National Instruments Corp (NATI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the NI Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded.

感謝您的支持，歡迎參加 NI 2022 年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的電話會議正在被錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference to your host, Ms. Marissa Vidaurri, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給主持人、投資者關係副總裁 Marissa Vidaurri 女士。請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining our Q4 2022 earnings call. I'm joined today by Eric Starkloff, President and Chief Executive Officer; Daniel Berenbaum, Chief Financial Officer; and Karen Rapp, Strategic Adviser to the CEO. We will start with an update on our performance in the quarter before opening it up for your questions.

謝謝。午安.感謝您參加我們的 2022 年第四季財報電話會議。今天與我一起出席的還有總裁兼執行長 Eric Starkloff； Daniel Berenbaum，財務長；以及執行長策略顧問 Karen Rapp。在回答您的問題之前，我們將先介紹本季的業績。

Our discussion today will include forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding the company's expectations of meeting or exceeding financial targets, its capital allocation, financing and investment plans, the payment of its quarterly dividend and its future business outlook and guidance, including demand for its products, ability to realize revenue from backlog, future results of acquired companies, execution of growth strategies and the outcome of the company's restructuring activities and strategic alternatives process. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially and could be negatively impacted by numerous factors. We refer you to the documents that the company files regularly with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 22, 2022, and the subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. These documents contain and identify important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking statements. We assume no duty to update any forward-looking statements to conform the statements to actual results or changes in our expectations.

我們今天的討論將包括前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於有關公司達到或超過財務目標的預期、資本配置、融資和投資計劃、季度股息支付以及未來業務展望和指導的陳述，包括對其產品的需求、從積壓訂單中實現收入的能力、被收購公司的未來業績、增長戰略的執行以及公司重組活動和戰略替代過程的結果。我們希望提醒您，這些聲明只是預測，實際事件或結果可能存在重大差異，並可能受到多種因素的負面影響。我們請您參閱本公司定期向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括本公司於 2022 年 2 月 22 日提交的 10-K 表年度報告以及隨後的 10-Q 表季度報告。這些文件包含並確定了可能導致我們的實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果大不相同的重要因素。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述以使陳述符合實際結果或我們預期變更的義務。

A reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures disclosed in this call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures or related disclosures are contained in our quarterly presentation deck on ni.com/nati. You can find the press release and quarterly presentation to supplement today's discussion on our website at ni.com/nati.

我們在本次電話會議中揭露的非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標或相關揭露的對帳表包含在我們在 ni.com/nati 上的季度簡報中。您可以在我們的網站 ni.com/nati 上找到新聞稿和季度簡報來補充今天的討論。

Management will also be hosting meetings at the Susquehanna conference in New York on March 2 and the Morgan Stanley conference in San Francisco on March 7. We look forward to seeing you there.

管理層還將於 3 月 2 日在紐約的 Susquehanna 會議上以及 3 月 7 日在舊金山的摩根士丹利會議上主持會議。我們期待在那裡見到您。

I will now turn the call over to Chief Executive Officer, Eric Starkloff.

現在我將電話轉給執行長 Eric Starkloff。

Thank you, Marissa. Good afternoon, and we appreciate you joining us today. So first, I want to take a moment to introduce Dan Berenbaum, our new CFO, who joined us on January 9. Dan has extensive experience leading financial operations of various technology businesses, and he's already had an immediate impact as we execute our growth strategy and focus to achieve our operating margin expansion targets for 2023 and beyond.

謝謝你，瑪麗莎。下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。首先，我想花點時間介紹我們的新任財務長 Dan Berenbaum，他於 1 月 9 日加入我們。 Dan 在領導各種技術業務的財務運營方面擁有豐富的經驗，在我們執行成長策略和專注於實現 2023 年及以後的營業利潤率擴張目標的過程中，他已經產生了直接的影響。

Karen is going to close out 2022 on the call today. And I want to once again take the opportunity to recognize and thank Karen for her significant contributions to our success over the past 6 years. After Karen speaks, Dan will provide outlook for Q1 2023.

凱倫將在今天的電話會議上結束 2022 年。我想再次藉此機會表彰和感謝凱倫在過去六年為我們的成功做出的重大貢獻。凱倫發言後，丹將對 2023 年第一季進行展望。

And I'll start by kicking things off with an update on the business in the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2022. The key messages you'll hear today are: we closed out a record year in 2022 with a strong fourth quarter; we achieved record non-GAAP quarterly revenue of $449 million, up 7% year-over-year and in line with our guidance; and we delivered non-GAAP operating margin of 25% for fourth quarter, which is an all-time record for a quarter.

首先，我將介紹第四季和 2022 年全年的業務進度。今天大家將聽到的關鍵訊息是：我們以強勁的第四季度結束了創紀錄的 2022 年；我們實現了創紀錄的非公認會計準則季度收入 4.49 億美元，同比增長 7%，符合我們的預期；我們第四季度的非公認會計準則營業利潤率達到 25%，創下了單季歷史新高。

2022 is a strong year as we continue to make strides in transforming NI into a higher growth, more profitable and more resilient company. Despite ongoing global macroeconomic uncertainty, we delivered on the 2022 targets that we shared at our September investor conference with record revenue of $1.7 billion, up 13% year-over-year; and non-GAAP operating margin of 20%, up 130 basis points compared to 2021. As we head into 2023, we are planning towards the recessionary growth scenario in line with what we shared in September. And even in a wide range of downturn scenarios, we now expect to exceed our 300 basis point non-GAAP margin expansion target.

2022 年是強勁的一年，我們將繼續大力推動 NI 轉型為一家成長更快、獲利能力更強、更具韌性的公司。儘管全球宏觀經濟不確定性持續存在，但我們仍實現了 9 月投資者會議上分享的 2022 年目標，營收達到創紀錄的 17 億美元，同比增長 13%；非公認會計準則營業利潤率為 20%，比 2021 年增長 130 個基點。邁入 2023 年，我們正依照 9 月分享的情況，為經濟衰退期間的成長情景進行規劃。即使在各種經濟低迷的情況下，我們現在預計非公認會計準則利潤率擴張目標仍將超過 300 個基點。

Our results are due to the transformation of our business that started in 2017. We have successfully executed on a set of transformational initiatives over the past 5 years, including we transformed our go-to-market into a tier channel strategy based on customer potential and stood up a nondirect channel in 2021. These changes have driven growth in our top accounts and significant cost leverage in SG&A. We formed industry-specific business units and have hired experts in those industries to lead them. We have shifted our road maps to focus on application-specific systems and software aligned to fast-growing subsegments, including electric and autonomous vehicles, wireless communication, and new space technology. We've expanded our software portfolio, building on our leadership position in automated test through LabVIEW and adding additional development tools, application software and also expanding into growing adjacencies with systems management and product analytics. We've accelerated our strategic transformation with a number of important bolt-on acquisitions, including multiple companies enabling us to deliver complete offerings in electric vehicle testing, now the fastest-growing part of our business.

我們的業績歸功於 2017 年開始的業務轉型。過去 5 年，我們成功實施了一系列轉型舉措，包括將市場進入策略轉變為基於客戶潛力的分級通路策略，並在 2021 年建立了非直接通路。這些變化推動了我們頂級客戶的成長，並在銷售、一般和行政管理方面實現了顯著的成本槓桿。我們成立了特定行業的業務部門，並聘請了該行業的專家來領導它們。我們已經調整了路線圖，將重點放在與快速成長的細分領域相適應的特定應用系統和軟體上，包括電動和自動駕駛汽車、無線通訊和新太空技術。我們擴展了我們的軟體產品組合，透過 LabVIEW 鞏固了我們在自動化測試領域的領導地位，並增加了額外的開發工具、應用軟體，同時也擴展到系統管理和產品分析等領域。我們透過一系列重要的附加收購加速了我們的策略轉型，其中包括收購多家公司，使我們能夠提供完整的電動車測試產品，而電動車測試目前已成為我們業務中成長最快的部分。

And we have been keenly focused on our cost structure to increase our leverage and our flexibility of spending. As a case in point, in 2022, we saw an unanticipated headwind to gross margin of 420 basis points, largely due to ongoing supply chain constraints and yet managed our operating expense to still hit our commitment of 100 basis point improvement to operating margin.

我們一直密切關注我們的成本結構，以提高我們的槓桿率和支出靈活性。舉個例子，2022 年，我們遭遇了意料之外的逆風，毛利率下降了 420 個基點，這主要是由於持續的供應鏈限制，但我們仍設法控制營運費用，以實現將營運利潤率提高 100 個基點的承諾。

We continue to focus on the efficiency of our operating expenses and expect a strong uptick in operating margin again this year. We have made shifts in our organization to consolidate our operational core and enable a leaner SG&A org. In Q1, we are also implementing a targeted restructuring of approximately 4% of our global head count. Our high confidence in 2023 is directly correlated to the strategic shifts we've made, which we believe have created a stronger trajectory for growth.

