Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc (EKSO) 2018 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Ekso Bionics' Third Quarter 2018 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎來到 Ekso Bionics 2018 年第三季度電話會議。（操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, David Carey of Lazar Partners. Please go ahead, sir.

我現在想把會議轉交給你們的主持人，Lazar Partners 的 David Carey。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, operator, and thank you all for participating in today's call. Joining me from Ekso Bionics are Jack Peurach, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Jack Glenn, Chief Financial Officer. Early today, Ekso Bionics released financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2018. A copy of the press release is available on the company's website.

謝謝接線員，也感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。和我一起來自 Ekso Bionics 的是總裁兼首席執行官 Jack Peurach；和首席財務官 Jack Glenn。今天早些時候，Ekso Bionics 發布了截至 2018 年 9 月 30 日的季度財務業績。新聞稿的副本可在公司網站上獲取。

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that management will make statements during this call that include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that are not statements of historical facts should be deemed to be forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements, including, without limitation or examination of historical operating trends and our future financial or operational expectations, are based upon management's current estimates and various assumptions. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated or implied by these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these statements. For a list and description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ekso disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any financial or operational projections or other forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. This conference call contains time-sensitive information and is accurate only as of the broadcast today, November 7, 2018.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，管理層將在本次電話會議期間發表聲明，其中包括聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性聲明，這些聲明是根據美國私人證券訴訟改革法案的安全港條款作出的1995.本次電話會議中包含的任何不是歷史事實陳述的陳述都應被視為前瞻性陳述。所有前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於歷史經營趨勢和我們未來財務或經營預期的檢查，均基於管理層當前的估計和各種假設。這些陳述涉及重大風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果或事件與這些前瞻性陳述預期或暗示的結果或事件存在重大差異。因此，您不應過分依賴這些陳述。有關與我們業務相關的風險和不確定性的列表和描述，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。除法律要求外，Ekso 不承擔更新或修改任何財務或運營預測或其他前瞻性陳述的任何意圖或義務，無論是因為新信息、未來事件還是其他原因。此電話會議包含時間敏感信息，僅在 2018 年 11 月 7 日今天播出時準確無誤。

I'll now turn the call over to Jack Peurach. Jack?

我現在將電話轉給 Jack Peurach。傑克？

Thanks, David, and thanks to everyone for joining today's call. I'm pleased to report that we had our best third quarter in the history of our company and our second strongest quarter ever from a revenue perspective. This underscores the growing adoption of our innovative products and reflects growing awareness of the benefits that our EksoGT and EksoWorks offerings provide our rehabilitation and industrial customers. We are also very proud of our year-over-year sales growth.

謝謝大衛，感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。我很高興地報告，從收入的角度來看，我們迎來了公司歷史上最好的第三季度，也是有史以來第二強勁的季度。這突顯了我們的創新產品越來越多地被採用，並反映出人們越來越意識到我們的 EksoGT 和 EksoWorks 產品為我們的康復和工業客戶帶來的好處。我們也為我們的銷售額同比增長感到自豪。

The key takeaway from our third quarter 2018 financial performance is that our commercial strategy continues to deliver results. Notably, our U.S. sales pipeline has more than doubled since the first quarter of 2018. Total revenue in the third quarter was up by 60% from the prior year period, with revenue from our rehabilitation business growing by more than 30%. Additionally, our sales productivity, as measured by units per salesperson, has also increased by almost 50% in the last 3 quarters.

我們 2018 年第三季度財務業績的主要收穫是我們的商業戰略繼續取得成果。值得注意的是，自 2018 年第一季度以來，我們在美國的銷售渠道增加了一倍多。第三季度的總收入比去年同期增長了 60%，其中康復業務的收入增長了 30% 以上。此外，我們的銷售效率（以每個銷售人員的單位數衡量）在過去 3 個季度中也增長了近 50%。

Even more importantly, we are seeing an increase of interest from centers specifically focused on neurosciences and neurological rehabilitation, many of whom operate multiple facilities across an integrated network. We believe this demand is driven by an increasing understanding of the clinical and economic benefits our customers receive from the EksoGT as they are able to treat more severe patients through a broad continuum of care. Approximately 1/3 of our U.S. customers have multiple GT systems, and we currently have several multiunit sales in the pipeline. We believe this is a solid indication that our customers are embracing the EksoGT and making it a core part of their rehabilitation programs.

