Sono-Tek Corp (SOTK) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Sono-Tek fiscal second quarter and first half 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

早上好，歡迎參加 Sono-Tek 2025 財年第二季和上半年財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，此事件正在被記錄。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Kirin Smith with PCG Advisory. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給 PCG Advisory 的 Kirin Smith。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Sono-Tek released their second quarter and six months of fiscal 2025 results this morning. If you don't have a copy of the release, please go to the company's website at sono-tek.com and click on the press release/news tab in the investors section.

謝謝接線生，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。Sono-Tek 今早發布了 2025 財年第二季和六個月的業績。如果您沒有該新聞稿的副本，請造訪該公司的網站 sono-tek.com，然後按一下投資者部分中的新聞稿/新聞標籤。

The product, market, and geography sales tables on the last page of the release will be part of today's discussion. With me on the call today are Dr. Chris Coccio, Sono-Tek's Executive Chairman; Steve Harshberger, CEO and President; and Steve Bagley, Chief Financial Officer.

新聞稿最後一頁的產品、市場和地理銷售表將成為今天討論的一部分。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有 Sono-Tek 執行主席 Chris Coccio 博士；首席執行官兼總裁史蒂夫·哈什伯格 (Steve Harshberger)；以及首席財務官史蒂夫·巴格利 (Steve Bagley)。

Before turning the call over to management, I would like to make the following remarks concerning forward-looking statements. Please note that various remarks that may be made on this conference call about future expectations, plans, and prospects for the company constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of Safe Harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

在將電話轉交給管理層之前，我想就前瞻性陳述發表以下評論。請注意，本次電話會議上可能做出的有關公司未來預期、計劃和前景的各種評論均構成《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法》安全港條款所指的前瞻性陳述。

Actual results may vary materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the company's filings with the sec. The company assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this conference call.

由於各種重要因素，包括公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中討論的因素，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述所示的結果有重大差異。本公司不承擔更新本次電話會議所包含的資訊的義務。

As a reminder, Sono-Tek currently holds two earnings calls per fiscal year. This is our mid-year call for the six months ended August 31, 2024. Our fiscal year end is February. So fiscal 2025 will end on February 29, 2025, and our next earnings call for the 12 months of fiscal 2025 will be in May 2025.

提醒一下，Sono-Tek 目前每個財政年度都會舉行兩次收益電話會議。這是我們截至 2024 年 8 月 31 日的六個月的年中電話會議。我們的財政年度結束於二月。因此，2025 財年將於 2025 年 2 月 29 日結束，我們下次關於 2025 財年 12 個月的收益電話會議將於 2025 年 5 月舉行。

I would now like to turn the call over Chris Coccio, Executive Chairman of Sono-Tek. Chris, please go ahead.

現在我想把電話轉給 Sono-Tek 執行主席 Chris Coccio。克里斯，請繼續。

Thank you, Kiren. And good morning and thank you everyone for joining us. Today, we're going to discuss our second quarter and also the first half of fiscal year 2025. The results were just released this morning before the market opened.

謝謝你，Kiren。早安，感謝大家的參與。今天，我們將討論第二季以及 2025 財年上半年。結果是今天早上市場開盤前剛公佈的。

I'll begin with some opening remarks, and then Steve Harshberger, our CEO and President, will go through a deeper business and operational review. Then that will be followed by Steve Bagley, our Chief Financial Officer. He will provide a financial review in more depth. Following their comments, we will open the call for your questions.

我將首先致一些開場白，然後我們的執行長兼總裁史蒂夫·哈什伯格 (Steve Harshberger) 將進行更深入的業務和營運審查。接下來是我們的財務長史蒂夫·巴格利 (Steve Bagley)。他將提供更深入的財務審查。根據他們的評論，我們將開始回答您的問題。

Now many of you may already know Sono-Tek developed a revolutionary approach for applying precision thin-film coating several decades ago. This proprietary technology involves the use of an advanced high-frequency ultrasonic nozzle system, and that's all incorporated into specialty motion control systems. They are able to achieve uniform micron and nano-thin coatings onto our customers' products.

現在你們中的許多人可能已經知道，Sono-Tek 幾十年前就開發了一種應用精密薄膜塗層的革命性方法。這項專有技術涉及使用先進的高頻超音波噴嘴系統，並將其全部納入專業運動控制系統。它們能夠在客戶的產品上實現均勻的微米和奈米薄塗層。

Now our thin-film coating machines provide dramatic savings of the expensive liquids that are being applied, and they're environmentally friendly by minimizing material usage and overspray. This often helps company comply with the increasingly stringent government regulations that are aimed at reducing hazardous waste entering the environment.

現在，我們的薄膜鍍膜機可以大幅節省所使用的昂貴液體，並且透過最大限度地減少材料使用和過度噴塗，實現了環保。這通常有助於公司遵守日益嚴格的政府法規，旨在減少進入環境的危險廢物。

But the real principal advantage of our ultrasonic systems is the ability to apply precision thin films. They are becoming, and they are, vitally important in today's world, with thousands of products and micro components now requiring a functional or protective coating to be added to them. They're all around us in our modern world.

