IPG Photonics Corp (IPGP) 2019 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. And welcome to IPG Photonics Fourth Quarter 2019 Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded and webcast.

早安.歡迎參加 IPG Photonics 2019 年第四季電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音並進行網路直播。

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to James Hillier, IPG's Vice President of Investor Relations for introductions. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想把電話轉給IPG投資者關係副總裁James Hillier介紹。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Darryl, and good morning, everyone. With us today is IPG Photonics' Chairman and CEO, Dr. Valentin Gapontsev; Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Eugene Scherbakov; and Senior Vice President and CFO, Tim Mammen.

謝謝你，達裡爾，大家早安。今天與我們在一起的有 IPG Photonics 董事長兼執行長 Valentin Gapontsev 博士；首席營運長 Eugene Scherbakov 博士；以及資深副總裁兼財務長 Tim Mammen。

Statements made during the course of this call that discuss management's or the company's intentions, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include those detailed in IPG Photonics' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2019, and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings may be obtained by visiting the Investors section of IPG's website or by contacting the company directly. You may also find copies on the SEC's website.

在本次電話會議期間發表的討論管理層或公司的意圖、期望或對未來的預測的聲明均為前瞻性聲明。這些前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致公司的實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述中的預測有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括 IPG Photonics 截至 2019 年 6 月 30 日的季度 10-Q 表格以及提交給美國證券交易委員會的其他報告中詳細說明的風險和不確定性。可透過造訪 IPG 網站的投資者部分或直接聯繫該公司來取得這些文件的副本。您也可以在 SEC 網站上找到副本。

Any forward-looking statements made on this call are the company's expectations or predictions only as of today, February 13, 2020. The company assumes no obligation to publicly release any updates or revisions to any such statements. For additional details on our reported results, please refer to the earnings press release and Excel-based financial data workbook posted to our Investor Relations website. We'll post these prepared remarks on our Investor Relations website following the completion of the call.

本次電話會議中所做的任何前瞻性陳述僅是本公司截至今天（2020 年 2 月 13 日）的預期或預測。本公司不承擔公開發布任何此類聲明的任何更新或修訂的義務。有關我們報告結果的更多詳細信息，請參閱我們的投資者關係網站上發布的收益新聞稿和基於 Excel 的財務數據工作簿。電話會議結束後，我們將在投資者關係網站上發布這些準備好的評論。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Valentin.

現在，我將把電話轉給瓦倫丁。

Good morning, everyone. We delivered fourth quarter revenue slightly above our guidance range on strengths in the U.S. market and new products. The global market economic backdrop, and the competitive landscape in China was the main challenge. However, we are responding with product cost reductions in differentiated new features and accessories for our core products. Furthermore, we're leveraging one of our largest R&D investments in the laser industry to launch leading-edge laser products and systems for new markets. This new solution, which represent about 1/5 of total sales enhance our growth and margin profile and provide greater geographic and end-market diversification.

大家，早安。我們第四季的收入略高於美國市場和新產品優勢的指導範圍。全球市場經濟背景和中國的競爭格局是主要挑戰。然而，我們的應對措施是降低我們核心產品的差異化新功能和配件的產品成本。此外，我們正在利用雷射行業最大的研發投資之一，為新市場推出領先的雷射產品和系統。此新解決方案約佔總銷售額的 1/5，可增強我們的成長和利潤狀況，並提供更大的地理和終端市場多元化。

Also weaker microeconomic trends have reduced demand for our core product in the near term. We introduced new lasers and new features that enhance productivity and flexibility for the industry.

此外，疲軟的微觀經濟趨勢也減少了短期內對我們核心產品的需求。我們推出了新的雷射和新功能，可提高產業的生產力和靈活性。

In 2019, we saw a record number of high-powered lasers, increasing sales of sources at 1 kilowatt and greater by near 23% in total, up to 14,500 units. These numbers include sales growth of laser with power of 1 to 4-kilowatt of YLR type by 60%, and ultrahigh power laser of -- at 10-kilowatt and greater by more than 25%. However, this extremely impressive growth did not compensate our revenue losses caused by very aggressive artificial stimulated growth of fiber with the power price in Chinese market. It's absolutely unfair competition. It's -- but it's -- obviously a different talk.

2019 年，我們看到高功率雷射的數量創歷史新高，1 千瓦及以上光源的銷量總計增加了近 23%，達到 14,500 台。這些數字包括YLR型1至4千瓦功率雷射的銷量成長了60%，10千瓦及以上的超高功率雷射銷量成長了25%以上。然而，這種極其令人印象深刻的成長並沒有彌補我們因中國市場電價非常激進的人為刺激光纖成長而造成的收入損失。這絕對是不公平競爭。但這顯然是不同的說法。

Multiple IPG customers are launching new cutting systems using our 12-kilowatt cutting applications eightfold. Many of these are sold with our new ultra high power cutting sets. In addition, we sold our first laser with high peak power and adjustable mode beam capability. HPP products delivered peak energy, twice the average power of the laser, increasing cutting speed and quality by reducing scrap through converter nesting of parts. Our -- a new AMB laser permit the broadest range of beam tunability, enabling spatterless welding and enhancing the speed of electrical vehicle battery production. When combined with our unique high-power pulse laser for foil cutting and ultra-high power CW laser for welding, we see significant opportunity in the electric vehicle battery market this year.

多個 IPG 客戶正在推出八倍使用我們 12 千瓦切割應用的新切割系統。其中許多產品與我們的新型超高功率切割套件一起出售。此外，我們還銷售了第一台具有高峰值功率和可調模式光束能力的雷射。HPP 產品提供峰值能量，是雷射平均功率的兩倍，透過轉爐嵌套零件減少廢品，從而提高切割速度和品質。我們的新型 AMB 雷射可實現最廣泛的光束可調性，從而實現無飛濺焊接並提高電動車電池的生產速度。當與我們獨特的用於箔片切割的高功率脈衝雷射和用於焊接的超高功率連續雷射相結合時，我們看到了今年電動車電池市場的巨大機會。

Our fiber laser increased customer return on investment by delivering the industry highest power wall-plug efficiency and reliability along with industry-leading beam quality. Competitors' laser often struggle to maintain power even after only several hundred hours of operation. IPG lasers deliver peace of mind and lower lifetime cost, while enhancing end user productivity. IPG also offers the highest brightness through 50-micron core diameter fiber, providing our customers with more than 70% higher productivity in cutting thin metal versus -- which is a competitive -- a competing laser in 100 micron fiber. Augmenting our laser solution with high-power optical head is a key differentiator versus our laser competitors.

我們的光纖雷射器透過提供業界最高功率的牆壁插頭效率和可靠性以及業界領先的光束品質來提高客戶的投資回報。競爭對手的雷射即使僅運轉數百小時也常常難以維持功率。IPG 雷射讓您高枕無憂，降低生命週期成本，同時提高最終用戶的生產力。IPG 還透過 50 微米芯徑光纖提供最高亮度，與採用 100 微米光纖的同類雷射相比，切割薄金屬的生產率提高了 70% 以上，這具有競爭力。使用高功率光學頭增強我們的雷射解決方案是與我們的雷射競爭對手相比的關鍵區別。

In 2019, we delivered very good sales of optical heads and other beam delivery accessories, growing sales of this product by 10%. We also shipped our first volume order for LDD process monitoring, our patented real-time welding monitoring solution. LDD enables greater use of laser-based welding in automated production environments, and we are pursuing multiple million dollar plus opportunities with this technology and associated laser product sales. We sold a record number of systems for material growth sales in 2019 with the revenue increasing 33%, excluding Genesis, which we acquired in December 2018. Standard and custom systems for vehicle and battery production, medical device manufacturing, pipe welding, cleaning and inspection application drove systems growth. We plan to leverage Genesis' unique expertise in robotic system integration to accelerate laser processing within the transportation, aerospace and industrial end markets.

2019年，我們的光學頭和其他光束傳輸配件銷量非常好，該產品的銷量成長了10%。我們還交付了第一批 LDD 製程監控批量訂單，這是我們獲得專利的即時焊接監控解決方案。LDD 能夠在自動化生產環境中更多地使用基於雷射的焊接，我們正在透過該技術和相關雷射產品銷售尋求數百萬美元以上的機會。2019 年，我們售出了創紀錄的材料成長系統數量，營收成長了 33%，不包括我們在 2018 年 12 月收購的 Genesis。汽車和電池生產、醫療設備製造、管道焊接、清潔和檢查應用的標準和客製化系統推動了系統的成長。我們計劃利用 Genesis 在機器人系統整合方面的獨特專業知識來加速運輸、航空航太和工業終端市場的雷射加工。

Product innovation remains core for IPG success. But in 2018, new product sales were 19% of total revenue and 24% in the fourth quarter alone. Sales of green pulse lasers, used to improve solar cell efficiency increased by more than 60% in 2018. Sales of ultrafast pulse lasers increased more than 80% year-over-year off a small base, with more than 50 new projects for these lasers across a wide range of applications as processing glass, ceramic, circuit boards, OLED film, batteries and solar cells. As we enhance the pulse energy, expand the portfolio of new green ultraviolet and ultrafast pulse lasers, we expect revenue of these products to grow rapidly over the coming years and become a more meaningful percentage of total sales.

