ChargePoint Holdings Inc (CHPT) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the ChargePoint Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast.

女士們、先生們，午安。此時，我歡迎大家參加 ChargePoint 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議和網路廣播。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Patrick Hamer, ChargePoint's Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations.

我現在想將電話轉給 ChargePoint 資本市場和投資者關係副總裁 Patrick Hamer 先生。

Patrick, please go ahead.

派崔克，請繼續。

[Good afternoon]. Thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss ChargePoint's fourth quarter and full fiscal 2024 earnings results.

[午安].感謝您參加今天的電話會議，討論 ChargePoint 第四季和 2024 財年的全部獲利結果。

This call is being webcast and can be accessed on the investors section of our website at investors.chargepoint.com.

本次電話會議正在進行網路直播，您可以透過我們網站的投資者部分（investors.chargepoint.com）進行觀看。

With me on today's call are Rick Wilmer, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mansi Khetani, our Interim Chief Financial Officer.

與我一起參加今天電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Rick Wilmer；以及我們的臨時財務長 Mansi Khetani。

This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing results for the quarter ended January 31, 2024, which can also be found on the investors section of our website.

今天下午，我們發布了一份新聞稿，公佈了截至 2024 年 1 月 31 日的季度業績，該新聞稿也可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到。

We'd like to remind you that, during the conference call, management will be making forward-looking statements. 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, 2023, and our earnings release which was posted today on our website and was filed today with the SEC on Form 8-K. Also please note that we use certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call, which we reconcile to GAAP in our earnings release; and for certain financial periods, in the investor presentation posted on the investors section of our website. And finally, we will be posting the transcript of this call to our investor relations website, within the Quarterly Results section.

我們想提醒您，在電話會議期間，管理階層將做出前瞻性聲明。這些前瞻性陳述涉及風險和不確定性，其中許多風險和不確定性超出了我們的控制範圍，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。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差異的某些因素的更詳細說明，請參閱我們於2023 年12 月8 日向SEC 提交的10-Q 表格，以及今天發佈在我們網站上並於今天提交給SEC 的收益報告. SEC 在表格 8-K 上。另請注意，我們在本次電話會議中使用了某些非 GAAP 財務指標，我們在收益發布中將其與 GAAP 進行了協調；對於某些財務時期，在我們網站投資者部分發布的投資者介紹中。最後，我們將在我們的投資者關係網站的季度業績部分發布本次電話會議的記錄。

With that, it's my pleasure to introduce our President and CEO, Rick Wilmer.

我很高興向您介紹我們的總裁兼執行長 Rick Wilmer。

Thank you all for joining us.

感謝大家加入我們。

In today's call, we will review our financial results for Q4 of fiscal 2024 and the corresponding annual results. After giving an overview of Q4, we will outline ChargePoint's strategy moving forward, as promised during the Q3 Earnings Call. Later in the call, our Interim CFO, Mansi Khetani, will outline how we plan to achieve our commitment to being adjusted EBITDA positive in the fourth quarter of this year. And she will also provide top line guidance for Q1 of fiscal 2025. I will begin by reviewing the results for Q4 of fiscal 2024 as well as a few highlights of the quarter.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將回顧 2024 財年第四季的財務表現以及相應的年度表現。在概述第四季度之後，我們將概述 ChargePoint 的前進策略，正如在第三季財報電話會議上所承諾的那樣。隨後在電話會議中，我們的臨時財務長 Mansi Khetani 將概述我們計劃如何實現今年第四季度調整後 EBITDA 為正值的承諾。她還將提供 2025 財年第一季的營收指引。我將首先回顧 2024 財年第四季的業績以及該季度的一些亮點。

Critically, our inputs to the business are beginning to make a difference, as evidenced by the operational efficiencies and cash management improvements I will outline shortly. Our revenue for the quarter increased sequentially to $116 million in Q4. The quarter also saw improvements to the underpinnings of the business. These include our non-GAAP gross margin increasing to 22%, a decrease in operating expenses to $75 million or 65% of our revenue and a significant reduction in our cash usage. Also of note was our subscription revenue which was up 30% year-over-year. This is particularly exciting because it represents our highest-margin revenue stream. For the full fiscal year of 2024, revenue was $507 million. Our CFO, Mansi Khetani, will give an annual review in her portion of the call.

至關重要的是，我們對業務的投入開始產生影響，我很快就會概述的營運效率和現金管理改進就證明了這一點。第四季我們本季的營收季增至 1.16 億美元。本季業務基礎也有所改善。其中包括我們的非 GAAP 毛利率增加至 22%、營運費用減少至 7,500 萬美元（佔收入的 65%）以及現金使用量大幅減少。另外值得注意的是我們的訂閱收入年增 30%。這尤其令人興奮，因為它代表了我們利潤率最高的收入來源。 2024 年全年營收為 5.07 億美元。我們的財務長 Mansi Khetani 將在電話會議中進行年度審查。

In Q4, we had quite a few highlights. As the industry moves towards the NACS connector in North America, ChargePoint lived up to our promise of being first to market and ready for the transition. In Q4, NACS connectors rolled out across both our residential and commercial product lines and the first NACS cable installations at DC public fast chargers went into operation. This represents the first time Tesla vehicles have been able to fast charge outside of their own ecosystem without a costly adapter. With additional NACS cables being installed regularly, we are well ahead of the transition.

第四季度，我們有很多亮點。隨著北美行業轉向 NACS 連接器，ChargePoint 兌現了我們率先進入市場並為過渡做好準備的承諾。第四季度，NACS 連接器在我們的住宅和商業產品線中推出，並且直流公共快速充電器上的第一個 NACS 電纜安裝投入運作。這代表特斯拉汽車首次能夠在自己的生態系統之外快速充電，而無需昂貴的適配器。透過定期安裝額外的 NACS 電纜，我們遠遠領先於過渡。

We kicked off the quarter with the launch of the Mercedes-Benz HPC charging network in North America. The network represents the pinnacle of our full stack offerings. Mercedes drivers can reserve a charging session, seamlessly authenticate, charge and pay with plug-and-charge convenience on a new network. These features are enabled by ChargePoint for the Mercedes me [in-dash] experience and mobile app. At the end of the year, we expanded our relationship with Verizon Communications. ChargePoint will now begin deploying fleet charging solutions at Verizon service areas. These locations will support the Verizon fleet operations.

我們以在北美推出梅賽德斯-奔馳 HPC 充電網路作為本季的開端。這個網絡代表了我們全端產品的巔峰。梅賽德斯駕駛員可以在新網路上透過即插即用的便利性預訂充電會話、無縫身份驗證、充電和支付。這些功能由 ChargePoint 為 Mercedes me [in-dash] 體驗和行動應用程式啟用。去年年底，我們擴大了與 Verizon Communications 的合作關係。 ChargePoint 現在將開始在 Verizon 服務區部署車隊充電解決方案。這些地點將支援 Verizon 車隊營運。

In January, we received our FedRAMP authority to operate, whereby ChargePoint became the only end-to-end EV charging provider to receive this authorization from the United States federal government, so what exactly does this mean? ChargePoint is now able to pursue tens of millions of dollars in available government contracts. And all our cloud software products are live for selection on the FedRAMP Marketplace.

一月份，我們獲得了 FedRAMP 的營運授權，ChargePoint 成為唯一獲得美國聯邦政府授權的端到端電動車充電供應商，那麼這到底意味著什麼呢？ ChargePoint 現在能夠爭取價值數千萬美元的可用政府合約。我們所有的雲端軟體產品都可以在 FedRAMP Marketplace 上進行選擇。

Also in Q4, we expanded upon our existing relationship with WEX, a leading payments and software provider to businesses, representing more than 19 million commercial vehicles serviced globally. WEX' U.S. customers and their drivers are now able to use WEX' mobile app DriverDash to find, use and pay for charging within the ChargePoint network. DriverDash enables fleet operators to gain enhanced insight and metrics into driver performance, including preferred pricing, proactive monitoring and reporting through a single integrated payment platform. For our business, this solution represents an exciting, new application of an existing product; and an additional revenue stream to pursue in the realm of fleet. We are actively working with WEX on additional applications for our existing products.