我們持續專注於營運費用的效率，並預計今年營運利潤率將再次強勁上升。我們已經對組織進行了調整，以鞏固我們的營運核心並建立更精簡的銷售、一般及行政管理 (SG&A) 組織。第一季度，我們也將對全球約 4% 的員工進行針對性的重組。我們對 2023 年的高度信心與我們所做的策略轉變直接相關，我們相信這些轉變為成長創造了更強勁的軌跡。

Now on to results by industry. The areas of intentional focus are delivering to our expectations. I believe this is a proof point that we're focused on the right areas to accelerate our long-term growth. Semiconductor and Electronics reported 2022 revenue of $433 million, up 10% year-over-year, with Q4 orders down 10% year-over-year, in line with our expectations for the quarter.

現在來看看各行業的結果。有意關注的領域正在滿足我們的期望。我相信這證明我們專注於正確的領域以加速我們的長期成長。半導體和電子部門公佈2022年營收為4.33億美元，年增10%，第四季訂單年減10%，符合我們對該季度的預期。

While a slower semi cycle has been anticipated, we believe the combination of our exposure to R&D tests and our ongoing progress in delivering software across the semiconductor workflow will soften the impact that the semiconductor downturn will have on our business. Last quarter, we won several large analytics software contracts in semiconductor, including our largest software contract ever, which will add predictable revenue over the next 3- to 5-year period of those contracts.

雖然預計半週期會比較慢，但我們相信，我們在研發測試方面的投入以及我們在半導體工作流程中交付軟體方面的持續進步將減輕半導體行業低迷對我們業務的影響。上個季度，我們贏得了半導體領域的幾份大型分析軟體合同，其中包括我們有史以來最大的軟體合同，這將在未來 3 到 5 年的合約期間增加可預測的收入。

Transportation reported 2022 revenue of $302 million, up 40% year-over-year, with Q4 orders up 35% year-over-year. Our strategic shift to focus in EV and ADAS where our customers are making significant investments has changed the trajectory of this business, and we expect that we'll continue to deliver market-leading growth rates in 2023. As we expected, EV and ADAS now represent more than 50% of our transportation business.

運輸部門報告稱，2022 年收入為 3.02 億美元，年增 40%，第四季訂單年增 35%。我們的策略轉向專注於客戶進行大量投資的電動車和 ADAS，這改變了這項業務的發展軌跡，我們預計在 2023 年我們將繼續實現市場領先的成長率。正如我們預期的那樣，電動車和 ADAS 現在占我們運輸業務的 50% 以上。

The recent acquisitions of Kratzer, NH Research and Heinzinger accounted for approximately 24% of transportation revenue in the fourth quarter. Through these acquisitions, we believe we now have the most competitive portfolio of end-to-end battery test capabilities in the market today, and we expect these investments to drive long-term growth for NI. Our recent success was winning a large battery lab deployment, resulting in $22 million in revenue that will be recognized over the course of 2023.

最近對 Kratzer、NH Research 和 Heinzinger 的收購佔第四季度運輸收入的約 24%。透過這些收購，我們相信我們現在擁有當今市場上最具競爭力的端到端電池測試能力組合，並且我們預計這些投資將推動 NI 的長期成長。我們最近的成功是贏得了一個大型電池實驗室的部署，帶來了 2,200 萬美元的收入，這些收入將在 2023 年期間確認。

Aerospace, Defense and Government delivered strong results with 2022 revenue of $412 million, up 9% year-over-year, with Q4 orders down 12% year-over-year. As a reminder, and as we noted in our Q3 call, in Q4 2021, we closed a large program win in ADG, so the decline in year-over-year orders was expected. We expect to see order strength in this business in 2023 driven by robust defense spending. We also continue to see strong opportunities in commercial space technologies like launch vehicles and satellites.

航空航太、國防和政府部門業績強勁，2022 年營收達 4.12 億美元，年增 9%，第四季訂單年減 12%。提醒一下，正如我們在第三季度電話會議上指出的那樣，在 2021 年第四季度，我們在 ADG 中贏得了一個大型項目，因此訂單量同比下降是意料之中的。我們預計，在強勁的國防開支的推動下，2023 年該業務的訂單將會強勁。我們也持續看到運載火箭和衛星等商業太空技術領域的巨大機會。

And our Portfolio business, which serves the majority of our broad-based customers, achieved revenue for the year of $511 million, up 5% year-over-year, with Q4 orders down 10% year-over-year. This is the area that has historically been most susceptible to a softening macro environment, and we have been taking steps to make this business more resilient.

我們的投資組合業務服務於我們大多數的廣泛客戶，全年實現收入 5.11 億美元，年增 5%，但第四季訂單量年減 10%。從歷史上看，這是最容易受到宏觀環境疲軟影響的領域，我們一直在採取措施使這項業務更具彈性。

Our focus on utilizing global distribution to better position our offerings and optimizing our digital channel to this broad customer base have gained traction, further providing leverage and scale in this portion of our business. We expect revenue from distribution and digital channels to grow to approximately 22% of our total revenue in 2023, up from 9% of our total revenue in 2020. We also expect our transition to software subscription will improve the resiliency and the growth opportunity for this business.

我們專注於利用全球分銷來更好地定位我們的產品，並優化我們面向廣泛客戶群的數位管道，這已獲得廣泛關注，並進一步為我們業務的這一部分提供了槓桿和規模。我們預計，到 2023 年，分銷和數位管道的收入將占我們總收入的 22% 左右，高於 2020 年的 9%。我們也預計，向軟體訂閱的過渡將提高該業務的彈性和成長機會。

As we mentioned previously, starting in January of 2022, we transitioned our single seat licenses to subscription, which resulted in a 2% headwind to revenue for the full year. We were pleased to exceed our internal targets on this transition in 2022. And going forward, the vast majority of our software portfolio is now recurring revenue.

正如我們之前提到的，從 2022 年 1 月開始，我們將單座位授權轉換為訂閱，這導致全年收入下降 2%。我們很高興在 2022 年超額完成了這項轉型的內部目標。展望未來，我們的絕大多數軟體產品組合現在都是經常性收入。

In summary, we believe the company is in a strong position. We plan to head and took action in anticipation of softening in the semiconductor cycle and a weaker overall macro economy. We are planning towards a recessionary growth scenario, in line with what we shared in September. And even in a wide range of downturn scenarios, we now expect to exceed our 300 basis point non-GAAP margin expansion target.

總而言之，我們相信該公司處於強勢地位。我們計劃採取行動，以應對半導體週期的疲軟和整體宏觀經濟的疲軟。我們正在為衰退性成長情境做規劃，與我們 9 月分享的情況一致。即使在各種經濟低迷的情況下，我們現在預計非公認會計準則利潤率擴張目標仍將超過 300 個基點。

With that, I'll turn it over to Karen to discuss our Q4 and year-end results in more detail. Karen?

接下來，我將把話題交給 Karen 來更詳細地討論我們的第四季和年終業績。卡倫？

Thanks, Eric. Q4 was a record quarter with GAAP revenue of $448 million, up 7% year-over-year. 2022 was a record year for revenue at $1.7 billion and 13% growth year-over-year. Our Q4 orders were down 3% year-over-year, as we expected. We started to see a decline in the semi market and the macro economy at the end of September, and we plan for that to continue in Q4. As Eric mentioned, we had a strong Q4 last year with a large ADG order that we knew would not repeat in 2022.

謝謝，埃里克。第四季創下了歷史新高，GAAP 營收達 4.48 億美元，年增 7%。 2022 年創下了收入記錄，達到 17 億美元，年增 13%。正如我們預期的那樣，我們的第四季訂單年減了 3%。我們從九月底開始看到半導體市場和宏觀經濟出現下滑，我們預計這種下滑趨勢將在第四季持續下去。正如 Eric 所提到的，去年第四季我們表現強勁，獲得了大量 ADG 訂單，我們知道 2022 年不會再發生這種情況。

By region, fourth quarter orders were down 7% year-over-year in the Americas, up 7% year-over-year in EMEA and down 9% year-over-year in Asia Pacific. We ended the quarter with delinquent backlog of approximately $230 million, which is approximately 7 weeks of revenue. We're confident in the resiliency of our backlog and in our ability to realize this revenue as supply chain constraints continue to ease. Because our solutions are off in a capital expense and provide unique capabilities for our customers, we don't typically incur any double-ordering risk, and we haven't seen anything that would indicate a change in that historic pattern. We also continue to see minimal cancellations due to lead times at less than 1%.