但我們的超音波系統真正的主要優勢是能夠應用精密薄膜。它們在當今世界變得越來越重要，而且確實至關重要，現在成千上萬的產品和微型組件都需要添加功能性或保護性塗層。在現代世界中，它們無所不在。

The strategic shift that we made several years ago to offer more complex as well as complete solutions has meaningfully broadened our addressable market, resulted in significant growth in our average unit selling prices at the same time.

幾年前，我們進行了策略轉變，提供更複雜、更完整的解決方案，這大大拓寬了我們的潛在市場，同時也帶來了平均單位售價的顯著成長。

Our larger machines now commonly sell for over $300,000, and the system prices can reach $1 million or more. That can significantly impact our quarterly revenue, as you can imagine. Additionally, our move into the clean energy sector is showing transformative results in next generation solar cells, fuel cells, green hydrogen generation, as well as carbon capture applications as we help other companies shape a sustainable future.

我們大型機器現在的售價普遍超過30萬美元，系統價格可達100萬美元甚至更多。你可以想像，這會對我們的季度收入產生重大影響。此外，我們進軍清潔能源領域的措施正在為下一代太陽能電池、燃料電池、綠色氫氣發電以及碳捕獲應用帶來變革性成果，幫助其他公司塑造永續的未來。

So this is what we started to see in this fiscal year. It has continued into the second quarter, where we saw our largest customer order in our history, followed by another one of the same size several weeks later.

這就是我們在本財年開始看到的情況。這種趨勢一直持續到第二季​​度，我們迎來了史上最大的客戶訂單，幾週後我們又迎來了另一個同樣規模的訂單。

For the first half of this fiscal year, we experienced 10% annual revenue growth. And for the second quarter, we saw a 3% sequential increase, which is in line with our prior guidance. On top of that, our first-half net income grew 13% year over year.

本財年上半年，我們的年收入成長了10%。第二季度，我們實現了 3% 的環比成長，這符合我們先前的預期。除此之外，我們上半年淨收入年增13%。

We're very excited for continued growth ahead of us, which is reflected in our record backlog that increased 26% from the end of last year to $11.7 million. It's the highest in our history, by the way.

我們對未來的持續成長感到非常興奮，這反映在我們的創紀錄積壓訂單上，該訂單比去年年底增加了 26%，達到 1,170 萬美元。順便說一句，這是我們歷史上最高的。

We're excited that our investments have begun to pay off. Our outlook for growth has been greatly enhanced by the early success of our strategy, shifting into these larger, more complex systems aimed at production applications, of course, with multiple and repeat orders.

我們很高興我們的投資開始獲得回報。我們的策略早期取得的成功極大地增強了我們的成長前景，我們轉向了這些更大、更複雜的系統，旨在實現生產應用，當然，還有多個重複的訂單。

Plus, our focus on opening new markets for unique thin film coating technology is also helping. So, looking ahead to the second half, we're expecting a continued growth for fiscal year 2025.

此外，我們專注於開拓獨特的薄膜塗層技術的新市場也有幫助。因此，展望下半年，我們預計 2025 財年將持續成長。

Thank you. And now, I'm going to turn it over to Steve Harshberger, our CEO and President, Steve, please go ahead.

謝謝。現在，我將把發言權交給我們的執行長兼總裁史蒂夫·哈什伯格 (Steve Harshberger)，史蒂夫，請繼續。

Okay. Thank you, Dr. Coccio. And thanks, everyone, for joining us today. Firstly, I just want to echo Chris's enthusiasm. It's extremely gratifying to see our investments be really beginning to hit their stride.

好的。謝謝你，Coccio 博士。感謝大家今天的參與。首先，我只是想贊同克里斯的熱情。看到我們的投資真正開始取得成效，我們感到非常欣慰。

Our first-half fiscal sales increased 10% year over year. And our Q2 revenues increased 3% sequentially, which is in line with our guidance and on top of a strong rebound of sales that we saw in Q2 and Q3 of last year as supply chain issues began to become resolved.

我們的上半年財務銷售額年增10%。我們第二季的營收環比成長了 3%，符合我們的預期，並且得益於去年第二季和第三季供應鏈問題開始得到解決，銷售額出現強勁反彈。

Clean energy, including fuel cells, green hydrogen generation, carbon capture, and advanced solar cells, are markets that we've been providing R&D and pilot lines for close to a decade. And we're now having a lot of success with these customers transitioning to our production scale systems as a result of the prior process development work we did with our team of experienced application engineers.

清潔能源，包括燃料電池、綠色氫氣發電、碳捕獲和先進的太陽能電池，是我們近十年來一直提供研發和中試生產線的市場。由於我們與經驗豐富的應用工程師團隊進行了先前的流程開發工作，現在這些客戶已經成功過渡到我們的生產規模系統。

The increase in revenue for the first half of year 2025 was strongly influenced by a shipment to a substantial customer from the clean energy sector who received shipment of three integrated coding systems totaling $2.19 million.

2025 年上半年營收的成長主要受到向清潔能源領域一位重要客戶出貨的影響，該客戶收到了三套整合式編碼系統，總價值 219 萬美元。

All three of these systems are a reflection of our successful first-stage project, Project Altair, which rolled the capabilities for sophisticated PLC-based systems into our product offering and significantly expanded our addressable market. There are six more high ASP systems in our backlog for Project Altair, and we do project more to follow.

