Cerence Inc (CRNC) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Cerence Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. And I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Rich Yerganian, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Rich, please go ahead.

早上好，謝謝你的支持。歡迎來到 Cerence 2023 年第二季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，今天的會議正在錄製中。我現在想把會議交給今天的演講者，投資者關係高級副總裁 Rich Yerganian。瑞奇，請繼續。

Thank you, Eric. Welcome to Cerence's Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Conference Call. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call may involve certain forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact, including statements related to our expectations, estimates, assumptions, goals, targets and plans should be considered to be forward-looking statements. Cerence makes no representations to update those statements after today. These statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from such statements as described in our SEC filings, including the Form 8-K with the press release preceding today's call, our Form 10-Q filed on May 9, 2023, and our Form 10-K filed on November 29, 2022.

謝謝你，埃里克。歡迎參加 Cerence 2023 財年第二季度電話會議。在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議可能涉及某些前瞻性陳述。任何不是歷史事實陳述的陳述，包括與我們的預期、估計、假設、目標、目標和計劃相關的陳述，都應被視為前瞻性陳述。 Cerence 沒有表示會在今天之後更新這些聲明。這些陳述受風險和不確定因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中所述的此類陳述存在重大差異，這些文件包括今天電話會議前的新聞稿 8-K 表格、我們於 5 月提交的 10-Q 表格2023 年 1 月 9 日，以及我們於 2022 年 11 月 29 日提交的 10-K 表格。

In addition, the company may refer to certain non-GAAP measures, key performance indicators and pro forma financial information during this call. Please refer to today's press release for further details of the definitions, limitations and uses of those measures and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the closest GAAP equivalent. The press release is available in the IR section of our website.

此外，公司可能會在此次電話會議中參考某些非 GAAP 指標、關鍵績效指標和備考財務信息。請參閱今天的新聞稿，了解有關這些措施的定義、限制和使用以及非 GAAP 措施與最接近的 GAAP 等值的調節的更多詳細信息。該新聞稿可在我們網站的 IR 部分獲取。

Joining me on today's call are Stefan Ortmanns, CEO of Cerence; and Tom Beaudoin, CFO of Cerence. As a reminder, the only authorized spokespeople for the company are Stefan, Tom and me. Before handing the call over to Stefan, I would like to mention that we have 7 investor conferences in the next few weeks. Please refer to the Upcoming Events section of our IR website for specific dates and conference information.

Cerence 的首席執行官 Stefan Ortmanns 和我一起參加了今天的電話會議；和 Cerence 的首席財務官 Tom Beaudoin。提醒一下，公司唯一的授權發言人是 Stefan、Tom 和我。在將電話轉給 Stefan 之前，我想提一下，我們將在接下來的幾週內召開 7 場投資者會議。請參閱我們 IR 網站的即將舉行的活動部分，了解具體日期和會議信息。

Now on to the call. Stefan?

現在開始通話。斯特凡？

Thank you, Rich. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our second quarter earnings. We delivered solid results with revenue just over $68 million, coming in above the high end of our guidance. In addition, our strong focus on operational excellence contributed to most profitability metrics performing better than expected. This includes generating free cash flow of over $5 million in the quarter.

謝謝你，里奇。歡迎大家，並感謝您加入我們討論我們的第二季度收益。我們取得了穩健的業績，收入超過 6800 萬美元，高於我們指導的上限。此外，我們對卓越運營的高度關注促成了大多數盈利指標的表現好於預期。這包括在本季度產生超過 500 萬美元的自由現金流。

Our core auto business continues to perform well, with our global auto penetration rising to 53%. That means that 53% of total new global light vehicle production includes some level of technology from Cerence. Tom will provide the details of our performance in a few minutes. We continue to maintain a strong competitive position against both, niche players and consumer tech. Bookings for the first half of the year included multiple strategic wins. With a solid pipeline of identified opportunities, we expect a strong second half of bookings.

我們的核心汽車業務繼續表現良好，我們的全球汽車滲透率上升至 53%。這意味著全球新輕型汽車總產量的 53% 都採用了 Cerence 的某種水平技術。湯姆將在幾分鐘內提供我們表現的細節。我們繼續在利基市場參與者和消費技術領域保持強大的競爭地位。今年上半年的預訂包括多項戰略勝利。憑藉大量已確定的機會，我們預計下半年的預訂量會很強勁。

Cross currents remain in the macroeconomic environment, while semiconductor shortages for the auto industry are incrementally better, the uncertain effects of rising interest rates and a slowing global economy on auto demand remains in place, offsetting any likelihood for a near-term significant ramp of production. Aligned with our fiscal year, IHS is forecasting 4% growth. This is slightly better than our original assumption of 3%. Accordingly, we have raised the low end of the range for our full fiscal year revenue guidance from $275 million to $280 million.

宏觀經濟環境仍然存在逆流，而汽車行業的半導體短缺情況逐漸好轉，利率上升和全球經濟放緩對汽車需求的不確定影響仍然存在，抵消了近期產量大幅增加的任何可能性.根據我們的財政年度，IHS 預測增長 4%。這略好於我們最初假設的 3%。因此，我們已將整個財年收入指引的下限從 2.75 億美元提高到 2.8 億美元。

While it is a recent event and not part of our Q2 results, I'm excited to announce Iqbal Arshad as our new Chief Technology Officer. Iqbal will lead Cerence's global technology and platform organization responsible for providing leadership for our technology vision, building innovative user experiences and accelerating our road map. Iqbal's impressive career in technology leadership includes senior technology, engineering and product development roles at Motorola, Google and Lenovo. He brings a wealth of experience, having shaped some of the most exciting technology development of the past decade, including industry-first innovations like the original Droid smartphone, Google's first Android tablet, the first mobile AI voice assistant and the first Android smartwatch.