更重要的是，我們看到專門關注神經科學和神經康復的中心越來越感興趣，其中許多中心在一個綜合網絡中運營多個設施。我們認為，這種需求是由於越來越多地了解我們的客戶從 EksoGT 獲得的臨床和經濟利益，因為他們能夠通過廣泛的連續護理來治療更嚴重的患者。我們大約 1/3 的美國客戶擁有多個 GT 系統，我們目前有多個多單元銷售正在籌備中。我們相信這是一個有力的跡象，表明我們的客戶正在接受 EksoGT 並將其作為他們康復計劃的核心部分。

As we increase our sales productivity, we are also gaining significant benefits from our rental program which is helping drive customer adoption of our products. Our rental offerings provide customers with a bridge to capital budgeted purchase, giving them more flexible access to our products outside of annual budgeting processes and constraints. Although the rental program is still in its early days, conversion rates from a rental to a sale are approaching 80%. We believe this high conversion rate is driven by our customers' commitment to incorporate EksoGT into rehabilitation programs supported by its clinical and economic benefits. The potential value of our current rental fleet, assuming that all rental units convert to sales, is in excess of $3 million.

隨著我們提高銷售效率，我們還從租賃計劃中獲得了顯著收益，這有助於推動客戶採用我們的產品。我們的租賃產品為客戶提供了資本預算購買的橋樑，使他們能夠在年度預算流程和限制之外更靈活地訪問我們的產品。儘管租賃計劃仍處於早期階段，但從租賃到銷售的轉化率已接近 80%。我們相信，這種高轉化率是由我們的客戶承諾將 EksoGT 納入其臨床和經濟效益支持的康復計劃所推動的。假設所有租賃單位都轉化為銷售額，我們當前租賃車隊的潛在價值超過 300 萬美元。

We also had our best revenue quarter ever in our EksoWorks industrial segment, reflecting growing demand for our EksoVest and EksoZeroG units. Our strategy to create greater value and generate sustained levels of profitability through solid partnerships with industrial customers continues to take shape. We are focused on exploring new opportunities to expand with other partnerships similar to the one we announced with Ford last quarter. This remains an important part of our growth strategy, and we are excited with the progress to date. Multiple large scale manufacturing customers, including several Fortune 500 companies, are piloting our products to validate their effectiveness, and we are optimistic that several of these pilot programs will progress to more substantial sales opportunities.

我們的 EksoWorks 工業部門也有有史以來最好的收入季度，反映出對我們的 EksoVest 和 EksoZeroG 裝置的需求不斷增長。我們通過與工業客戶建立穩固的合作夥伴關係來創造更大價值並產生持續盈利水平的戰略不斷形成。我們專注於探索新的機會，以擴大與其他合作夥伴關係的合作，類似於我們上個季度宣布的與福特的合作夥伴關係。這仍然是我們增長戰略的重要組成部分，我們對迄今為止取得的進展感到興奮。包括多家財富 500 強公司在內的多個大型製造客戶正在試用我們的產品以驗證其有效性，我們樂觀地認為其中幾個試點項目將取得更大的銷售機會。

A key focus, since I became CEO, has been on improving our operational efficiencies. And our third quarter results demonstrate that we are making significant progress in this area. We achieved company-wide gross margins of 42% for the third quarter, an 8 percentage point increase from 34% for the same period in 2017. This is due, in part, to better articulate our value proposition to our customers as well as reducing our costs of goods. Additionally, these operational efficiencies have flowed through our company and helped reduce our cash consumption. Our operational efficiencies were also enhanced by refinements that we have made in our service business. As a result of these changes, which include improvements in our service model as well as ongoing improvements to the robustness and maturity of our product, the service business reported its first-ever operating profit in the third quarter of 2018. This remains an emerging business for us, and we will continue to explore ways to improve profitability going forward.

自從我成為首席執行官以來，一個關鍵的重點一直是提高我們的運營效率。我們第三季度的業績表明我們在這一領域取得了重大進展。我們在第三季度實現了 42% 的全公司毛利率，比 2017 年同期的 34% 提高了 8 個百分點。這在一定程度上是為了更好地向客戶闡明我們的價值主張，並降低我們的商品成本。此外，這些運營效率已經流經我們公司並幫助減少我們的現金消耗。我們在服務業務中所做的改進也提高了我們的運營效率。由於這些變化，包括我們服務模式的改進以及對產品穩健性和成熟度的持續改進，服務業務在 2018 年第三季度報告了有史以來的首次營業利潤。這對我們來說仍然是一項新興業務，我們將繼續探索提高未來盈利能力的方法。

Our approach to enhancing broader and more rapid adoption of our products while driving efficiencies in our commercial operations includes the communication of clear, clinical and economic benefits that our innovative technology provides. Toward this end, we are targeting key decision makers and educating them on the EksoGT value proposition. Our research indicates that patients using the EksoGT increased their distance walk, leg strength and endurance as well as gait speed, balance and midline alignment during their recovery. Clinics also benefit from the EksoGT through longer treatment at a high reimbursement rates, increased throughput and greater patient volume.