所有這三個系統都是我們成功的第一階段專案 Altair 專案的體現，該專案將基於複雜 PLC 的系統功能融入我們的產品中，並顯著擴展了我們的潛在市場。我們的 Altair 專案積壓工作還有六個高 ASP 系統，我們計劃跟進更多系統。

The increase in integrated coating systems we experienced was somewhat offset by our product division, which can fluctuate from time to time. Multi-axis coating systems, which are commonly used in the clean energy and medical device markets, saw sales of $4.6 million for the first half of the year. These full system solutions contain some of our newest and highest average selling prices, or ASP, platforms.

我們的綜合塗層系統的成長在一定程度上被我們的產品部門所抵消，因為我們的產品部門可能會不時波動。多軸塗佈系統常用於清潔能源和醫療器材市場，今年上半年的銷售額為 460 萬美元。這些完整的系統解決方案包含我們一些最新和最高的平均售價（ASP）平台。

Meaningfully, expanding our capabilities for design and build internally made multi-axis platforms has been a focus for Sono-Tek over the past three years under a project we call [Ares]. Ares has broadened our product offering while deepening our supply chain and increasing vertical integration, starting with our NovoCoat multi-axis series of machines. This is an ongoing process, and we continue to build and expand our in-house capabilities in this area.

有意義的是，在過去三年中，Sono-Tek 一直致力於拓展設計和建造內部製造的多軸平台的能力，我們稱之為[阿瑞斯]。從 NovoCoat 多軸系列機器開始，Ares 拓寬了我們的產品範圍，同時深化了我們的供應鏈並提高了垂直整合度。這是一個持續的過程，我們將繼續建立和擴展我們在這一領域的內部能力。

Fluxing systems dipped for both the second quarter and the first half of fiscal 2025, influenced by a softening of activity in the printed circuit board manufacturing sector and a continuing decline of activity from China really due to that struggling Chinese economy that's happening right now.

受印刷電路板製造業活動疲軟以及中國經濟持續低迷的影響，助焊劑系統在第二季和 2025 財年上半年均下滑。

OEM sales were lower in the second quarter and first half, which we had expected as many of our OEM partners built up excess inventory to combat their own supply chain concerns last year. As well, several of our China based customers that were our OEM partners experienced declining sales of their products.

第二季和上半年的 OEM 銷售額較低，這是我們預料到的，因為去年我們的許多 OEM 合作夥伴都累積了過剩庫存，以應對自身供應鏈問題。此外，我們的幾家中國客戶（作為我們的 OEM 合作夥伴）的產品銷售也出現了下滑。

Although spare parts and services slightly dipped for the first six months, this basket continues to be a focused area for growth. As we place more and more of our high ASP large-platform form machines in the field, we believe these systems could potentially result in follow-on services and spare parts packages reaching as much as that 10% to 15% area of the total value.

儘管前六個月備件和服務略有下降，但該籃子仍然是成長的重點領域。隨著我們在現場部署越來越多的高 ASP 大型平台機器，我們相信這些系統可能會帶來後續服務和備件包，達到總價值的 10% 到 15%。

By market, sales to the alternative/clean energy market grew by 37% in Q2 over the prior year quarter and grew 80% in the first six months of this fiscal year compared to the prior year period. These sales were positively impacted by the growing number of Sono-Tek customers transitioning from our R&D and pilot line machines to production scale systems. These carry much higher average selling prices again, or ASPs.

按市場劃分，第二季替代/清潔能源市場的銷售額比去年同期增長了 37%，本財年前六個月的銷售額比去年同期增長了 80%。越來越多的 Sono-Tek 客戶從我們的研發和中試生產線機器轉向生產規模系統，這對銷售產生了積極影響。這些產品的平均售價（ASP）又高很多。

Many of our recent large contract announcements in this area are for systems used in the manufacturing of advanced solar cells and critical membranes for carbon capture, green hydrogen generation, and fuel cell applications. Sales this quarter included two high ASP systems to a large customer totaling $1.46 million.

我們最近在該領域發布的許多大型合約均涉及用於製造先進太陽能電池和碳捕獲、綠色氫氣生成和燃料電池應用的關鍵薄膜的系統。本季的銷售額包括向一位大客戶銷售兩組高 ASP 系統，總額達 146 萬美元。

Our electronic sales increased 51% in the second quarter versus the same quarter of last year and 30% in the first half versus the first half of last year. Both periods benefited from shipment of a newly developed coding system that includes wafer shuttling capabilities directed at the semiconductor market.

我們第二季的電子產品銷售額比去年同期成長了 51%，上半年比去年上半年成長了 30%。這兩個時期都受益於新開發的編碼系統的出貨，該系統包括針對半導體市場的晶圓穿梭功能。

Let's see, medical sales declined by 77% in the first half of FY2025 primarily driven by lower demand for our stent and balloon coating systems. However, based on our current backlog and our order activity, we expect balloon coating system sales to recover in the second half of the current year. In contrast, stent coating system sales are likely to remain subdued as several customers in this market have reported slower business activity.

讓我們來看看，2025 財年上半年醫療銷售額下降了 77%，主要原因是我們的支架和球囊塗層系統的需求下降。然而，根據我們目前的積壓訂單和訂單活動，我們預計氣球塗層系統銷售將在今年下半年復甦。相比之下，支架塗層系統的銷售可能仍將保持低迷，因為該市場的多個客戶報告業務活動放緩。

Industrial sales were down 30% in Q2 versus last year, partially influenced by a flow class coating system that shipped in the prior fiscal year and did not repeat in the current fiscal year.