雖然這是最近發生的事件，而不是我們第二季度業績的一部分，但我很高興地宣布 Iqbal Arshad 成為我們的新首席技術官。 Iqbal 將領導 Cerence 的全球技術和平台組織，負責領導我們的技術願景、構建創新的用戶體驗並加速我們的路線圖。 Iqbal 在技術領導方面令人印象深刻的職業生涯包括在摩托羅拉、谷歌和聯想擔任高級技術、工程和產品開發職務。他帶來了豐富的經驗，塑造了過去十年中一些最激動人心的技術發展，包括行業首創的創新，如最初的 Droid 智能手機、谷歌的第一款 Android 平板電腦、第一款移動 AI 語音助手和第一款 Android 智能手錶。

Iqbal has deep expertise across AI, IoT, software and mobile technologies. That will be immensely valuable, not just for our automotive and transportation customers, but also as we look to potential expansion opportunities outside of transportation. I am very excited to have Iqbal as part of our executive leadership team to help us achieve our Destination Next innovation goals, working closely with Nils Schanz, our Chief Product Officer. I'm very confident that Iqbal will be a critical leader as we continue to spearhead the industry in applying AI in innovative ways for the transportation market.

Iqbal 在人工智能、物聯網、軟件和移動技術方面擁有深厚的專業知識。這將非常有價值，不僅對我們的汽車和運輸客戶而言，而且對我們尋找運輸以外的潛在擴張機會也是如此。我很高興 Iqbal 成為我們執行領導團隊的一員，幫助我們實現我們的 Destination Next 創新目標，與我們的首席產品官 Nils Schanz 密切合作。我非常有信心 Iqbal 將成為關鍵的領導者，因為我們將繼續引領行業以創新方式為交通市場應用 AI。

Moving on to bookings, which for the first half were $263 million. This is up 11% from the second half of fiscal '22. Additionally, while the timing of when bookings occur is always difficult to predict, the pipeline of sales opportunities for the second half looks strong.

轉向預訂，上半年為 2.63 億美元。這比 22 財年下半年增長了 11%。此外，雖然預訂發生的時間總是難以預測，但下半年的銷售機會渠道看起來很強勁。

In the first half, we had 7 very important strategic wins, including 3 win backs, 2 from customer tech companies and 1 from a niche competitor. In Q2, a key win-back was for connected services for a global luxury brand for the North America region. This win further validates the competitive strength of our solutions, building off the success with this customer in other regions. As an added benefit, because we are already delivering these cloud-based capabilities for this customer in other regions, the implementation of our solution for North America is shorter.

上半年，我們取得了 7 次非常重要的戰略勝利，包括 3 次贏回，2 次來自客戶技術公司，1 次來自利基競爭對手。在第二季度，一個關鍵的贏回是為北美地區的全球奢侈品牌提供的互聯服務。此次勝利進一步驗證了我們解決方案的競爭實力，為其他地區的該客戶取得成功奠定了基礎。作為一個額外的好處，因為我們已經在其他地區為這個客戶提供這些基於雲的功能，所以我們在北美的解決方案的實施時間更短。

They will be switching over to our solution in North America later this calendar year. One of the other strategic wins during the first half was with the largest carmaker in China to support its global expansion. We will provide Cerence Assistant capabilities in more than a dozen languages. This is consistent with other China OEMs turning to Cerence solutions as they look to expand their business globally, demonstrating our unit leadership in voice AI and the broad portfolio of languages we support.

他們將在本日曆年晚些時候轉向我們在北美的解決方案。上半年的其他戰略勝利之一是與中國最大的汽車製造商合作，以支持其全球擴張。我們將提供十多種語言的 Cerence Assistant 功能。這與其他尋求在全球擴展業務時轉向 Cerence 解決方案的中國 OEM 一致，展示了我們在語音 AI 領域的領導地位以及我們支持的廣泛語言組合。

The other strategic wins were in Europe, India and the U.S. These strategic wins reinforce the strong competitive position we hold and the continued superiority of our technology and solutions. With AI at the core of our product innovation, we remain sharply focused on leveraging new technology to bring innovative new products to the transportation and IoT markets. One such example is recent enhancements we made to Cerence Car knowledge, a valuable product for automakers and their drivers that enables real-time credible intelligence about all aspects of the car.

其他戰略勝利在歐洲、印度和美國。這些戰略勝利鞏固了我們所擁有的強大競爭地位以及我們技術和解決方案的持續優勢。以人工智能為我們產品創新的核心，我們仍然專注於利用新技術為交通和物聯網市場帶來創新的新產品。一個這樣的例子是我們最近對 Cerence Car knowledge 所做的改進，Cerence Car knowledge 是一種對汽車製造商及其司機來說很有價值的產品，可以實現有關汽車各個方面的實時可靠情報。

Most recently, we have leveraged Cerence's developed generative AI and large language models to enhance Car Knowledge, demonstrating our continued ability to leverage the latest in AI innovation to further improve the entire experience. With this enhanced version, drivers can ask questions about the cars' features, vehicle status and more. Car Knowledge leverage data from the car sensors combined with user manual data to provide specific tailored answers. Because the responses are sourced purely from OEM-provided data and are tailored to the specific car, the driver can be confident the results are accurate.