我們在提高商業運營效率的同時加強更廣泛和更快速地採用我們的產品的方法包括傳達我們的創新技術提供的明確、臨床和經濟效益。為此，我們以關鍵決策者為目標，並就 EksoGT 價值主張對他們進行教育。我們的研究表明，使用 EksoGT 的患者在恢復期間提高了步行距離、腿部力量和耐力以及步態速度、平衡和中線對齊。診所還可以通過以高報銷率延長治療時間、增加吞吐量和增加患者數量而從 EksoGT 中受益。

Before I turn the call over to Jack Glenn, I want to welcome him as our new Chief Financial Officer. Jack joined Ekso in August and brings over 25 years of financial leadership experience within public and private companies in the life sciences industry. He's a valuable addition to our leadership team especially as we continue to grow our business efficiently. We are excited to have Jack on the team.

在我把電話轉給傑克格倫之前，我想歡迎他成為我們的新首席財務官。Jack 於 8 月加入 Ekso，他在生命科學行業的上市公司和私營公司擁有超過 25 年的財務領導經驗。他對我們的領導團隊來說是一個寶貴的補充，尤其是在我們繼續有效發展業務的時候。我們很高興 Jack 加入我們的團隊。

Now we will turn the call over to Jack G to review our 2018 third quarter financial results.

現在我們將把電話轉給 Jack G 來審查我們 2018 年第三季度的財務業績。

Thank you, Jack, for the warm introduction. Now turning to our financial results. Total reported revenue for Q3 2018 was approximately $2.6 million compared to $1.6 million in Q3 2017. We already exceeded total 2017 revenue through the first 9 months of 2018, underscoring our strong growth trends. The breakdown for Q3 2018 revenue is as follows: We recognized approximately $1.7 million in medical device and related revenue, up from $1.3 million in Q3 of 2017. The 16 unit placements this quarter, 6 units of which are rentals, is a 45% increase over the 11 units placed in the same period last year. We currently have a total of 335 Ekso rehab units in the field, of which 33 are rentals.

謝謝杰克，熱情的介紹。現在轉向我們的財務業績。2018 年第三季度報告的總收入約為 260 萬美元，而 2017 年第三季度為 160 萬美元。2018 年前 9 個月，我們的收入已經超過 2017 年的總收入，凸顯了我們強勁的增長趨勢。2018 年第三季度收入明細如下：我們確認了約 170 萬美元的醫療設備及相關收入，高於 2017 年第三季度的 130 萬美元。本季度的 16 個單元配售，其中 6 個單元為出租，比去年同期的 11 個單元增加了 45%。我們目前在現場共有 335 個 Ekso 康復中心，其中 33 個是出租的。

Our rental program continues to help drive customer adoption and serves as a bridge to a capital purchase. We recognized approximately $800,000 in EksoWorks revenue compared with almost $300,000 in the same period a year ago. As Jack noted, this quarter was the best ever for EksoWorks in terms of revenue. Our EksoVest continued to gain traction among manufacturing customers as evidenced by the recent adoption by Ford.

我們的租賃計劃繼續幫助推動客戶採用，並充當資本購買的橋樑。我們確認 EksoWorks 收入約為 800,000 美元，而去年同期為近 300,000 美元。正如傑克指出的那樣，就收入而言，本季度是 EksoWorks 有史以來最好的季度。我們的 EksoVest 繼續受到製造業客戶的青睞，最近被福特採用就證明了這一點。

Our overall gross profit for the quarter was $1.1 million, representing a gross margin of approximately 42%. This compares to a gross margin for the same period last year of 34%. As Jack noted a few minutes ago, we have taken numerous actions in the past year to strengthen our gross margins in rehab, given that this segment represents nearly 70% of our business. These initiatives include material cost reductions for the EksoGT and operating improvements in our service model that resulted in a first-time positive operating profit for our service department in the quarter. We are extremely pleased with the progress we are making in this respect as our EksoGT gross margins increased from 33% to almost 53% in the quarter. We continue to focus our efforts on increasing the EksoGT gross margins.