與去年相比，第二季的工業銷售額下降了 30%，部分原因是上一財年出貨的流動級塗層系統在本財年沒有重複出現。

By geography, in the first half of half of this fiscal year, approximately 65% of our sales were to in the US and Canada compared to 40% in the comparable period of fiscal 2024. Sales to the US and Canada increased by 9% and 80% in Q2 in the first half, respectively, compared to the prior year period.

按地域劃分，本財年上半年，我們約 65% 的銷售額來自美國和加拿大，而 2024 財年同期這一比例為 40%。今年上半年第二季度，對美國和加拿大的銷售額分別比去年同期成長了 9% 和 80%。

And we're positively impacted by the continuing momentum of several US government initiatives that are investing in the clean energy sector and other research markets. These include things like the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which we talked about many times before. The difference now is that the cash is starting to reach our customer base and they're starting to spend it on equipment such as ours.

美國政府對清潔能源領域和其他研究市場的持續投資動能也為我們帶來了正面影響。這些包括《兒童健康保險法》和《降低通貨膨脹法案》等，我們之前已經多次討論過。現在的不同之處在於，現金開始到達我們的客戶群，他們開始將其花在購買像我們這樣的設備上。

Latin America sales were down 78% and 65%, respectively, for Q2 in fiscal 2025 and the first half of fiscal 2025. This was primarily due to a flow glass coating system that I just mentioned earlier that was sold into Mexico in Q2 of the prior fiscal year and did not repeat in the current fiscal year.

2025財年第二季和2025財年上半年，拉丁美洲的銷售額分別下降了78％和65％。這主要是因為我剛才提到的流動玻璃塗層系統在上一財年第二季銷往墨西哥，而本財年沒有重複銷售。

APAC sales decreased by 32% and 21%, respectively, for the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2025. This dip was influenced by continued reduced sales to China, while other areas of Asia remain more resilient.

2025財年第二季和上半年亞太地區銷售額分別下降32%和21%。這一下滑是受到對華銷售持續下滑的影響，但亞洲其他地區的銷售仍較為穩健。

We are working to regain our prior significant presence in China. But with the weakening Chinese economy and the high level of cheaply priced, low-cost competitors in this market, we are not predicting that this geographic area will recover in the short term.

我們正在努力恢復我們在中國先前的重要地位。但隨著中國經濟的疲軟以及該市場上廉價、低成本競爭對手的大量出現，我們預測該地區短期內不會復甦。

Reflecting our excitement for the remainder of fiscal 2025 and beyond is that at the end of Q2 FY2025, our total equipment and service-related backlog increased 7% year over year and 50% sequentially to a record $11.7 million compared to $10.9 million at the end of Q2 FY2024. This is the highest reported backlog in our history, and it reflects the increasing order activity from the clean energy sector, in particular.

我們對 2025 財年剩餘時間及以後的前景充滿期待，在 2025 財年第二季度末，我們的設備和服務相關積壓訂單總額同比增長 7%，環比增長 50%，達到創紀錄的 1170 萬美元，而 2024 財年第二季度末為 1090 萬美元。這是我們歷史上報告的最高積壓訂單量，尤其反映了清潔能源領域的訂單活動不斷增加。

This includes two orders of $2.95 million each that were recently announced, which are the largest orders from the sector to date and also the largest order in Sono-Tek history.

其中包括最近宣布的兩筆價值各 295 萬美元的訂單，這是迄今為止該行業最大的訂單，也是 Sono-Tek 歷史上最大的訂單。

Customer deposits reached $3.2 million at August 31, reflecting the continued receipt of these large, new orders. We generally require deposits of 50% or greater in orders valued at over several $100,000.

截至 8 月 31 日，客戶存款已達 320 萬美元，反映出我們持續收到這些大額新訂單。對於價值超過數十萬美元的訂單，我們通常會要求支付 50% 或更多的訂金。

We attribute the increase in sales and backlog as a direct result of our investment in R&D with a strong focus on product expansion. In the first half of this year alone, we invested $190,000 compared to $246,000 in the year ago period and anticipate our total CapEx for this year to be about $460,000.

我們將銷售額和積壓訂單的成長歸因於我們對研發的投資以及對產品擴展的高度重視。光是今年上半年，我們就投資了 19 萬美元，而去年同期的投資為 24.6 萬美元，預計今年的總資本支出約為 46 萬美元。

In closing, our outlook is strong and we expect a solid second half with continued sales growth and profitability for the full fiscal year 2025 ending next February. Our momentum stems from our deliberate strategy, the strategic shift to large, customized systems with accelerating ASPs and our proprietary ultrasonic technology, who are still remaining at the core of all of our systems. And we've been able to achieve this significant shift organically through our own development efforts.

最後，我們的前景看好，我們預計下半年業績將保持穩健，銷售額將繼續增長，並在截至明年 2 月的 2025 財年全年實現盈利。我們的動力源自於我們深思熟慮的策略、向大型客製化系統的策略轉變以及加速的 ASP 和我們的專有超音波技術，這些技術仍然是我們所有系統的核心。並且我們已經能夠透過我們自己的開發努力自然地實現這一重大轉變。

With that said, I will hand the call over to Mr. Steve Bagley, our CFO, to review the financials in more detail. Steve, please proceed.