按地區來看，第四季美洲地區訂單年減 7%，歐洲、中東和非洲地區訂單年增 7%，亞太地區訂單年減 9%。本季結束時，我們的拖欠積壓訂單金額約為 2.3 億美元，約相當於 7 週的收入。隨著供應鏈限制的不斷緩解，我們對積壓訂單的彈性以及實現這筆收入的能力充滿信心。由於我們的解決方案屬於資本支出範疇，並且為客戶提供了獨特的功能，因此我們通常不會承擔任何重複訂購風險，而且我們也沒有看到任何跡象表明這種歷史模式會發生變化。我們還發現由於交貨時間原因取消的訂單率仍然很低，不到 1%。

Non-GAAP gross margin for both Q4 and full year 2022 was 70%. 2022 non-GAAP gross margin was down 420 basis points year-over-year driven primarily by broker fees paid for components that were in short supply. We continue to see supply constraints easing. While there are still some key golden screw components, especially in legacy semi technology, we expect the supply chain constraints to ease in the first half of 2023 and the reduction in broker purchases to positively impact our 2023 operating margin.

2022 年第四季和全年的非 GAAP 毛利率均為 70%。 2022 年非公認會計準則毛利率年減 420 個基點，主要原因是支付了供應短缺的零件的經紀費用。我們繼續看到供應限制正在緩解。雖然仍有一些關鍵的黃金螺絲組件，特別是在傳統的半導體技術中，但我們預計供應鏈限制將在 2023 年上半年得到緩解，經紀人購買量的減少將對我們 2023 年的營業利潤率產生積極影響。

In Q4, we generated $60 million of GAAP operating income and $112 million of non-GAAP operating income, a non-GAAP record for a fourth quarter. We delivered non-GAAP operating margin of 25% in Q4.

第四季度，我們創造了 6,000 萬美元的 GAAP 營業收入和 1.12 億美元的非 GAAP 營業收入，創下了第四季度的非 GAAP 記錄。我們第四季的非公認會計準則營業利益率為 25%。

For the full year, GAAP operating margin was 12%. Non-GAAP operating margin was 20%, a record for NI had an increase of 130 basis points year-over-year, demonstrating the continued focus we have had on driving variability and efficiency in our cost structure.

全年 GAAP 營業利益率為 12%。非公認會計準則營業利潤率為 20%，創下 NI 的歷史新高，年增 130 個基點，顯示我們一直致力於推動成本結構的多樣化和效率。

We reported Q4 GAAP net income of $40 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.30. We reported record Q4 non-GAAP net income of $83 million and record diluted non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.63, an increase of 5% year-over-year. For the full year 2022, GAAP net income was $140 million. We delivered record non-GAAP net income of $255 million, up 14% year-over-year.

我們報告第四季 GAAP 淨收入為 4000 萬美元，每股攤薄收益為 0.30 美元。我們報告第四季非公認會計準則淨收入達到創紀錄的 8,300 萬美元，每股攤薄非公認會計準則收益達到創紀錄的 0.63 美元，年增 5%。 2022 年全年，GAAP 淨收入為 1.4 億美元。我們實現了創紀錄的非公認會計準則淨收入 2.55 億美元，年增 14%。

In summary, Q4 results were in line with our expectations, and 2022 was another strong year of growth on both the top line and bottom line for NI. I'm proud of the results we're delivering.

總而言之，第四季度的業績符合我們的預期，2022 年將是 NI 營收和利潤再一次強勁成長的一年。我對我們所取得的成果感到自豪。

Finally, as many of you know, this will be my last earnings call, although I'll be here through May to help ensure a smooth transition. I'm excited to have Dan here. His background and skill set is a great addition to NI, and his experience will help us continue to grow in all areas.

最後，正如你們許多人所知，這將是我最後一次召開財報電話會議，儘管我會在這裡待到五月，以確保順利過渡。我很高興丹能來這裡。他的背景和技能對 NI 來說是一個很大的補充，他的經驗將幫助我們在各個領域繼續成長。

I've enjoyed getting to know many of you over the past 6 years, and I appreciate your time, interest and commitment to understanding our business. I'm confident in the trajectory of NI and excited about the company's future prospects.

在過去的六年裡，我很高興認識你們中的許多人，我感謝你們的時間、興趣和對了解我們業務的承諾。我對 NI 的發展軌跡充滿信心，並對公司的未來前景感到興奮。

Now I'll turn it over to Dan to discuss our outlook for Q1.

現在我將把話題交給丹來討論我們對第一季的展望。

Thank you, Karen, and thank you, Eric, for the warm welcome to NI. I'm very happy to be here and to be participating in this call as we look ahead to 2023.

謝謝 Karen 和 Eric 對 NI 的熱烈歡迎。我很高興來到這裡參加這次展望 2023 年的電話會議。

As you can imagine, I spent my first few weeks in NI immersing myself in the business. It won't surprise those of you who have followed NI for a long time that I've been deeply impressed with the high level of talent across the organization, a testament to NI's strong culture of engineering and commitment to customers.

你可以想像，我在北愛爾蘭的頭幾個星期都沉浸在業務中。對於長期關注 NI 的人來說，我不會感到驚訝，整個組織的高水準人才給我留下了深刻的印象，這證明了 NI 強大的工程文化和對客戶的承諾。

It's also very clear that the transformation of NI continues to gain momentum. As I continue to learn more about our customers, products and operations, I'll focus on continuing those operational efficiency improvements to achieve our short- and long-term margin expansion targets as well as on improving our working capital management and cash flow generation, and building investor confidence in our ability to execute on a quarterly basis as well as over the long term.

顯而易見的是，NI 的轉型正在持續加速。隨著我繼續更多地了解我們的客戶、產品和運營，我將專注於繼續提高營運效率，以實現我們的短期和長期利潤率擴張目標，以及改善我們的營運資本管理和現金流產生，並建立投資者對我們按季度以及長期執行的能力的信心。

As Eric mentioned, we remain committed to our target of delivering at least 300 basis points of non-GAAP operating margin improvement in 2023. We have a number of initiatives in flight which underpin our confidence, including supply chain planning improvements, tight control of discretionary spending and the restructuring which Eric mentioned earlier.

正如 Eric 所提到的，我們仍然致力於實現 2023 年非 GAAP 營業利潤率至少提高 300 個基點的目標。我們正在實施一系列措施來增強我們的信心，包括供應鏈規劃的改進、對可自由支配支出的嚴格控制以及 Eric 之前提到的重組。

Specific to gross margin, as we enter 2023, we expect a tailwind from lower purchase price variance as we see our supply chain constraints ease. We also expect to see the benefit of pricing actions, which have been taken over the past several quarters. For Q1, we expect to deliver a more than 100 basis point sequential improvement in non-GAAP gross margin compared to Q4.

具體到毛利率，隨著我們進入 2023 年，隨著供應鏈限制的緩解，我們預計採購價格差異的降低將帶來順風。我們也希望看到過去幾季採取的定價行動帶來的好處。對於第一季度，我們預計非 GAAP 毛利率將比第四季環比提高 100 個基點以上。

With respect to operating expenses, we anticipate that Q1 OpEx will rise slightly from Q4 levels as we make targeted investments to ensure our future growth while maintaining discipline around discretionary spending. The restructuring actions that Eric mentioned previously will result in a reduction of approximately 4% of our head count, primarily in SG&A. We anticipate that most of the benefits from this reduction will start in Q2. After declining significantly as a percentage of revenue over the past few years, we expect OpEx to increase gradually in absolute terms as we go through 2023 but to remain flattish or decline as a percent of revenue in relation to Q1.

關於營運費用，我們預計第一季的營運支出將比第四季略有上升，因為我們進行有針對性的投資以確保未來的成長，同時保持對可自由支配支出的紀律。 Eric 先前提到的重整措施將導致我們的員工人數減少約 4%，主要是銷售、一般及行政支出 (SG&A)。我們預計此次減稅帶來的大部分好處將在第二季開始顯現。在過去幾年中，營運支出佔收入的百分比大幅下降之後，我們預計到 2023 年，營運支出的絕對值將逐漸增加，但相對於第一季而言，營運支出佔收入的百分比將保持平穩或下降。

Now let me comment on capital management. Our balance sheet remains strong with $140 million of cash at the end of the fourth quarter. Cash flow from operations was $52 million in the fourth quarter. In Q4, we continued to invest in inventory to enable us to meet customer delivery commitments in the face of ongoing supply chain challenges. As supply constraints ease, we expect inventory to return to more normal levels. Along with a renewed focus on working capital management, we expect to be able to convert non-GAAP net income to cash at levels more aligned with our historic performance and at a meaningful improvement over 2022.

現在讓我評論一下資本管理。我們的資產負債表依然強勁，第四季末現金為 1.4 億美元。第四季經營現金流為5,200萬美元。第四季度，我們繼續投資庫存，以便在持續的供應鏈挑戰面前能夠滿足客戶的交貨承諾。隨著供應限制的緩解，我們預計庫存將恢復到更正常的水平。隨著重新關注營運資本管理，我們預計能夠將非公認會計準則淨收入轉換為現金，其水準與我們的歷史績效更加一致，並且比 2022 年有顯著改善。

Our capital allocation strategy remains balanced and disciplined. We will continue to invest in organic capabilities to ensure we stay ahead of the technology needs of our customers and prioritize inorganic investments that strategically align to the business in order to drive profitable growth.