我們本季度的整體毛利潤為 110 萬美元，毛利率約為 42%。相比之下，去年同期的毛利率為 34%。正如傑克幾分鐘前指出的那樣，鑑於該部門占我們業務的近 70%，我們在過去一年中採取了許多行動來提高我們在康復領域的毛利率。這些舉措包括 EksoGT 的材料成本降低和我們服務模式的運營改進，從而使我們的服務部門在本季度首次實現正運營利潤。我們對我們在這方面取得的進展感到非常高興，因為我們的 EksoGT 毛利率在本季度從 33% 增加到近 53%。我們繼續集中精力提高 EksoGT 的毛利率。

Operating expenses for the third quarter of 2018 were $7.2 million compared to $7.6 million for the third quarter of 2017. This is a reduction of $400,000 or close to 6%. The reduction is driven primarily by our actions in the first half of 2018 to proactively operate more efficiently and consolidate our U.S. marketing team with our U.S. sales team as we strive to improve our customer acquisition costs going forward. It also reflects more efficient management of our R&D expenses as we remain focused on realigning our investments in areas that we believe will drive sales and improve our margins.

2018 年第三季度的運營費用為 720 萬美元，而 2017 年第三季度為 760 萬美元。這減少了 400,000 美元或接近 6%。減少的主要原因是我們在 2018 年上半年積極主動地提高運營效率，並將我們的美國營銷團隊與我們的美國銷售團隊整合在一起，同時我們努力降低未來的客戶獲取成本。這也反映了我們對研發費用的更有效管理，因為我們仍然專注於重新調整我們認為將推動銷售和提高利潤率的領域的投資。

Loss from operations for the quarter was $6.1 million compared to a loss from operations of $7.1 million in the third quarter of 2017. Net loss for the quarter was $7 million or $0.11 per share compared to a net loss of $6.3 million or $0.18 per share in the third quarter of 2017.

本季度的運營虧損為 610 萬美元，而 2017 年第三季度的運營虧損為 710 萬美元。本季度淨虧損為 700 萬美元或每股 0.11 美元，而 2017 年第三季度淨虧損為 630 萬美元或每股 0.18 美元。

Turning to year-to-date results. Revenue from the first 9 months of 2018 was $8 million, a 64% increase compared to $4.9 million for the same period in the year prior. 2018 year-to-date gross profit was approximately $2.8 million, representing gross margin of approximately 35% compared to a gross profit of $1.3 million, representing gross margin of approximately 26% in the first 9 months of 2017.

轉向年初至今的結果。2018 年前 9 個月的收入為 800 萬美元，與去年同期的 490 萬美元相比增長了 64%。2018 年初至今的毛利潤約為 280 萬美元，毛利率約為 35%，而 2017 年前 9 個月的毛利潤為 130 萬美元，毛利率約為 26%。

Loss from operations for the first 9 months of 2018 was $21.9 million compared to $23.7 million for the first 9 months of 2017. We are improving our financial standing by reducing the use of cash for each quarter in 2018 on both a sequential and annual basis.

2018 年前 9 個月的運營虧損為 2190 萬美元，而 2017 年前 9 個月為 2370 萬美元。我們正在通過減少 2018 年每個季度的連續和年度現金使用來改善我們的財務狀況。

Cash used in operating activities for the 9 months ended September 30, 2018, was $17 million as compared to $25.6 million for the first 9 months of 2017. This reduction in cash burn is exemplified by the cash used in operating activities in the third quarter of 2018 of $4.9 million compared with $7.2 million in the first quarter of 2018.

截至 2018 年 9 月 30 日止 9 個月，經營活動使用的現金為 1700 萬美元，而 2017 年前 9 個月為 2560 萬美元。這種現金消耗的減少體現在 2018 年第三季度經營活動中使用的現金為 490 萬美元，而 2018 年第一季度為 720 萬美元。

As of September 30, 2018, we had a cash balance of $13 million. As a result of our pipeline for both rehab and industrial businesses and continued recent improvements to our operating structure, we expect cash used in operating activities to be below $5 million for the fourth quarter of 2018. Please see our 10-Q filed earlier today for further details regarding the quarter.

截至 2018 年 9 月 30 日，我們的現金餘額為 1300 萬美元。由於我們的康復和工業業務管道以及最近對我們的運營結構的持續改進，我們預計 2018 年第四季度用於經營活動的現金將低於 500 萬美元。有關本季度的更多詳細信息，請參閱我們今天早些時候提交的 10-Q。

And with that, I'll now turn it back over to Jack.

有了這個，我現在將它轉回給傑克。

Thank you. To summarize, we had another strong quarter of growth and are pleased with the progress we continue to make. As I noted a few minutes ago, we are ultimately focused on protecting and improving human mobility. Recently, Mark Pollock visited us and toured our facility. Mark is an explorer and motivational speaker with a spinal cord injury. He was the first blind person to race to the South Pole, and now he's exploring the potential to use the intersection between humans and technology to cure paralysis. He is truly an amazing individual, and I would recommend watching the talk he gave at the TED 2018 conference, which is available for viewing online.

