為如此——我們已經進行了那些投標，我們希望在前進的基礎上看到這一點。這與我們訪問以前的程序的方式沒有什麼不同，這些程序在過去也具有類似的結構。因此，我們有點像可以參與競標的玩家、網站、技術等集合組織背後的骨幹。這就是我們處理它的方式。我們認為這個公式對我們有用。

We think most importantly, formula works for drivers. What we've advised states on and the federal government is that these things need to be in good locations. There has to be good alignment, not 100% across the board because you could have some rural locations where this statement isn't appropriate, but it needs to be well aligned with quick-serve brands, both food services and retail, et cetera. So we create a vibrant and enjoyable experience for EV drivers because that enables more and more EV adoption to accelerate, which enables the balance of our business. So we care about it deeply.

我們認為最重要的是，公式適用於駕駛員。我們向各州和聯邦政府提出的建議是，這些東西需要放在合適的位置。必須有很好的一致性，而不是 100% 全面一致，因為你可能有一些農村地區不適合這種說法，但它需要與快餐品牌保持一致，包括食品服務和零售等。因此，我們為電動汽車司機創造了充滿活力和愉快的體驗，因為這使得越來越多的電動汽車採用加速，從而實現了我們業務的平衡。所以我們非常關心它。

We'll take our next question from Matt Summerville, D.A. Davidson.

我們將從 D.A. 的 Matt Summerville 那裡回答下一個問題。戴維森。

Just a kind of a follow-up on the Q4 to Q1 kind of seasonality and realizing we don't have a huge amount of historical data to kind of work with here. But Q4 to Q1 last year was actually higher. I know a little bit of that would have been acquisitive related to prior year, down slightly, maybe inquisitive nuance there, too, maybe helping. But moving from the $153 million or whatever it was in Q4 down to $127 million at the midpoint, I guess I'm just having a hard time really understanding why there's roughly a $25 million sequential reduction there? Maybe a little more help.

只是對第 4 季度到第 1 季度季節性的一種跟進，並意識到我們沒有大量的歷史數據可以在這裡使用。但去年Q4到Q1實際上更高。我知道其中有一點與前一年的收購有關，略有下降，可能也有好奇的細微差別，也許有幫助。但是從第 4 季度的 1.53 億美元或任何東西下降到中點的 1.27 億美元，我想我只是很難真正理解為什麼那裡連續減少大約 2500 萬美元？也許多一點幫助。

That's a fair question. The thing I would represent to you is if you go back in history as a company in like private lands. We've been very consistent. Two things have been consistent. One, Q1 was less than Q4. Last year was unusual, it was the first time, I think for 5 years for something like that's happened. So it's -- Q1 is always lighter. It varies in terms of percentage. I don't think this year's dip from Q4 to Q1 is extraordinary or surprising. It's just kind of what we're used to. And we know the reasons for which we explained.

這是一個公平的問題。我要向你表示的是，如果你回到歷史上作為一家私人土地上的公司。我們一直非常一致。有兩件事是一致的。一，Q1小於Q4。去年是不尋常的，這是第一次，我認為 5 年來發生了這樣的事情。所以它 - Q1 總是更輕。它在百分比方面有所不同。我認為今年從第四季度到第一季度的下滑並不特別或令人驚訝。這只是我們習慣的一種方式。我們知道我們解釋的原因。

And then, as you know, we think of ourselves as a growth company. So when you take Q1 and you look at that and go, okay, that's a baseline for the year and how does it grow from there. There's pretty decent information in our history that would allow you to extrapolate. So I guess, the net of it is, I'm not concerned by Q1.

然後，如您所知，我們將自己視為一家成長型公司。因此，當您採用第一季度並查看它時，好吧，這是今年的基線，它是如何從那裡增長的。我們的歷史中有相當不錯的信息可以讓您進行推斷。所以我想，總的來說，我不關心 Q1。

When you kind of think about the portfolio position of the balance sheet, how should we be thinking about M&A over the course of your fiscal '24 and maybe what sort of technological or otherwise innovation, intellectual property you may be looking to add to the portfolio. Do you have things that are actionable in your pipeline? How should we be thinking about M&A over the next 12 months or so?

當您考慮資產負債表的投資組合位置時，我們應該如何考慮在您的 24 財年過程中進行的併購，以及您可能希望將哪種技術或其他創新、知識產權添加到投資組合中.你的管道中有可操作的東西嗎？在接下來的 12 個月左右，我們應該如何考慮併購？

M&A, are you to referring mergers and acquisitions.

M&A，你指的是併購嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Yes, I'm sorry, it was hard discern that. We heard -- we have a partner called MNA. So I heard it that way. Please go ahead, Pat.