最近，我們利用 Cerence 開發的生成式 AI 和大型語言模型來增強 Car Knowledge，展示了我們繼續利用最新的 AI 創新來進一步改善整體體驗的能力。有了這個增強版，司機可以詢問有關汽車功能、車輛狀態等的問題。 Car Knowledge 利用來自汽車傳感器的數據結合用戶手冊數據來提供特定的定制答案。由於響應完全來自 OEM 提供的數據，並且是針對特定汽車量身定制的，因此駕駛員可以確信結果是準確的。

Cerence Car Knowledge is becoming very popular with OEMs with a strong pipeline for the enhanced version. During the quarter, we also released our newest version of Cerence Assistant, the foundational technology for the immersive companion experience. This latest version includes new features like Just Talk, Emotional TTS, (inaudible) capabilities and Apple Music integration.

Cerence Car Knowledge 正變得非常受原始設備製造商歡迎，擁有強大的增強版本管道。本季度，我們還發布了最新版本的 Cerence Assistant，這是沉浸式伴侶體驗的基礎技術。這個最新版本包括 Just Talk、Emotional TTS、（聽不清）功能和 Apple Music 集成等新功能。

Just Talk is just as it sounds. Instead of pressing a button on the steering wheel or saying "Hi Cerence," the driver speaks simply what they want to do. And the car will understand if it is a request or the assistant to respond to or whether the person was talking to another person in the car. No more need for a wake-up word. Just talk to your car like you would to another individual. Truly groundbreaking technology. This technology is currently being integrated in the new Mercedes-Benz platform shipping this summer in the E-Class.

Just Talk 就像它聽起來的那樣。駕駛員無需按下方向盤上的按鈕或說“Hi Cerence”，而是簡單地說出他們想做的事情。並且汽車會明白這是一個請求還是助手要回應，或者這個人是否在和車裡的另一個人說話。不再需要喚醒詞。就像和另一個人一樣和你的車說話。真正的突破性技術。這項技術目前正被集成到今年夏天在 E 級車型上發售的全新梅賽德斯-奔馳平台中。

The first two 2-wheeler customer started production into 2 with our Cerence Ride product, and we expect 2 more in Q3. At its core, Cerence Ride uses our Cerence Assistant technology, but enhanced to provide unique features for the 2-wheeler market. These features include applying our audio AI technologies in new ways to account for the open cabin noise environment of a 2-wheeler.

前兩個 2 輪車客戶開始使用我們的 Cerence Ride 產品生產 2 個，我們預計第三季度還會有 2 個。 Cerence Ride 的核心是使用我們的 Cerence Assistant 技術，但經過增強後可為兩輪車市場提供獨特的功能。這些功能包括以新的方式應用我們的音頻 AI 技術來解決兩輪車的開放式機艙噪音環境。

As you would expect, the noise environment creates some unique challenges for natural language understanding but our team has done an amazing job achieving the accuracy levels needed for achieving an enjoyable user experience. During Q2, we continued to enhance several key AI technologies, including our neural network-based emotional text-to-speech product. Using our emotion detection technology, the assistant can address the emotional state of the driver. For example, if a driver is experiencing road rage, the system can respond in a calming voice using the appropriate pitch and inflection accordingly.

正如您所預料的那樣，噪音環境對自然語言的理解帶來了一些獨特的挑戰，但我們的團隊已經完成了出色的工作，達到了獲得愉快的用戶體驗所需的準確度水平。在第二季度，我們繼續增強了幾項關鍵的人工智能技術，包括我們基於神經網絡的情感文本轉語音產品。使用我們的情緒檢測技術，助手可以解決駕駛員的情緒狀態。例如，如果司機遇到路怒症，系統可以相應地使用適當的音高和音調以平靜的聲音做出回應。

This is similar for other situations, including fear, surprise or fatigue. It is truly amazing to hear how our technology can deliver verbal responses based on the driver's emotional state. We also continue to refine and expand coverage for our emergency vehicle detection technology. There are upwards of 1,500 unique emergency vehicles sounds throughout the world. And we believe we offer the most extensive and accurate coverage.

這與其他情況類似，包括恐懼、驚奇或疲勞。聽到我們的技術如何根據駕駛員的情緒狀態做出口頭回應，真是令人驚嘆。我們還繼續完善和擴大我們的緊急車輛檢測技術的覆蓋範圍。全世界有超過 1,500 種獨特的緊急車輛聲音。我們相信我們提供最廣泛和準確的報導。

In fact, one of our customers compared our EVD solution to 2 others, and our AI-based technology came out on top. The other significant advancement we made in the quarter was with our voice biometrics capability. We have developed an updated version of this technology. Much like fingerprinting is used for identification, our voice biometric product can identify unique human characteristics and person's voice that can be used for digitally identifying a person to provide access to systems, devices or data.

事實上，我們的一位客戶將我們的 EVD 解決方案與另外 2 家進行了比較，我們基於 AI 的技術名列前茅。我們在本季度取得的另一項重大進步是我們的語音生物識別功能。我們開發了該技術的更新版本。就像指紋識別用於身份識別一樣，我們的語音生物識別產品可以識別獨特的人類特徵和人的聲音，這些特徵和人的聲音可用於對人進行數字識別，以提供對系統、設備或數據的訪問。

In an era where voice is an increasingly popular enabler of many different types of transactions, being able to accurately recognize who is placing an order or making a request is vitally important. On the innovation front, I'm really excited about what our engineering teams have done to elevate our product offering. And I'm equally excited about the new innovations we will be bringing to market under the leadership of Iqbal and Nils.

在語音成為許多不同類型交易的日益流行的推動因素的時代，能夠準確識別誰在下訂單或提出請求至關重要。在創新方面，我對我們的工程團隊為提升我們的產品供應所做的工作感到非常興奮。我同樣對我們將在 Iqbal 和 Nils 的領導下推向市場的創新感到興奮。

Before I hand the call over to Tom to review our Q2 results and Q3 guidance in detail, I would like to summarize the priorities I've set for the company for the full fiscal year. It is all about operational excellence, which covers all aspects of our business from meeting and exceeding our customers' expectations, securing a strong second half of bookings, managing the business model and meeting our full year guidance. The team at Cerence is well aligned and excited about delivering on these goals.