我們的資本配置策略保持平衡和嚴謹。我們將繼續投資於有機能力，以確保我們始終領先於客戶的技術需求，並優先考慮與業務策略一致的無機投資，以推動獲利成長。

In the fourth quarter, we returned $37 million to shareholders through our dividend. And the NI Board of Directors has approved a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share payable on March 6, 2023, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 13, 2023. We've elected to continue our dividend at current levels given the already very strong return of cash to shareholders. We did not repurchase shares in Q4. I would note that our Q4 '22 weighted average share count was the lowest since Q4 '20. With some normal fluctuations, NI's share count has remained roughly flat over the past 5 years as we have successfully used our repurchase program to offset dilution.

第四季度，我們透過股息向股東返還了 3,700 萬美元。並且，NI 董事會已批准向截至 2023 年 2 月 13 日營業結束時登記在冊的股東派發每股 0.28 美元的季度股息，該股息將於 2023 年 3 月 6 日支付。鑑於股東的現金回報已經非常強勁，我們選擇繼續維持目前的股息水準。我們在第四季沒有回購股票。我要指出的是，我們 22 年第四季的加權平均股數是 20 年第四季以來的最低水準。除了一些正常的波動外，由於我們成功地利用回購計劃來抵消稀釋，NI 的股票數量在過去 5 年裡基本上保持不變。

With that, let's shift to guidance for Q1. For the first quarter, revenue is expected to be in the range of $415 million to $445 million. At the midpoint, this represents 12% revenue growth year-over-year. Our guidance assumes currency impact similar to Q4. We expect GAAP diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.14 to $0.28 for Q1 with non-GAAP diluted earnings per share expected to be in the range of $0.48 to $0.62, an increase of 35% year-over-year at the midpoint. Our Q1 non-GAAP earnings forecast excludes $20 million related to the restructuring we have discussed today, $18.5 million for stock-based compensation and $15 million for amortization of acquired intangible assets, acquisition-related expenses and other items. We anticipate a full year 2023 GAAP and non-GAAP tax rate of between 17% and 18%, assuming no changes to tax laws. In Q1, we will also incur an additional approximate $1 million tax expense related to changes in the R&D tax credit.

有了這些，讓我們轉向第一季的指導。第一季的營收預計在4.15億美元至4.45億美元之間。按照中間值計算，這代表收入年增 12%。我們的指引假設貨幣影響與第四季類似。我們預計第一季 GAAP 稀釋每股收益在 0.14 美元至 0.28 美元之間，非 GAAP 稀釋每股收益預計在 0.48 美元至 0.62 美元之間，中位數年增 35%。我們對第一季非公認會計準則獲利的預測不包括我們今天討論的重組相關的 2000 萬美元、股票薪酬的 1850 萬美元以及收購無形資產攤銷、收購相關費用和其他項目的 1500 萬美元。假設稅法沒有變化，我們預計 2023 年全年 GAAP 和非 GAAP 稅率將在 17% 至 18% 之間。在第一季度，我們還將因研發稅收抵免的變化而產生約 100 萬美元的額外稅費。

In summary, we continue to see benefits from NI's multiyear transformation journey. We are laser-focused on making efficient investments in our growth while improving our expense control and working capital management. As Eric mentioned, we are planning for a continued recessionary environment in the first half of 2023. Even against the slower macro backdrop, we are confident in our ability to deliver on our commitment to increase our non-GAAP operating margin by at least 300 basis points in 2023.

總而言之，我們持續看到 NI 多年轉型歷程帶來的好處。我們專注於對我們的成長進行有效投資，同時改善我們的費用控制和營運資金管理。正如 Eric 所提到的，我們計劃在 2023 年上半年繼續應對經濟衰退環境。即使在宏觀經濟放緩的背景下，我們也有信心履行承諾，在 2023 年將非 GAAP 營業利潤率提高至少 300 個基點。

I'll now turn it back over to Eric for some closing comments.

現在我將把時間交還給 Eric，請他發表一些結束語。

Thank you, Dan and Karen. We are confident in the actions we have taken to better position the company to perform, including in a weaker macro environment. We expect revenue growth even in a headwind environment and remain committed to meeting or exceeding our target of 300 basis point margin expansion. I believe our strong performance in 2022 is proof that we have the right strategy in place.

謝謝你，丹和凱倫。我們對所採取的行動充滿信心，這些行動將使公司在宏觀環境較弱的情況下表現得更好。即使在逆風環境下，我們也預期營收仍將成長，並將繼續致力於實現或超過 300 個基點的利潤率擴張目標。我相信我們在 2022 年的強勁表現證明我們已經制定了正確的策略。

We've done a lot of hard work over the past 5 years to fundamentally transform the company and change the trajectory of our performance, and we're not done yet. The key elements of the strategy have gained traction and demonstrate the success in driving a higher level of growth. Now we're focused on executing the strategy and achieving the return on these investments with a focus on top line growth and strong leverage and earnings growth on the bottom line.

過去五年來，我們付出了很多艱苦的努力來從根本上改變公司並改變我們的業績軌跡，但我們還沒有完成。該策略的關鍵要素已獲得支持，並證明其在推動更高水準成長方面取得了成功。現在，我們專注於執行策略並實現這些投資的回報，重點是營收成長、強勁的槓桿率和獲利成長。

I want to send a big thank you to all of our employees who have driven our strategy and committed to a significant expense management actions throughout this past year. I know it's not been easy. Employees in manufacturing and operations, in particular, have worked incredibly hard to navigate continued and unprecedented challenges in our supply chain. And I sincerely appreciate everyone's hard work and determination and perseverance.

我要向所有在過去的一年裡推動我們的策略並致力於重大費用管理行動的員工表示衷心的感謝。我知道這並不容易。特別是製造和營運部門的員工，他們付出了極大的努力來應對我們供應鏈中持續存在的、前所未有的挑戰。我真誠感謝大家的辛勤工作、決心和毅力。

Before we take your questions, I do want to comment on the strategic review process. As you all know, NI issued a press release on January 13 announcing that our Board of Directors has initiated a review and evaluation of strategic options for NI. A comprehensive review will include consideration of a full range of available strategic business and financial alternatives. We know some of you have questions regarding the strategic review, but I'd like to note that we are not planning on answering questions regarding this topic on the call today. We appreciate your cooperation in advance.

在回答您的問題之前，我想對策略審查過程進行評論。眾所周知，NI 於 1 月 13 日發布新聞稿，宣布我們的董事會已開始對 NI 的戰略選擇進行審查和評估。全面審查將包括考慮各種可用的策略業務和財務替代方案。我們知道你們中的一些人對策略評估有疑問，但我想指出的是，我們不打算在今天的電話會議上回答有關這個主題的問題。我們提前感謝您的合作。

And with that, we will now take your questions.

現在，我們將回答大家的提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Samik Chatterjee of JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Samik Chatterjee。

This is Angela Jin for Samik. On your 2023 guide, I know a few months ago you sort of were guiding towards mid-teens growth in 2023. How has that path to that level of growth narrowed just given sort of the macro backdrop that we're seeing? The semi down cycle seems more severe than initially expected. And so what are your initial thoughts on 2023 revenue growth?

我是 Samik 的 Angela Jin。關於您的 2023 年指南，我知道幾個月前您就預測 2023 年的經濟成長率將達到十五六倍。考慮到我們所看到的宏觀背景，實現這一成長水準的路徑是如何收窄的？半下降週期似乎比最初預期的更為嚴重。那麼您對 2023 年收入成長的初步想法是什麼？

Sure. Angela, I'll take that. Yes, I commented that we're seeing an environment that's consistent with what we anticipated in the September conference, and we laid out a set of scenarios and a recessionary scenario, in particular. That's still our point of view. We didn't guide on revenue for the full year. We obviously guided for Q1 at 12% revenue growth. And we're really focused on driving the growth of the company as we continue to achieve these growth expectations. And then the areas we can control, you heard certainly in the call a commitment to the bottom line performance sort of well within our control and managing that for a wide range of outcomes.

當然。安琪拉，我接受。是的，我評論說，我們看到的環境與我們在 9 月會議上的預期一致，我們列出了一系列情景，特別是經濟衰退情景。這仍然是我們的觀點。我們沒有對全年收入做出預測。我們顯然預期第一季的營收成長率為 12%。我們真正專注於推動公司的成長，並繼續實現這些成長預期。然後是我們可以控制的領域，您肯定會在電話會議中聽到對底線績效的承諾，這完全在我們的控制範圍內，並且可以管理廣泛的結果。

I can add a little bit of color. Just to say again, we guide one quarter at a time, so we're not going to make comments specifically on the full year. As Eric said, there obviously is that macro headwind, and we are planning for that macro headwind. But against that backdrop, I think there's some sort of well-known tailwinds as well. We have the acquisitions that are helping us. We have some backlog in place that will help us specifically in Q1. If you look at our patterns exiting 2022, Q4 revenue was a little bit below what you would consider our normal seasonality. We're guiding Q1 a little bit better than what we would consider our normal seasonality. We have some tailwinds there from training, what we would consider to be our delinquent backlog, meaning backlog that customers would have liked to seeing shipped in Q4 that, for one reason or another, we weren't able to ship in Q4. So we have some of those tailwinds going into Q1.