是的，對不起，很難辨別。我們聽說 - 我們有一個名為 MNA 的合作夥伴。所以我是這樣聽說的。請繼續，帕特。

Yes. The way we think about acquisitions is we have a very full technology portfolio and lots of very good stuff in the pipeline. What I've commented on before is that we -- due to the fact that our portfolio is well built out with the exception of a few things that have not emerged yet that are deep in R&D, we have the ability now to rebalance where we put the R&D resources to look at the scale technologies necessary to deal with streamlining customer onboarding, ongoing customer interaction and the like.

是的。我們考慮收購的方式是我們擁有非常完整的技術組合，並且有很多非常好的東西正在籌備中。我之前評論過的是，由於我們的產品組合已經很好地構建，除了一些尚未出現的深入研發的東西，我們現在有能力重新平衡我們的地方將研發資源用於研究處理簡化客戶入職、持續客戶互動等所需的規模技術。

And remember, we have a very, very, very deep channel business. So we have to do -- we have to have core product services technologies that enable that all the way through the channel. I made some references to that in my remarks. So as a result, we don't see a deep need from an M&A perspective at all on a technology basis.

請記住，我們有非常、非常、非常深入的渠道業務。所以我們必須做 - 我們必須擁有核心產品服務技術，通過渠道實現這一點。我在發言中提到了這一點。因此，從併購的角度來看，我們根本看不到技術基礎上的深層需求。

The way we look at M&A opportunity is customer acquisition capabilities. So if there's a good customer base with low liabilities on the installed base and it's a practical integration, we would certainly consider it. But that's really the lens that we're looking at it from and it's not a technology lens.

我們看待併購機會的方式是客戶獲取能力。因此，如果有良好的客戶群且已安裝基礎的負債較低，並且這是一個實用的集成，我們肯定會考慮它。但這確實是我們從中觀察它的鏡頭，而不是技術鏡頭。

Next up from Credit Suisse is Maheep Mandloi.

瑞士信貸的下一個是 Maheep Mandloi。

I am sorry if I missed this earlier but could you -- maybe just give us on gross margins. I'm sorry if I missed this earlier. Can you just talk about how should we think about the gross margins in Q1 and through the year, specifically as you have this higher mix of DC, should we expect this continuously in your trend here?

如果我早些時候錯過了這個，我很抱歉，但你能不能 - 也許只是給我們毛利率。如果我早些時候錯過了這個，我很抱歉。你能談談我們應該如何考慮第一季度和全年的毛利率，特別是因為你有這種更高的 DC 組合，我們是否應該期待你的趨勢持續這種情況？

Yes. So I think -- so first thing is, as I said earlier, DC mix historically last year was a challenge, but actually, we are improving things markedly on the DC front. So it's going to be less of a problem. And that's everything from cost reductions, volume because we got the -- our major new Express Plus platform is brand new and has very small volumes. But there's a combination of things that are going to make that better. We also think that the supply chain side of the picture is going to continue to ease. So I haven't put a number on it, but I have said I think it's just going to progress steadily throughout the year. I would be severely disappointed if it was flat or down in any given quarter.

是的。所以我認為 - 首先，正如我之前所說，去年的 DC 混合在歷史上是一個挑戰，但實際上，我們正在 DC 方面顯著改進。所以這將不是一個問題。這就是從成本降低到體積的一切，因為我們得到了——我們主要的新 Express Plus 平台是全新的，而且體積很小。但是有一些事情的結合會讓事情變得更好。我們還認為，供應鏈方面的情況將繼續緩解。所以我沒有給出數字，但我說過我認為它會在全年穩步發展。如果它在任何給定季度持平或下降，我會感到非常失望。

So -- but I think our outlook is quite positive that we can continue to drive the margin sequentially up this year given a lot of the operational initiatives that we have in the company.

所以 - 但我認為我們的前景非常樂觀，鑑於我們在公司擁有的許多運營舉措，我們今年可以繼續推動利潤率連續上升。

Got you. And just one on the balance sheet. On Kashy's question, you talked about maintaining balance sheet at a healthy level as the prime driver here for the ATM, just curious if you could characterize the -- like how should we think about that? Is it like a minimum cash balance or some other metric to think about that?