產品創新仍然是 IPG 成功的核心。但2018年，新產品銷售額佔總營收的19%，光第四季就佔24%。2018 年，用於提高太陽能電池效率的綠光脈衝雷射的銷量增加了 60% 以上。超快脈衝雷射的銷量在小基數的基礎上同比增長超過 80%，這些雷射器的新項目超過 50 個，涉及加工玻璃、陶瓷、電路板、OLED 薄膜、電池和太陽能等廣泛應用細胞。隨著我們增強脈衝能量，擴大新型綠色紫外線和超快脈衝雷射的產品組合，我們預計這些產品的收入在未來幾年將快速增長，並在總銷售額中佔據更有意義的百分比。

Sales of medical laser increased 80% in 2019, as our thulium laser solution received approval in China and the U.S. We expect sales into urology and other soft tissue applications to ramp over the coming years off a low base. Our medical laser business model include consumable fibers, a continuing revenue stream that benefits as the number of installed system increase.

隨著我們的铥雷射解決方案在中國和美國獲得批准，醫療雷射的銷售額在 2019 年增長了 80%。我們預計泌尿科和其他軟組織應用的銷售額在未來幾年將擺脫低基數。我們的醫療雷射業務模式包括消耗性光纖，這是一個持續的收入來源，隨著安裝的系統數量的增加而受益。

Sales of our RGB Luminaire Laser System for cinema application increased more than 100% in 2018. We continue to invest in transformative new products within new application areas as well, including new medical treatments, mid-infrared lasers for spectroscopy, inspection and sensing application and ultra-high power single-mode laser for aerospace and defense. We will rely on our core scientific strengths and strong cash flow to optimize investment in strategic initiatives critical to the long-term success of the company. The initiatives include a greater mix of high-power laser, along with differentiated features and solutions in new markets and applications. We expect to grow faster for these new product areas, enabling IPG to deliver strong growth in revenue and cash flow. I want to thank our talented employees for their hard work during the challenging year. As ever, I remain confident in IPG's ability to execute during this period, delivering on our mission to make our fiber laser technology the tool of choice in mass production.

2018 年，我們用於戲院應用的 RGB 燈具雷射系統的銷售額成長了 100% 以上。我們也繼續投資新應用領域的變革性新產品，包括新的醫療方法、用於光譜、檢測和感測應用的中紅外線雷射以及用於航空航天和國防的超高功率單模雷射。我們將依靠我們的核心科學優勢和強勁的現金流來優化對公司長期成功至關重要的策略性舉措的投資。這些舉措包括更廣泛地組合高功率雷射器，以及新市場和應用中的差異化功能和解決方案。我們預計這些新產品領域將實現更快的成長，使 IPG 能夠實現收入和現金流的強勁成長。我要感謝我們才華橫溢的員工在充滿挑戰的一年裡的辛勤工作。一如既往，我對 IPG 在此期間的執行能力充滿信心，履行我們的使命，使我們的光纖雷射技術成為大規模生產的首選工具。

Finally, I will Dr. Eugene Scherbakov, IPG's Chief Operating Officer, to participate in our earnings calls. As many you know, Eugene is a long-serving member of IPG's executive leadership team with extensive operational and technical knowledge of our business. He will be able to provide you with additional insights into IPG's operational performance during this quarter.

最後，我邀請 IPG 營運長 Eugene Scherbakov 博士參加我們的財報電話會議。眾所周知，Eugene 是 IPG 執行領導團隊的長期成員，對我們的業務擁有豐富的營運和技術知識。他將能夠為您提供有關 IPG 本季度營運業績的更多見解。

With that, I will turn the call over to Eugene.

這樣，我會將電話轉給尤金。

Thank you, Valentin, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to join you today and on future calls to discuss the operational trends in our business.

謝謝瓦倫丁，大家早安。我很高興今天和您一起參加未來的電話會議，討論我們業務的營運趨勢。

IPG remains the clear market leader in fiber laser with hundreds of megawatts of installed capacity. In 2019, we shipped 52 megawatts of total optical power, increasing 14% year-over-year. We continue to see aggressive prices among China-based competition, which intensified toward to the end of the second quarter last year. Since that time, pricing has been more stable, and for the year, the decline of average price per kilowatt has affected the dollar value of units sold. But our ability to rapidly reduce cost has limited the gross margin impact from these price reductions.

IPG 仍然是光纖雷射領域明顯的市場領導者，裝置容量達數百兆瓦。2019年，我們的總光功率出貨量為52兆瓦，較去年同期成長14%。我們繼續看到中國市場的價格競爭激烈，這種競爭在去年第二季末加劇。從那時起，定價變得更加穩定，全年每千瓦平均價格的下降影響了所售機組的美元價值。但我們快速降低成本的能力限制了這些降價對毛利率的影響。

Our team is focused on further cost reduction throughout the manufacturing process that we believe will significantly reduce the cost of our high-power laser solutions from 1 up to 6 kilowatts, which accounts for a majority of our high-power units sold. When combined with the full benefit of the cost actions we undertook in the second half of 2019, we believe that these measures will help us sustain our industry-leading margin profile and cash returns. We will continue to manage our cost structure to business environment, targeting gross margin of 45% up to 50%. Excluding inventory provisions, we were at the bottom of this region -- range during the fourth quarter. We executed well in controlling manufacturing expenses, decreasing them by more than 10% from third quarter. This benefit was mostly offset by a reduction of costs absorbed into inventory business lower production level. However, this enabled us to generate cash from inventory as the reduction in the value of inventory on hand was greater than inventory provisions.

我們的團隊致力於進一步降低整個製造過程的成本，我們相信這將顯著降低我們高功率雷射解決方案的成本，從 1 千瓦到 6 千瓦，這占我們銷售的高功率設備的大部分。結合我們在 2019 年下半年採取的成本行動的全部效益，我們相信這些措施將幫助我們維持業界領先的利潤率和現金回報。我們將繼續根據業務環境管理我們的成本結構，目標毛利率為 45% 至 50%。不包括庫存準備金，我們在第四季度處於該區域的底部。我們在控制製造費用方面做得很好，比第三季下降了10%以上。這項效益主要被庫存業務吸收的成本降低和生產水準降低所抵銷。然而，這使我們能夠從庫存中產生現金，因為現有庫存價值的減少幅度大於庫存準備金。

Examining our performance by region, revenue in China decreased 21% year-over-year and represented approximately 30% of our total sales. As we had expected, performance was impacted by weaker demand due to the U.S.-China trade conflict, slowdown in capital investment and greater than average price declines.

按地區審視我們的業績，中國地區的營收年減 21%，約占我們總銷售額的 30%。正如我們預期的那樣，業績受到中美貿易衝突導致的需求疲軟、資本投資放緩以及價格跌幅大於平均值的影響。

In Europe, revenue decreased 17% year-over-year. The demand environment in Europe remains very challenging as the key macroeconomic indicators remain weak in the region. Revenue in North America increased 30% year-over-year driven by acquisition of Genesis. Excluding Genesis sales, North America increased 23% year-over-year with strong growth in welding, surgical and communications applications. Our growth in North America is a testament to our diversified portfolio strategy where increasing adoption of our beam-delivered accessories, and complete laser solution was augmented by growth in advanced applications, communications and medical laser products.

在歐洲，營收年減 17%。由於該地區主要宏觀經濟指標仍然疲軟，歐洲的需求環境仍然非常具有挑戰性。受收購 Genesis 推動，北美地區營收年增 30%。不包括 Genesis 銷售額，北美地區年增 23%，焊接、外科和通訊應用領域成長強勁。我們在北美的成長證明了我們多元化的產品組合策略，先進應用、通訊和醫療雷射產品的成長增強了我們的光束傳輸配件和完整雷射解決方案的採用。

Sales in Japan decreased 37% year-over-year. Similar to Europe, the macro economy in Japan remains weak. However, we continue to work in -- of a number of substantial laser welding project in the region.