話雖如此，我將把電話交給我們的財務長史蒂夫·巴格利先生，以更詳細地審查財務狀況。史蒂夫，請繼續。

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. I will first walk through our fiscal 2025 second-quarter. results followed by our first half results.

謝謝你，史蒂夫，大家早安。我將首先介紹我們的 2025 財年第二季。結果緊隨其後的是我們上半年的結果。

Net sales for the quarter decreased by 8% or $477,000 to $5.2 million compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2024. However, net sales for the second quarter increased by 3% or $131,000 compared to the first quarter sales of fiscal 2025 of $5.031 million.

與 2024 財年第二季相比，本季淨銷售額下降 8% 或 477,000 美元至 520 萬美元。不過，第二季的淨銷售額與 2025 財年第一季的 503.1 萬美元相比成長了 3%，即 13.1 萬美元。

Gross profit decreased 10% year over year or $285,000 to $2.5 million, and the gross profit percentage decreased by 100 basis points to 48.7%. And this is due to product mix and the reallocation of specific labor expenses from the engineering department to our cost of goods sold.

毛利年減 10% 至 250 萬美元，或 28.5 萬美元，毛利率下降 100 個基點至 48.7%。這是由於產品組合和從工程部門到銷售成本的特定勞動力費用的重新分配所造成的。

And that reallocation started in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. However, as with our sales, gross profit for the second quarter increased 2.4% to $2.52 million from $2.46 million when compared to the first-quarter gross profit.

此次重新分配於 2024 財年第四季開始。然而，與我們的銷售額一樣，第二季的毛利與第一季的毛利相比成長了 2.4%，從 246 萬美元增至 252 萬美元。

Operating expenses decreased just slightly to $2.23 million when compared to $2.235 million in the prior year second quarter. Research and product development costs decreased to $696,000 versus $789,000 in the prior year quarter, primarily due to a decrease in salaries and the reallocation of specific labor expenses from engineering to cost of goods sold.

與去年同期第二季的 223.5 萬美元相比，營運費用略有下降，為 223 萬美元。研究與產品開發成本從去年同期的 789,000 美元降至 696,000 美元，主要原因是工資下降以及特定勞動力費用從工程重新分配到銷售成本。

Marketing and selling expenses increased slightly to $988,000 for the quarter versus $945,000 in the prior year. And this increase was due to increased commissions and travel and trade show expenses.

本季行銷和銷售費用略有增加，為 988,000 美元，而去年同期為 945,000 美元。這一增長是由於佣金、旅行和貿易展覽費用的增加。

General and administrative expenses increased slightly to $546,000 for the quarter compared with $501,000 in the prior year. This increase is primarily due to increased salaries, legal and order fees, and other corporate expenses.

本季一般及行政開支略有增加，為 546,000 美元，去年同期為 501,000 美元。這一增長主要是由於工資、法律和秩序費用以及其他公司費用的增加。

Operating income decreased $280,000 or 49% to $286,000 compared with $566,000 in the prior year. The decrease in operating income in the second quarter of fiscal 2025 is primarily due to decreases in revenue and gross profit.

營業收入為 286,000 美元，較前一年的 566,000 美元減少 280,000 美元（即 49%）。2025財年第二季營業收入的減少主要是因為收入和毛利的減少。

This was partially offset by the reversal of a sales tax accrual that occurred in fiscal year 2024. However, our operating income for the quarter increased 20% to $286,000 compared to $238,000 for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.

這部分被 2024 財年發生的銷售稅應計逆轉所抵銷。然而，本季我們的營業收入為 286,000 美元，而 2025 財年第一季為 238,000 美元，成長了 20%。

Interest and dividend income decreased by $39,000 to $85,000 in the second quarter fiscal 2025 as compared with $124,000 for the second quarter of fiscal 2024. In the second quarter, we recorded a tax provision of $74,000 compared to $142,000 in the prior year.

2025 財年第二季的利息和股息收入為 85,000 美元，而 2024 財年第二季的利息和股息收入為 124,000 美元，減少了 39,000 美元。第二季度，我們記錄的稅務準備金為 74,000 美元，而去年同期為 142,000 美元。

Our net income for the quarter was $341,000 or $0.02 per share compared with $541,000 or $0.03 per share for the prior year period. The decrease in net income is primarily due to the current period's decrease in gross profit.

本季我們的淨收入為 341,000 美元或每股 0.02 美元，而去年同期為 541,000 美元或每股 0.03 美元。淨利減少主要由於本期毛利減少所致。

And now, the financial results for the first six months of our fiscal year 2025. Total sales for the first half of fiscal 2025 increased by 10% or $951,000 to approximately $10.2 million. And this was strongly impacted by increased sales from the alternative energy market due to the shipment of the three high ASP systems to a large solar company. And those sales totaled $2.2 million.