明白了資產負債表上只有一個。關於 Kashy 的問題，你談到將資產負債表維持在健康水平作為 ATM 的主要驅動力，只是好奇你是否可以描述 - 比如我們應該如何考慮？是不是像最低現金餘額或其他一些衡量標準？

Honestly, I haven't fixed the number. I don't mind the $400 million number, but I haven't fixed a number in stone on that. As we grow the business, we may look at other financing opportunities. And then the nice thing is -- we expect our quarterly loss position to continue to decline nicely between now and cash flow positive next year. So there's a balance there. But if we continue to grow the company and it gets meaningfully bigger than it is today, you're going to want to have a decent balance sheet. And I kind of think that's where we are now. So how we maintain that and what we do to maintain that, that's a different question, but we're in a pretty good spot right now.

老實說，我還沒有確定號碼。我不介意 4 億美元這個數字，但我還沒有確定這個數字。隨著業務的發展，我們可能會考慮其他融資機會。然後好事是——我們預計從現在到明年現金流為正，我們的季度虧損頭寸將繼續下降。所以那裡有一個平衡。但是，如果我們繼續發展公司並且它變得比現在有意義地大，那麼您將希望擁有一個體面的資產負債表。我覺得這就是我們現在所處的位置。所以我們如何維護它以及我們如何維護它，這是一個不同的問題，但我們現在處於一個非常好的位置。

We will take the next question from Oliver Huang, TPH.

我們將接受來自 TPH 的 Oliver Huang 的下一個問題。

Just had one sort of a multipronged question, but I just wanted to try and get an update with more details around progression of your build cycle over the past quarter? Is it something that still remains fairly back end of the quarter weighted or it's a thing that started to really smooth itself out given how there is a backlog to kind of get through? And when thinking about the ability to manufacture these chargers at the factory, how close have you all progressed towards full utilization relative to what unconstrained capacity sits at today?

只是有一個多管齊下的問題，但我只是想嘗試獲取有關過去一個季度構建週期進展的更多詳細信息的更新？它是在本季度末仍然保持相當的權重，還是考慮到積壓的工作如何解決，它開始真正平滑自己？當考慮在工廠製造這些充電器的能力時，相對於今天的無限制產能，你們在充分利用方面取得了多大進展？

So I'll take the second part of that question first. We use external contract manufacturers as partners from a build perspective. So utilization of capacity is not a factor here. We use CMs that have substantially broad capacity capabilities. So access to capacity as an upside is not an issue because we'll see that need coming with adequate lead times. And the excess capacity is not a factor in our financials from a factory perspective. With respect to build linearity, we have much better build linearity now and our build linearity previously was largely driven not by factory issues, so to speak. It was driven mostly by supply chain and getting adequate parts, adequate fully populated kits to assembly lines in a smooth manner.

所以我先回答這個問題的第二部分。從構建的角度來看，我們使用外部合同製造商作為合作夥伴。因此，產能利用率不是這裡的一個因素。我們使用具有廣泛容量的 CM。因此，獲得產能作為一個優勢不是問題，因為我們會看到這種需求有足夠的交貨時間。從工廠的角度來看，產能過剩並不是我們財務狀況的一個因素。關於構建線性度，我們現在的構建線性度要好得多，可以這麼說，我們以前的構建線性度主要不是由工廠問題驅動的。它主要由供應鏈驅動，並以平穩的方式獲得足夠的零件、足夠的完全組裝的套件到裝配線。

And because the supply chain crisis has certainly smoothened out, but I think equally importantly, our investments in supply chain management, not only in our own staff, but in process improvements with our CMs, that's dramatically improved the linearity of build. So that's much less of a factor now. With a few hotspots, and the last comment I'll make is, while Rex commented on continued limitations, the limitation ceiling keeps rising. It's just that the growth rate has continued to rise. So we maintain some limitations because we have to mitigate limitations on a few components that limit us, but we also have to exceed our growth rate. And that's -- I'll remind you, when you're doubling effectively, which is what we did year-over-year. And we had a very consistent growth rate quarter-over-quarter, if you look at a given quarter to the year prior. That's a huge issue. You have to overcome a growth rate and do better on top of that, which we think we're putting in all the mechanisms necessary to do it going into this year.

而且由於供應鏈危機肯定已經平息，但我認為同樣重要的是，我們在供應鏈管理方面的投資，不僅是對我們自己的員工，而且是對我們 CM 的流程改進，這極大地提高了構建的線性度。所以現在這不是一個因素。有幾個熱點，我最後要說的是，雖然 Rex 評論了持續的限制，但限制上限一直在上升。只是增速持續上升。所以我們保持一些限制，因為我們必須減輕限制我們的一些組件的限制，但我們也必須超過我們的增長率。那就是——我會提醒你，當你有效地翻倍時，這就是我們每年所做的。如果你看一下去年的某個季度，我們的季度增長率非常穩定。這是個大問題。你必須克服增長率並在此基礎上做得更好，我們認為我們將在今年投入所有必要的機制來做到這一點。

We'll go next to Steven Fox, Fox Advisors.