同樣在第四季度，我們擴大了與 WEX 的現有關係，WEX 是一家領先的企業支付和軟體供應商，為全球超過 1,900 萬輛商用車輛提供服務。 WEX 的美國客戶及其駕駛者現在可以使用 WEX 的行動應用程式 DriverDash 在 ChargePoint 網路內尋找、使用充電並支付費用。 DriverDash 使車隊營運商能夠透過單一整合支付平台獲得對駕駛員績效的深入洞察和指標，包括優惠定價、主動監控和報告。對於我們的業務來說，該解決方案代表了現有產品的令人興奮的新應用；以及在機隊領域追求的額外收入來源。我們正積極與 WEX 合作開發現有產品的其他應用。

Sales volume of our home charging station, the ChargePoint Home Flex, was up 37% year-over-year and set another annual sales record. This was highlighted by record home charger sales in Q3 and in Q4. Our NACS offerings for Home Flex have become approximately 10% of the total orders on the ChargePoint e-commerce store, showing that Tesla drivers are also choosing ChargePoint for their home charging needs. Home Flex installations are a critical entry point into the ChargePoint ecosystem, so we are encouraged by the excellent sales volume the product has seen lately. We expect these sales to remain strong in fiscal year '25.

我們的家用充電站 ChargePoint Home Flex 銷售量年增 37%，再創年度銷售紀錄。第三季和第四季創紀錄的家用充電器銷售量凸顯了這一點。我們為 Home Flex 提供的 NACS 產品已佔 ChargePoint 電子商務商店訂單總數的約 10%，這表明特斯拉駕駛員也選擇 ChargePoint 來滿足其家庭充電需求。 Home Flex 安裝是 ChargePoint 生態系統的關鍵切入點，因此我們對該產品最近的出色銷售感到鼓舞。我們預計這些銷售在 25 財年將保持強勁。

As I mentioned in our last earnings call, network reliability is critical. There's a barrier to EV adoption, and we have dedicated considerable resources to improving charger uptime. When we launched the Network Operations Center in August of last year, the ChargePoint network was measured at 96% uptime. Since then, we have made improvements to the functionality of the operations center itself as well as remedied many of the issues it has identified. I am pleased to report that, as of January 31, we were at 99.6% uptime, based on what we currently measure. As a reminder: ChargePoint defines uptime as the percentage of ports capable of dispensing energy at any given moment, but uptime metrics mean nothing if any driver pulls up to a ChargePoint station and walks away without a successful charging session, so we are not stopping there. We are continuing to expand the remote diagnosis and predictive analytics capabilities of our Network Operations Center, and incremental measurements will be added this year.

正如我在上次財報電話會議中提到的，網路可靠性至關重要。電動車的採用存在障礙，我們投入了大量資源來提高充電器的正常運作時間。當我們去年 8 月啟動網路營運中心時，測得 ChargePoint 網路的正常運作時間為 96%。從那時起，我們對營運中心本身的功能進行了改進，並修正了它發現的許多問題。我很高興地報告，根據我們目前的測量，截止至 1 月 31 日，我們的正常運行時間為 99.6%。提醒一下：ChargePoint 將正常運行時間定義為能夠在任何給定時刻分配能量的連接埠的百分比，但如果任何駕駛員將車停在ChargePoint 網站並在沒有成功充電的情況下離開，則正常運行時間指標毫無意義，因此我們不會就此止步。我們正在繼續擴展網路營運中心的遠端診斷和預測分析功能，今年將增加增量測量。

To be transparent about where we fell short of our expectations in Q4. We had a sluggish quarter in the EU. This was a result of lower hardware sales to commercial customers, but the European software business remained steady. In North America, sales to U.S. automotive dealerships remained at a somewhat slow pace of Q3.

對於第四季度我們在哪些方面未達到預期的情況保持透明。我們在歐盟度過了一個低迷的季度。這是由於商業客戶的硬體銷售量下降，但歐洲軟體業務保持穩定。在北美，第三季對美國汽車經銷商的銷售仍略顯緩慢。

Here are the latest nonfinancial statistics of note. We count 74% of the Fortune 50 and 60% of the Fortune 500 as customers. We finished the quarter with more than 286,000 global active ports under management on the ChargePoint network, of which approximately 24,000 are DC fast chargers. We provided drivers with access to more than 631,000 roaming ports worldwide, for a total of more than 917,000 places to charge. Of particular note, in Q4, we had a milestone of 100,000 active ports under management in Europe, which is another nod to our growth in subscription revenue.

以下是值得注意的最新非財務統計。我們的客戶有 74% 的財富 50 強企業和 60% 的財富 500 強企業。截至本季度，我們在 ChargePoint 網路上管理超過 286,000 個全球活躍端口，其中約 24,000 個是直流快速充電器。我們為駕駛者提供了全球超過 631,000 個漫遊連接埠的存取權限，總計超過 917,000 個充電地點。特別值得注意的是，在第四季度，我們在歐洲管理著 100,000 個活躍端口，這是對我們訂閱收入成長的另一個認可。

Q4 also saw considerable growth in e-mobility metrics ChargePoint tracks. We estimate we now have enabled more than 9 billion electric miles driven. That would mean over 1.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions have been averted by EVs on our network.

ChargePoint 追蹤的電動車指標在第四季也出現了顯著成長。我們估計我們現在已經實現了超過 90 億英里的電動行駛里程。這意味著我們網路上的電動車已經避免了超過 190 萬噸溫室氣體排放。

In summary. ChargePoint made incremental progress in the fourth quarter. We have a revised strategy for the road ahead. And we remain committed to the goal of becoming profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis in the fourth quarter of this year. To give market context for the strategy we will be outlining shortly, I'd like to report what we see in terms of EV adoption.

總之。 ChargePoint 在第四季度取得了漸進的進展。我們對未來的策略進行了修訂。我們仍致力於在今年第四季實現調整後 EBITDA 獲利的目標。為了為我們即將概述的策略提供市場背景，我想報告我們在電動車採用方面所看到的情況。

Based on the latest sales reports, EV growth continues at a double-digit pace but not at the aggressive rate OEMs have expected. Looking at the year ahead, BloombergNEF estimates passenger EV sales will grow at 32% year-over-year in North America and 10% year-over-year in Europe. [Drivers are expecting] dependable charger access for these vehicles, and ChargePoint remains a leading infrastructure solution. We outlined vehicle data because EV sales are a leading indicator for us. To directly address the EV charging industry, we are seeing a few trends.

根據最新的銷售報告，電動車繼續以兩位數的速度成長，但沒有達到原始設備製造商預期的激進速度。展望未來一年，彭博新能源財經預計北美乘用車電動車銷量將年增 32%，歐洲將年增 10%。 [駕駛員期望]為這些車輛提供可靠的充電器接入，而 ChargePoint 仍然是領先的基礎設施解決方案。我們概述了車輛數據，因為電動車銷售是我們的領先指標。為了直接解決電動車充電產業的問題，我們看到了一些趨勢。

First, we are seeing disaggregation between hardware and software purchases, particularly amongst larger customers that prefer a multiple sourcing model. This represents an opportunity for us for software, which I will discuss later in the call. The second trend is the commercial hesitation brought on by the noise surrounding the EV segment lately. Institutions want [an EV] charging but are hesitant to commit at a time when the news is questioning EV adoption. They are still buying but not as freely or quickly as they were last year.

首先，我們看到硬體和軟體採購之間的分離，特別是在喜歡多種採購模式的大客戶中。這對我們的軟體來說是一個機會，我將在稍後的電話會議中討論這個機會。第二個趨勢是最近圍繞電動車領域的噪音所帶來的商業猶豫。機構想要[電動車]充電，但在新聞質疑電動車採用的時候猶豫是否要做出承諾。他們仍在購買，但不像去年那樣自由或快速。

The third trend is in the consumer market, where patterns contradict that of commercial. Home charger sales are up considerably, a knock-on effect of new EV sales. This tells us that, despite the noise, EV adoption is continuing. ChargePoint utilization data backs this up. Regardless of sector, one thing is clear based on our network utilization data. Pressure for more charging infrastructure continues to build. Last year, the ChargePoint network dispensed over 1 terawatt of energy, which was an increase of more than 70% year-over-year. While active port count continued to grow, utilization drastically outpaced it with charging sessions increasing 53% for the year. This data makes it clear that charging infrastructure must scale up faster to keep up with demand and soon.