我可以添加一點顏色。我再說一遍，我們每次只指導一個季度，因此我們不會針對全年情況做出具體評論。正如埃里克所說，顯然存在宏觀逆風，我們正在為這種宏觀逆風做準備。但在這樣的背景下，我認為也存在一些眾所周知的順風因素。我們進行的收購對我們有幫助。我們有一些積壓工作，這將對我們在第一季特別有幫助。如果您觀察我們 2022 年的模式，您會發現第四季的收入略低於我們正常的季節性水準。我們對第一季的預期比我們認為的正常季節性要好一些。我們在培訓方面獲得了一些順風，我們認為這是我們的拖欠積壓訂單，這意味著客戶希望在第四季度發貨的積壓訂單，但由於這樣或那樣的原因，我們無法在第四季度發貨。因此，我們在進入第一季時遇到了一些順風。

I will also comment that we have historically talked about backlog as a measure of orders that customers wanted in prior quarters, but we haven't really talked about our scheduled backlog. Our scheduled backlog is -- would add another roughly $220 million to that $230 million worth of delinquent backlog that Karen talked about. Now part of that is really tied to the transformation of the company. It's tied to the different strategy of the company. NI, if you look back over the years, really used to be much more of a turns business with very little long-term backlog. Now, with the shift to products and solutions and the EV acquisitions, we're starting to see more of that backlog, scheduled backlog, build up.

我還要評論一下，我們過去曾討論過積壓訂單，將其作為衡量客戶在前幾個季度想要的訂單的標準，但我們還沒有真正討論過我們的預定積壓訂單。我們的預定積壓訂單－將在 Karen 提到的 2.3 億美元拖欠積壓訂單基礎上再增加約 2.2 億美元。現在，這其中的一部分確實與公司的轉型息息相關。這與公司的不同策略有關。如果你回顧過去的幾年，你會發現 NI 確實曾經是一家轉型企業，長期積壓訂單很少。現在，隨著向產品和解決方案的轉變以及電動車的收購，我們開始看到更多的積壓訂單、預定的積壓訂單的累積。

So we have some tailwinds. Again, we're not guiding for the full year. We're really only guiding for Q1. We have some of those specific delinquent backlog tailwinds in Q1 that are going to help us, which give us confidence in that better-than-seasonal guide for Q1, but just to give you a sense of how we think about the puts and takes for the full year, if that's helpful.

因此我們有一些順風。再次強調，我們不會為全年做出預測。我們實際上僅針對第一季度做出指導。我們在第一季有一些特定的拖欠積壓順風，這將對我們有所幫助，這使我們對第一季度優於季節性的指導充滿信心，但這只是為了讓您了解我們如何看待全年的收益和利弊，如果這有幫助的話。

Yes, that's really helpful. And then on the operating margin expansion target of 300 basis points or exceeding that, sort of between your gross margin improvement, your restructuring and other sort of cost control, where -- what is driving that 300? Like, is that mostly the gross margin improvement? Is it mostly the head count reduction? Could you maybe walk through sort of the input into that target?

是的，這確實很有幫助。然後，關於營業利潤率擴張目標 300 個基點或超過這個目標，在毛利率提高、重組和其他成本控制之間，是什麼推動了這 300 個基點？例如，這主要是毛利率的增加嗎？主要是裁員嗎？能否詳細介紹一下該目標的輸入？

Yes. Again, we're not really going to talk about guidance for the full year. I sort of pointed you, for Q1, that we expect a little bit more than 100 basis points of gross margin improvement, guided the OpEx for Q1 given some commentary around that increasing in dollar terms from Q4, so that should sort of give you a feel for the profile that might shake out for Q1.

是的。再說一次，我們實際上不會談論全年的指導。我稍微指出一下，對於第一季度，我們預計毛利率將略高於 100 個基點，並指導第一季度的營運支出，因為有一些評論稱，從第四季度開始，營運支出以美元計算將有所增加，因此這應該可以讓您大致了解第一季可能出現的情況。

Again, just to give you the thoughts on the full year that we do have some tailwinds from some of the price increases and some of the purchase price variances rolling off, so we definitely have some tailwinds there offset by continued headwinds in supply chain, it won't vanish entirely, and the mix of our business as the mix of our business changes, so again, just to give you some thoughts on how we think about gross margin internally. And as I said, the OpEx will gradually increase in dollar terms over the course of the year, but we're not going to guide specifically beyond Q1.

再次強調，只是為了讓您了解全年的情況，我們確實有一些順風，來自一些價格上漲和一些採購價格差異的滾動，所以我們肯定會有一些順風，但會被供應鏈中持續的逆風所抵消，它不會完全消失，而且我們的業務組合也會隨著業務組合的變化而變化，所以再次強調，只是為了讓您了解我們對內部毛利率的看法。正如我所說，營運支出將在今年內以美元計算逐漸增加，但我們不會對第一季之後的情況做出具體指導。

Our next question comes from the line of Rob Mason of RW Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 RW Baird 的 Rob Mason。

The price that you're expecting is built into the first quarter guidance and what you were able to capture, price realization, price increase in the fourth quarter. What was that, first quarter and fourth quarter?

您預期的價格已包含在第一季的指導價格以及您能夠捕捉到的價格、價格實現情況和第四季度的價格上漲情況中。那是什麼？第一季和第四季？

This is Karen. Pricing in Q4, we saw probably 8% lift in revenue, and we've built into Q1 some of our expectations in line with what Dan guided.

這是凱倫。根據第四季度的定價，我們看到收入可能增長了 8%，並且我們已經根據 Dan 的指導將部分預期納入第一季。

Rob, I'll just comment for you as a follow-up, we've been really pleased, as we've shared with you before, in our ability to kind of capture price. We've been, I think, more and more sophisticated about how we've gone about those changes. The ability to capture it has been strong. And our expectations as we come into 2023 are predicated on changes we've already made on pricing.

羅布，我只是想跟進一下，正如我們之前與你分享的那樣，我們對我們能夠捕捉價格的能力感到非常高興。我認為，我們對如何應對這些變化已經越來越成熟。捕獲它的能力非常強。我們對 2023 年的預期是基於我們已經對定價做出的改變。

And Eric, the price capture, price realization, has that been evened across your various BUs? Or has it favored one area or the other? I'm just curious how that's playing out.

艾瑞克，價格捕獲、價格實現在您的各個業務單位之間是否已經均衡了？還是它偏向某個領域？我只是好奇事情會如何發展。

Yes. No, it's a good question. And it's not necessarily that it varies so much by BU, but I will characterize we are surgical about it, right? So we're -- there's a couple of factors that contribute. One is, as we deliver more and more systems capability, it's -- we're delivering value that's greater than the sum of the parts. And so that's definitely been favorable.

是的。不，這是個好問題。這不一定因 BU 而有很大差異，但我會描述我們對此採取手術方式，對嗎？因此，有幾個因素導致了這一結果。一是，隨著我們提供越來越多的系統功能，我們提供的價值將大於各部分的總和。所以這絕對是有利的。

The second factor is we've just gotten just more sophisticated ourselves in how we've done this is, and so our efficacy of targeting price changes, of selling the value through our channel, credit to our teams, we've gotten more and more effective at that.

第二個因素是我們在如何做到這一點方面已經變得更加成熟，因此我們針對價格變化的效率、透過我們的通路銷售價值、歸功於我們的團隊，我們在這方面變得越來越有效。

And then I'd say the last element I've been quite pleased with is that we've been able to maintain that also through the channel. As we introduced distribution channel, our ability to get good pricing to the channel has been strong. And so those factors together have led to the results that we saw, which were very, very good in 2022, and an expectation of continued efficacy in that area in '23.

我想說的最後一點讓我非常滿意的是，我們也能夠透過該管道保持這一點。隨著我們引入分銷管道，我們向通路提供優惠價格的能力已經很強。因此，這些因素共同導致了我們所看到的結果，即 2022 年的結果非常非常好，並且預計 23 年該領域將繼續保持有效性。

I see. Just as a follow-up, can you walk through the sequential decline in your adjusted operating expenses? I mean your operating expenses came in down sequentially and, frankly, better than I was expecting. And just I'm curious where the source of that was given that revenue was actually higher sequentially.

我懂了。作為後續問題，您能否解釋一下調整後的營運費用連續下降的原因？我的意思是，您的營運費用連續下降，坦白說，比我預期的要好。我只是好奇，鑑於收入實際上是連續成長的，那麼這個數據來源是什麼呢？

Yes. Karen?