日本銷售額較去年同期下降 37%。與歐洲類似，日本宏觀經濟依然疲軟。然而，我們繼續致力於該地區的一些大型雷射焊接項目。

Sales in Korea increased 2% year-over-year on strength and battery welding. And sales in Turkey decreased 80% year-over-year given macroeconomic pressures affecting cutting business in the region.

韓國的強度和電池焊接銷售額較去年同期成長 2%。由於宏觀經濟壓力影響了該地區的業務削減，土耳其的銷售額比去年同期下降了 80%。

With that, I will turn the call over to Tim to discuss financial highlights in the quarter.

接下來，我將把電話轉給蒂姆，討論本季的財務亮點。

Thank you, Eugene, and good morning, everyone. Revenue in the fourth quarter declined 7% year-over-year to $307 million. Revenue from materials processing applications decreased 11% year-over-year, and revenue from other applications increased 42%. Sales of high-power CW lasers decreased 15% year-over-year, and represented approximately 51% of total revenue. Reduced revenue from high-power CW lasers in cutting and welding was partially offset by strength in other materials processing applications. Pulsed laser sales decreased 33% year-over-year, with growth in green and ultraviolet pulsed lasers offset by lower sales of pulsed lasers for marking and fine processing applications. System sales increased 69% year-over-year, including Genesis, and increased 43% year-over-year, excluding Genesis. Medium-power laser sales decreased 32% on softness in additive manufacturing and the transition to kilowatt-scale lasers in cutting, while QCW sales increased 14% year-over-year. Other product sales increased 6% year-over-year driven by growth in beam delivery accessories and service revenue. For the full year 2019, revenue declined 10% year-over-year and 10% on an organic constant currency basis. Q4 GAAP gross margin was 40.5%, which declined 1,000 basis points year-over-year. Excluding higher inventory reserves, Q4 gross margin would have been 45.2%, and normalizing for a full bonus accrual, gross margin would have been 44.1%. Compared with the year-ago period, higher inventory reserves reduced gross margin by 570 basis points, less favorable absorption of manufacturing expenses reduced gross margin by 250 basis points, and the acquisition of Genesis reduced gross margin by 180 basis points.

謝謝尤金，大家早安。第四季營收年減 7% 至 3.07 億美元。來自材料加工應用的營收年減11%，其他應用的收入成長42%。高功率連續雷射的銷售額較去年同期下降15%，約佔總收入的51%。高功率連續雷射在切割和焊接領域的收入減少被其他材料加工應用的成長所部分抵消。脈衝雷射銷售額年減 33%，綠光和紫外線脈衝雷射的成長被用於打標和精細加工應用的脈衝雷射銷售的下降所抵消。系統銷售額年增 69%（包括 Genesis），較去年同期成長 43%（不包括 Genesis）。由於積層製造的柔軟性和切割中向千瓦級雷射的過渡，中功率雷射的銷售額下降了 32%，而 QCW 的銷售額同比增長了 14%。在光束傳輸配件和服務收入成長的推動下，其他產品銷售額較去年同期成長 6%。2019 年全年營收年減 10%，以有機固定匯率計算下降 10%。第四季 GAAP 毛利率為 40.5%，較去年同期下降 1,000 個基點。排除較高的庫存儲備，第四季度毛利率將為 45.2%，如果全額應計獎金正常化，毛利率將為 44.1%。與去年同期相比，較高的庫存儲備使毛利率下降了570個基點，不利的製造費用吸收使毛利率下降了250個基點，收購Genesis使毛利率下降了180個基點。

Fourth quarter GAAP operating income was $243,000, and operating margin was 0.1%. Excluding higher inventory reserves, foreign exchange and charges related to asset impairment and restructuring, Q4 operating margin would have been 20.9%. And normalizing for a full bonus accrual, operating margin would have been 17.8%. As a reminder, our fourth quarter expenses did not include an accrual for employee bonuses because of 2019 underperformance relative to our budget. For modeling purposes, you should assume quarterly bonus expense of approximately $4 million in cost of sales, and $5 million operating expenses in 2020.

第四季 GAAP 營業收入為 243,000 美元，營業利潤率為 0.1%。剔除較高的庫存儲備、外匯以及與資產減損和重組相關的費用，第四季營業利潤率為 20.9%。如果全額應計獎金正常化，營業利潤率將為 17.8%。提醒一下，我們第四季的支出不包括應計員工獎金，因為 2019 年的表現低於我們的預算。出於建模目的，您應假設 2020 年銷售成本中的季度獎金費用約為 400 萬美元，營運費用約為 500 萬美元。

Net loss was $4 million or $0.08 per diluted share. Higher inventory reserves and charges related to impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets and restructuring reduced EPS by $0.99. In addition, foreign exchange losses reduced EPS by a further $0.08, and discrete tax items benefited EPS by $0.08 as well. If exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar had been the same as 1 year ago, we would have expected revenue to be $4 million higher and gross profit to be $2 million higher. The effective tax rate in the quarter was 245%. The effective tax rate was increased by nondeductible charges related to impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets and restructuring and decreased by certain discrete benefits in the quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding these effects, the underlying fourth quarter tax rate was approximately 27%.

淨虧損為 400 萬美元，即稀釋後每股虧損 0.08 美元。較高的庫存儲備以及與商譽和其他長期資產減損以及重組相關的費用使每股收益減少了 0.99 美元。此外，匯兌損失使 EPS 進一步減少 0.08 美元，離散稅項也使 EPS 受益 0.08 美元。如果相對於美元的匯率與 1 年前相同，我們預計收入將增加 400 萬美元，毛利將增加 200 萬美元。該季度的有效稅率為245%。有效稅率因與商譽和其他長期資產減損以及重組相關的不可扣除費用而增加，並因本季的某些離散收益而減少。在非公認會計原則的基礎上，排除這些影響，第四季的基本稅率約為 27%。

We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $1.18 billion, and total debt of $42 million. More than 60% of our cash is held in the U.S. with most of the remaining cash balance in Germany. Effective operational execution resulted in cash provided by operations of $130 million during the quarter. Capital expenditures were $26 million in the quarter, and $134 million for the year versus our revised target of less than $150 million. During the quarter, we repurchased 105,000 shares for $15 million. For the full year 2019, we repurchased $41 million worth of stock and have $84 million remaining on our current buyback authorization. We ended the year with $285 million of shippable backlog, down 16% year-over-year, and total backlog, including frame agreements of $693 million, down 3% year-over-year. Fourth quarter book-to-bill was 1, in line with normal seasonality.

截至本季末，我們的現金、現金等價物和短期投資為 11.8 億美元，債務總額為 4,200 萬美元。我們 60% 以上的現金存放在美國，其餘大部分現金餘額都存放在德國。有效的營運執行導致本季營運提供的現金達 1.3 億美元。本季資本支出為 2,600 萬美元，全年資本支出為 1.34 億美元，而我們修訂後的目標為不到 1.5 億美元。本季度，我們以 1,500 萬美元回購了 105,000 股股票。2019 年全年，我們回購了價值 4,100 萬美元的股票，目前的回購授權剩餘 8,400 萬美元。截至年底，我們的可交付積壓訂單為 2.85 億美元，年減 16%，包括框架協議在內的積壓總額為 6.93 億美元，年減 3%。第四季訂單出貨比為 1，與正常季節性相符。

Turning to guidance. We believe we have significant long-term growth opportunities in laser welding, fine processing, electric vehicle batteries and our portfolio of new products addressing opportunities in micro-processing, medical systems and beam delivery solutions. Current demand for our leading-edge laser solutions remains mixed, with strength in North America and emerging regions, such as India and Southeast Asia offset by ongoing macro softness in Europe and Japan. Prior to the government-extended Lunar New Year holiday, there were signs that business in China was firming, with order flow having picked up in December and January. However, ongoing business disruption related to the novel coronavirus outbreak makes forecasting our business in China and the impact on global demand very challenging at this point. China is a large and important market for IPG with repercussions for other markets, and we continue to monitor the situation closely.