第三個趨勢是消費市場，其模式與商業模式相矛盾。由於新電動車銷售的連鎖反應，家用充電器銷量大幅成長。這告訴我們，儘管存在噪音，電動車的採用仍在繼續。 ChargePoint 使用率數據證實了這一點。無論哪個行業，根據我們的網路利用率數據，有一件事是明確的。建造更多充電基礎設施的壓力持續增加。去年，ChargePoint 網路分配了超過 1 太瓦的能量，較去年同期成長超過 70%。雖然活躍連接埠數量持續成長，但利用率卻大幅成長，全年充電次數增加了 53%。這些數據清楚地表明，充電基礎設施必須更快地擴大規模，才能盡快滿足需求。

As a result of these trends, we are evolving our strategy to meet the current needs of the market. Here are the 4 cornerstones of our strategy moving forward.

由於這些趨勢，我們正在發展我們的策略以滿足當前市場的需求。以下是我們前進策略的 4 個基石。

Our first cornerstone is operational excellence. In our Q3 Earnings Call, we emphasized the importance of operational rigor with laser focus on execution. The better we execute, the better our results. Scale, efficiency, speed and managing cash all represent priorities. While we are confident in our strategy, it is nothing without a continual focus on operational excellence and execution. This will remain a core focus. We are making progress but not yet where we want to be.

我們的首要基石是卓越營運。在第三季財報電話會議中，我們強調了嚴格營運和高度重視執行的重要性。我們執行得越好，結果就越好。規模、效率、速度和現金管理都是優先事項。雖然我們對自己的策略充滿信心，但如果不持續專注於卓越營運和執行力，一切都將毫無意義。這仍將是一個核心焦點。我們正在取得進展，但尚未達到我們想要的目標。

To demonstrate measurable progress, here are 2 recent actions that had a major operational impact on our business. In January, we took the tough decision to reduce our global workforce by approximately 12%. This represented a reduction of approximately $33 million in annual non-GAAP operating expenses; and was concentrated in hardware engineering, for reasons beyond simply cutting our OpEx. To explain why the reductions were focused on hardware: In February, we announced a new approach to hardware development. We now have an agreement with a leading power supply manufacturer, AcBel, to jointly develop future hardware. Under the agreement, AcBel and ChargePoint will co-design for our portfolio and AcBel will then manufacture that hardware for ChargePoint. This represents an extension of our existing agreement. And the arrangement enables us to bring new hardware to market faster because the development of the hardware is integrated with manufacturing. We will also have more engineers than ever working on ChargePoint hardware. We expect to do this at lower costs, all while improving our benchmark quality standards.

為了展示可衡量的進展，以下是最近對我們的業務產生重大營運影響的兩項行動。一月份，我們做出了艱難的決定，將全球員工人數減少約 12%。這意味著年度非 GAAP 營運費用減少了約 3,300 萬美元；並專注於硬體工程，原因不僅僅是削減我們的營運支出。為了解釋為什麼削減主要集中在硬體上：二月份，我們宣布了一種新的硬體開發方法。我們現在與領先的電源製造商 AcBel 達成協議，共同開發未來的硬體。根據協議，AcBel 和 ChargePoint 將共同設計我們的產品組合，然後 AcBel 將為 ChargePoint 製造該硬體。這代表了我們現有協議的延伸。這種安排使我們能夠更快地將新硬體推向市場，因為硬體的開發與製造是整合的。我們還將有比以往更多的工程師致力於 ChargePoint 硬體。我們希望以更低的成本做到這一點，同時提高我們的基準品質標準。

To summarize my comments on this operational cornerstone. In the last 6 months, we have taken nearly $70 million in annual non-GAAP OpEx out of the business, when compared to our OpEx high point in Q2 of last year. In the process, through partnerships, we have increased our hardware engineering bandwidth and we are improving our speed to market. There are many further initiatives planned, but we wanted to relay the demonstrable progress to our shareholders today. We are confident we are on the right track.

總結我對這個營運基石的評論。與去年第二季的營運支出最高點相比，過去 6 個月，我們從業務中扣除了近 7,000 萬美元的年度非 GAAP 營運支出。在此過程中，透過合作夥伴關係，我們增加了硬體工程頻寬，並提高了上市速度。計劃中有許多進一步的舉措，但我們今天想向我們的股東傳達明顯的進展。我們相信我們正走在正確的軌道上。

The second cornerstone is delivering world-class driver experiences. We now serve more than 1 million quarterly active EV drivers, representing one of the largest charging platforms in the world. To attract and scale this driver base, we need to deliver outstanding experiences in every step of the driver journey for any type of EV in North America or Europe. At home or on the road, while the driver eats, sleeps, works or plays, ChargePoint is committed to providing a driver experience that is intuitive and reliable.

第二個基石是提供世界級的駕駛體驗。我們現在為超過 100 萬季度活躍電動車駕駛員提供服務，代表著世界上最大的充電平台之一。為了吸引和擴大這個駕駛員群體，我們需要在北美或歐洲的任何類型電動車的駕駛員旅程的每一步提供出色的體驗。無論是在家裡還是在路上，當駕駛者吃飯、睡覺、工作或玩耍時，ChargePoint 致力於提供直覺、可靠的駕駛體驗。

Our drivers are key to our success. And whether they plug in to one of the 286,000 active ports on the ChargePoint network or tap into the over 631,000 more ports with one of our roaming partners, we must make it easy to charge. We not only need to deliver a great experience but also surprise and delight our drivers with new, even more useful features. We will continue to execute our road map for this and we'll report progress as we go.

我們的驅動力是我們成功的關鍵。無論它們是插入 ChargePoint 網路上 286,000 個活動端口之一，還是利用我們的漫遊合作夥伴之一接入超過 631,000 個端口，我們都必須讓充電變得簡單。我們不僅需要提供出色的體驗，還需要透過新的、更有用的功能讓我們的駕駛員感到驚訝和高興。我們將繼續執行我們的路線圖，並將隨時報告進度。

The third cornerstone of our strategy is to double down on the development of our software platform. Historically, we were focused on selling full-stack hardware and software solutions. Our future will include a significant focus on software solutions for all EV charging use cases. Our software margins are considerably better than they are for hardware, and the revenues are recurring. This pivot comes at a good time as we're seeing the disaggregation trend I mentioned earlier. For those needing a comprehensive charging solution, we remain a formidable one-stop shop with class-leading hardware, but we will not exclude those who already have hardware and seek a leading software platform to manage it. We will also continue to build out our in-dash integrations for auto OEMs and payment providers, which improves both the driver experience and our own margins. ChargePoint is reinforcing our software platform to empower our customers.

我們策略的第三個基石是加倍開發我們的軟體平台。從歷史上看，我們專注於銷售全端硬體和軟體解決方案。我們的未來將重點放在所有電動車充電用例的軟體解決方案。我們的軟體利潤率比硬體高得多，而且收入是經常性的。這一轉變來得正是時候，因為我們看到了我之前提到的分解趨勢。對於需要全面充電解決方案的人來說，我們仍然是一個擁有一流硬體的強大一站式商店，但我們不會排除那些已經擁有硬體並尋求領先的軟體平台來管理它的人。我們也將繼續為汽車原始設備製造商和支付提供者建立儀表板內集成，從而改善駕駛員體驗和我們自己的利潤。 ChargePoint 正在強化我們的軟體平台，為我們的客戶提供支援。

We will continue to share more details about our software offerings, demonstrating their value to the business and our margins. For now we would like to give an overview of what our platform can do. It already enables charging station owners to manage costs, optimize fleet operations, integrate loyalty programs, manage payments and more. It powers our seamless integrations with customer workflows, EV and EVSE manufacturers, fuel and fleet cards, payment processors, utilities and other energy services.

我們將繼續分享有關我們的軟體產品的更多詳細信息，展示它們對業務和利潤的價值。現在我們想概述一下我們的平台可以做些什麼。它已經使充電站所有者能夠管理成本、優化車隊運營、整合忠誠度計劃、管理付款等。它支援我們與客戶工作流程、電動車和電動車SE製造商、燃料和車隊卡、支付處理器、公用事業和其他能源服務的無縫整合。

[A] software platform powers ChargePoint's network's charging stations, thoughtfully designed for usability and uptime. Third-party charging stations and e-mobility service providers can also run on ChargePoint's platform, uniquely enabling these service providers to deliver their own charging solutions to the market faster. ChargePoint empowers our customers and ecosystem partners to connect with EV drivers when they want to charge, providing a valuable benefit, increasing brand loyalty and engagement and unlocking powerful tools to generate revenue or optimize fleet operations. Now and in the future, we aim for this platform to be the enabler of any institution's EV charging needs, fostering the realization of their own goals.