是的。卡倫？

So we continue doing -- as you know, we've been early on in the year in 2022. We took some actions to get ahead of what we saw coming from a macro environment and knowing that the semi cycle doesn't always stay up. So we got ahead of that early in 2022, continued that in -- all the way through Q4 because, as you know, at the end of Q3, we started seeing that come on even stronger. So we stayed incredibly disciplined in Q4. The entire team just stepped up. And as you know, we've also been increasing the percent of our costs that are variable as we go through the year. And as we continue to move forward, we continue to drive that flexibility and variability. And we pulled that lever in Q4 as we saw the macro -- the PMI is below 50% now and the semi cycle really taking a hit in Q4. So really, just the whole point of aligning expenses with revenue has become something that we live on a regular basis and taking that forward, and we demonstrated that I thought pretty clearly in Q4.

因此，我們繼續這樣做——正如你所知，我們已經進入了 2022 年初。我們採取了一些行動，以領先於我們從宏觀環境中看到的情況，並且知道半週期並不總是持續下去。因此，我們在 2022 年初就領先了，並一直持續到第四季度，因為如你所知，在第三季度末，我們開始看到這種情況變得更加強勁。因此我們在第四季保持了極為嚴謹的態度。整個團隊都奮起直追。而且如您所知，隨著時間的流逝，我們的成本中變動百分比也在不斷增加。隨著我們不斷前進，我們將繼續推動這種靈活性和可變性。我們在第四季度採取了這項措施，因為我們看到宏觀經濟——PMI 目前低於 50%，而半週期在第四季度確實受到了打擊。因此，實際上，將支出與收入一致已成為我們日常生活的一部分，並且我們正在推進這項工作，我們在第四季度就非常清楚地證明了這一點。

You bring up a good point that I just wanted to point out, built on all the things Karen said. That's one thing we're really proud of, our ability to hit the 25% non-GAAP operating income. And Q4 is a record, as you know. And then as we come into -- you've heard the guide from Dan in Q1. That's approximately 23% operating income. So that's about 500 basis points above Q1 of '22. So again, we're really seeing the leverage of the changes that we've made and the transformation that we've done and the work we've done on cost structure and variability. We're seeing that really starting to come through. You saw in Q4, we're expecting it in Q1. So we think that sets us up in a real strong position. Go ahead, it sounds like you have a little more follow-up.

你提出了一個很好的觀點，我只是想指出這一點，這是基於凱倫所說的一切。這是我們真正引以為傲的一件事，我們能夠實現 25% 的非 GAAP 營業收入。如你所知，Q4 創下了紀錄。然後我們進入——您已經聽到了丹在第一季的指導。這大約佔營業收入的23%。因此，這比 22 年第一季高出約 500 個基點。因此，我們再次真正看到了我們所做的改變、我們所做的轉型以及我們在成本結構和可變性方面所做的工作所帶來的好處。我們看到這一點確實開始顯現。您在第四季度看到了它，我們預計它會在第一季出現。因此我們認為這將使我們處於真正有利的地位。繼續吧，聽起來你還有更多的後續。

Just around the restructuring that you announced, a $20 million charge, what would you expect in terms of savings to fall from that?

就在您宣布重組之際，有一筆 2000 萬美元的費用，您預計這會節省多少錢？

So we're not being specific about what the savings are. We just said that we'll see a positive impact from that starting really in Q2. And a little of that is we're going to be selective about areas for investment as well, so I wouldn't necessarily try to draw a straight line from just the restructuring.

所以我們無法具體說明節省的具體金額。我們剛才說過，從第二季開始我們將看到它帶來的正面影響。其中一點是，我們也會對投資領域進行選擇，因此我不會試圖僅從重組中得出一條直線。

Our next question comes from the line of Meta Marshall of Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Meta Marshall。

Maybe first question, just on -- noting that some of the head count reduction was due to SG&A or what's going to be -- SG&A was going to be most impacted, does that change kind of how you think about more going through the channel? Or is it just kind of trimming around the edges? Just trying to get a sense of if there's any change to the sales cycle or to the sales structure.

也許第一個問題是——注意到部分員工人數減少是由於銷售、一般和行政費用，或者銷售、一般和行政費用將受到最大影響，這是否會改變您對透過管道進行更多業務的看法？或只是對邊緣進行修剪？只是想了解銷售週期或銷售結構是否有任何變化。

And then maybe as a second question, it did look like Transportation was obviously very strong this quarter after a strong year. Is that primarily coming from acquired businesses or existing businesses? Just a little bit more context to that would be helpful.

然後也許作為第二個問題，在經歷了強勁的一年之後，本季的運輸業看起來確實非常強勁。這主要來自收購的業務還是現有業務？對此再多一點背景資訊將會很有幫助。

Yes, I can take that. Yes, no problem. So on the restructuring, first of all, just as Dan said, like we're super mindful as we went through this process, on balancing our ability to achieve efficiency of scale but also making some of the right investments for growth. I'll just say, at the highest level, it's very consistent with some of the structural changes that we announced at the end of last year, which were about strengthening of BUs, consolidating our core operations and then this leaner, sort of leaner sales and marketing team. And as you noted, they are primarily in SG&A.

是的，我可以接受。是的，沒問題。因此，關於重組，首先，正如丹所說，我們在經歷這個過程時非常謹慎，既要平衡我們實現規模效率的能力，又要進行一些正確的成長投資。我只想說，從最高層面來看，這與我們去年年底宣布的一些結構性變化非常一致，這些變化旨在加強業務部門，鞏固我們的核心業務，然後精簡銷售和行銷團隊。正如您所說，它們主要涉及銷售、一般及行政費用。

To your specific question, yes, it's got multiple factors. I mean there's just some areas for us to be a bit more efficient. There's areas that are really about the transformation. As I've said before, as we've gone through this tiered model, we achieved efficiency at both ends of the model. So at the top end of our account structure, we're getting really tremendous growth at average order size and account size in those large accounts, and so we're able to scale that revenue certainly faster than our expenses. And so we're realizing efficiency and scale there.

對於您的具體問題，是的，它有多種因素。我的意思是，在某些方面我們需要提高效率。有些領域確實需要轉型。正如我之前所說，當我們完成這個分層模型時，我們在模型的兩端都實現了效率。因此，在我們的帳戶結構的頂端，我們在這些大帳戶中的平均訂單規模和帳戶規模都獲得了真正巨大的成長，因此我們能夠比支出更快地擴大收入。因此，我們在那裡實現了效率和規模。

At the Tier 3 level, the move to distribution and digital has been effective. It's exceeded our expectations. As we've gone through the year, I gave some quantification of how much we'll go through the channel. So yes, as that grows, that also gives us an opportunity for some more efficiency there in the way that we're serving our accounts. So I think when you take those together, along with just some natural continuous improvement in the way that we sort of run the business, that's how I'd characterize those, but highly consistent with the strategy that we have.

在第三層級，向分銷和數位化的轉變已經取得了成效。這超出了我們的預期。隨著這一年的發展，我對我們將透過該管道實現多少目標給出了一些量化。是的，隨著業務的成長，我們也有機會提高帳戶服務的效率。所以我認為，當你把這些結合起來，再加上我們經營業務的方式的一些自然的持續改進，這就是我對它們的特徵描述，但與我們的策略高度一致。

To your second question about Transportation. First of all, we're really excited about that business. I mean 40% growth for the year, it's been a really, really good performance. And it really is good performance across the board. So you take, first of all, on electrification, which has been the primary area where we've done the acquisitions, those companies added critical capability that was highly complementary to existing software and measurement capability that NI already had organically. And what we've seen is that those businesses were growing and they've continued to grow. The part of our business that serves electric vehicles that was organic has been pulled off to a very high growth rate as well.

關於交通的第二個問題。首先，我們對這項業務感到非常興奮。我的意思是，今年的成長率達到了 40%，這是一個非常非常好的表現。這確實是全面良好的表現。因此，首先，電氣化是我們進行收購的主要領域，這些公司增加了關鍵能力，與 NI 已經擁有的現有軟體和測量能力高度互補。我們看到這些業務正在成長，並且還在持續成長。我們為電動車提供服務的業務部分也實現了非常高的成長率。

And then we're seeing reasonably good growth in the other parts of the business, certainly in active safety, which is a focus area, but we're actually seeing an uptick in the rest of the vehicle as well where we're testing all of the electronics of a vehicle. And part of that is just we've really grown our account relationships and the value that we can deliver to these automotive accounts. The shift to EV and autonomy has created a lot more opportunity in the OEMs in addition to the Tier 1s, which were our primary customers prior to our focus in that area. So I think things are -- to use the automotive analogy, things are hitting on all cylinders in that area. I guess that's a bad analogy. These vehicles don't have cylinders as much anymore, but you get to get the point. So all 3 of those factors are contributing to a high degree of growth and an optimism in our outlook and the pipeline that we have in those accounts.