在我將電話轉給湯姆詳細審查我們的第二季度業績和第三季度指導意見之前，我想總結一下我為公司設定的整個財政年度的優先事項。這一切都與卓越運營有關，它涵蓋了我們業務的方方面面，從滿足和超越客戶的期望、確保下半年的強勁預訂、管理業務模式到滿足我們的全年指導。 Cerence 的團隊對實現這些目標非常一致和興奮。

I will now turn it over to Tom.

我現在將把它交給湯姆。

Thank you, Stefan. I'll come back to guidance for Q3 in a moment. But first, I want to share more on our Q2 results. With a strong Q2 results, we are providing another positive data point and our goal to consistently deliver on our commitments. Q2 revenue came in at $68.4 million, above the high end of our guidance. This is due to a combination of better-than-expected strengths in our core business with higher-than-anticipated contributions from license, connected services and professional services, new fixed contracts and consumption of existing fixed contracts in the quarter was in line with expectations.

謝謝你，斯特凡。我稍後會回到第三季度的指導。但首先，我想分享更多關於我們第二季度的結果。憑藉強勁的第二季度業績，我們提供了另一個積極的數據點和我們持續兌現承諾的目標。第二季度收入為 6840 萬美元，高於我們指引的上限。這是由於我們核心業務的優勢好於預期，許可、連接服務和專業服務的貢獻高於預期，本季度新固定合同和現有固定合同的消耗符合預期.

Based on the higher revenue, we exceeded most of our key profitability metrics we guided for the quarter. Non-GAAP gross margin was 65.3%. Non-GAAP operating margin was negative 0.1%. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.5 million or 3.6% margin, and non-GAAP loss per share was $0.04. With the exception of non-GAAP operating margin and adjusted EBITDA, these metrics came in above the high end of our guidance, including a $3.8 million reserve for bad debt with a specific EV customer.

基於更高的收入，我們超出了本季度指導的大部分關鍵盈利指標。非美國通用會計準則毛利率為 65.3%。非 GAAP 營業利潤率為負 0.1%。調整後的 EBITDA 為 250 萬美元或 3.6% 的利潤率，非 GAAP 每股虧損為 0.04 美元。除了非 GAAP 營業利潤率和調整後的 EBITDA 外，這些指標均高於我們指導的高端，包括 380 萬美元的特定 EV 客戶壞賬準備金。

Both the metrics, non-GAAP operating margin and adjusted EBITDA were at the midpoint of the range. During the quarter, we returned to positive cash flow as expected. Cash flow from operations was approximately $6.6 million. Our balance sheet remains strong with total cash and marketable securities of approximately $123 million. There is a breakdown of revenue for the quarter. Variable license revenue was up 30% from the same quarter last year and essentially flat quarter-over-quarter.

非 GAAP 營業利潤率和調整後的 EBITDA 這兩個指標都處於該範圍的中點。本季度，我們如預期恢復了正現金流。來自運營的現金流約為 660 萬美元。我們的資產負債表依然強勁，現金和有價證券總額約為 1.23 億美元。本季度有收入明細。可變許可收入比去年同期增長 30%，環比基本持平。

The increase compared to last year were due to lower consumption of fixed licenses, slowly improving auto production and increasing penetration. New connected services revenue was down 5% from the same quarter last year and up 6% from last quarter. The year-over-year decline was the result of several previously disclosed factors, such as lower production of connected cars over the last 3 fiscal years due to semiconductor shortages and expiring contracts for older technology, separate from legacy contracts.

與去年相比的增長是由於固定牌照的消耗減少、汽車產量緩慢提高和滲透率增加。新連接服務收入比去年同期下降 5%，比上一季度增長 6%。同比下降是先前披露的幾個因素的結果，例如過去 3 個財年因半導體短缺導致聯網汽車產量下降，以及與舊合同不同的舊技術合同即將到期。

Finally, our professional services revenue was down 10% year-over-year and down 6% quarter-over-quarter. Professional services will vary based on the progress or completion of customer projects as the pro services team includes the individuals who directly interface with customers to customize and implement Cerence's technology on next-generation OEM platforms. We don't see professional services revenue growth driver for the company. But instead, it acts as an enabler for future licenses and connected revenue.

最後，我們的專業服務收入同比下降 10%，環比下降 6%。專業服務將根據客戶項目的進展或完成情況而有所不同，因為專業服務團隊包括直接與客戶互動以在下一代 OEM 平台上定制和實施 Cerence 技術的個人。我們沒有看到公司的專業服務收入增長動力。但相反，它充當了未來許可和相關收入的推動者。

Moving on to the details in our license business. Overall, the license business remains strong and is indicating slow improvement from the issues that have plagued auto production over the last few years. Pro forma royalties were up 7% year-over-year and 2% quarter-over-quarter due to increased auto production and penetration of our technology. This was the third quarter in a row of pro forma royalty growth. We signed fixed contracts in the quarter worth $4.6 million, all as prepaid contracts. This was in line with our estimates going into the quarter of approximately $5 million.

繼續我們的許可業務的細節。總體而言，許可證業務依然強勁，表明過去幾年困擾汽車生產的問題進展緩慢。由於汽車產量增加和我們技術的普及，預計特許權使用費同比增長 7%，環比增長 2%。這是連續第三個季度預估特許權使用費增長。我們在本季度簽署了價值 460 萬美元的固定合同，均為預付合同。這符合我們對本季度約 500 萬美元的估計。

We continue to manage fixed contracts to an approximate $4 million level for the full year. We initially had expected to execute on approximately $15 million of fixed contracts in Q3. We now expect no fixed contracts in Q3 and in the range of $5 million to $15 million in Q4 as we continue to negotiate these opportunities.