[A] 軟體平台為 ChargePoint 網路的充電站提供動力，該平台針對可用性和正常運行時間進行了精心設計。第三方充電站和電動車服務供應商也可以在 ChargePoint 的平台上運行，使這些服務供應商能夠更快地將自己的充電解決方案推向市場。 ChargePoint 使我們的客戶和生態系統合作夥伴能夠在電動車駕駛者想要充電時與他們聯繫，從而提供寶貴的好處，提高品牌忠誠度和參與度，並解鎖強大的工具來創造收入或優化車隊營運。現在和未來，我們的目標是讓這個平台成為任何機構電動車充電需求的推動者，促進他們實現自己的目標。

The final cornerstone is our hardware strategy. As evidenced by the aforementioned AcBel partnership, we have big plans for hardware. While software has a strong focus under this plan, we will continue to compete in the hardware space. We will develop new hardware for as long as the industry requires innovation because better software runs better on better hardware. Across the board, EV chargers are still too expensive and have room for improvement in areas such as reliability and durability. Support for the future of green energy, meaning compatibility with vehicle-to-home, grid and other connected energy points, is the future of charging hardware. The AcBel partnership enables us to bring these technologies to market faster and in more configurations. We will also continue to focus on developing innovative hardware for home charging, fulfilling our commitment to those great driver experiences, which are critical to our success.

最後的基石是我們的硬體策略。正如前面提到的 AcBel 合作夥伴關係所證明的那樣，我們在硬體方面有宏偉的計劃。雖然該計劃重點關注軟體，但我們將繼續在硬體領域競爭。只要產業需要創新，我們就會開發新的硬件，因為更好的軟體在更好的硬體上運作得更好。總體而言，電動車充電器仍然過於昂貴，並且在可靠性和耐用性等方面還有改進的空間。支援未來的綠色能源，即與車到戶、電網和其他連接能源點的兼容性，是充電硬體的未來。與 AcBel 的合作使我們能夠以更多配置更快地將這些技術推向市場。我們也將繼續專注於開發用於家庭充電的創新硬件，履行我們對卓越駕駛體驗的承諾，這對我們的成功至關重要。

In conclusion. We are making ChargePoint fast, lean and efficient, all with the goal of returning higher margins. Moving forward, our strategy of enhancing the experience for our drivers will ultimately maximize the results for our shareholders. We intend for ChargePoint to be the enabler of the transition to e-mobility.

綜上所述。我們正在使 ChargePoint 變得快速、精簡和高效，所有這些都是為了回報更高的利潤。展望未來，我們增強駕駛員體驗的策略將最終為我們的股東帶來最大化的成果。我們希望 ChargePoint 成為向電動車過渡的推動者。

Thank you for listening. And I will now hand the call over to our CFO, Mansi Khetani, to review the financials.

感謝您的聆聽。我現在將把電話轉交給我們的財務長曼西·赫塔尼 (Mansi Khetani)，以審查財務狀況。

Thank you, Rick.

謝謝你，瑞克。

As a reminder. Please see our earnings press release, where we reconcile our non-GAAP results to GAAP. Our principal exclusions are stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets and certain costs related to restructuring and acquisitions. We continue to report revenue along 3 lines: networked charging systems, subscriptions and other. Networked charging systems represents our connected hardware. Subscriptions include our cloud services connecting that hardware, our Assure warranties and our ChargePoint as a Service offering where we bundle our full-stack solutions into recurring subscriptions. Other consists of professional services and certain nonmaterial revenue streams.

提醒一句。請參閱我們的收益新聞稿，其中我們將非 GAAP 業績與 GAAP 進行了核對。我們的主要排除是股票薪酬、無形資產攤銷以及與重組和收購相關的某些成本。我們繼續從三方面報告收入：網路收費系統、訂閱和其他。網路充電系統代表了我們的互聯硬體。訂閱包括連接硬體的雲端服務、Assure 保固和 ChargePoint 即服務產品，我們將全端解決方案捆綁到定期訂閱中。其他包括專業服務和某些非物質收入流。

Moving to our results for the fourth quarter. Revenue was $116 million, an improvement of 5% sequentially and a decrease of 24% year-on-year. Networked charging systems at $74 million accounted for 64% of fourth quarter revenue. This was flat sequentially and a decrease of 39% year-on-year due to deteriorated macro conditions that impacted commercial billings. Subscription revenue at $34 million was 29% of total revenue, up 10% sequentially and up 30% year-on-year. Other revenue at $8 million was 7% of total revenue, up 42% sequentially and up 74% year-on-year.

轉向我們第四季的業績。營收為 1.16 億美元，季增 5%，年減 24%。網路充電系統營收為 7,400 萬美元，佔第四季營收的 64%。由於宏觀環境惡化影響了商業帳單，這一數字與上一季持平，年減 39%。訂閱收入為 3,400 萬美元，佔總營收的 29%，較上季成長 10%，較去年同期成長 30%。其他收入為 800 萬美元，佔總營收的 7%，季增 42%，年增 74%。

Turning to verticals. We report verticals from a billings perspective which approximates the revenue split. Fourth quarter billings percentages were commercial 64%, fleet 18% residential 15% and other 3%. The commercial vertical continued to see softness due to slower auto dealership demand in North America and lower channel rebuy rates in Europe. Fleet improved 11% sequentially. Residential again had the largest quarter ever in terms of home units sold, with billings growing 13% sequentially.

轉向垂直領域。我們從帳單角度報告垂直行業，近似於收入分配。第四季的營業額百分比為商業 64%、車隊 18%、住宅 15% 和其他 3%。由於北美汽車經銷商需求放緩和歐洲通路再購買率較低，商業垂直市場持續疲軟。機隊季增 11%。就住宅銷售量而言，住宅季度再次創下歷史最高紀錄，帳單環比成長 13%。

From a geographic perspective, North America made up 82% of fourth quarter revenue and Europe was at 18%. Europe revenue declined 6% sequentially due to lower restocking orders by channel partners as sell-through rates slowed for capital-intensive DC projects.

從地理角度來看，北美佔第四季營收的 82%，歐洲佔 18%。由於資本密集型 DC 項目的銷售率放緩，通路合作夥伴的補貨訂單減少，歐洲收入較上季下降 6%。

Turning to gross margin. Non-GAAP gross margin for the fourth quarter was 22%, up from negative 18% in Q3. This is up 2 percentage points from a normalized Q3 gross margin of 20%, which excludes the inventory impairment charge we took in the third quarter. Gross margin was down 1 percentage point year-on-year.

轉向毛利率。第四季非 GAAP 毛利率為 22%，高於第三季的負值 18%。這比第三季 20% 的標準化毛利率上升了 2 個百分點，其中不包括我們在第三季收取的庫存減損費用。毛利率年減1個百分點。

Non-GAAP operating expenses for the fourth quarter were $75 million, a sequential decrease of 8% and a year-on-year decrease of 7%. This reflects the full quarter impact of our September restructuring but only a partial portion of the restructuring announced in January. Stock-based compensation in the fourth quarter was $25 million.

第四季非公認會計準則營運費用為 7,500 萬美元，較上季下降 8%，較去年同期下降 7%。這反映了我們 9 月重組的整個季度影響，但只是 1 月宣布的重組的一部分。第四季的股票薪資為 2500 萬美元。

Looking at cash and cash equivalents. We finished the quarter with $358 million. Cash consumption significantly reduced from Q3. This is primarily attributed to improved working capital management. Specifically, our inventory remained flat. And the improved collection of accounts receivables. While inventory was flat for the quarter, we will continue to focus on managing it down to a more desirable level in the second half of this year as we sell-through the finished goods on hand.

查看現金和現金等價物。本季我們的營收為 3.58 億美元。現金消耗較第三季大幅減少。這主要歸功於營運資金管理的改善。具體來說，我們的庫存保持不變。並改善應收帳款催收。雖然本季庫存持平，但我們將繼續專注於在今年下半年將庫存控制在更理想的水平，因為我們將出售現有的成品。

Our deferred revenue from subscriptions continued to grow. This represents payments for future revenue commitments from existing customers; and finished the quarter at $231 million, up from $227 million at the end of the third quarter. Our $150 million revolving credit facility remains undrawn. And we have no debt maturities until 2028. We also did not issue any shares via the [ADM] during the quarter. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had approximately 421 million shares outstanding.