轉向指導。我們相信，我們在雷射焊接、精細加工、電動車電池以及解決微加工、醫療系統和光束傳輸解決方案領域機會的新產品組合方面擁有重大的長期成長機會。目前對我們領先的雷射解決方案的需求仍然好壞參半，北美和印度和東南亞等新興地區的需求強勁，被歐洲和日本持續的宏觀疲軟所抵消。在政府延長農曆新年假期之前，有跡象顯示中國業務走強，訂單量在 12 月和 1 月有所回升。然而，與新型冠狀病毒爆發相關的持續業務中斷使得目前預測我們在中國的業務及其對全球需求的影響非常具有挑戰性。中國是 IPG 的一個龐大且重要的市場，將對其他市場產生影響，我們將繼續密切關注事態發展。

For the first quarter of 2020, IPG expects revenue of $220 million to $250 million. The company expects the first quarter tax rate to be approximately 26%. IPG anticipates delivering earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.00 to $0.30, with 52.9 million basic common shares outstanding and 53.6 million diluted common shares outstanding. This guidance assumes approximately $45 million in reduced revenue and $0.45 lower EPS from business disruption related to the novel coronavirus outbreak. This estimate is based upon the facts and understandings we have at this time.

IPG 預計 2020 年第一季營收為 2.2 億至 2.5 億美元。該公司預計第一季稅率約為26%。IPG 預計每股攤薄收益將在 0.00 至 0.30 美元之間，其中已發行基本普通股為 5,290 萬股，已發行稀釋普通股為 5,360 萬股。該指引假設因新型冠狀病毒爆發導致的業務中斷導致收入減少約 4,500 萬美元，每股收益減少 0.45 美元。這項估計是基於我們目前所掌握的事實和理解。

As discussed in the safe harbor passage of today's earnings press release, actual results may differ from our guidance due to factors, including, but not limited to, goodwill and other impairment charges, product demand, order cancellation and delays, competition, tariffs, trade policies, health epidemics and general economic conditions. Our guidance is based upon current market conditions and expectations, assumes exchange rates referenced in our earnings press release, and is subject to risks outlined in the company's reports with the SEC.

正如今天收益新聞稿的安全港通道中所討論的，由於各種因素，包括但不限於商譽和其他減值費用、產品需求、訂單取消和延遲、競爭、關稅、貿易，實際結果可能與我們的指導有所不同。政策、衛生流行病和總體經濟狀況。我們的指導是基於當前的市場狀況和預期，假設我們的收益新聞稿中引用的匯率，並受到公司向 SEC 提交的報告中概述的風險的影響。

With that, Valentin, Eugene and I will be happy to take your questions.

瓦倫丁、尤金和我將很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first questions come from the line of John Marchetti of Stifel.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Stifel 的 John Marchetti。

I was hoping we could just spend a minute on some of the commentary that you talked about seeing some strength in the order book, obviously, in December and January, out of China. Recognizing that, that's likely very much up in the air right now given everything that's going on there, but just hoping you could spend a couple of minutes talking about where you were seeing some of that strength. And then maybe as we look out a little bit further into 2020, you may be looking around, maybe geographically, where you see some of the bright spots and some of the risk points ex-China as we go through the year?

我希望我們能花一點時間討論您談到的一些評論，顯然是在 12 月和 1 月，來自中國的訂單簿中看到了一些實力。認識到這一點，鑑於那裡正在發生的一切，現在這可能非常懸而未決，但只是希望你能花幾分鐘談談你在哪裡看到了一些力量。然後，也許當我們進一步展望 2020 年時，您可能會環顧四周，也許從地理角度來看，您會在這一年中看到中國以外的一些亮點和一些風險點？

I think there's been a general pickup in demand in China in terms of order flow, a little bit, we saw that in December. It helped the book-to-bill equal 1. And then certainly, in January before the Lunar New Year and the Coronavirus disruptions, the order flow in China has really been pretty positive across OEMs for cutting applications. I haven't had a chance to look at the detail of where that was really coming from yet, but we've looked at the total number, so we'd have to pass that through in a bit more detail. But it was certainly a good start to the year, and we're showing significantly better tone than we've seen over the previous 4 or 5 months.

我認為中國的訂單流需求總體有所回升，我們在 12 月就看到了這一點。它幫助訂單出貨量等於 1。當然，在農曆新年和冠狀病毒幹擾之前的 1 月份，中國的 OEM 廠商在削減應用方面的訂單流確實非常積極。我還沒有機會詳細了解這些數據的真正來源，但我們已經查看了總數，因此我們必須更詳細地傳遞該數據。但這無疑是今年的一個好開端，我們的基調比過去四、五個月明顯好得多。

In terms of the rest of the geographic regions, I mean, we look at the same macroeconomic data that you would, and we continue to see that the underlying strength in the local economies is largely driven by strength in the U.S., which continues to hold up well. Sentiment perhaps isn't quite as strong as it was a year ago, but we've also got the benefit in the U.S. with a much more diverse product line with new applications coming on-stream, referenced some of the cinema and medical opportunities are expected to grow very strongly. So I think the U.S. is a reflection of where we'd like to see the whole business flow globally with that diversification. Some of the medical will also -- we were selling some of the medical lasers, for example, in India and China. Starting to sell them in China, so that should be a bit of a benefit there.

就其他地理區域而言，我的意思是，我們會像您一樣查看相同的宏觀經濟數據，並且我們繼續看到當地經濟的潛在實力很大程度上是由美國的實力推動的，而美國的實力繼續保持不變起來很好。人們的情緒可能不像一年前那麼強烈，但我們在美國也受益匪淺，產品線更加多樣化，新的應用程式即將上市，一些電影院和醫療機會都在預計將增長非常強勁。所以我認為美國反映了我們希望看到整個業務在全球範圍內流動並實現多元化。一些醫療方面也有——例如，我們在印度和中國銷售一些醫療雷射。開始在中國銷售它們，所以這應該會帶來一些好處。

I'd say, globally, Europe looks more -- at least it was looking a lot more stable, and order flow in Europe at the beginning of the year has been reasonable. Europe is obviously a key. They rely on a lot of export-driven industries, so it's going to be interesting to see whether some of the impact to China, which is really uncertain at the moment, offsets some of the stabilization, if not even a bit of strength in Europe. I was quite pleased to see where European order flow had been in the first 6 weeks of the quarter. Japan remains weak, but orders in January were reasonable there. Korea was reasonable. I think macroeconomic-wise, Japan is the other weak area at the moment.

我想說，從全球來看，歐洲看起來更穩定——至少看起來更穩定，年初歐洲的訂單流量也很合理。歐洲顯然是一個關鍵。它們依賴大量出口驅動型產業，因此，看看對中國的一些影響（目前確實不確定）是否會抵消歐洲的一些穩定（即使不是一點點強勢）將會很有趣。 。我很高興看到本季前 6 週歐洲訂單流的情況。日本依然疲軟，但 1 月訂單合理。韓國是有道理的。我認為從宏觀經濟角度來看，日本是目前另一個薄弱的領域。

Our next questions comes from the line of Tom Diffely of D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Tom Diffely。戴維森。

So I was curious on the orders that picked up in December and early January. Have you since seen those quarters pushed out or canceled? Or is it just a lack of new orders filling the void?

所以我對 12 月和 1 月初增加的訂單很好奇。您是否曾經看過這些季度被推遲或取消？或只是缺乏新訂單來填補空白？

We haven't had -- I mean, in relation to the shutdown, Tom, over the last 2 weeks in China?

湯姆，我的意思是，過去兩週中國沒有發生過與政府關閉有關的事情？

Correct. Yes.

正確的。是的。

So no, we just don't have any indication of whether they're just going to be pushed out or delayed and taken later. It's a very fluid and changing situation with people back in our major offices only on Monday. So we don't know whether it's going to lead to a big pickup in Q2 because demand recovers or whether it is a permanent push out for the year. We also have not had any orders canceled, and the general theory -- I mean, one of the comments from our general manager in China is that people are keen to get back to work to offset the losses they're incurring. Whether that can happen or not is an open question, right? This is a very changing situation. Even overnight, there's a bit more negativity around the way they're diagnosing the virus, and certainly, that's having an impact on the U.S. market today and Europe. So it's just such a changeable situation. It's not really possible to give you anything more definitive than the estimates we've made as of today.

所以不，我們只是沒有任何跡象表明它們是否會被推遲或推遲並稍後再接收。這是一個非常不穩定和不斷變化的情況，人們只在周一才回到我們的主要辦公室。因此，我們不知道這是否會因為需求復甦而導致第二季大幅回升，或者是否會永久推遲今年。我們也沒有取消任何訂單，一般來說 - 我的意思是，我們中國總經理的評論之一是，人們渴望重返工作崗位以抵消他們所遭受的損失。這是否會發生是一個懸而未決的問題，對嗎？這是一個非常變化的情況。即使在一夜之間，他們診斷病毒的方式也變得更加消極，當然，這對當今的美國市場和歐洲產生了影響。所以情況就是這樣多變。不可能給您比我們今天所做的估計更明確的訊息。

Okay. And that's helpful. And then as a follow-up, just a little bit more maybe on the battery, the auto battery market, what type or size of laser is used in that space? And what do you think the long-term prospects are from a market point of view?