我們將繼續管理全年約 400 萬美元的固定合同。我們最初預計在第三季度執行約 1500 萬美元的固定合同。隨著我們繼續談判這些機會，我們現在預計第三季度沒有固定合同，第四季度將在 500 萬至 1500 萬美元之間。

Full year fixed contracts are now expected to be in the range of $29 million to $39 million. Consumption of fixed licenses declined 13% compared to the same period last year. The majority of our KPIs continue to indicate strength in the business. Our penetration of global auto production for the trailing 12 months increased to 53% from 52% last quarter. This means over half of global auto production includes some level of Cerence technology.

全年固定合同現在預計在 2900 萬至 3900 萬美元之間。與去年同期相比，固定許可證的使用量下降了 13%。我們的大多數 KPI 繼續表明業務實力。我們在過去 12 個月的全球汽車生產滲透率從上一季度的 52% 增加到 53%。這意味著全球一半以上的汽車生產都採用了某種程度的 Cerence 技術。

Of the total 11.8 million cars with Cerence technology, those that use our connected services increased 27% quarter-over-quarter. We also saw a large increase in monthly active users, 29% year-over-year, indicating increasing popularity among consumers of our technology. The billings per car KPI declined 9%, including a negative FX impact of 3 percentage points.

在採用 Cerence 技術的 1180 萬輛汽車中，使用我們互聯服務的汽車比上一季度增長了 27%。我們還看到每月活躍用戶大幅增加，同比增長 29%，表明我們的技術在消費者中越來越受歡迎。每輛車 KPI 的賬單下降了 9%，其中包括 3 個百分點的負面外匯影響。

Now turning to revenue guidance for Q3 and the fiscal year. One factor that will have an impact on our quarterly revenue is the value of fixed contracts in the second half of the fiscal year. As I mentioned earlier, we expect 6 contracts of approximately 0 in Q3, and $5 million to $15 million in Q4. Taking that into consideration, we are guiding revenue from $58 million to $62 million for Q3. With the first half behind us, and taking into account the expected contribution range from fixed contracts in the second half, we are raising the low end of our fiscal year guidance from $275 million to $280 million.

現在轉向第三季度和本財年的收入指導。影響我們季度收入的一個因素是本財年下半年固定合同的價值。正如我之前提到的，我們預計第三季度有 6 份合同，大約為 0，第四季度為 500 萬至 1500 萬美元。考慮到這一點，我們將第三季度的收入從 5800 萬美元提高到 6200 萬美元。上半年已經過去，並考慮到下半年固定合同的預期貢獻範圍，我們將財年指導的下限從 2.75 億美元提高到 2.8 億美元。

You can see on the slide, the revenue guidance and the effect of the associated financial metrics. Overall, the business continues to perform, as we outlined at the beginning of the fiscal year, and we remain focused on innovation, operational excellence and strong bookings in the second half to achieve our long-term goals.

您可以在幻燈片上看到收入指導和相關財務指標的影響。總體而言，正如我們在本財年年初概述的那樣，業務繼續表現良好，我們將在下半年繼續專注於創新、卓越運營和強勁的預訂量，以實現我們的長期目標。

This concludes our prepared remarks, and now we will open the call for questions.

我們準備好的發言到此結束，現在我們將開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Jeff Van Rhee with Craig Hallum Capital Group.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Craig Hallum Capital Group 的 Jeff Van Rhee。

Real nice quarter. It looks like everything is tracking well and connected units, a bunch of things to like here. In terms of the billings per car TTM, I think that's decelerated in the last couple of quarters. The only metric or one of very few going the wrong way. What's going on with the billing per unit?

真正好的季度。看起來一切都在很好地跟踪和連接單元，這裡有很多值得喜歡的東西。就每輛車 TTM 的賬單而言，我認為這在過去幾個季度有所放緩。唯一的指標或極少數走錯路的指標之一。每單位計費是怎麼回事？

Thanks, Jeff. It's -- a little bit of it is mix and how the OEMs are reporting each quarter. We also noted that there was an FX impact this quarter. And some of that is also the implementation of new projects and programs which, as we've talked about previously, some of the new ones do carry a higher PPU. Those are really driven and dictated by the OEMs. So some of that is how quickly they're getting those programs into production, and therefore, the billings and the royalty reporting flowing through the financials. So a bit of it is mix, a bit of it is FX, and then a bit of it is slight delays in some of the newer programs.

謝謝，傑夫。它是——其中有一部分是混合的，以及原始設備製造商每個季度的報告方式。我們還注意到本季度存在外匯影響。其中一些也是新項目和計劃的實施，正如我們之前談到的那樣，一些新項目和計劃確實具有更高的 PPU。這些實際上是由原始設備製造商驅動和決定的。因此，其中一些是他們將這些程序投入生產的速度，因此，賬單和特許權使用費報告流經財務部門。所以其中一部分是混合，一部分是 FX，還有一部分是一些較新程序的輕微延遲。

How do you think about that number maybe over the next still a little longer duration over the next year or 2?

您如何看待這個數字，也許在接下來的一年或兩年內會持續更長的時間？

Well, it's critical. I mean, as we talked about at our Investor Day and as we continue to drive stronger bookings, particularly with some of the new innovation and the technologies that Stefan talked about. We still have expectations for growing PPUs on both, the embedded and the connected side of the [house.]