我們的訂閱遞延收入持續成長。這代表現有客戶未來收入承諾的付款；本季末營收為 2.31 億美元，高於第三季末的 2.27 億美元。我們的 1.5 億美元循環信貸額度仍未動用。我們在 2028 年之前沒有債務到期。本季我們也沒有透過 [ADM] 發行任何股票。截至第四季末，我們的流通股約為 4.21 億股。

Turning to full fiscal year 2024 results. Annual revenue was $507 million, up 8% year-on-year. Networked charging systems revenue at $361 million was 71% of total revenue for the year and was flat year-on-year. Subscription revenue at $120 million was 24% of total revenue and up 41% year-on-year. In the softer hardware market of the past year, the benefits of a recurring subscription revenue really stand out. As Rick mentioned, more than half of our subscription revenue comes from software offerings. Other revenue at $25 million was 5% of total revenue, up 32% year-on-year.

轉向 2024 財年完整業績。年收入為5.07億美元，年增8%。網路充電系統營收為3.61億美元，佔全年總營收的71%，較去年同期持平。訂閱收入為 1.2 億美元，佔總營收的 24%，年增 41%。在過去一年的軟硬體市場中，經常性訂閱收入的好處確實很突出。正如瑞克所提到的，我們一半以上的訂閱收入來自軟體產品。其他收入為 2,500 萬美元，佔總收入的 5%，較去年同期成長 32%。

Quickly covering verticals. Billing percentages by vertical for the full year were commercial 69%, fleet 18%, residential 11% and other 2%. From a geographic perspective, North America was 80% of full year revenue and Europe was 20%. Our European business surpassed $100 million in annual revenue for the first time in fiscal 2024.

快速覆蓋垂直領域。全年按垂直行業劃分的計費百分比為商業 69%、車隊 18%、住宅 11% 和其他 2%。從地域角度來看，北美佔全年收入的80%，歐洲佔20%。 2024 財年，我們歐洲業務的年收入首度突破 1 億美元。

In regard to gross margins. Non-GAAP gross margin for the year was 8%, which reflects 2 quarters with inventory impairment charges and a year-on-year decrease of 12 percentage points. Excluding the impairment charges taken in Q2 and Q3, gross margin would have been 22%.

關於毛利率。全年非 GAAP 毛利率為 8%，反映了 2 個季度的庫存減損支出，較去年同期下降 12 個百分點。剔除第二季和第三季的減損費​​用，毛利率將為 22%。

Non-GAAP operating expenses for the year were $330 million, a year-on-year increase of 2%.

本年度非公認會計準則營運費用為 3.3 億美元，年增 2%。

Turning to guidance. For the first quarter of fiscal 2025, we expect revenue to be $100 million to $110 million. This reflects the typical seasonal drop due to construction slowdowns in the winter months. In addition to seasonality, our first quarter historically contributes a significantly lower percentage of our annual revenue, with Q2 to Q4 increasing from the baseline of Q1. This year, we expect the same, with a large portion of the revenue to be generated in the second half.

轉向指導。 2025 財年第一季，我們預計營收為 1 億至 1.1 億美元。這反映了由於冬季施工放緩而導致的典型季節性下降。除了季節性因素外，從歷史上看，我們第一季佔年收入的比例明顯較低，第二季到第四季的營收較第一季的基線增加。今年，我們預計也是如此，很大一部分收入將在下半年產生。

We expect gradual improvement in non-GAAP gross margin as the year progresses. This will be the result of continued cost-downs for hardware products and an improvement in subscription margins resulting from the cost optimization of our support organization. In addition, as we sell-through inventory on hand, we will begin to see the benefits of our new Asia-based hardware manufacturing strategy in the second half of fiscal year 2025, particularly in Q4.

我們預計隨著時間的推移，非公認會計準則毛利率將逐步改善。這將是硬體產品成本持續下降以及我們支持組織成本優化帶來的訂閱利潤提高的結果。此外，隨著我們庫存的售完，我們將在 2025 財年下半年，特別是第四季度開始看到我們新的亞洲硬體製造策略的好處。

We expect non-GAAP operating expenses to fall to the low 70s in Q1 and Q2 with the full-quarter impacts of the January restructuring as well as other cost avoidance measures resulting from the new hardware engineering strategy Rick mentioned earlier in the call. Operating expenses are expected to fall further in the second half as we continue to focus on operational efficiency.

我們預計，由於1 月重組以及Rick 先前在電話會議中提到的新硬體工程策略帶來的其他成本規避措施對整個季度的影響，非GAAP 營運費用將在第一季和第二季降至70多美元。由於我們持續專注於營運效率，預計下半年營運費用將進一步下降。

I will now hand it over back to Rick for closing remarks.

我現在將其交還給 Rick 進行結束語。

Thank you, Mansi.

謝謝你，曼西。

To conclude. The measures taken over the past 2 quarters have strengthened our path to profitability on a non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA basis in Q4 of fiscal 2025. The strategic priorities we have outlined intend to deliver the gains to achieve this target, but we won't stop there. Our goal is to develop a thriving, profitable business that will be renowned as the enabler of the transition to e-mobility.

總結一下。過去兩個季度採取的措施加強了我們在 2025 財年第四季度以非 GAAP 調整後 EBITDA 為基礎的盈利之路。我們概述的戰略重點旨在實現這一目標，但我們不會停止在那裡。我們的目標是發展一個蓬勃發展、盈利的業務，該業務將作為向電動車轉型的推動者而聞名。

Thank you for joining us today. Operator, we will now turn it over for questions.

感謝您今天加入我們。接線員，我們現在將其移交以供提問。

(Operator Instructions) We'll move to our first question from Colin Rusch at Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們將轉向奧本海默的 Colin Rusch 提出的第一個問題。

On the hardware development focus or -- how should we think about the cadence of the cost reduction? I appreciate the detail on 4Q, with the shift, but as you work through this inventory, should we be thinking about some ongoing cost reduction? And then on the development cycle, how we should think about the overall development cycle for some of these new products starting to come out.

硬體發展重點或說－我們該如何思考降低成本的節奏？我很欣賞第四季度的細節和轉變，但當你處理這個庫存時，我們是否應該考慮一些持續的成本削減？然後在開發週期上，我們應該如何考慮其中一些新產品的整體開發週期。

So Colin, thanks for the question. With the hardware cost reductions, those will continue to flow through the P&L, accelerating as we move towards the later half of the year and we work through the current inventory that was built at a higher cost base. And then we should be fully enjoying that next fiscal year. On the development cycles, those will accelerate. As I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we have more engineers working on new hardware platforms than we have in the past as a result of our new relationship with AcBel. And that will accelerate hardware product development, and you'll begin to see the benefits of that show up in new product releases in the beginning part of next year.

科林，謝謝你的提問。隨著硬體成本的降低，這些成本將繼續流經損益表，隨著我們進入下半年以及我們處理以較高成本基礎建立的當前庫存，這些成本將加速。然後我們應該充分享受下一個財政年度。就開發週期而言，這些將會加速。正如我在準備好的演講中提到的，由於我們與 AcBel 建立了新的關係，我們有比過去更多的工程師在新硬體平台上工作。這將加速硬體產品的開發，您將開始在明年初的新產品發布中看到它的好處。

Okay. And then on the software side, can you give us just 2 or 3 of the key focus areas that you see as meaningful opportunities for improvement and how that -- how you think that functionality really gets out to customers as you start to bring it to market? Is it only through new sales of new chargers? Or are you going to be able to do over-the-air updates and bring some of that functionality to the existing installed base?

好的。然後在軟體方面，您能否向我們提供您認為有意義的改進機會的 2 或 3 個關鍵重點領域，以及您認為當您開始將功能真正提供給客戶時，您如何將其提供給客戶？市場？難道只能透過新充電器的新銷售嗎？或者您能夠進行無線更新並將其中一些功能引入現有的安裝基礎？

So there's a variety of areas of opportunity within software. I wouldn't necessarily call them improvements but new features and enhancements that we'll roll out to the market. And as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, it really all starts with a great driver experience. So whether that's in our mobile app or when a driver is actually interacting with a station to get their vehicle charged then pay for charging, it really drives everything we do within the software world. Our core belief is that, if we provide great experience for drivers, people that provide charging infrastructure for drivers will want to work with our platform to drive their business goals.