謝謝。總而言之，我們有另一個強勁的增長季度，並對我們繼續取得的進展感到滿意。正如我在幾分鐘前指出的那樣，我們最終的重點是保護和改善人類的流動性。最近，Mark Pollock 訪問了我們並參觀了我們的設施。馬克是一位探險家和勵志演說家，脊髓受傷。他是第一個跑到南極的盲人，現在他正在探索利用人類與技術之間的交叉點來治愈癱瘓的可能性。他確實是一個了不起的人，我建議您觀看他在 TED 2018 大會上的演講，該演講可在線觀看。

Mark's visit was a tangible and potent reminder that the work we do at Ekso Bionics truly matters to individuals living with mobility challenges. We were the first exoskeleton company to receive FDA certification for spinal cord injury and stroke rehabilitation, and we are expanding our technologies and products to support stroke patients on their often difficult roads to recovery. We continue to believe that the EksoGT provides life-changing rehabilitation to our customers, and someday soon expect to see this transformative technology become the standard of care for stroke rehabilitation therapy.

Mark 的訪問是一個切實而有力的提醒，即我們在 Ekso Bionics 所做的工作對行動不便的人來說確實很重要。我們是第一家獲得 FDA 脊髓損傷和中風康復認證的外骨骼公司，我們正在擴展我們的技術和產品，以支持中風患者走上他們通常困難重重的康復之路。我們仍然相信 EksoGT 可以為我們的客戶提供改變生活的康復服務，並期待有一天這一變革性技術很快成為中風康復治療的護理標準。

Turning to our outlook. We are taking advantage of positive market dynamics by primarily targeting the large and growing rehabilitation sector across North America as well as high-profile opportunities in Europe and Asia. We are also expanding our EksoWorks offerings into exciting new industrial markets, including automotive, construction and aerospace. While we may have future quarter-to-quarter lumpiness in our top line results, the overall growth trajectory of our business remains strong. We expect to see continued progress in unit adoption and pipeline visibility as well as improvements in gross margins and customer acquisition costs with the ultimate goal of maximizing our profitability levels and adding value to our shareholders.

轉向我們的前景。我們正在利用積極的市場動態，主要針對北美龐大且不斷增長的康復部門以及歐洲和亞洲的知名機會。我們還將我們的 EksoWorks 產品擴展到令人興奮的新工業市場，包括汽車、建築和航空航天。雖然我們未來的營收結果可能會出現季度間的波動，但我們業務的整體增長軌跡仍然強勁。我們希望看到單位採用率和管道可見性方面的持續進步，以及毛利率和客戶獲取成本的改善，最終目標是最大限度地提高我們的盈利水平並為我們的股東增加價值。

Operator, you may now open the line for questions.

接線員，您現在可以打開問題熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today comes from Bruce Nudell of SunTrust.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題來自 SunTrust 的 Bruce Nudell。

Just some housekeeping questions first. There were 16 shipped units, 6 were rentals. Could we talk about the U.S., like how many rentals, how many conversions? My math says one worldwide. And how many outright sales?

首先只是一些內務問題。有 16 個出貨單位，6 個是出租單位。我們能談談美國嗎，比如有多少租金，有多少轉化？我的數學說全球一個。有多少直接銷售？

Bruce, I'm going to turn it over to Jack Glenn. He's got the data right here.

Bruce，我要把它交給 Jack Glenn。他這裡有數據。

Yes. So there were 6 rentals, as we said. Of those 10, of the new -- others were -- 4 of new device and 4 were upgrades. And one was also indirect through one of our distributors or 2 of them.

是的。正如我們所說，所以有 6 個租金。在這 10 個中，有 4 個是新設備，4 個是升級設備。還有一個也是通過我們的一個或兩個分銷商間接提供的。

So 4 were upgrades -- so in other words, conversions?

那麼 4 個是升級——換句話說，轉換？

4, yes, 4 were...

4個，是的，4個是...

Rental -- sorry, rental conversions?

租金——對不起，租金轉換？

Yes. That's what I was kind of asking.

是的。這就是我想問的。

Oh, I don't think we had any rental conversions in the quarter.

哦，我不認為我們在本季度有任何租金轉換。

Okay, okay. And 2 were kind of stocking units as it were?

好吧好吧。2 是一種放養單位嗎？

No.

不。

Well, that sold through our European distributors.

好吧，那是通過我們的歐洲經銷商銷售的。

Okay. So they were outright sales to those guys. Okay, perfect. And in terms of vests and mounts, what was the split there?

好的。所以他們直接賣給了那些人。好的，完美。就背心和坐騎而言，那裡的分歧是什麼？

One second, Bruce. We're pulling it up. We’ve sold 53 mounts and 90 vests in Q3.