好吧，這很關鍵。我的意思是，正如我們在投資者日所說的那樣，隨著我們繼續推動更強勁的預訂，特別是 Stefan 談到的一些新創新和技術。我們仍然期望在 [house] 的嵌入式和連接端增加 PPU。

Great. And then just one other -- obviously, at the November Investor Day, you had talked about the sort of projections or target models for the out years, not formal guidance, but give us a sense of pretty dramatic EBITDA growth in FY '24. But you said it hinged on start of production and particularly both, on the 2-wheeler side as well as you were just talking about some of these price uplifts come in the new contracts that have yet to go to start of production. So I guess the question is starts of production, both on the key automotive platforms as well as the 2-wheelers, just talk about how those are tracking?

偉大的。然後只是另一個 - 顯然，在 11 月的投資者日，你談到了未來幾年的預測或目標模型，而不是正式的指導，但讓我們感覺到 24 財年的 EBITDA 增長非常顯著。但是你說這取決於生產的開始，特別是在兩輪車方面，以及你剛才談論的一些價格上漲來自尚未開始生產的新合同。所以我想問題是開始生產，無論是在關鍵的汽車平台上還是在兩輪車上，只是談談它們是如何跟踪的？

Well, we continue to drive those implementations with the core OEMs. I mean we're not updating any of the future year periods at this point. We'll do that at the end of the fiscal year. And then as Stefan talked about, we continue to have strong win backs and program wins kind of as reflected in the bookings.

好吧，我們將繼續與核心 OEM 一起推動這些實施。我的意思是我們此時不會更新任何未來年度。我們將在財政年度結束時這樣做。然後正如 Stefan 所說，我們繼續有強勁的贏回和節目勝利，這在預訂中有所體現。

So let me add a few things. Stefan here. I think we are making good progress here with all OEMs. You heard also with this leading Chinese OEM, right, but also with European and North American OEMs. On the 2-wheeler side, we have in total now 7 wins. That's great here. Two 2 wheelers went live in Q2. We are expecting another big SOP in India, one of the top 3 2-wheeler manufacturer and then a legendary brand will go live also next -- in Q3 in North America.

所以讓我補充幾件事。斯特凡在這裡。我認為我們在所有原始設備製造商方面都取得了良好進展。你也聽說過這家領先的中國 OEM，對吧，還有歐洲和北美的 OEM。在兩輪車方面，我們現在總共有 7 場胜利。這裡很棒。兩個 2 輪車在第二季度上線。我們期待印度的另一個大型 SOP，它是前 3 大 2 輪車製造商之一，然後一個傳奇品牌也將在接下來的第三季度在北美上線。

Okay. All right. Great. Last one then. Just you commented several times about the strength of the pipeline and what it's looking like at this point. Maybe just expand a little bit. Any particular geographies, products, kind of coexist environments. What do you notice in that pipeline other than obviously, it sounds like the magnitude has got you pretty excited?

好的。好的。偉大的。那麼最後一個。剛才你多次評論了管道的強度以及它在這一點上的樣子。也許只是擴大一點。任何特定的地域、產品、各種共存環境。您在管道中註意到什麼，除了顯然，聽起來規模讓您非常興奮？

So I think we have just launched Just Talk that was also presented by Ola Kallenius, CEO of Mercedes. This novel feature, as you can imagine, we see a great appetite for our new power knowledge with generative AI. And we have also created a very cost-sensitive approach here. We all know that ChatGPT is quite expensive. But we're doing this also for a couple of years now, working with large language models here. We see also a new appetite here for EVD, emergency vehicle detection. We are progressing from my point of view, an excellent way with our new Cerence Assistance, right. We had also various strategic design wins, again, big tech, so we are on track in my view.

所以我認為我們剛剛推出了 Just Talk，梅賽德斯首席執行官 Ola Kallenius 也介紹了它。正如您可以想像的那樣，這個新穎的功能讓我們看到了對我們通過生成 AI 獲得的新電力知識的極大興趣。我們還在這裡創建了一種對成本非常敏感的方法。我們都知道 ChatGPT 非常昂貴。但我們現在也這樣做了幾年，在這裡使用大型語言模型。我們在這裡還看到了對 EVD（緊急車輛檢測）的新需求。從我的角度來看，我們正在取得進步，這是我們新的 Cerence Assistance 的絕佳方式，對吧。我們也有各種戰略設計勝利，再次，大科技，所以在我看來我們正在走上正軌。

(Operator Instructions) And the next question comes from Colin Langan from Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Colin Langan。

Just want to follow-up on the bookings. I think you reported $263 million. The full year last year was, I think, $648 million. So if I annualize the first half pace, it does seem like a step down from what you were doing full year last year. Any reason for the moderation? Are some of these contracts getting sort of pushed into the second half? How should we think about that?

只想跟進預訂。我想你報告了 2.63 億美元。我認為去年全年是 6.48 億美元。因此，如果我對上半年的步伐進行年度化，這似乎確實比你去年全年所做的有所下降。任何適度的理由？其中一些合同是否被推遲到下半年？我們應該如何考慮？

Yes. Colin, thanks for the question here. So the bookings are lumpy and difficult to predict the timing here. I think when comparing this first half of '23 versus the second half of '22, we see a growth of 11%, which is not bad at all. We have a very strong bookings pipeline with identified solid opportunities for the second half. And we are quite confident that we will also convert these opportunities in really strong bookings.

是的。科林，謝謝你在這裡提問。所以這裡的預訂很不穩定，很難預測時間。我認為，將 23 年上半年與 22 年下半年進行比較時，我們看到了 11% 的增長，這一點也不差。我們有一個非常強大的預訂渠道，並為下半年確定了可靠的機會。我們非常有信心，我們也會將這些機會轉化為非常強勁的預訂。

Okay. I mean, is the thought that bookings this year will still grow? Or is last year just a tough comp because it's so high?