好的。這很有幫助。然後作為後續行動，可能會更多關於電池、汽車電池市場，該領域使用什麼類型或尺寸的雷射？從市場角度來看，您認為長期前景如何？

There's a wide variety of lasers used in battery processes. Dr. Scherbakov knows a lot about this. So he'll cover some of that.

電池加工過程中使用了多種雷射。謝爾巴科夫博士對此了解很多。所以他會介紹其中的一些內容。

Yes, there is a different kind of applications for battery. Battery welding is one of the applications. The second one, it's weldings -- also case for battery. And for these applications, our customers using different kind of lasers. But the last lasers we should supply to our existing and some potential customer, with these options, ABB, MBB options, adjustable mode beam diameter. And the first result demonstrates a very good result. Just experiments demonstrates very good results. And from this point of view, we see a good future for our high-power lasers, first of all.

是的，電池有不同類型的應用。電池焊接就是其中的應用之一。第二個是焊接－也是電池盒。對於這些應用，我們的客戶使用不同類型的雷射。但我們應該向現有客戶和一些潛在客戶提供最後的雷射器，其中包括 ABB、MBB 選項、可調節模式光束直徑。第一個結果顯示了一個非常好的結果。光是實驗就證明了非常好的結果。從這個角度來看，我們首先看到了我們的高功率雷射的美好未來。

For us, growing demand for thin foil cutting, I would say, it's very special, very super high-speed cutting, and they use our green laser now, I would say, a special fiber product will require, but so when we will meet this requirement. But it's a real fast growing business. And also system business for automation of the production of battery production, also, we're talking with some major Tier 1 players in this market.

對於我們來說，對薄箔切割的需求不斷增長，我想說，這是非常特別的，非常超高速的切割，他們現在使用我們的綠色雷射器，我想說，需要特殊的光纖產品，但是當我們滿足時這個要求。但這是一個真正快速成長的業務。還有用於電池生產自動化的系統業務，我們也正在與這個市場上一些主要的一級參與者進行洽談。

And also important that such kind of battery are now using the different automotive customers. And for example, we received a very big -- enough orders for other lasers, and together, with our online monitor, produced by LDD. In this case, it's very important applications, and we see that also big interest in for such kind of combinations. I mean our lasers, online monitor, welding monitor, especially for battery production.

同樣重要的是，這種電池現在正在不同的汽車客戶中使用。例如，我們收到了一個非常大的訂單，足夠多的其他雷射器的訂單，以及我們的線上監視器，由 LDD 生產。在這種情況下，這是非常重要的應用，我們看到人們對這種組合也很感興趣。我指的是我們的雷射、線上監控器、焊接監控器，特別是用於電池生產的。

And then Tom, the other part of your question was, this is -- continues to be a decades long -- a decade-long -- decades, perhaps, long investment cycle. It's really the transition to electric vehicles is going to happen in the volumes that everyone is expecting. If you're going to get to 25% or 30% of vehicles, there's probably over $1 billion of laser-based investment that's required over a 10-year period. So that still hasn't changed at all at this point in time.

湯姆，你問題的另一部分是，這仍然是長達數十年的、長達十年的、也許是數十年的長期投資週期。向電動車的過渡確實會如每個人所期望的那樣發生。如果要獲得 25% 或 30% 的車輛，可能需要在 10 年內進行超過 10 億美元的雷射投資。所以目前這一點仍然沒有改變。

Our next questions come from the line of Jim Ricchiuti of Needham & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Needham & Company 的 Jim Ricchiuti。

So one of the things that I was kind of struck by in the quarter was the strength you're seeing in the ultra-high power segment of the market. And so what does that reflect, just this shift in demand within China to move at an accelerating pace to ultra-high power?

因此，本季令我震驚的一件事是你在市場的超高功率領域看到的實力。那麼，這反映了什麼？中國內部需求的轉變，加速邁向超高功率？

Of course, there are some trends, first of all, in China, because in China, this customer, much more flexible in comparison to the other countries. And some of these customers already used our, for example, 20-kilowatt laser for cutting applications. They produce special machines. But for us, it's much also very interesting because we are not supplying on the lasers, it's supplying our optical heads for these high power lasers. And in this combination, there is also special produced fiber, we can generate a good revenue. But also some customers now start to ask about 35-kilowatt laser for cutting applications. And such kind of trends also we saw in Japan and with some delay also in Europe.

當然，有一些趨勢，首先是在中國，因為在中國，這個客戶與其他國家相比要靈活得多。其中一些客戶已經使用我們的 20 千瓦雷射進行切割應用。他們生產特殊機器。但對我們來說，這也非常有趣，因為我們不提供雷射器，而是為這些高功率雷射提供光學頭。而且在這個組合中，還有專門生產的纖維，我們可以產生不錯的收入。但現在也有一些客戶開始詢問用於切割應用的 35 千瓦雷射。我們在日本也看到了這種趨勢，在歐洲也看到了一些延遲。

Got it. And Tim, if I may. Just with respect to the Q1 guidance, I assume there's going to be a considerable headwind from underutilization impacting gross margins in Q1. Is there any way to think about gross margins in the near term?

知道了。還有提姆，如果可以的話。就第一季的指導而言，我認為利用率不足會產生相當大的阻力，影響第一季的毛利率。有什麼辦法可以考慮近期的毛利率嗎？

Yes. I mean, unfortunately, this quarter is probably one of the most difficult quarters that we will have had since 2009. So the gross margin that we're factoring in, in that guidance is below to 40%. We're using operating expenses that will be a bit higher than they were in Q4 in the sort of $76 million to $78 million. If you exclude the impact related to the reduction in demand for China, gross margin would have been closer to the 45%. It would have been slightly below at the top end of the range, 45%. And at the bottom end of the Q1 range, it would have been about 40%. So Q1, even if you add back in the impact of coronavirus, it was obviously going to be a difficult quarter for us. We would have expected that, if the order trends had held up, to really transition into a stronger Q2 based upon what we'd seen on order flow. So it is a difficult Q1, and probably, as I said, one of the more difficult quarters we've had for the last 10 years in that context.

是的。我的意思是，不幸的是，本季可能是我們自 2009 年以來最困難的季度之一。因此，我們在該指引中考慮的毛利率低於 40%。我們使用的營運費用將比第四季略高，約為 7,600 萬至 7,800 萬美元。如果排除中國需求減少的影響，毛利率將接近45%。它會略低於該範圍的上限，即 45%。在第一季範圍的底部，該比例約為 40%。因此，第一季度，即使你再加上冠狀病毒的影響，這對我們來說顯然將是一個困難的季度。我們預計，如果訂單趨勢持續下去，根據我們在訂單流上看到的情況，第二季將真正過渡到更強勁的狀態。因此，這是一個艱難的第一季度，正如我所說，這可能是過去 10 年來我們在這方面經歷的最困難的季度之一。

Got it. And last question for me is just with respect to the U.S. business, ex-Genesis, was there anything unusual in terms of larger pieces of business that contributed to that growth?

知道了。對我來說，最後一個問題是關於美國業務（前創世紀），在促成這種成長的較大業務方面是否有任何不尋常之處？

There were some battery welding projects we talked about that went into -- ultimate custom was a European automotive entity, that was a nice order that we took. It was with the LDD that Eugene mentioned. U.S., generally, we'll see a pickup into Q4, right? So you had that benefit in a similar way that we had it before. That was probably the largest single order I can reference. You had some benefit coming from a pickup in medical, but that's going to carry on. We've already got a significant large order that was booked in January for the medical business for this year. Those are the 2 things I can think of. We had a 100-kilowatt laser order in the U.S. that didn't actually ship, it's going to ship in January. And one of the other benefits, by the way, on the ultra-high power was the -- talking about the overall ultra-high power, the 120-kilowatt in Germany, by the way, did ship. So that benefited some of the ultra-high power numbers as well.

我們討論過一些電池焊接項目——最終定制的是一家歐洲汽車實體，這是我們接到的一個很好的訂單。尤金提到的是LDD。一般來說，美國第四季我們會看到回升，對吧？所以你以與我們之前類似的方式獲得了這種好處。這可能是我能參考的最大的單一訂單。醫療方面的進步為你帶來了一些好處，但這種情況會持續下去。我們已經在一月份為今年的醫療業務預訂了一筆重要的大訂單。這是我能想到的兩件事。我們在美國有一份 100 千瓦的雷射訂單，但實際上並沒有發貨，它將在一月份發貨。順便說一句，超高功率的另一個好處是——說到整體超高功率，順便說一下，德國的 120 千瓦確實已經發貨了。因此，這也使一些超高功率數字受益。

The next question is coming from the line of Michael Feniger of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

下一個問題來自美銀美林的麥可‧費尼格 (Michael Feniger)。

Just first off, Tim, could you just help us? I know you talked about order flows picking up in December and January. Obviously, it's difficult to forecast. I'm just -- is that something that you sequentially see? Can you help us understand what gave you comfortability there to -- I know it's reassuring that order flows were firming. I'm just curious, is that like how we -- is that seasonally just how the business typically trends? Or did you feel like there was actually some pickup more than seasonality, given the depressed markets before that?