一秒鐘，布魯斯。我們正在把它拉起來。我們在第三季度售出了 53 個坐騎和 90 個背心。

53 and 90. And the gross margin on GT is clearly showing very nice improvement. And I think it was 53%, if I didn't mishear or misread, this quarter. And some of that was ASP because you're able to charge more. The value proposition is becoming more concrete, I guess, and part was cost of goods. Where’s the ceiling on that product?

53 和 90。GT 的毛利率顯然顯示出非常好的改善。如果我沒有聽錯或讀錯的話，我認為這個季度是 53%。其中一些是 ASP，因為您可以收取更多費用。價值主張變得更加具體，我猜，部分是商品成本。該產品的上限在哪裡？

The ceiling on the product from a...

產品的天花板來自...

A gross margin...

毛利率...

A gross margin perspective? Well, we're going to continue to work on all aspects of that, both improving the value that we deliver with the product or maybe expanding the product to enhance the value it delivers. Better articulating it and better validating it and making sure we understand and our customers understand the value it's bringing to them. And then continuing to work on costs. So the -- we're fortunate there are customers who are willing to pay a fair price for it, and we're just going to continue to optimize as best we can. I would -- I believe that there is opportunity in both of those -- both the value side and on the cost side in that product. So I think really we should see, over the longer term, some continued improvement.

毛利率的觀點？好吧，我們將繼續致力於這方面的各個方面，既可以提高我們通過產品提供的價值，也可以擴展產品以提高它提供的價值。更好地闡明它並更好地驗證它，並確保我們理解並且我們的客戶理解它給他們帶來的價值。然後繼續研究成本。所以——我們很幸運，有一些客戶願意為此付出合理的代價，我們將繼續盡我們所能進行優化。我會 - 我相信這兩個方面都有機會 - 該產品的價值方面和成本方面。所以我認為，從長遠來看，我們真的應該看到一些持續的改進。

Okay, perfect. And then just in terms of your perception of the competitive landscape in rehab, and competition is defined by label, functionality, convenience, costs, all that stuff. Could you just give us like color on your view of the landscape as you see it? I know the market's like barely scratched. But just your view of where Ekso stands in the continuum of devices.

好的，完美。然後就你對康復競爭格局的看法而言，競爭是由標籤、功能、便利性、成本等所有東西來定義的。你能不能給我們一些你對風景的看法的顏色？我知道市場幾乎沒有刮擦。但只是您對 Ekso 在設備連續體中所處位置的看法。

Sure. Well, in the rehab space, I think it's fair to say that we pioneered this area and continue to have a strong leading position in this area. Both in terms of installed base and in terms of functionality, our product is really designed and developed specifically for rehab and we serve it very well. That said, we are constantly watching and understanding competitors and trying to understand what they are doing. We feel very confident with our position in the market, the value that we bring our customers. And in some sense see some competition as being a little bit healthy because it's validated in the market a little bit more. But we're very confident with our position in the market.

當然。嗯，在康復領域，我認為可以公平地說，我們在這一領域處於領先地位，並繼續在這一領域擁有強大的領先地位。無論是在安裝基礎上還是在功能方面，我們的產品都是專門為康復設計和開發的，我們為它提供了很好的服務。也就是說，我們一直在觀察和了解競爭對手，並試圖了解他們在做什麼。我們對我們在市場中的地位以及我們為客戶帶來的價值充滿信心。從某種意義上說，有些競爭是健康的，因為它在市場上得到了更多的驗證。但我們對我們在市場上的地位非常有信心。

And it sounds like over the last year, your kind of packaging of the medical economic benefit has kind of [gelled]. Where are you in having like kind of a package that could go from one side to the other and penetrate these IDNs, which are intrinsically very efficient selling mechanisms?

聽起來好像在過去的一年裡，你對醫療經濟效益的包裝有點[凝固]。您在哪裡擁有可以從一側到另一側並滲透這些 IDN（本質上是非常有效的銷售機制）的軟件包？

Yes. Bruce, that's a great point. We have spent a lot of time really refining -- understanding, refining and then articulating the economic value proposition we bring. We focused for a long time on the clinical value proposition. And then over the last -- well, at least since I've been here, before that as well, on the -- of the economic value proposition, I think we've got a very good understanding of the levers that the EksoGT brings to our customers from an economic perspective. And we've got it fairly well defined in such that we can talk to customers. And customers, frankly, will get different benefits out of it, given how they operate their clinics. So some may want to drive throughput, some may want to drive reimbursement for per patient. And we can help do a lot of those different things. So to answer your question, I think we've really evolved it quite a bit. And we feel -- we've had a number of case studies that we've worked with our customers to develop as well, so these are validated in the marketplace. So yes, we're very confident in that.