因此，軟體領域存在著各種各樣的機會。我不一定稱它們為改進，而是我們將向市場推出的新功能和增強功能。正如我在準備好的演講中提到的，這一切實際上都始於出色的駕駛體驗。因此，無論是在我們的行動應用程式中，還是當駕駛員實際與充電站互動以給車輛充電然後支付充電費用時，它確實驅動了我們在軟體世界中所做的一切。我們的核心信念是，如果我們為駕駛員提供良好的體驗，那麼為駕駛員提供充電基礎設施的人們就會希望與我們的平台合作來推動他們的業務目標。

We'll move next to Chris Pierce at Needham & Company.

我們將接替尼達姆公司的克里斯皮爾斯 (Chris Pierce)。

On the -- you mentioned disaggregation a couple of times, and customers kind of wanting hardware for multiple sources. Is that a new trend in the industry? And then what are they doing right now if they have hardware from multiple providers? And who -- like who you'd be displacing. Or is this kind of greenfield territory?

關於——您多次提到了分解，以及客戶想要多種來源的硬體。這是產業的新趨勢嗎？如果他們擁有來自多個提供者的硬件，他們現在在做什麼？還有誰──就像你要取代的人一樣。或者說這是一片未開發的土地？

Thanks for the question, Chris. Disaggregation has become, from our perspective, a more common ask in North America in the last 3 to 6 months. We're seeing, again as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, some of the larger customers interested in sourcing hardware from more than one provider. I think the reasons for that can be inferred, but this has been a common practice in Europe for quite a while. In Europe, we manage more third-party hardware than we do our own hardware, so this is not a new business model. It's something that, from my perspective, appears to be coming from Europe, to North America, again bigger customers embracing it first.

謝謝你的提問，克里斯。從我們的角度來看，在過去 3 到 6 個月裡，分類已成為北美地區更常見的問題。正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的，我們再次看到一些較大的客戶有興趣從多個供應商購買硬體。我想原因是可以推論出來的，但這在歐洲已經是很常見的做法了。在歐洲，我們管理的第三方硬體比我們自己的硬體還要多，所以這並不是一個新的商業模式。從我的角度來看，這種東西似乎來自歐洲、北美，同樣是大客戶先接受它。

Okay. And then on the inventory side, if you back into kind of networked charge revenue in the first quarter of '25, and you kind of talked about clearing through inventory over the year, how do you -- kind of what's in inventory now that you can kind of [claim? And] how do you kind of -- how are you confident that there won't be further potential for write-downs of the inventory that [you're carrying]?

好的。然後在庫存方面，如果你回到 25 年第一季的網路費用收入，並且你談到了這一年的庫存清理，你會如何——現在庫存中有什麼？可以有點[聲稱？並且]您如何相信[您持有的]庫存不會進一步減記？

Yes, I can take that question, Chris. So we thought about write-downs in a lot of detail and we've taken all the charges that we thought necessary. The inventory balance that we now have is all of products that we're actively selling today, and we expect to sell-through all of that through this year. On some products, we have a higher inventory balance. It will take a little bit longer to sell-through, but on others, we pretty much have only 2 or 3 months of inventory, so the cost-downs that Rick mentioned, we'll start seeing those cost-downs on those products on which we have a lower inventory balance. So in short, we don't -- this -- sitting here today, we don't see any additional major write-offs. Of course, there are small adjustments and variances that we take each quarter based on standard cost adjustments, et cetera. We'll continue to do that. That's standard course of business, but there is nothing major that we see as of now.

是的，我可以回答這個問題，克里斯。因此，我們詳細考慮了減記，並承擔了我們認為必要的所有費用。我們現在擁有的庫存餘額是我們今天積極銷售的所有產品，我們預計今年將售罄所有這些產品。對於某些產品，我們的庫存餘額較高。售完需要更長的時間，但對於其他產品，我們幾乎只有 2 或 3 個月的庫存，因此里克提到的成本下降，我們將開始看到這些產品的成本下降我們的庫存餘額較低。簡而言之，我們今天坐在這裡，沒有看到任何額外的重大減記。當然，我們每季都會根據標準成本調整等進行一些小的調整和差異。我們將繼續這樣做。這是標準的業務流程，但到目前為止我們還沒有看到任何重大的事情。

We'll take our next question from Bill Peterson at JPMorgan.

我們將回答摩根大通的比爾彼得森的下一個問題。

I asked last quarter about how you felt like the channel inventories were. It sounds like you saw like a lot of the destocking had run its course. It sounds like there's still more destocking to go in Europe, but I guess, how -- if you look at the channels, both U.S. and in Europe and maybe for products such as AC or DC, and then maybe if the channel is focusing on commercial [or fleet], can you help us understand how you view the channel in these various segments and geos today?

上個季度我問過您對通路庫存的看法。聽起來你看到很多去庫存已經結束了。聽起來歐洲還有更多的去庫存工作，但我想，如果你看看美國和歐洲的渠道，也許是交流或直流等產品，然後也許如果渠道專注於商業[或艦隊]，您能幫助我們了解您如何看待當今不同細分市場和地理區域的頻道嗎？

Sure, Bill. It's different in Europe than it is in North America. In North America, the channel is important for us largely as a demand generator. They represent an important extension of our sales force. In terms of inventory levels in the channel in North America and Europe, they are normalized in both areas. In Europe, we do less of our business through the channel, but they're still an important part of our business in Europe but not as significant as it is in North America.

當然，比爾。歐洲的情況與北美不同。在北美，該通路對我們來說很重要，主要是作為需求的創造者。他們是我們銷售團隊的重要延伸。就北美和歐洲通路的庫存水準而言，這兩個地區都已正常化。在歐洲，我們透過管道開展的業務較少，但它們仍然是我們歐洲業務的重要組成部分，但不如北美那麼重要。

Okay. Interesting on the reliability side. And that's always been kind of a challenge, a headline challenge, if you think about EV adoption. I guess, with this -- with your new reliability data, are you seeing any benefits? Can you speak to any sort of wins or opportunities you've been able to unlock by demonstrating this reliability, whether it be in repeat business or with new opportunities?

好的。在可靠性方面很有趣。如果你考慮電動車的採用，這一直是一個挑戰，一個頭條挑戰。我想，有了這個——有了新的可靠性數據，你看到了什麼好處嗎？您能否談談透過展示這種可靠性而獲得的任何類型的勝利或機會，無論是重複業務還是新機會？

That's a good question. I think what we're seeing is just fewer support cases and fewer complaints, but as we mentioned on -- in the remarks, we're still not where we want to be. There is still further room for improvement. And I expect, quite honestly, that 99% KPI that we measured, which is apples-to-apples with the prior quarter, to go down as we begin to ingest new data sources into our Network Operations Center that will give us a more accurate picture of what stations are actually up and running for our definition of uptime in the market. And we want to be very transparent and honest about how our network is working, so we're quite honestly excited about this because this gives us more actionable data to improve the network.

這是個好問題。我認為我們看到的只是支持案例和投訴的減少，但正如我們在評論中提到的，我們仍然沒有達到我們想要的目標。還有進一步改進的空間。老實說，我預計，隨著我們開始將新資料來源引入網路營運中心，我們測量的 99% KPI（與上一季相當）將會下降，這將為我們提供更準確的數據。根據我們對市場正常運行時間的定義，哪些站點實際已啟動並正在運行。我們希望對我們的網路運作方式非常透明和誠實，因此我們對此感到非常興奮，因為這為我們提供了更多可操作的數據來改進網路。

Next, we'll move to Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs.

接下來，我們將請高盛的馬克‧德萊尼 (Mark Delaney) 來演講。

The company reaffirmed its target to be adjusted EBITDA positive in fiscal 4Q. Can you speak a bit more on the path to get there and how much revenue may be needed to reach your goal?

該公司重申第四財季調整後 EBITDA 為正的目標。您能多談談實現這一目標的途徑以及實現您的目標可能需要多少收入嗎？

Yes, I can take that. So on the revenue side, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we expect normal seasonality this year like we have seen in the past, meaning we expect the second half revenue to be significantly larger than the first half. Our revenue spread typically in the year is about 40% in the first half and 60% in the second half, with Q4 typically being the largest quarter. We expect this year to follow similar seasonality. And then on the gross margin side, we expect improvement through the year as well. And Q4, we'll see the benefits of further cost reductions as we move to Asia manufacturing. And then on the OpEx side, we have already reduced our non-GAAP OpEx to the low 70s a quarter. We will further balance this OpEx through the year with operational efficiencies and cost avoidance measures to get to that break-even EBITDA level in Q4.