首先，提姆，你能幫助我們嗎？我知道您談到了 12 月和 1 月訂單流的回升。顯然，這很難預測。我只是──這是你依序看到的東西嗎？您能否幫助我們了解什麼讓您感到舒適——我知道訂單流的穩定性令人放心。我只是很好奇，這是否就像我們的情況一樣——季節性就是業務通常的趨勢嗎？或者考慮到之前的低迷市場，您是否覺得實際上有一些回升，而不是季節性？

That's an interesting question. Normally, January is a weak month for order flow. In the last 2 years, so the beginning of '18, coming off a depressed -- sorry, the beginning of '19, coming off a depressed end to '18, we also had quite strong order flow in January in China and other areas. That drove the overall strength in the business in the first half of last year, which then obviously tailed off when you got to the end of June. So you saw a similar strength, if not even a bit more positive, I think, than last year overall in the first few weeks of this year. Honestly, you're latching on a little bit to this positivity or we are -- you want to see those trends carry on. We want to see those trends carry on through Q1 and into Q2, and we wouldn't want to see, obviously, a slowdown halfway through the year. We want to maintain this momentum, but the general tone was pretty good.

這是一個有趣的問題。通常情況下，一月是訂單流疲軟的月份。在過去的兩年裡，18 年初，我們擺脫了低迷的狀態——抱歉，19 年初，18 年底的低迷狀態結束了，我們一月份在中國和其他地區也有相當強勁的訂單流。這推動了去年上半年業務的整體實力，但到了六月底，整體實力明顯減弱。因此，我認為，在今年的前幾週，你會看到與去年整體情況類似的優勢，甚至更積極一些。老實說，你有點抓住了這種積極性，或者我們 - 你希望看到這些趨勢繼續下去。我們希望看到這些趨勢持續到第一季和第二季度，顯然，我們不希望看到年中經濟放緩。我們希望保持這種勢頭，但整體基調還是不錯的。

Specifically this January, we have absolutely a record order flow, much higher than any other before. But what fourth quarter was a practical [stock order] in total. We expect that January would be a way bigger [plus] order compared to any other years.

特別是今年一月，我們的訂單流量絕對創歷史新高，遠高於以往任何時候。但第四季的實際[庫存訂單]總計是多少。我們預計一月份的訂單量將比其他年份大得多。

That's helpful. And just, if I understand, Q1 is difficult just with the cost savings that's occurring now, we can all try to have our own forecast on the macro. But with how you're managing the business, just with the cost savings you're trying to achieve, if we see a revenue base of $350 million and we're through the inventory charges, Tim, how can we think about maybe a gross margin range at that type of revenue number?

這很有幫助。只是，如果我理解的話，由於現在正在節省成本，第一季很困難，我們都可以嘗試對宏觀做出自己的預測。但是，根據您管理業務的方式，以及您試圖實現的成本節約，如果我們看到 3.5 億美元的收入基礎，並且我們通過庫存費用，蒂姆，我們如何考慮可能的總收入該類型收入的利潤範圍是多少？

So $350 million, I'm comfortable of being back into the midpoint of the 45% to 50%. If you can get back up to like the $400 million, which seems a long way off at the moment, it's closer to 50%. And then operating expenses at that level would probably be around $80 million a quarter. So a bit above 20% in operating margins trending to slightly around 25%, I should think. But we're comfortable with -- at this point in time with that. I think the big caveat around that is so long as there isn't a massive change in pricing again, and we continue to make some cost reductions that we've got rolling into the business model over the next 2 quarters or so.

3.5 億美元，我很樂意回到 45% 到 50% 的中間位置。如果你能恢復到 4 億美元（目前看來還很遙遠），那麼它就接近 50%。那麼該水準的營運費用可能約為每季 8,000 萬美元。因此，我認為營業利潤率略高於 20%，略高於 25%。但目前我們對此感到滿意。我認為，圍繞這一點的一個重要警告是，只要定價不再發生巨大變化，我們就會繼續降低一些成本，我們將在未來兩個季度左右的時間將這些成本融入到業務模式中。

And that is the -- if I could squeeze one more in, just on inventories. I think you mentioned, I believe, for the quarter, it was over a 550 million -- 550 basis points hit to gross margins on inventories. Are you -- with where you are now, obviously, there's no crystal ball on the macro. But like how are you feeling with your inventory position right now? And how we -- or do you think we're through some of those charges?

這就是——如果我能再擠出一點，就只是庫存。我想你有提到過，本季庫存毛利率下降了 5.5 億至 550 個基點。顯然，你現在的位置，宏觀沒有水晶球。但您現在的庫存狀況感覺如何？我們如何——或者你認為我們如何應對其中一些指控？

Yes. We went through a really detailed review of inventory, not just in Q4, but you saw -- you've seen elevated provisions even in Q2 and Q3 compared to normal. We believe that we've dealt with potentially excess items, and certainly, the slow-moving items that we'd identified, and we'll be targeting being more in a normal range of 1% to 1.5% provisions per quarter.

是的。我們對庫存進行了非常詳細的審查，不僅是在第四季度，而且您看到，即使在第二季度和第三季度，與正常情況相比，您也看到了準備金的增加。我們相信，我們已經處理了潛在的過剩項目，當然還有我們確定的滯銷項目，我們的目標是使準備金更多地處於每季 1% 至 1.5% 的正常範圍內。

Of course, if demand doesn't come back, it -- you have to caveat that statement with relative to where demand was. But if you're getting back to like $300 million to $350 million, or $330 million to $350 million in revenue, I'd be very comfortable with where we stand on inventory. I think the other good thing was it wasn't just the inventory provisions that took inventory down, there was really good execution by the manufacturing groups around the world so that we actually generated $20 million of cash from inventory in the quarter, which was a great thing to see.

當然，如果需求沒有回升，那麼你必須就相對於需求的情況來警告這個說法。但如果你的收入回到 3 億到 3.5 億美元，或 3.3 億到 3.5 億美元，我會對我們的庫存狀況感到非常滿意。我認為另一個好處是，不僅僅是庫存準備金減少了庫存，世界各地的製造集團確實執行得很好，所以我們實際上在本季度從庫存中產生了2000 萬美元的現金，這是一個巨大的進步。很棒的東西。

Our next question comes from Joe Wittine of Edgewater.

我們的下一個問題來自 Edgewater 的 Joe Wittine。

Just some product questions for me, trying to understand how much a tailwind rising power levels could be in 2020. It sounds like the 12s are finally coming to market in the west, it's been a while coming. And then in China, wondering if you're seeing a continued extension at kind of the highest end of ultra high power, 20s, et cetera?

只是向我詢問一些產品問題，試圖了解 2020 年功率水平的上升可能有多大。聽起來 12 終於要在西方上市了，已經有一段時間了。然後在中國，您想知道是否會看到超高功率最高端（20 代等）的持續擴展？

A question about the shift -- continuing shift, and how much a benefit it can be.

關於這種轉變的問題──持續的轉變，以及它能帶來多大的好處。

Yes. Benefit -- definitely there is a economic benefit for us. And first of all, in the end, there are no competition for such kind of high powered lasers, it's clear. And if -- and also for different kind of applications. I already talked about cutting applications, but also for welding applications, special material welding applications also. As much as possible, they use only high-power lasers. It's high efficiency and so on. And from different kind of applications, high-power trend definitely will give us additional benefits.

是的。效益－對我們來說肯定有經濟效益。首先，很明顯，最終這種高功率雷射不存在競爭。如果 - 也適用於不同類型的應用程式。我已經談到了切割應用，也談到了焊接應用，還有特殊材料的焊接應用。他們盡可能只使用高功率雷射。具有效率高等特性。從不同類型的應用來看，高功率趨勢肯定會為我們帶來額外的好處。

Okay. And then on high-peak power...

好的。然後是高峰值功率...

Let me tell you, (inaudible) the time when this year, we expect serious growth in high-power demand for advanced applications. They have much more budget. Potential customer with whom we're working, received this year much better -- higher budget than before it went for the volume introduction to the use -- practical use, high-power different solutions we are working for.