好的。我的意思是，是否認為今年的預訂量仍會增長？或者去年只是一個艱難的比賽，因為它太高了？

We don't provide guidance on bookings here. But also here, we are on track what we also said at the earnings day.

我們在這裡不提供預訂指南。但同樣在這裡，我們正在按照我們在財報日所說的進行。

I would just add that bookings is the estimated value of the length of the entire contract. And the length of those contracts can vary quite widely by OEMs. Sometimes the 5 years, 7 years. We've seen 10-year contracts. So some of that lumpiness -- we can still be winning significant amount of platforms. And as we talked about, we've had a number of win backs.

我只想補充一點，預訂是整個合同期限的估計值。這些合同的期限因原始設備製造商而異。有時5年，7年。我們見過 10 年的合同。所以有些笨拙——我們仍然可以贏得大量的平台。正如我們所說，我們已經贏回了很多。

We haven't had many losses at all. And that's why at the end of last year, we tried to move to this kind of 5-year backlog model, which we will update along with our guidance at the end of the year, which I think is a good indicator of kind of the medium to the visible revenue over the next 2, 3, 4, 5 years. But I think as Stefan alluded to, there was growth above the second half of last year in this first year, and we have a strong pipeline for the second half.

我們根本沒有多少損失。這就是為什麼在去年年底，我們試圖轉向這種 5 年積壓模型，我們將在年底與我們的指導一起更新，我認為這是一個很好的指標未來 2、3、4、5 年的可見收入中等。但我認為正如 Stefan 提到的那樣，第一年的增長高於去年下半年，下半年我們有強大的渠道。

Got it. That's helpful color. Just a quick question. You raised sales guidance and gross margin guidance slightly. Why EBIT and operating income are still unchanged? Is there sort of SG&A inflation, or it's just sort of rounding?

知道了。這是有用的顏色。只是一個簡單的問題。您略微提高了銷售指引和毛利率指引。為什麼息稅前利潤和營業收入仍然沒有變化？是否存在 SG&A 通貨膨脹，或者只是四捨五入？

Well, we did have to take a $3.8 million bad debt reserve against the specific EV customer. We believe that customer is also having issues with other vendors. That goes into G&A. We made up some of that in the bottom line, because we had some FX impact. We had some better interest income and a couple of other factors. So that's why you see a little bit of a shortfall. We're still in the middle of the guidance level, but then we kind of made it up in OIE and other activities.

好吧，我們確實需要為特定的電動汽車客戶提取 380 萬美元的壞賬準備金。我們認為客戶也有與其他供應商的問題。這進入了 G&A。我們在底線彌補了其中的一部分，因為我們對外匯產生了一些影響。我們有一些更好的利息收入和其他一些因素。所以這就是為什麼你會看到一點點不足。我們仍處於指導水平的中間，但後來我們在 OIE 和其他活動中彌補了這一點。

And the next question comes from Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的馬克德萊尼。

You mentioned a handful of win backs that were achieved in the quarter. And you spoke on some of the technology capabilities that led to it. But could you elaborate a little bit more on the pricing behind some of these win backs? And did you have to price more aggressively, perhaps in order to bring customers back to Cerence? And how does that feed into the PPU commentary you previously articulated of that trending higher in the coming years?

你提到了本季度取得的一些勝利。你談到了導致它的一些技術能力。但是您能否詳細說明其中一些贏回背後的定價？您是否必須更激進地定價，也許是為了將客戶帶回 Cerence？這如何融入您之前闡述的未來幾年趨勢走高的 PPU 評論中？

Mark, I think it's all about a rock-solid technology. As you can imagine, right, most of the OEMs doing also on a continuous basis evaluation and benchmarking. In Q2, that was actually where we would beat some niche player here, right? And now we are again back into North America for Connected Services. It has nothing to do with the pricing scheme. It's all about our expertise with AI with a very improved cloud AI stack, what I also said in some of the last earnings. And we're bringing also more and more our vertical expertise. It's all about performance here, right?

馬克，我認為這一切都與堅如磐石的技術有關。正如您所想像的那樣，大多數原始設備製造商也在持續進行評估和基準測試。在 Q2，這實際上是我們在這裡擊敗一些小眾玩家的地方，對吧？現在我們再次回到北美進行互聯服務。它與定價方案無關。這完全是關於我們在 AI 方面的專業知識和非常改進的雲 AI 堆棧，我在最近的一些收益中也說過。我們也帶來了越來越多的垂直專業知識。這一切都與性能有關，對嗎？

Okay. So when you kind of look at these win backs overall, that is still consistent with the view of increasing PPU?

好的。所以當你從整體上看這些贏回時，這是否仍然與增加 PPU 的觀點一致？

Yes.

是的。

Yes.

是的。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just my other one was around the revenue cadence, 2Q, 3Q. Tom, you mentioned some movement around when some of these fixed contracts will be signed. If I heard correctly, what was going to go into fiscal third quarter, now in fiscal 4Q. Why is that moving around? Is there anything you guys are trying to do around getting better margin just sort of normal timing or anything else you can share the reason for the step down in the third quarter, but then comes back in 4Q?

好的。這很有幫助。然後我的另一個是關於收入節奏，第二季度，第三季度。湯姆，你提到了一些固定合同何時簽署的動向。如果我沒聽錯的話，什麼會進入第三財季，現在是第四財季。為什麼它會四處移動？你們有沒有想做些什麼來獲得更好的利潤率只是一種正常的時間或任何其他你可以分享第三季度下台的原因，但隨後在第四季度又回來了？

As we've talked about, we have a pretty -- we have pretty good visibility to the pipeline for fixed contracts, as we've stated consistently. This is a small group of Tier 1 customers. And so we kind of know when they would be up for doing either a new fixed contract as one expires or other activities. And as we look at that pipeline for the rest of the year, we feel that with a couple of these opportunities, we'll be in a better position to negotiate those. We really do want to control the discount levels on these.