是的，我可以接受。因此，在收入方面，正如我在準備好的演講中提到的那樣，我們預計今年會像過去一樣出現正常的季節性，這意味著我們預計下半年的收入將明顯高於上半年。我們一年中的收入分佈通常是上半年約 40%，下半年約 60%，其中第四季通常是最大的季度。我們預計今年也會出現類似的季節性。然後在毛利率方面，我們預計今年也會有所改善。第四季度，隨著我們轉向亞洲製造，我們將看到進一步降低成本的好處。然後在營運支出方面，我們已經將非 GAAP 營運支出降低至每季 70 多美元。我們將透過營運效率和成本規避措施進一步平衡全年的營運支出，以在第四季度達到損益兩平的 EBITDA 水準。

Understood. And a follow-up question around gross margins. Maybe you can help us think through some of the puts and takes around gross margins in the fiscal first quarter. Revenue sequentially is lower, but you do have some of these efforts to improve margins, including the Asia-based manufacturing and multi-sourcing strategies, so maybe help frame, if you could, please, a little bit more around gross margins sequentially for the upcoming quarter.

明白了。還有一個關於毛利率的後續問題。也許您可以幫助我們思考第一財季毛利率的一些看跌期權和看跌期權。收入連續下降，但您確實採取了一些努力來提高利潤率，包括亞洲製造和多採購策略，因此，如果可以的話，請幫助制定更多圍繞毛利率的連續計劃即將到來的季度。

Yes. So we're not guiding to Q1 gross margins, but what I can say is I think we should see slight sequential improvement in Q1. This is not going to come from the Asia manufacturing strategy yet because it's going to take some time for our inventory to sell-through. However, we are seeing improvement on the subscription margins because of economies of scale and because of our cost optimization efforts on our customer support side of things. And then as pricing stabilizes on the hardware side, that should kind of stabilize as well quarter-over-quarter.

是的。因此，我們不會指導第一季的毛利率，但我可以說的是，我認為我們應該看到第一季略有連續改善。這還不是來自亞洲製造策略，因為我們的庫存需要一些時間才能售罄。然而，由於規模經濟以及我們在客戶支援方面的成本優化努力，我們看到訂閱利潤有所改善。然後，隨著硬體方面的定價穩定，季度環比也應該會穩定下來。

Our next question comes from Matt Summerville of D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Matt Summerville。戴維森。

I wanted to ask about utilization rates. Rick, in your prepared remarks, you mentioned that they're effectively hitting a pressure point now that makes it necessary to build -- to further build out from an infrastructure standpoint. What is that pressure point exactly? Where do utilization rates need to be? And how has utilization been trending specifically on your network? Can you get just a little bit more granular on that?

我想問一下利用率。里克，在您準備好的演講中，您提到他們現在實際上已經達到了壓力點，因此有必要進行建設——從基礎設施的角度進一步建設。這個壓力點到底是什麼？利用率需要在哪裡？您的網路上具體的利用率趨勢如何？能更詳細地介紹一下嗎？

So we published the utilization statistics in a press release a few weeks back. I don't have the numbers memorized, but they're definitely going up. And exactly what threshold they need to hit before new [port] purchasing and installation [hits the accelerator] is hard to know. And it's hard to know whether it's going to be a big digital shift where it's going to turn on like a light switch or if it's going to be gradual. What I do know is that customers need to provide charging to get the people they want to come to their place, whether that's workers to comes -- work there or shoppers to shop there or people to stay there overnight and sleep there or park there while they're on a trip. We're seeing utilization go up in all those segments. And if those institutions want people to continue to come, they're going to need to add infrastructure. I think we're seeing some green shoots of that starting now, and I'm hopeful it will accelerate. And if we have the data that said, exactly when it hits 49.7%, that's when it takes off -- we'll continue to refine our analysis to try and determine that, but we don't know that today.

因此，我們在幾週前的新聞稿中發布了利用率統計數據。我沒有記住這些數字，但它們肯定會上升。很難知道在新的[端口]購買和安裝[加速]之前他們需要達到什麼門檻。很難知道這是否會是一個巨大的數位化轉變，它會像電燈開關一樣打開，還是會是漸進的。我所知道的是，顧客需要提供收費才能讓他們想要的人來到他們的地方，無論是在那裡工作的工人，還是在那裡購物的購物者，或者是在那裡過夜、在那裡睡覺或在那裡那裡停車的人。他們正在旅行。我們看到所有這些細分市場的利用率都在上升。如果這些機構希望人們繼續前來，他們將需要增加基礎設施。我認為我們現在已經看到了一些萌芽，並且希望它會加速發展。如果我們有數據表明，確切地說，當它達到 49.7% 時，那就是它起飛的時候——我們將繼續完善我們的分析，試圖確定這一點，但我們今天還不知道這一點。

Got it. And then just as we think about kind of market conditions now and the overall pricing environment in the business for both L2 and DC fast, how -- I guess I'm trying to understand how much of, if you're seeing price pressure -- which I'd like you to comment on. If that's the case, how much of the potential savings you're getting from the Asian-based development and manufacturing sort of gets offset by price erosion?

知道了。然後，正如我們思考現在的市場狀況以及 L2 和 DC 業務的整體定價環境一樣，如果您看到價格壓力，我想我正在嘗試了解有多少 - - 我希望你對此發表評論。如果是這樣的話，您從亞洲開發和製造中獲得的潛在節省有多少會被價格侵蝕所抵消？

Yes. So in terms of ASPs, we -- as you know, we have brought prices down over the last few quarters. This was mainly bringing down price increases that we had done, during the second part of last year, due to all the supply chain hangover. We normalized that. That was supposed to be temporary, so we brought prices down. Other than that, we haven't seen any other pricing pressure, so far. That said, I do build-in some price declines in the model just to be conservative, but the cost-downs that we're seeing should overcome any of the price decreases. That's how we've planned our entire model. And so even though prices may come down a little bit in the second half, we have factored that in. I think the cost-down will more than cover that, and that will give us the bump in our gross margin.

是的。因此，就平均售價而言，如您所知，我們在過去幾個季度降低了價格。這主要是降低了我們去年下半年因供應鏈問題而造成的價格上漲。我們對此進行了正常化。這應該是暫時的，所以我們降低了價格。除此之外，到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何其他定價壓力。也就是說，為了保守起見，我確實在模型中考慮了一些價格下降，但我們看到的成本下降應該會克服任何價格下降。這就是我們規劃整個模型的方式。因此，儘管下半年價格可能會略有下降，但我們已經考慮到了這一點。我認為成本下降將足以彌補這一點，這將使我們的毛利率有所提高。

We'll move next to Christopher Souther at B. Riley.

我們將搬到 B. Riley 的 Christopher Souther 旁邊。

Maybe just following up a little bit on the gross margins, can you give us a sense as to the -- whether the target profile for the networked charging systems segment changes with these expanded contract manufacturing relationships [or] maybe just kind of enables prior targets you've been thinking about internally? Give us a sense what you think is achievable once we worked through some of these inventory moves and towards new next-generation products.

也許只是對毛利率進行一些跟踪，您能否讓我們了解一下——網絡充電系統細分市場的目標概況是否會隨著這些擴大的合同製造關係而變化[或者]可能只是實現先前的目標你內心一直在思考嗎？讓我們了解一下，一旦我們完成了一些庫存調整並轉向新的下一代產品，您認為可以實現什麼。

So I'm not sure I got the entire question. Sorry about that, but if I didn't provide a complete answer, go ahead and ask a follow-up. With the Asia manufacturing, we're going to take substantial costs out of the entire product portfolio. And equally important, the new products that we're going to develop in partnership with AcBel and potentially other partners like AcBel will lead to much lower-cost products when they initially go into production, so this is something that's going to drive our hardware gross margin up, but as Mansi mentioned, as we continue to increase the software and recurring elements of our P&L, the revenue portion of our recurring business, that has much higher gross margin than the hardware side. So that's going to continue to enhance the gross margin outlook as well.

所以我不確定我是否了解了整個問題。對此感到抱歉，但如果我沒有提供完整的答案，請繼續詢問後續問題。透過亞洲製造，我們將從整個產品組合中削減大量成本。同樣重要的是，我們將與 AcBel 以及 AcBel 等潛在其他合作夥伴合作開發的新產品在最初投入生產時將帶來成本低得多的產品，因此這將推動我們的硬體總收入利潤率上升，但正如曼西所提到的，隨著我們繼續增加軟體和損益表中的經常性要素（我們經常性業務的收入部分），毛利率比硬體方面高得多。因此，這也將持續提高毛利率前景。

Got it, okay. No, that's really helpful. And then maybe just -- or another one, on you called out EV market adoption concerns from customers. I'm curious whether the shift to the NACS charging port is contributing to customer hesitation, maybe just uncertainty around which kinds of cars customers are going to be preferring 2 to 3 years out. Is that something that's also maybe causing customer headaches?