現在，我們來看看 2025 財年前六個月的財務表現。2025 財年上半年的總銷售額成長 10% 或 951,000 美元，達到約 1,020 萬美元。由於向一家大型太陽能公司運送了三套高 ASP 系統，因此替代能源市場的銷售成長對此產生了強烈影響。這些銷售額總計 220 萬美元。

Gross profit increased $393,000 or 9% to $4.971 million, and that's as a result of increased sales. The gross profit percentage decreased 70 basis points to 48.8% primarily due to product mix, and that's inclusive of a decrease in OEM system sales and spare parts -- and these typically have a much higher profit margin -- and once again, the reallocation of specific labor expenses from engineering to cost of goods sold.

毛利增加 393,000 美元（即 9%），達到 497.1 萬美元，這是銷售額增加的結果。毛利率下降 70 個基點至 48.8%，主要原因是產品組合，其中包括 OEM 系統銷售和備件的下降（這些通常具有更高的利潤率），以及再次將特定勞動力費用從工程重新分配到銷售成本。

Our operating income increased $50,000 to $524,000, and that's compared with $474,000 prior year period. And that's due to the increase in gross profit, partially offset by an increase in operating expenses. Operating margin for the first half of fiscal 2025 and 2024 was 5%.

我們的營業收入增加了 50,000 美元，達到 524,000 美元，而去年同期為 474,000 美元。這是由於毛利的增加，但部分被營運費用的增加所抵消。2025財年及2024財年上半年的營業利益率為5%。

In the first half of fiscal 2025, interest and dividend income decreased $2,000 to $228,000 compared with $230,000 for the first half of 2024. Our present investment policy is to invest excess cash in highly liquid, low-risk US treasury securities. And at August 31, 2024, the majority of our holdings are rated at or above investment grade.

2025 財年上半年，利息和股息收入減少 2,000 美元至 228,000 美元，而 2024 年上半年為 230,000 美元。我們目前的投資政策是將多餘的現金投資於流動性高、風險低的美國國債。截至 2024 年 8 月 31 日，我們持有的大部分資產的評級均達到或超過投資等級。

Additionally, unrealized gain on some of our marketable securities increased $51,000 (sic - $43,000) to $54,000 as compared with $11,000 in the first half of fiscal 2024. Net income increased 13% to $672,000 or $0.04 per share for the first half of fiscal 2025 compared with $595,000 or $0.04 per share for the first half of fiscal 2024.

此外，我們部分有價證券的未實現收益增加了 51,000 美元（原文如此 - 43,000 美元），達到 54,000 美元，而 2024 財年上半年為 11,000 美元。2025 財年上半年淨收入為 672,000 美元或每股 0.04 美元，而 2024 財年上半年淨收入為 595,000 美元或每股 0.04 美元，增長 13%。

Diluted weighted average shares outstanding decreased slightly to approximately 15.8 million shares. And we do continue to maintain a very strong cash position with cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $11.6 million at August 31, 2024. And we continue to have no debt on our balance sheet.

稀釋加權平均流通股數略減至約 1,580 萬股。我們確實繼續保持非常強勁的現金狀況，截至 2024 年 8 月 31 日，現金、現金等價物和有價證券總額為 1,160 萬美元。我們的資產負債表上仍然沒有債務。

CapEx for the six months was $191,000, and all of which is directed to ongoing upgrades of our manufacturing and development lab facilities. And we expect to invest approximately $460,000 in new equipment for the full fiscal year.

六個月的資本支出為 191,000 美元，全部用於我們製造和開發實驗室設施的持續升級。我們預計整個財政年度將在購買新設備上投資約 46 萬美元。

And now, we'll open the call for any questions from the audience. Gary, please go ahead.

現在，我們將開始回答觀眾的提問。加里，請繼續。

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Ted Jackson, Northland Securities.

我們現在開始問答環節。（操作員指示）北國證券的泰德傑克森。

Good morning. Congratulations on a solid quarter.

早安.恭喜本季業績穩健。

Hey, Ted. Good morning. Thanks for joining us.

嘿，泰德。早安.感謝您的加入。

So got a few questions. I want to start on the alt energy and really with the quarter. So you had three large systems shipped during the quarter, $2.2 million. Can you talk to me -- it sounds like two of the systems went to -- at least two of the systems went to a singular customer. And a third, if I'm parsing through your commentary, went to maybe another customer. What were the end markets for those two customers?

所以有幾個問題。我想從替代能源開始，並且真正從這個季度開始。因此，本季你們共交付了三套大型系統，價值 220 萬美元。你能跟我談談嗎——聽起來好像有兩個系統都給了——至少有兩個系統都給了同一個客戶。如果我理解你的評論的話，第三個可能已經給了另一個客戶。這兩個客戶的最終市場是什麼？

Yeah, they did ship to different locations but the same customer. This is a customer that's located at multiple locations throughout the world. It's a big multinational company.

是的，他們確實將貨物運送到不同的地點，但運送對像是同一個客戶。這是一位位於世界各地多個地點的客戶。這是一家大型跨國公司。

And the end market is clean energy sector. And it is an advanced solar application that we're involved there. And that also, Ted, is the follow-on orders that we've seen which are now scheduled in our FY2026 deliveries. Those -- that $6 million or almost $6 million or orders are following from that same customer as well.