正如我們所談到的，我們有一個漂亮的 - 我們對固定合同的管道有很好的可見性，正如我們一貫所說的那樣。這是一小部分一級客戶。因此，我們知道他們什麼時候可以在合同到期時進行新的固定合同或其他活動。當我們審視今年剩餘時間的管道時，我們覺得有了這些機會中的一些，我們將能夠更好地談判這些機會。我們真的很想控制這些的折扣水平。

And I think Stefan and I, it's much more important to do that because as we've talked about, these are already won deals. So we're already achieving revenues on these. The customer may be under a current fixed contract, but that's expiring. So I think it's important to really line up with the sales organization, line up with well, even the customers in some respects around the timing of those and what's an appropriate win-win discount levels on those that gives them some of the cost reductions that they're looking for but also provides the effective cash flow but not too high a discount. That affects the consumption level on a go-forward basis. So that's the only real reason.

而且我認為 Stefan 和我，這樣做更為重要，因為正如我們所討論的，這些都是已經贏得的交易。所以我們已經在這些方面實現了收入。客戶可能在當前的固定合同下，但該合同即將到期。因此，我認為真正與銷售組織保持一致非常重要，甚至在某些方面與客戶保持一致，圍繞這些時間安排以及對那些給予他們一些成本降低的適當雙贏折扣水平是多少他們正在尋找既能提供有效現金流又不會過高的折扣。這會影響未來的消費水平。所以這是唯一真正的原因。

Our next question comes from Raji Gill with Needham.

我們的下一個問題來自 Raji Gill 和 Needham。

This is Nick Doyle on for Raji Gill. Just wanted to ask again about the win backs. I guess there were 2 this quarter and 1 last quarter. Just -- if those affect your long-term target, if it's incremental or already included in the model you provided at Analyst Day, and then if you could just talk a little bit more about how you won this back and if there's any difference between winning back from the niche player versus the kind of big tech player?

這是 Raji Gill 的 Nick Doyle。只是想再次詢問有關贏回的問題。我猜這個季度有 2 個，上個季度有 1 個。只是——如果這些影響了你的長期目標，如果它是增量的或已經包含在你在分析師日提供的模型中，那麼你是否可以多談談你是如何贏回這個目標的，以及兩者之間是否有任何區別從小眾玩家和大型科技玩家那裡贏回來？

I'll handle the first part, and then Stefan, you can talk about the actual win backs. Just from a financial modeling standpoint, I mean we have bookings expectations to drive the medium- and long-term goals and sometimes they come from extensions and sometimes, they come from new platforms and models and some cases, they come from win-back. I mean all of these factors help us to drive towards the longer-term models, which we'll roll out in November.

我會處理第一部分，然後 Stefan，你可以談談實際的贏回。僅從財務建模的角度來看，我的意思是我們有預訂預期來推動中長期目標，有時它們來自擴展，有時它們來自新平台和模型，在某些情況下，它們來自贏回。我的意思是，所有這些因素都有助於我們推動我們將在 11 月推出的長期模型。

And when looking at the technical stuff of our solution, right, the win backs were driven actually by our new Cerence Assistant. And we could convince that this new solution is easy to integrate. We could also show on OEM's platform the benefits in terms of user experience, in terms of accuracy and also in terms of fast response and behavior, right? And we address all the vertical needs for the OEMs, with full flexibility for customization on top of our Cerence Assistant and also offering the so-called co-existence.

當查看我們解決方案的技術內容時，正確的是，贏回實際上是由我們的新 Cerence Assistant 推動的。我們可以確信這個新解決方案很容易集成。我們還可以在 OEM 平台上展示用戶體驗、準確性以及快速響應和行為方面的優勢，對嗎？我們解決了 OEM 的所有垂直需求，在我們的 Cerence Assistant 之上具有完全的定制靈活性，還提供所謂的共存。

And then for my follow-up, what are your assumptions for the AUTOSAR in '23 and '24? And was the entirety of the raise really driven by the kind of high [chassis] increase?

然後對於我的後續行動，您對 23 年和 24 年的 AUTOSAR 有何假設？整個加薪真的是由那種高[底盤]增加推動的嗎？

I assume you meant '23.

我假設你的意思是'23。

Yes.

是的。

We had originally modeled in about 3% which at the time was significantly less than with IHS, I think they're at like 7%, they've since moved up to 4%. So as we've looked at our royalty reporting, I think we're back in line with them at about 4%. And our raise is really some portion of that plus, as you saw, we've increased the penetration by 1 point over the trailing 12 months. So it's a combination of those factors.

我們最初建模時約為 3%，當時明顯低於 IHS，我認為它們大約為 7%，此後已上升至 4%。因此，當我們查看我們的版稅報告時，我認為我們回到了與他們一致的大約 4% 的水平。我們的加薪實際上是其中的一部分，正如您所見，我們在過去 12 個月內將滲透率提高了 1 個百分點。所以這是這些因素的結合。

Thank you all for joining us this morning. And we will be in touch and hopefully see you in some of the upcoming conferences and investor events. Thank you, and have a good day.

感謝大家今天早上加入我們。我們將與您保持聯繫，並希望在即將舉行的一些會議和投資者活動中見到您。謝謝你，有一個美好的一天。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了程序。您現在可以斷開連接。