讓我告訴你，（聽不清楚）今年，我們預期先進應用的高功率需求將大幅成長。他們有更多的預算。與我們合作的潛在客戶今年收到了更好的回饋——比以前更高的預算用於批量介紹使用——實際使用，我們正在努力的高功率不同解決方案。

And what are those advanced applications? Could you elaborate further? Are those within macro, cutting and welding, still?

那些高級應用是什麼？能進一步詳細說明嗎？那些仍然屬於宏觀、切割和焊接嗎？

No, no, no. It's other applications.

不不不。這是其他應用程式。

And special material process areas.

及特殊材料加工領域。

Aerospace mainly as application, not material processing.

航空航天主要作為應用，而不是材料加工。

Understood. Then switching gears to high peak power QCW, the [quals] there, I would assume, are still underway. And I think you said you shipped one. So I'm assuming you have some more insights into the market acceptance. So as that product is fully commercialized, what sort of kind of kind of penetration are you expecting throughout the broad cutting business? I mean could that product be half of your cutting sales in the future once fully rolled out, more or less? Any help there would be great.

明白了。然後切換到高峰值功率 QCW，我認為那裡的[品質]仍在進行中。我想你說過你已經出貨了。所以我假設您對市場接受度有更多的了解。那麼，隨著該產品完全商業化，您預計在整個廣泛的切割業務中會有什麼樣的滲透？我的意思是，一旦全面推出，該產品是否會成為您將來削減銷售額的一半，或多或少？任何幫助都會很棒。

So I think on HPP, there continues to be a number of different customers that are evaluating the product within their cutting applications. It's still relatively unclear as to what percentage of total sales it can end up being, Joe. I think we'll have more clarity on that as we go through this year and customers start to introduce product, incorporating that feature within it. There's a bit more clarity, I'd say, over AMB, particularly for welding applications, where there's a lot of acceptance of that. We've always said the AMB would be a very strong performer on welding, given the reduced splatter and improvement in quality there.

因此，我認為在 HPP 上，仍然有許多不同的客戶在其切割應用中評估該產品。喬，目前還不清楚它最終能佔總銷售額的百分比。我認為，隨著今年客戶開始推出產品，並將功能納入其中，我們對此會更加清晰。我想說，AMB 更清晰一些，特別是對於焊接應用，人們對此有很多接受。我們一直說，鑑於飛濺的減少和品質的提高，AMB 在焊接方面的表現將非常強大。

Okay. Great. And then, finally...

好的。偉大的。然後，最後…

, In the second quarter, we introduced new families of the mid-power laser with HPP option. It's an absolute new level competing in performance to compare existing current laser to our competition, nobody from China, so don't want to have nothing similar. So the deal with HPP will still grow very fast. It's HPP option for a new generation of the mid-powered lasers, including -- but also new performance and new quality of laser (inaudible) HPP option. And also much more [quals] than exist in the lasers also will allow us to increase the gross margin very essentially for mid-power lasers to [yield] a return to very high profitability, which was in spite of the drop of price.

, 在第二季度，我們推出了具有 HPP 選項的新系列中功率雷射。將現有的現有雷射與我們的競爭對手進行比較，這絕對是新的性能競爭水平，沒有人來自中國，所以不想有類似的東西。因此與 HPP 的交易仍將成長得非常快。它是新一代中功率雷射的 HPP 選項，其中包括新性能和新品質的雷射（聽不清楚）HPP 選項。而且，比雷射器中存在的更多[品質]也將使我們能夠從根本上提高中功率雷射的毛利率，以[產生]恢復非常高的盈利能力，儘管價格下降了。

Interesting. Finally for me, on the consumer electronics portion of your business, especially the fine welding piece. Have you received any indication on orders for the mid part of the year related to smartphones prior to the holiday and quarantine? I'm trying to assess how prudent it is for our models to assume an uptick in those investments in that part of the supply chain, given I think everyone believes it's going to be a stronger year for smartphone production from a unit perspective, coming off of a few quiet years.

有趣的。最後對我來說，關於你們業務的消費性電子部分，尤其是精細焊接件。在假期和隔離之前，您是否收到任何與智慧型手機相關的年中訂單資訊？我正在嘗試評估我們的模型假設供應鏈這一部分的投資增加的謹慎程度，因為我認為每個人都相信，從單位角度來看，今年智慧型手機生產將更加強勁。平靜的幾年。

No, we don't have any indication yet on likely orders. The general view is from the laser supply side it's probably going to not be a huge catalyst in terms of a typical biannual, there should be some pickup, but it's not going to be a massive driver as it was in '17. For example, they continue to repurpose some of the existing lasers into production lines, even for newer phones. So it's not as though it's going to drive like doubling of QCW sales or anything like that this year, Joe.

不，我們還沒有任何關於可能的訂單的跡象。普遍的觀點是，從雷射供應來看，就典型的兩年期而言，它可能不會成為一個巨大的催化劑，應該會有一些回升，但它不會像17 年那樣成為一個巨大的推動因素。例如，他們繼續將一些現有的雷射重新用於生產線，甚至適用於較新的手機。因此，喬，今年的 QCW 銷量似乎不會翻倍或類似的事情。

Your next question comes from the line of Mark Miller of The Benchmark Company.

您的下一個問題來自 Benchmark Company 的 Mark Miller。

Just wanted to look at -- looking at the backlog and framing agreement went up year-over-year, but orders were down. Can you provide some color on that?

只是想看看積壓訂單和框架協議同比增加，但訂單卻下降了。你能提供一些顏色嗎？

No, I think the total backlog, Mark, was down 3%. So including frame agreements, it points to being a reasonable start to the year, but still a little bit uncertain. I think we focus a lot on the shippable side. So there's still some underlying demand there in terms of the frame agreements. There's a lot of frame agreements that have been put, for example, to get particularly higher power and ultra-high power licenses. So there's clearly, if the economy stabilizes, I think that the biggest trend that could come out of that is that you'll see the demand cycle for those ultra-high power lasers which require licenses increase. That will be the biggest read through I would go with on the frame agreement side of it. But it still requires more certainty on the macro, and clearly, resolution on -- not resolution, but some stability in relation to the current situation in China. I think where we were more focused on rather than what the closing backlog, the bookings in Q4 were, the book-to-bill was 1. So that was reasonable given that we're at slightly above our guidance range. Our real focus on bookings, though, had been on the positive trends we've seen in January and even the first week of February, excluding China, obviously.

不，馬克，我認為總積壓量下降了 3%。因此，包括框架協議在內，這表明今年是一個合理的開始，但仍然有點不確定。我認為我們非常關注可交付方面。因此，就框架協議而言，仍存在一些潛在的需求。例如，已經制定了許多框架協議以獲得特別高功率和超高功率許可證。因此，很明顯，如果經濟穩定下來，我認為可能出現的最大趨勢是，您將看到那些需要許可證的超高功率雷射的需求週期會增加。這將是我在框架協議方面進行的最大的閱讀。但它仍然需要更多的宏觀確定性，而且顯然需要解決——不是解決問題，而是與中國當前局勢相關的一些穩定性。我認為我們更關注的不是期末積壓，第四季度的預訂量，訂單出貨比為 1。鑑於我們略高於我們的指導範圍，這是合理的。不過，我們真正關注的預訂量是一月份甚至二月第一周看到的正面趨勢，顯然不包括中國。

In terms of the backlog, too, in terms of the mix, is this a higher margin mix or similar to what you've seen? And can we expect some improvements from the backlog in terms of margins?

就積壓而言，就組合而言，這是一個更高的利潤組合還是與您所看到的類似？我們能否期望積壓訂單在利潤方面有所改善？

I referenced that some of the frame agreement backlog will be driven by licenses getting for ultra-high power lasers in the 10, 12, and 20 and even in China moving towards potentially higher balances. That's all got a margin benefit to us in Q4. You actually, I think, saw -- and Valentin referenced this as well, the low end of the cutting market remained relatively stable in Q3 and Q4 that would have been a margin impact to us. So you see a recovery in ultra-high power, then you see some orders coming from some of these other advanced applications at ultra-high power, that has a margin benefit. We're selling more AMB lasers into the battery welding application, that has a benefit. And we're combining for the welding with the LDD, that has a benefit. And then key to everything as well is driving growth of ultrafast technology in green lasers, which also have extremely high-margin on them. They wouldn't be significant volumes of those in backlog at the moment, but growth of those business during the year is a target for the company.