接下來我們將請 Fox Advisors 的 Steven Fox 發言。

I just had one question. After listening to the prepared remarks, I mean, you made a lot of progress on the ecosystem in the past year. And so with a lot of major names, and I'm just curious why at this point, not focused more on the expand piece of land and expand, as opposed to adding smaller customers that on a time line basis, maybe you do better with scaling established customers and also helping improve the margins, et cetera. I was just curious how you would react to that question.

我只有一個問題。聽了準備好的發言後，我的意思是，在過去的一年裡，你們在生態系統上取得了很大的進步。所以有很多大牌，我很好奇為什麼在這一點上，沒有更多地關注擴大土地和擴張，而不是在時間軸的基礎上增加較小的客戶，也許你做得更好擴展已建立的客戶並幫助提高利潤率等。我只是好奇你會如何回應這個問題。

So it doesn't improve the margins because cost of sales is not a component in margins. And with -- the expand piece is limited by, again, the attach rate to vehicles. So we're expanding effectively with the net new vehicles in the serving sphere of our customers within any geography. And you can't push them past the utilization boundary. They're not going to lean in -- they're not going to -- we can't push the lean in to an arbitrary degree. Also, if you look at the dividend that pays forward, the new customers, the dividend that pays forward, we have an incredibly low churn rate on customers and that's been a historical asset for the company. And since we do want to take a -- we don't want to stall our future growth. So we're not going to shift emphasis. We're going to maintain the emphasis on a balance between new customer add and expansion in the similar proportions that we've had before.

所以它不會提高利潤率，因為銷售成本不是利潤率的組成部分。並且 - 擴展件再次受到車輛附加率的限制。因此，我們在任何地區的客戶服務範圍內都在有效地擴展淨新車輛。而且您不能將它們推過利用率邊界。他們不會傾斜——他們不會——我們不能將傾斜推向任意程度。此外，如果你看看支付的股息、新客戶、支付的股息，我們的客戶流失率非常低，這是公司的歷史資產。而且由於我們確實想採取 - 我們不想阻止我們未來的增長。所以我們不會轉移重點。我們將繼續強調新客戶增加和擴張之間的平衡，比例與我們之前的相似。

I will tell you that our channel sophistication is improving continuously. It's something we've invested in since the beginning of the company. And that should, over time, remove a lot of the pressure on both sides of that equation, both the land and the expand. The USPS deal was a good one. That was done in conjunction with one of our distribution partners. And it really helps on an ongoing basis to have partners that are co-investing in big deals like that.

我會告訴你，我們的渠道成熟度在不斷提高。這是我們從公司成立之初就投資的東西。隨著時間的推移，這應該會消除等式兩邊的很多壓力，包括土地和擴張。 USPS 的交易很好。這是與我們的一個分銷合作夥伴一起完成的。有合作夥伴共同投資這樣的大交易，在持續的基礎上確實有幫助。

We will now hear from Alex Vrabel, Bank of America.

我們現在將聽到來自美國銀行的 Alex Vrabel 的講話。

Just I guess to follow up one more time on this sort of coiled spring idea or the difference between land and expanding growth. I mean, I guess, doubling that back into this idea of operating leverage, when we think about the trajectory here kind of later into the year, early into '24 as you guys get closer to that cash inflection, is there, I guess, an expand element that sort of helps you out on the OpEx line? I guess I'm just sort of thinking like lower S&M per unit or however you want to think about that, given sort of this dormant fleet story that's sort of waiting in the background, if you will.

我想再跟進一次這種螺旋彈簧的想法或土地與擴張增長之間的區別。我的意思是，我想，將其加倍回到經營槓桿的想法中，當我們考慮到今年晚些時候的軌跡時，進入 24 年初，隨著你們接近現金拐點，我猜，一種可以幫助您解決運營支出問題的擴展元素？我想我只是在想每單位較低的 S&M，或者你想怎麼想，如果你願意的話，考慮到這種休眠艦隊的故事有點像在後台等待。

So the way we think about the -- as you referred to it, the -- it's effectively the untapped potential in fleet because our customers are vehicle limited in fleet for the most part. As I also mentioned before, but in a different context, we can afford the investment in fleet because it has a lot of commonality with respect to the investment from an OpEx perspective in the balance of the verticals that we go after, in the balance of the geographies. Now there are some fleet-specific features that we have to invest in. But for us, it's incremental, very incremental, even the same hardware platforms, sometimes different configuration with same hardware platforms. So where am I going with this?