然後，我們看到業務的其他部分也出現了相當不錯的成長，當然是在主動安全方面，這是一個重點領域，但實際上，我們也看到了車輛其他部分的成長，我們正在測試車輛的所有電子設備。其中一部分原因是我們確實發展了我們的客戶關係以及我們可以為這些汽車客戶提供的價值。向電動車和自動駕駛的轉變不僅為一級供應商，也為原始設備製造商創造了更多的機會，在我們專注於該領域之前，一級供應商是我們的主要客戶。所以我認為，用汽車來打比方，該地區的一切都進展順利。我想這是一個糟糕的比喻。這些車輛不再有氣缸，但你明白這一點。因此，所有這三個因素都促進了我們的前景和這些帳戶中的管道的高度成長和樂觀。

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的馬克·德萊尼。

Dan, congratulations on the new role. Starting with orders, even though orders were down 3% year-on-year, I think book-to-bill may have still been near or even a little bit above 1 based on my math. So could you perhaps level set us on where total orders came in? And then sticking with the order topic, could you also comment on the linearity of orders in the fourth quarter and perhaps how orders have trended into January?

丹，祝賀你擔任新職務。從訂單開始，儘管訂單量比去年同期下降了 3%，但根據我的計算，我認為訂單出貨比可能仍然接近甚至略高於 1。那麼，您能否讓我們了解一下訂單總量是多少？然後繼續討論訂單主題，您能否評論一下第四季度訂單的線性以及 1 月份訂單的趨勢？

So we're not talking specifically about our level of orders or level of bookings. We can talk about maybe patterns a little bit.

因此，我們並不是專門談論訂單水平或預訂水平。我們可以稍微討論一下模式。

Yes, I can talk about patterns. I mean I'll just say, Mark, the minus 3, first of all, it was consistent with what we expected. And coming into the quarter, I get commentary on the different business units, but I would just characterize that as sort of in line with sort of where we expected, some headwinds, things that we talked about in September, for example, and even in the October call, so consistent with what we expected. And sort of a similar level is built into our guidance for Q1, both in the overall order rate and the order rate by business units. So that's what our expectation is built upon coming into Q1.

是的，我可以談論模式。我的意思是，馬克，首先，減 3 是與我們的預期一致的。進入本季度，我收到了有關不同業務部門的評論，但我認為這與我們的預期一致，例如，我們在 9 月甚至 10 月的電話會議上談到的一些不利因素，與我們的預期一致。我們對第一季的預測中也包含了類似的水平，無論是總體訂單率還是業務部門的訂單率。這就是我們對第一季的預期。

And Mark, let me comment a little bit further. So I want you to go back to the commentary on the backlog earlier to maybe help you understand, again, how the business has transformed a little bit and how we're thinking about this moving forward. Obviously, as we go into Q1, we have that tailwind from draining a little bit of that delinquent backlog that Karen talked about, the orders that customers would have liked to have shipped previously that we hadn't been able to ship.

馬克，請容許我進一步評論一下。因此，我希望您回顧一下先前關於積壓的評論，以便幫助您再次了解業務是如何發生一些變化的，以及我們如何考慮未來發展。顯然，隨著我們進入第一季度，我們迎來了順風，因為我們解決了 Karen 提到的一些拖欠的積壓訂單，這些訂單是客戶之前希望我們發貨的，但我們卻無法發貨。

The business is also very focused as we have transformed, as we've gone towards those system solutions, both organically and through the acquisitions, in building longer-term backlog. So you're -- we're not going to talk specifically about book-to-bill. And part of that is that I would start to get you focused a little bit more on thinking about our backlog and how that backlog will start to look as we drain the delinquent backlog, a tailwind for revenue early in the year, and then as we continue to drain that throughout the year and then as we build backlog for longer-term scheduled backlog as those pieces of our business grow.

隨著我們轉型，業務也變得非常專注，我們透過有機方式和收購的方式轉向這些系統解決方案，以建立長期積壓訂單。所以你——我們不會具體談論訂單出貨比。其中一部分是，我會開始讓你更專注於我們的積壓訂單，以及當我們清理掉拖欠的積壓訂單時，積壓訂單將如何開始，這對年初的收入來說是順風，然後隨著我們全年繼續清理這些積壓訂單，然後隨著我們業務的增長，我們為長期計劃的積壓訂單建立積壓訂單。

That's very helpful. And one more, if I could, please, for you, Dan. Maybe you could elaborate on what led you to take the CFO role at NI and talk about how analogous the margin expansion opportunity at NI is with some of the other experiences you've encountered in your career.

這非常有幫助。如果可以的話，我再給你提一句，丹。也許您可以詳細說明是什麼促使您擔任 NI 的首席財務官，並談談 NI 的利潤擴張機會與您職業生涯中遇到的一些其他經歷有何相似之處。

Thanks, Mark. So listen, I mean, I'm obviously extremely excited about NI and the root goes back to when I was an engineer and I was a LabVIEW user, NI is this foundational technology company that is critically important to all parts of the technology industry, of the technology supply chain. That's an incredibly exciting opportunity to be able to join a company like that with a long history of engineering and customer support like that. And of course, I've seen the transition, the transformation that NI has been on over the past 5 years. And the opportunity that still exists for that improvement in operating margin, the opportunity that exists for improvement in working capital, these are very exciting opportunities commensurate with that transformation into more of a systems and solutions business. So that's why I'm here.

謝謝，馬克。所以聽著，我的意思是，我顯然對 NI 感到非常興奮，而這種興奮可以追溯到我當工程師和作為 LabVIEW 用戶的時候，NI 是一家基礎技術公司，對技術行業、技術供應鏈的所有部分都至關重要。能夠加入這樣一家擁有悠久工程和客戶支援歷史的公司是一個令人難以置信的令人興奮的機會。當然，我見證了 NI 在過去 5 年中經歷的轉變和變革。並且仍然存在著提高營業利潤率的機會，存在著改善營運資本的機會，這些都是非常令人興奮的機會，與向系統和解決方案業務的轉型相稱。這就是我來這裡的原因。

Our next question comes from the line of David Kelley of Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 David Kelley。

Maybe following up on the margin discussion, it sounds like we're seeing some supply chain visibility improvement. Can you give us some color on the broker pricing impact on Q4 and if that improved into year-end? And maybe if you can give us a sense on how you're baking in broker pricing into 1Q guidance, that would be helpful.

也許根據利潤率的討論，我們似乎看到了供應鏈可見度的改善。您能否向我們介紹經紀人定價對第四季的影響以及到年底是否會有所改善？如果您能讓我們了解您是如何將經紀人定價納入第一季指引的，那將會很有幫助。

Yes. So again, we're not going to be specific about the numbers in there. We do still have some of that inventory on our balance sheet, obviously, that we paid higher prices for. We expect most of that inventory to flush through as we move through 2023. And as supply chain conditions ease, we expect not to be having to pay those broker pricing. But we're not going to be specific about how much we still have and at what point it will flush through. Again, we said it will be a tailwind in Q1 and as we go through 2023.

是的。因此，我們不會具體說明其中的數字。顯然，我們的資產負債表上仍然有一些我們支付了更高價格的庫存。我們預計，到 2023 年，大部分庫存將會售出。隨著供應鏈狀況的緩解，我們預計無需支付那些經紀費用。但我們不會具體說明我們還有多少，以及什麼時候會沖刷掉。我們再次表示，這將成為第一季以及整個 2023 年的順風。

I'll add just a qualitative view of that, Dave. We definitely have seen -- we talked about improving supply chain. But certainly, this broker market issue has improved quite a bit, so it really peaked, I think, in Q3. And so we started to see less necessity of using those broker markets to procure these very hard to procure components. Again, as Karen said in her remarks, there's still some golden screws, and we're still working with that, and it's not like it's an unconstrained environment, but it's gotten quite a bit better. And the necessity of us doing additional broker purchases has gone down quite a bit, and that's what's led to this thing going from a headwind to a tailwind, to the expectation we set of a 100 basis point improvement in gross margin, it's based on that improvement that we're seeing and kind of that we've seen over the last quarter.

我只想補充一點關於這一點的定性觀點，戴夫。我們確實已經看到——我們談論了改善供應鏈。但可以肯定的是，經紀市場問題已經有了很大改善，所以我認為它在第三季達到了頂峰。因此，我們開始發現利用經紀市場來採購這些很難採購的零件的必要性越來越小。再次，正如凱倫在她的演講中所說，仍然有一些金螺絲，我們仍在努力，雖然這不是一個不受約束的環境，但情況已經變得好多了。我們進行額外經紀購買的必要性已經下降了很多，這就是導致事情從逆風變為順風的原因，我們預期毛利率將提高 100 個基點，這是基於我們所看到的改善以及我們在上個季度所看到的改善。

This is Karen. There's some slides that we've posted on NATI, on our website, that you can look at to get some color on some of that bridge for year-over-year as well.

這是凱倫。我們在 NATI 網站上發布了一些幻燈片，您可以查看這些幻燈片來了解這座大橋的逐年變化。

Yes, the bridge for the gross margin line, I believe.