終端市場是清潔能源領域。我們參與的是一項先進的太陽能應用。泰德，這也是我們看到的後續訂單，現在已安排在我們 2026 財年的交付中。那些 600 萬美元或近 600 萬美元的訂單也來自同一位客戶。

Well, that went into my next thing. So you have -- so those orders, I assume, that $6 million is in your backlog. And we should expect to see that $6 million roll through the income statement next fiscal year.

好吧，這就是我接下來要做的事。所以你有—所以這些訂單，我猜，你的積壓訂單中有 600 萬美元。我們預計下個財政年度的損益表中將會出現這 600 萬美元。

Yeah, correct. If I had to project it, I would probably say it's going to probably be pretty evenly split between our first quarter, second quarter, and third quarter, but all of it certainly shipping in the next fiscal year, that $5.9 million.

是的，正確。如果我必須進行預測的話，我可能會說它可能會在我們的第一季、第二季和第三季之間均勻分配，但所有這 590 萬美元肯定會在下一個財政年度發貨。

Okay. And then that's just -- you have more behind that. That's what you have visibility on. The customer -- what I'm hearing, you talked about this situation for a number of months. But you're part of their, like, standard production, manufacturing line.

好的。然後這只是——你還有更多的事情要做。這就是你所能看到的。客戶—據我所知，您已經談論這種情況好幾個月了。但你是他們標準生產、生產線的一部分。

And depending upon how many lines they have, you're a part of it. And they're in the process of rolling you out into their various manufacturing lines for panels. Is that correct?

並且根據他們有多少條線路，你是其中的一部分。他們正在將您推廣到各個面板生產線。對嗎？

Yeah. What I would describe this out is this is the rollout of Phase 2. Phase 1 was what I would describe as our R&D and pilot line phase, which just proved feasibility for our technology. And then Phase 2, which has now begun with these first machines that are -- the first ones that are now installed -- it's got installed this month -- are actually true production, high-volume machines being installed.

是的。我想說的是，這是第二階段的推出。第一階段是我所描述的研發和中試線階段，它證明了我們技術的可行性。然後是第二階段，現在已經開始安裝第一批機器 — — 第一批機器是本月安裝的 — — 實際上是正在安裝的真正生產的、大批量的機器。

And that's still continuing on through the beginning of next year or the first half of next year. And that's when it's going to be being rolled out into multiple locations around the world. But it's only being rolled out as the first machines in these multiple locations.

這種趨勢將持續到明年年初或明年上半年。屆時，它將被推廣到世界各地多個地方。但它只是作為第一批機器在這些多個地點推出。

So there's still a Phase 3 and Phase 4 to follow, which is really just the implementation of filling up all the plants and then the potential new plants that are likely to occur and need our machinery following that as well.

因此，接下來還有第三階段和第四階段，這實際上只是實施填滿所有工廠，然後是可能出現的潛在新工廠，也需要我們的機器。

Okay. That's very exciting.

好的。這非常令人興奮。

Yeah, yeah. It (inaudible) for us.

是啊是啊。對我們來說（聽不清楚）。

With regards to -- and I mean, I won't get into too much detail with it. But with regards to the second half of this year, a huge portion of your backlog is actually for next fiscal year. You are looking for growth in this fiscal year.

關於——我的意思是，我不會談論太多細節。但就今年下半年而言，你們積壓的大部分訂單實際上是針對下一個財政年度的。您希望本財政年度實現成長。

I mean, do you see the second half of '25 being of a similar magnitude in terms of sales as the first half of '25? Do you think it will at least remain flat and/or up or down from that? And then what are the verticals that will sustain that for you in the second half of this fiscal year?

我的意思是，您是否認為 25 年下半年的銷售額與 25 年上半年的銷售額相似？您認為它至少會保持平穩和/或上升或下降嗎？那麼，在本財年下半年，哪些垂直產業能夠為您維持這個目標呢？

Yeah. For the current fiscal year, we certainly have given guidance to project growth for the current fiscal year. The amount of growth we haven't really laid out too specifically at this point. And that's partially because our ability to ship things out is always a little bit more questionable, both from the customer aspect and the Sono-Tek internal aspect of when the customer will be ready for these products to be sent out and when we'll be ready to ship them.

是的。對於本財政年度，我們當然已經對本財政年度的專案成長給予了指導。目前我們還沒有具體說明成長的數量。部分原因是我們的出貨能力總是有點值得懷疑，無論是從客戶角度還是從 Sono-Tek 內部角度來看，客戶何時準備好發送這些產品以及我們何時準備好發貨。

Because these are all long lead-time items in general that we're talking about. But we feel, at this point, confident with our projections to show growth for the current fiscal year while adding significant backlog in for next fiscal year. And I think that's what we're even much more excited for.

因為我們談論的一般都是交貨期較長的項目。但目前，我們對我們的預測充滿信心，認為本財年將實現成長，同時為下一財年增加大量積壓訂單。我認為這正是我們更加興奮的事情。

If we can start adding more and more of these really high ASP systems into the backlog now, then they will be able to ship in the next fiscal year. So I think that's the more exciting moment for Sono-Tek is the coming fiscal year.

如果我們現在能夠開始將越來越多這些真正高 ASP 的系統添加到積壓訂單中，那麼它們將能夠在下一個財政年度發貨。所以我認為對於 Sono-Tek 來說更令人興奮的時刻是即將到來的財政年度。

I mean, this current fiscal year is going to be good. I mean, we'll show growth. We're going to be profitable. But I think it's more important that we're positioning ourselves for a much more rapid acceleration of growth next fiscal year.