是的。布魯斯，這是一個很好的觀點。我們花了很多時間真正地提煉——理解、提煉然後闡明我們帶來的經濟價值主張。我們長期以來一直專注於臨床價值主張。然後在最後 - 好吧，至少自從我來到這里以來，在此之前，關於 - 經濟價值主張，我認為我們對 EksoGT 帶來的槓桿有了很好的理解從經濟的角度給我們的客戶。我們已經很好地定義了它，以便我們可以與客戶交談。坦率地說，考慮到他們經營診所的方式，客戶將從中獲得不同的好處。所以有些人可能想提高吞吐量，有些人可能想提高每位患者的報銷。我們可以幫助做很多不同的事情。因此，為了回答您的問題，我認為我們確實對其進行了相當大的改進。而且我們覺得 - 我們已經與客戶合作開發了許多案例研究，因此這些研究在市場上得到了驗證。所以是的，我們對此非常有信心。

And just like -- for a lot of investors not familiar with the story, how far away -- how much critical mass this year has to be in the market before -- like if you're -- you have 335 units. I don't have the U.S., ex U.S. breakdown here but -- in front of me. But like how many units have to be out there before everybody says, you know what, if we don't have some sort of exoskeleton assistance, we're just going to fall behind in being able to attract patients and/or get maximum reimbursement or whatever the hook is. Like how far are -- like in terms of units or time, how far are we away from achieving that critical mass?

就像——對於許多不熟悉這個故事的投資者來說，還有多遠——今年之前市場必須達到多少臨界質量——就像你有 335 個單位一樣。我這裡沒有美國，前美國崩潰，但 - 在我面前。但是就像在每個人都說之前必須有多少單位，你知道嗎，如果我們沒有某種外骨骼輔助，我們就會在吸引患者和/或獲得最大報銷方面落後或者不管是什麼鉤子。就像——就單位或時間而言，我們離達到臨界質量還有多遠？

Yes. We talked about that all the time here. So we think there are about between 1,000 and 1,200 leading stroke and neurological rehabilitation centers in the U.S. We believe once we get to about 50% of those, so call it, 500 to 600 centers, this becomes the de facto standard of care, if you want to call it that. The -- you have to have it to be considered a leading stroke rehabilitation center. We're in about between 125 and 150 U.S. centers today and are continuing to march down that path. So we're very focused on that. We think once we get to that point, it will become something that most centers will not be trying to understand whether they should or not but just timing and budgeting around it.

是的。我們一直在這裡談論這個。所以我們認為美國大約有 1,000 到 1,200 個領先的中風和神經康復中心。我們相信一旦我們達到其中的 50%，也就是 500 到 600 個中心，這將成為事實上的護理標準，如果你想那樣稱呼它。- 你必須擁有它才能被視為領先的中風康復中心。今天，我們在美國大約有 125 到 150 個中心，並將繼續沿著這條道路前進。所以我們非常專注於此。我們認為，一旦達到這一點，大多數中心將不會試圖了解他們是否應該這樣做，而只是圍繞它進行時間安排和預算。

And when I went out to the plant and tried on the vest and the mount, played with the mount, I mean, I was -- I just thought they were great. And so my question is, where are you in cultivating other corporate partners and/or -- and tangentially, how's the Ford relationship evolving?

當我去工廠試穿背心和坐騎，玩坐騎時，我的意思是，我只是覺得它們很棒。所以我的問題是，你在哪裡培養其他公司合作夥伴和/或 - 切線地，福特關係如何發展？

Yes. First, the Ford relationship's evolving extremely well. We're in, what I would say, broad pilot deployment with Ford there, evaluated a number of plants around the world, 15 plants. And they're continuing to gather data. That relationship is very strong. The -- in terms of general adoption, maybe first let me explain how we think of the customers' decision-making process. They go through a, sort of, discovery, education phase. This is new, so there's an educational element to it. Then they trial it. Then they may go to a broader pilot. That may be at a single site or at multiple sites and then ultimately go into a deployment stage. We have a number of large-scale manufacturers that are in the -- somewhere in the trial to pilot phase with our product. It's -- everyone makes decisions on different time scales, so it's difficult to actually predict. But we are very confident that as these customers continue to evaluate and learn more about our product and how it helps them, we will see more and more of conversions.