因此，我們考慮的方式 - 正如您所提到的那樣 - 它實際上是車隊中未開發的潛力，因為我們的客戶在很大程度上是車隊中的車輛有限。正如我之前也提到的，但在不同的背景下，我們可以負擔得起對機隊的投資，因為從 OpEx 的角度來看，在我們追求的垂直領域的平衡方面，它在投資方面有很多共性，在平衡地理。現在有一些我們必須投資的特定於艦隊的功能。但對我們來說，這是漸進的，非常漸進的，甚至是相同的硬件平台，有時是相同硬件平台的不同配置。那麼我要去哪裡呢？

Operating leverage over the year we just closed, we think is pretty phenomenal because it is showing that the trajectory of the OpEx, that's everything from R&D to sales and marketing, G&A, everything is -- it's on a very different trajectory as we add revenue. We weren't putting the company in peril this year. In fact, we're making some very strategic investments to improve what we think is our long-term ability to have a great customer experience at even larger scale this year. So we think that the continued things that you saw from a directional perspective, in the year we just closed, will continue through this year and Rex made one notable exception in that because the Q1 revenue is seasonally down for the company. You may see a small retreat in operating leverage only in that quarter, but it should return to normal increase in operating leverage or a similar one that you saw in the previous year.

我們剛剛關閉的一年的運營槓桿，我們認為這是非常驚人的，因為它表明 OpEx 的軌跡，即從研發到銷售和營銷、G&A 的一切——隨著我們增加收入，它處於一個非常不同的軌跡上.今年我們沒有讓公司處於危險之中。事實上，我們正在進行一些非常具有戰略意義的投資，以改善我們認為我們今年在更大範圍內擁有更好客戶體驗的長期能力。因此，我們認為你從定向角度看到的持續的事情，在我們剛剛結束的那一年，將持續到今年，雷克斯在這方面有一個顯著的例外，因為公司第一季度的收入季節性下降。您可能僅在該季度看到經營槓桿率小幅回落，但它應該會恢復到正常的經營槓桿率增長或您在上一年看到的類似增長。

Got it. Very clear. And then just on, I guess, sort of the growth outlook generally like, is there anything that you would sort of think about downstream beyond sort of the utilization rate or just sort of getting vehicles in people's hands, that's constraining you guys today. I'm thinking about utility interconnection, anything that's sort of hampering your abilities that's a little outside of your control that we should be aware of?

知道了。非常清楚。然後，我想，一般來說，增長前景有點像，除了利用率之外，還有什麼你會想到下游，或者只是讓人們掌握車輛，這限制了你們今天。我在考慮公用事業互連，任何我們應該注意的有點超出您控制範圍的阻礙您能力的事情？

So the utility interconnect question is a very good one, and it's hard to model because the utility interconnect delays certainly are there. And they vary depending on the circumstances of the site, right, how much spare capacity is there and what are you trying to do with that site?

所以公用事業互連問題是一個非常好的問題，很難建模，因為公用事業互連延遲肯定存在。而且它們會根據站點的情況而有所不同，對吧，有多少備用容量以及您要對該站點做什麼？

What -- the way I think you should think about it is the active ports under management, it normalizes out the pipeline delay from initial order and shipment to actual installation and activation, which we do see variance. We do see a big variance. But because we have a long pipeline with effectively no air gaps, what you see show up today is the result of utility interconnect deadlines that are coming to an end, right, on projects that we effectively sold maybe 6 months ago in some instances, but then we can't actually ship the product until they actually need it and it goes into the ground. So some amount of delay and if you look at the new port add rate, you can kind of sort of see the shadows of it. That delay is built into our numbers already.

什麼 - 我認為你應該考慮的方式是管理下的活動端口，它規範了從初始訂單和發貨到實際安裝和激活的管道延遲，我們確實看到了差異。我們確實看到了很大的差異。但是因為我們有一條實際上沒有氣隙的長管道，你今天看到的是公用事業互連最後期限即將結束的結果，對吧，在某些情況下我們可能在 6 個月前有效售出的項目，但是然後我們才能真正運送產品，直到他們真正需要它並且它進入地下。所以會有一些延遲，如果您查看新的端口添加速率，您可以看到它的影子。這種延遲已經內置在我們的數字中。

And everyone, at this time, there are no further questions. I'll hand the conference back to our speakers for any additional or closing remarks.

而各位，這個時候，也沒有其他的問題了。我會將會議交還給我們的發言人，以徵求任何補充或結束語。

Thanks for your time today.

感謝您今天的時間。

And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's conference. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的會議到此結束。謝謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。