我提到，一些框架協議積壓將受到 10 年、12 年和 20 年超高功率雷射許可證的推動，甚至在中國也可能實現更高的平衡。這一切都為我們在第四季帶來了利潤收益。實際上，我認為，您看到了 - 瓦倫丁也提到了這一點，切割市場的低端在第三季度和第四季度保持相對穩定，這將對我們的利潤率產生影響。因此，您會看到超高功率的復甦，然後您會看到一些訂單來自超高功率的其他一些高級應用，這具有邊際效益。我們正在向電池焊接應用銷售更多的 AMB 雷射器，這是有好處的。我們將焊接與 LDD 結合起來，這是有好處的。一切的關鍵也在於推動綠色雷射超快技術的發展，這些技術也具有極高的利潤。目前積壓的訂單量不會很大，但這些業務在年內的成長是該公司的目標。

Our next questions come from the line of Nick Todorov of Longbow Research.

我們的下一個問題來自長弓研究中心的尼克‧托多羅夫。

Tim, you highlighted the strength in welding. Can you talk about mix within that? Maybe I'm assuming it's more AMB with lasers. But is it systems or lasers? Can you give us any color on mix in welding?

提姆，您強調了焊接的強度。能談談其中的混合嗎？也許我認為更多的是帶有雷射的主動式磁力軸承。但它是系統還是雷射？您能為我們提供任何有關焊接混合的顏色嗎？

There's some benefit on systems, but there was also the significant order I mentioned for battery processing in the U.S. that benefited welding. That wasn't actually AMB, but it was order that was supplied with the LDD, the real-time weld monitoring and welding heads as well. There is some pickup in QCW in Q4 that would have been outside of systems, that would have been a driver as well as some of the welding performance. In the fourth quarter, there was some revenue recognized on some other welding systems, though, as well, which benefited stuff. A lot of the stuff that goes through Genesis, though, is obviously welding-based applications, not exclusively, but largely welding-based applications.

這對系統有一些好處，但我提到的美國電池加工的重要訂單也有利於焊接。這實際上並不是 AMB，但它是隨 LDD、即時焊接監控和焊頭一起提供的訂單。第四季 QCW 出現了一些回升，這些回升本來是在系統之外的，這將成為驅動因素以及一些焊接性能。不過，在第四季度，其他一些焊接系統也確認了一些收入，這也使公司受益。然而，Genesis 中的許多東西顯然都是基於焊接的應用程序，並非完全是基於焊接的應用程式。

Agriculture.

農業。

Okay. I understand that in other markets like Europe and China, it's difficult to forecast. But North America seems a little bit more stable. Are you willing to take a hit on what is the outlook you can see from North America, particularly in the core cutting markets for 2020?

好的。據我了解，在歐洲和中國等其他市場，很難預測。但北美似乎更穩定一些。您是否願意對北美的前景（尤其是 2020 年核心切割市場的前景）感到擔憂？

I think I referenced that earlier in the call that we continue to see a reasonably robust demand environment, not just across the core cutting applications, but across numerous different applications in the U.S. And we're targeting reasonable growth on the U.S. for this year across all of these, not just the cutting and welding, but some of the newer applications, such as medical, semiconductor, advanced applications, deposition technologies, for example, like high-power cladding applications. And then the systems business as well is largely focused, even outside of the acquired business, the organic systems business -- the medical devices, for example, performed very well last year. There's a new system that's being introduced, stent cutting, which we think enhances our competitive dynamics in that market as well. So there's a lot of diversity in the U.S. business that would be helped by a stronger macro environment here compared to the rest of the world.

我想我在電話會議的早些時候提到過，我們繼續看到相當強勁的需求環境，不僅在核心切割應用領域，而且在美國的許多不同應用領域。我們的目標是今年美國市場的合理成長所有這些，不僅僅是切割和焊接，還有一些較新的應用，例如醫療、半導體、先進應用、沉積技術，例如高功率熔覆應用。然後，系統業務也在很大程度上受到關注，即使在收購的業務之外，有機系統業務（例如醫療設備）去年表現也非常好。我們正在引入一種新系統，即支架切割，我們認為這也增強了我們在該市場的競爭動力。因此，與世界其他地區相比，美國企業存在著很大的多樣性，這將得益於這裡更強大的宏觀環境。

And now until end of last year, second half last year, made a great drop. Now we go into a new level of cooperation in the implementation of welding -- laser welding technology to the many segment of industry. We signed now with very serious long term agreement with very big Tier 1 plays in aerospace and transportation. And so we become the real long-term partner in mainly -- in the development, the joint development of the new welding processes, including full -- not only to sell lasers before for them, but provide them full complete solution, new process for special for each kind of the welding of material parts and so on. Then full automation system in providing and identifying ready production lines. It's a long-term cooperation with more and more such large -- the Tier 1 in the corresponding segment of market -- plays in the market. In the U.S., in the Europe, and so on. In material -- in auto, not only metal processing welding, but also in the material -- auto material processing, and also one. It's not just a retail sales of long-term cooperation, where you see this partnership with biggest players in the market. It's open for us to work on the opportunity.

而現在到去年年底、去年下半年，就出現了很大的下降。現在我們在焊接領域的合作進入了一個新的水平——雷射焊接技術應用於許多行業領域。我們現在與航空航天和運輸領域的大型一級公司簽署了非常嚴肅的長期協議。因此，我們成為真正的長期合作夥伴，主要是在開發、聯合開發新的焊接工藝方面，包括全面的，不僅是為他們之前銷售激光器，而是為他們提供完整的解決方案、新工藝專用於各種材料零件的焊接等。然後是全自動化系統，提供並識別準備好的生產線。這是與越來越多的大型企業（相應細分市場的一級企業）的長期合作。在美國、在歐洲等等。在材料——汽車中，不僅是金屬加工焊接，在材料——汽車材料加工中，也是一種。這不僅僅是長期合作的零售，你可以看到與市場上最大的參與者之間的這種合作關係。我們可以抓住這個機會。

Our final question comes from the line of Krish Sankar of Cowen & Company.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Cowen & Company 的 Krish Sankar。

I had two quick questions. One is, Tim, on your commentary on gross margin, I understand the biggest impact to gross margin is today from under absorption. So when you look at the revenue range of $300 million to $400 million on a quarterly basis, gross margin were up 45% to 50%. Is the inherent assumption service systems a similar percentage of the total revenue than it is today? And then a quick follow-up for Dr. Scherbakov. Is the EV opportunity mainly on the welding side?

我有兩個簡單的問題。一是，提姆，關於您對毛利率的評論，我知道對毛利率的最大影響是今天吸收不足。因此，當您查看每季 3 億至 4 億美元的收入範圍時，毛利率上升了 45% 至 50%。固有的假設服務系統佔總收入的比例是否與現在相似？然後是謝爾巴科夫博士的快速跟進。電動車機會主要集中在焊接方面嗎？

So in terms of gross margin, in terms of the recovery to $350 million or $400 million, you'd actually expect the laser business to perhaps recover a bit more quickly than proportion of growth in systems, even though we're targeting very strong growth in systems. So there'll be a little bit of a margin benefit, but the systems would still be a drag relative to the top end of that range, like on a -- an equivalent basis compared to where we were before. If you excluded the systems, you'd be above 50% -- slightly above 50%.

因此，就毛利率而言，就恢復到 3.5 億美元或 4 億美元而言，您實際上預計激光業務的恢復速度可能比系統增長的比例快一些，儘管我們的目標是非常強勁的增長在系統中。因此，將會有一點利潤收益，但相對於該範圍的上限，該系統仍然會是一個拖累，就像與我們之前的情況相比，在同等基礎上一樣。如果排除系統，您的比例將高於 50%——略高於 50%。

Okay. Of course, applications are not only connected to battery welding or cutting of foil, also there exists some big opportunity to use our high-power laser for welding body and wide welding for a vehicle. And from this point of view, also we see a very good perspective for our lasers.

好的。當然，應用不僅限於電池焊接或箔片切割，也存在使用我們的高功率雷射進行車身焊接和車輛寬幅焊接的巨大機會。從這個角度來看，我們也看到了我們的雷射器的一個非常好的前景。

At this time, I will turn the call back to James Hillier for closing remarks.

此時，我將把電話轉回給詹姆斯希利爾 (James Hillier) 進行總結發言。

Thank you for joining us this morning and for your continued interest in IPG. We're looking forward to speaking with you over the next few weeks and our next quarter's call. Have a great day, everyone.

感謝您今天早上加入我們並感謝您對 IPG 的持續關注。我們期待在接下來的幾週以及下個季度的電話會議中與您交談。祝大家有個美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束，此時您可以掛斷電話了。感謝您的參與。