是的，我相信這是毛利率線的橋樑。

Got it. Really appreciate it. And maybe one quick follow-up on the automotive traction you referenced, your EV acquisition has clearly been a meaningful contributor to that. So can you talk about the margin trajectory of those acquisitions and maybe how those are trending versus your core transport business?

知道了。真的很感激。也許您可以快速跟進您提到的汽車牽引力，您的電動車收購顯然對此做出了有意義的貢獻。那麼，您能談談這些收購的利潤軌跡嗎？以及與您的核心運輸業務相比，這些收購的趨勢如何？

Yes, I can take that. So we actually also -- actually, on the same slide that Karen pointed you to, just in the investor deck, you can see that the coming in of EV acquisitions have headwinds on gross margin, so some of the system components come in at a lower gross margin. And that's an area of focus. We think there's significant improvement that can happen over time given our own capabilities and scale as a company that our pricing leverage that we have in the company, and we'll ultimately improve those gross margins and they will trend up. And then -- and that's also built into our expectations, of course.

是的，我可以接受。因此，我們實際上也 - 實際上，在 Karen 向您指出的同一張幻燈片上，就在投資者演示文稿中，您可以看到電動車收購的到來對毛利率產生了阻力，因此一些系統組件的毛利率較低。這是一個重點領域。我們認為，鑑於我們自身的能力和公司規模以及我們在公司中擁有的定價槓桿，隨著時間的推移，情況可能會有顯著的改善，我們最終將提高這些毛利率，並且它們將呈上升趨勢。然後——當然，這也在我們的預期之內。

And then ultimately, the strategy here is, as I mentioned in one of the previous answers to a previous question, is pulling the rest of our platform. And that's a big part of the strategy, is selling these complete solutions that include these battery cyclers and things that we've gotten through these acquisitions but also include very high-margin software, include very high-margin measurement components. So just the blended margin of the whole thing ultimately meets the expectations that we have as a company.

然後，最終，這裡的策略是，正如我在之前回答一個問題時提到的那樣，拉動我們平台的其餘部分。這是該策略的重要組成部分，即銷售這些完整的解決方案，包括這些電池循環器和我們透過收購獲得的產品，還包括利潤率非常高的軟體，包括利潤率非常高的測量組件。因此，整個業務的混合利潤最終滿足了我們作為一家公司的期望。

Our next question comes from the line of Damian Karas of UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Damian Karas。

And Karen, thanks for all your help. Best of luck in life post NATI.

Karen，謝謝你的幫忙。祝福 NATI 之後的生活一切順利。

Thanks, Damian.

謝謝，達米安。

So I just wanted to kind of follow up on some of the comments regarding order trends. You spoke a little bit on semiconductor slowing and then talked about your longer-term view on transportation. But maybe you could just provide a little bit more detailed kind of outlook for your order trajectory over the coming quarters, I think, across all your verticals, just kind of based on what you're hearing from your customers and distribution partners.

所以我只是想跟進一些有關訂單趨勢的評論。您稍微談了一下半導體行業放緩的情況，然後談到了您對交通運輸的長期看法。但也許您可以根據您從客戶和分銷合作夥伴那裡聽到的信息，提供更詳細的未來幾季的訂單軌跡展望，涵蓋所有垂直領域。

Yes. I'll just give overall kind of color on that, Damian. And a lot of it is -- we shared the specific order numbers in Q4, and I think that's a pretty good guide, other than -- I mentioned the ADG one was a little bit of an outlier because we had this big compare with a big order in the previous year-over-year quarter, in Q1 2021. So in general, it's similar to what we expected. So semiconductor, it is our expectation that we'll see a near-term headwind in orders. We're seeing that and saw it in Q4, for sure, and that, that will persist for some time. We're still booked -- by the way, very bullish on the long-term opportunity within semiconductor and the opportunities we're pursuing and the parts of the market that we're pursuing, we think, are all very favorable, but we fully expect some near-term pressure on those orders that's kind of consistent with what we've seen.

是的。我只是對此給出一個總體的描述，達米安。其中很多是 - 我們在第四季度分享了具體的訂單數量，我認為這是一個非常好的指導，除此之外 - 我提到 ADG 有點異常，因為我們與上一季度（2021 年第一季度）的一個大訂單進行了比較。所以總的來說，它與我們的預期相似。因此，我們預期半導體訂單近期將面臨阻力。我們看到了這一點，而且肯定在第四季就看到了，而且這種情況還會持續一段時間。順便說一句，我們仍然有訂單，非常看好半導體領域的長期機遇，我們認為，我們正在追求的機會和我們正在追求的市場部分都非常有利，但我們完全預計這些訂單在短期內會面臨一些壓力，這與我們所看到的情況一致。

Also, in that kind of category, we said Portfolio business unit has historically correlated more to the macro. Orders were down about 10% in Q4. And so again, that's an area where we're expecting to look at indexes like PMI. We would expect some kind of correlation to the next set of PMI with our Portfolio business unit. And of course, as I mentioned in the script, we're talking about things, and we're certainly actioning things that will help that be more resilient over time.

此外，在這種類別中，我們表示投資組合業務部門歷來與宏觀的相關性更高。第四季訂單下降了約 10%。因此，我們再次期望關注 PMI 等指數的領域。我們預期下一組 PMI 與我們的投資組合業務部門之間存在某種關聯。當然，正如我在劇本中提到的那樣，我們正在討論一些事情，我們肯定會採取行動，以幫助它隨著時間的推移而變得更有彈性。

And then on the other side, Transportation, we expect continued strong growth. That's on a steep growth trajectory. It continues to be on a steep growth trajectory. That has correlated much more with the new model entrants in electric vehicles, the investment that OEMs and others in their supply chain are making in electrification and autonomy. We think those investments continue to be robust. You may have seen GM's print and they're still bullish on the market and their electric vehicle programs and so forth. And so I expect that to continue to be high growth. Our expectations are high.

另一方面，我們預計交通運輸業將持續強勁成長。這是一個急劇的成長軌跡。它繼續保持著快速的成長軌跡。這與電動車領域的新車型進入者、原始設備製造商及其供應鏈中的其他企業在電氣化和自動化方面的投資密切相關。我們認為這些投資將持續強勁。您可能已經看到了通用汽車的印刷品，他們仍然看好市場及其電動車計劃等。因此我預計其將繼續保持高成長。我們的期望很高。

And then ADG has continued to be a robust business for us. It's performed well and pretty steadily in different macro environment scenarios. In 2020, it was sort of high-single digits even in a pretty tough macro in 2020. And so we think it's a fairly favorable environment, and we expect that to continue to have a similar growth trajectory as it's had. And so that's our perspective on the overall color by business unit.

然後，ADG 繼續成為我們強勁的業務。在不同的宏觀環境場景下，它的表現都比較好，比較穩定。 2020 年，即使在宏觀經濟情勢相當艱難的情況下，成長率也達到了高個位數。因此，我們認為這是一個相當有利的環境，我們預計它將繼續保持與以往類似的成長軌跡。這就是我們對各業務部門整體色彩的看法。

Appreciate all that color, Eric. And then on -- regarding distribution, you had spoken previously about kind of your partner, your newer partners building out NI inventory as a tailwind this year. Just curious if that's more or less playing out as you are -- had expected or perhaps given some of the broader destocking trends across markets or maybe any of these partners paring back or deferring their inventory buildup of NI products. I guess any number that you could share around that tailwind would be helpful.

欣賞所有這些顏色，埃里克。然後 - 關於分銷，您之前曾談到您的合作夥伴，您的新合作夥伴今年將建立 NI 庫存作為順風。我只是好奇這是否或多或少地像您預期的那樣發展——或者考慮到整個市場中一些更廣泛的去庫存趨勢，或者也許這些合作夥伴中的任何一個都在削減或推遲 NI 產品的庫存積累。我想，您能分享的任何有關順風的數字都會有所幫助。

Yes. So it's -- they've built a small amount of stock in 2022, about $20 million, I believe. And then there is still their desire to build additional stock, it's still absolutely the desire of those partners. The reason we haven't is, because of supply, we've been constrained in our ability to do so. So it is still our expectation as we go through this year that supply will ease up as we go through the year, and we will be able to provide additional stock into those partners. And that's another one of the tailwinds that we think of the year overall that Dan referred to.

是的。所以 - 他們在 2022 年建立了少量庫存，我相信大約有 2000 萬美元。而且他們仍然希望增加庫存，這絕對是那些合作夥伴的願望。我們沒有這樣做的原因是，由於供應問題，我們這樣做的能力受到了限制。因此，我們仍然預計，隨著今年的到來，供應將會減少，並且我們將能夠向這些合作夥伴提供額外的庫存。這就是丹提到的我們認為今年整體上的另一個順風因素。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Eric Starkloff for any closing remarks.

我目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回給 Eric Starkloff，請他做最後發言。

Okay. I really appreciate everyone's interest and your questions today. Thank you all, and have a great afternoon.

好的。我非常感謝大家今天的興趣和提問。謝謝大家，祝大家下午愉快。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。祝你有美好的一天。