是的。首先，與福特的關係發展得非常好。我想說的是，我們正在與福特進行廣泛的試點部署，評估了世界各地的許多工廠，15 家工廠。他們還在繼續收集數據。這種關係非常牢固。就普遍採用而言，也許首先讓我解釋一下我們如何看待客戶的決策過程。他們經歷了一個，有點，發現，教育階段。這是新的，所以它有一個教育元素。然後他們試用它。然後他們可能會進行更廣泛的試點。這可能在單個站點或多個站點，然後最終進入部署階段。我們有許多大型製造商正處於 - 試驗階段的某個地方，我們的產品。它是——每個人都在不同的時間尺度上做出決定，所以很難真正預測。但我們非常有信心，隨著這些客戶繼續評估和更多地了解我們的產品以及它如何幫助他們，我們將看到越來越多的轉化。

So just thinking about Ford, Ford is still in the kind of advanced pilot stage. And if they get to, aha, will that be both -- just in terms of their capacity to absorb product or Ford be -- like become a very major customer. And if Ford opts to go that way, do you think that, that will send a signal to other manufacturers, say, "Hey, this is really something we should very seriously look at?"

因此，僅考慮福特，福特仍處於高級試驗階段。如果他們做到了，啊哈，就他們吸收產品或福特的能力而言，這是否會成為一個非常大的客戶。如果福特選擇那樣做，你認為這會向其他製造商發出一個信號，說，“嘿，這真的是我們應該認真研究的事情嗎？”

Yes, that's very perceptive, Bruce. The -- first of all, I think Ford is very much a leader in this area. And so -- and other companies really look to companies like Ford to inform them on what the future looks like. So that will definitely -- having Ford as a customer continues to support our adoption with other customers for sure. I think the other thing you asked about was if -- as Ford moves forward, and if they decide on deployment, what does that mean to Ekso? We certainly want to earn Ford's business and become a supplier to Ford, and ideally, make that a very material part of our business. So yes.

是的，這非常敏銳，布魯斯。- 首先，我認為福特在這一領域非常領先。因此 - 其他公司真的希望像福特這樣的公司能夠告知他們未來的樣子。所以這肯定會 - 將福特作為客戶肯定會繼續支持我們與其他客戶的採用。我想你問的另一件事是——隨著福特的前進，如果他們決定部署，這對 Ekso 意味著什麼？我們當然希望贏得福特的業務並成為福特的供應商，理想情況下，將其作為我們業務的重要組成部分。所以是的。

Okay. And my final question is about cash burn. I think if I heard right, there's around $13 million left or it's about $5.25-ish million. And what are your just general thoughts about financing avenues and/or the magnitude of the raise? Is it like -- are you thinking of one big gulp? Or proving your spurs and incrementally building, husbanding your cash reserves?

好的。我的最後一個問題是關於現金消耗。我想如果我沒聽錯的話，剩下大約 1300 萬美元，或者大約 525 萬美元。您對融資渠道和/或加薪幅度的一般看法是什麼？是不是——你在想一大口？或者證明你的動力並逐步建立、管理你的現金儲備？

Got it. I'm going to turn that over to Jack.

知道了。我要把它交給傑克。

Yes, Bruce. So I think as we said that we are looking to continually reduce that burn on a quarter -- sequential to quarter basis going into 2019. We are -- we did put an ATM in place in Q3, and we're able to raise around $4 million through that. But I think we are looking at several options. And the best way to fund our growth in 2019, and we'll continue to do that and what we think is the best for the company.

是的，布魯斯。所以我認為，正如我們所說的那樣，我們希望在進入 2019 年的每個季度中持續減少這種消耗。我們 - 我們確實在第三季度安裝了 ATM，我們能夠通過它籌集大約 400 萬美元。但我認為我們正在考慮幾種選擇。以及為我們 2019 年的增長提供資金的最佳方式，我們將繼續這樣做，我們認為這對公司來說是最好的。

There are no additional questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back to Jack Peurach for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回 Jack Peurach 以作結束語。

Thank you all for joining us today. We're very excited to have already exceeded full year 2017 revenues through the first 9 months of 2018 and believe there remain significant growth opportunities in the fourth quarter. Our healthy pipeline is a clear sign of the growth strategy and user adoption remains strong. Going forward, we will remain focused on demonstrating the clinical and economic benefits of our exoskeleton offerings across the rehab and industrial markets where we see tremendous growth potential. We appreciate the continued support from our employees, customers and shareholders. And I look forward to sharing our progress with you in the months ahead. Thank you.

感謝大家今天加入我們。我們很高興在 2018 年前 9 個月已經超過 2017 年全年的收入，並且相信第四季度仍有顯著的增長機會。我們健康的管道是增長戰略和用戶採用率保持強勁的明顯跡象。展望未來，我們將繼續專注於展示我們的外骨骼產品在我們看到巨大增長潛力的康復和工業市場的臨床和經濟效益。我們感謝員工、客戶和股東的持續支持。我期待著在未來幾個月與您分享我們的進展。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。