明白了，好吧。不，這真的很有幫助。然後也許只是——或者另一個，你指出了客戶對電動車市場採用的擔憂。我很好奇轉向 NACS 充電埠是否會導致客戶猶豫不決，也許只是不確定 2 到 3 年後客戶會更喜歡哪種汽車。這是否也可能引起客戶的頭痛？

If I got the question right: Around NACS, I think the consternation about NACS is diminishing now that they're becoming widely available. The position we've taken, which we believe is the right position to take, is that as we make the transition from CCS to NACS, that -- you don't dedicate a parking spot to one connector type or another and you keep the parking spots versatile. And we've got all the technology and solutions to do just that. So I view this as a connector at the end of the cord, and as long as you can pull in to any parking spot and plug your vehicle in regardless of whether it's CCS or NACS, this should be pretty seamless. And I think the market is starting to realize this and a lot of the consternation is fading.

如果我的問題是對的：圍繞 NACS，我認為隨著 NACS 的廣泛使用，人們對 NACS 的恐慌正在減少。我們所採取的立場（我們認為這是正確的立場）是，當我們從 CCS 過渡到 NACS 時，您不必將停車位專用於一種或另一種連接器類型，並且可以保留停車位用途廣泛。我們擁有實現這一目標的所有技術和解決方案。因此，我將其視為電源線末端的連接器，只要您可以將車輛停放在任何停車位並插入車輛，無論是 CCS 還是 NACS，這都應該是非常無縫的。我認為市場已經開始意識到這一點，許多恐慌情緒正在消退。

Our next question comes from Mickey Legg, The Benchmark Company.

我們的下一個問題來自基準公司 Mickey Legg。

You mentioned a slowdown in hardware sales in the EU. Just curious if that was anywhere particularly slow or if [there's any areas] or signs of improvement that you're seeing.

您提到歐盟硬體銷售放緩。只是好奇是否有任何地方特別慢或是否[有任何領域]或您看到的改進跡象。

Yes. So in Europe, it was slightly different from North America, as Rick mentioned. We saw a slower sell-through rate of our DC products because the channel there has an abundance of other DC products of our competitors and other companies that have been offloaded at lower prices. So the sell-through rates of our products slowed. And the rebuy rates slowed as well.

是的。因此，正如里克所提到的，歐洲與北美略有不同。我們看到我們的 DC 產品的銷售率較慢，因為該通路有大量競爭對手和其他公司的其他 DC 產品，這些產品已以較低的價格出售。因此我們產品的銷售率下降了。復購率也放緩了。

Okay, great. And then one more, could you just talk about some of the larger fleet programs that you previously mentioned? Are those still on track for later this year? And just curious where those discussions are at.

好的，太好了。還有一個，您能談談您之前提到的一些大型機隊計劃嗎？今年稍後這些項目還在計劃中嗎？只是好奇這些討論在哪裡。

Can you repeat that? Which programs -- sorry, Mickey.

你可以再說一次嗎？哪些節目——對不起，米奇。

Yes. You had mentioned on the last call just about the USPS contract and maybe some other fleet programs you were expecting to hit later this year. Just curious on the status of those.

是的。您在上次電話中提到了美國郵政合同，也許還有您預計今年晚些時候實施的其他一些車隊計劃。只是對這些人的狀況感到好奇。

Yes. So what I can say about those other programs is, this year, we expect USPS to ramp in the second half, much like it did this past fiscal year. There are a lot of other [transit deals] that we're working on that are expected to ship in the second half as well. We expect [some maybe related] shipments to come in, in the second half. [And they're a] smaller portion of our overall billings, though, but it is a back half loaded. Generally we are being conservative on the commercial subsegments like auto and workplace since recovery there will depend on the macro conditions and the interest rate environment, but we see some back-loaded commercial billings, including in the auto space, as some of the programs have been pushed out from Q4 and first half of this year to the second half.

是的。因此，關於其他計劃，我可以說的是，今年，我們預計 USPS 將在下半年實現成長，就像上一財年一樣。我們正在處理許多其他[過境交易]，預計也將在下半年發貨。我們預計[一些可能相關的]出貨量將在下半年到來。 [而且它們只占我們總帳單的一小部分，雖然，但它是後半負載。一般來說，我們對汽車和工作場所等商業細分市場持保守態度，因為那裡的復甦將取決於宏觀條件和利率環境，但我們看到一些商業賬單回載，包括在汽車領域，因為一些計劃已經從今年第四季和上半年延後到下半年。

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

接下來我們將採訪福克斯顧問公司的史蒂文·福克斯。

Just one question from me. On the network operating centers costs, how much more of an investment period do you think you're going to have for those? How do you measure the return you're getting on it? It seems like it's an important part of the strategy going forward, but I'm just trying to understand the costs and the return benefits there.

我只想問一個問題。就網路營運中心的成本而言，您認為還需要多長時間的投資？您如何衡量您所獲得的回報？這似乎是未來策略的重要組成部分，但我只是想了解其中的成本和回報收益。

Yes, thanks, Steven. This is one that's nonnegotiable in terms of investment required. If we don't provide reliable networks that drivers can count on, we're not going to see this business grow at the rate we want it to grow, so we have to do this regardless. It is budgeted and is managed from a cost perspective, but functionality trumps that as long as it stays within reason, so this remains a priority commitment for the company.

是的，謝謝，史蒂文。就所需投資而言，這是不容談判的。如果我們不提供司機可以信賴的可靠網絡，我們就不會看到這項業務以我們希望的速度成長，所以無論如何我們都必須這樣做。它是從成本角度進行預算和管理的，但只要保持在合理範圍內，功能就勝過一切，因此這仍然是公司的優先承諾。

Is there any way to sort of give a sense for -- like is it a rising investment this year versus last year? How much of the costs -- what percentage of costs is associated with it? Any other perspective on it you can provide?

有沒有辦法讓我們了解──例如今年的投資與去年相比是否有所增加？有多少成本－與之相關的成本百分比是多少？您還能提供其他觀點嗎？

I wouldn't consider it a substantial cost in either cost of goods sold or OpEx. A lot of it is done through automation and network tools that we use to aggregate data and turn it into actionable information.

我不認為它是銷售成本或營運支出的重大成本。其中許多工作是透過自動化和網路工具完成的，我們使用這些工具來聚合資料並將其轉化為可操作的資訊。

And next, we'll move to Chris Dendrinos at RBC Capital Markets.

接下來，我們將邀請加拿大皇家銀行資本市場部的 Chris Dendrinos。

Yes. I just wanted to follow up a little bit on the demand questions, if you could just expand a little bit more on what are the conversations that you're having with your customers right now. What's the feedback they're giving you? I think, at one point last year, you had mentioned that there was a pullback in spending due to budget constraints. Then there was maybe a bit of a demand issue. What's the latest conversations that you're having? What are they saying about the needs for chargers?

是的。我只是想跟進一下需求問題，如果您能詳細介紹一下您現在與客戶進行的對話。他們給你的回饋是什麼？我想，去年您曾經提到過，由於預算限制，支出有所縮減。然後可能存在一些需求問題。你們最近進行的對話是什麼？他們對充電器的需求有何看法？

Again I think we're seeing the port utilization continue to rise, which is leading to customers expressing interest in increasing the size of their networks to keep, again as I mentioned earlier, the people that they care about coming back to their institutions, but I think we're still in a bit of an overhang as a result of all the negative press around the decreasing rate of EV adoption. So I think we've got competing forces here that we're working with, with on the optimistic side, increasing port utilization, but the continued concerns about the slowing pace of EV adoption pushing things in the other direction.

我再次認為，我們看到端口利用率持續上升，這導致客戶表示有興趣擴大其網絡規模，以留住他們關心的人回到他們的機構，但正如我之前提到的，我認為，由於電動汽車採用率下降帶來的所有負面新聞，我們仍然面臨一些懸而未決的問題。因此，我認為我們正在與之合作，樂觀的一面是增加港口利用率，但對電動車採用速度放緩的持續擔憂將事情推向另一個方向。

And that concludes today's question-and-answer session and today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的問答環節和電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。