我的意思是，本財政年度將會很好。我的意思是，我們將展現成長。我們將會獲利。但我認為更重要的是我們要為下一財年更快的成長做好準備。

So thinking then in terms of the second half of this year, it sounds that you feel that it's likely that you will exit with a higher level of backlog, maybe, than you exited this current quarter, this last quarter. You'll see your backlog continue to grow.

那麼，從今年下半年的角度來看，您覺得退出時積壓訂單的數量可能會比本季或上個季度更高。你會發現你的積壓工作不斷增加。

I would hope so. We haven't given a projection that way, but I would hope so. I mean, one thing that's -- it's so staggering for us now because we're now selling these large high ASP systems that are rolling into the backlog on a more frequent basis. now.

我希望如此。我們還沒有給出這樣的預測，但我希望如此。我的意思是，有一件事——這對我們來說太令人震驚了，因為我們現在正在更頻繁地銷售這些大型高 ASP 系統，這些系統正在積壓。現在。

All it takes is like one or two of these big machine orders to come in for $3 million, $4 million and to be like, oh, that just shot our backlog way up for the coming year. And we have more than one customer that could potentially be filling that next big order to come in and rolling in and beefing up our backlog for next fiscal year.

只需要一兩份價值 300 萬美元、400 萬美元的大型機器訂單，就可以讓我們來年的積壓訂單量大大增加。我們有多位客戶可能會完成下一份大訂單，並增加我們下一財年的積壓訂單。

So I would hope so. I don't know. We haven't given a projection on that, but I think we'd certainly like to see that. And I think it's a realistic. I mean, we still have five months in this current fiscal year to be adding things to the backlog.

所以我希望如此。我不知道。我們還沒有對此做出預測，但我想我們當然希望看到這一點。我認為這是現實的。我的意思是，本財政年度我們仍有五個月的時間來處理積壓的工作。

Okay. Then that brings me to another question. Remind me as it relates to the capacity you have at the current location. I mean, I know you've consistently been expanding it. And as you look at your facility today as it's currently set up, how much revenue do you think you can run through it?

好的。這讓我想到了另一個問題。提醒我，因為它與您目前位置的容量有關。我的意思是，我知道你一直在擴展它。當您查看目前已建成的設施時，您認為它能帶來多少收入？

And then I know there's some space at your facility that you still haven't taken over. How much -- at what point will you -- how much revenue can you potentially run through your existing property before you actually really run out of space?

然後我知道你們的設施裡還有一些空間還沒有被佔用。在實際空間用完之前，您現有的房產能帶來多少收入？

Yeah. So within the existing buildings that we presently occupy -- because we still are renting one very large building that we don't occupy. We've taken over five of our buildings now. We still have the one left.

是的。因此，在我們目前佔用的現有建築物內——因為我們仍然租用一棟我們不佔用的非常大的建築。我們現在已經接管了五棟建築。我們還剩下一個。

And within our existing footprint, today, we are -- we believe we can get up to around $24 million, $25 million. But with some efficiencies to our floor, which we have actually brought an outside consultant in to help with both efficiency and growth, we believe we can probably approach that closer to the $29 million mark within our existing footprint that we're in.

在我們現有的業務範圍內，今天，我們相信我們可以獲得大約 2400 萬美元、2500 萬美元。但隨著我們樓層效率的提高，我們實際上已經聘請了一位外部顧問來幫助提高效率和成長，我們相信我們可能可以在現有的佔地面積內更接近 2900 萬美元的目標。

And we'll know that number more precisely pretty soon upon the completion of this outside consultant we brought in to help us do a new out of our factory. But then beyond that, once we get to that $29 million, $30 million area, we will be needing to take over the remaining building.

我們聘請的外部顧問幫助我們完成工廠的新工作後，我們很快就會更準確地知道這個數字。但除此之外，一旦我們達到 2900 萬美元、3000 萬美元的區域，我們將需要接管剩餘的建築。

And with that building -- it's a large size building -- I think we'll be able to be somewhere in that $40 million to $44 million area. Once we started to look at how to lay things out in a more efficient manner, an effective manner, from a product flow standpoint, we started to realize we could actually do a little bit more than we thought.

有了那棟建築——它是一座大型建築——我認為我們的投資將達到 4000 萬到 4400 萬美元之間。一旦我們開始從產品流程的角度研究如何以更有效的方式佈置事物，我們就開始意識到我們實際上可以做得比我們想像的更多。

So maybe that number might even increase slightly, but somewhere in that area, that $40 million to $44 million area within our existing footprint of what we own for the whole facility if we take over all the buildings.

因此，也許這個數字甚至可能會略有增加，但在這個範圍內的某個地方，如果我們接管所有建築物，那麼在我們現有的整個設施所擁有的佔地面積內的 4000 萬至 4400 萬美元的區域。

Okay. And then my last question for you in the emerging R&D line item. It's fallen off, if you would, the last few quarters. And I guess I'm curious. With the drop off there, is there something to be concerned with? I mean, if you aren't bringing in new potential customers through the smaller systems, those R&D systems, isn't that the pipeline for longer term growth for Sono-Tek?

好的。然後我要問您的最後一個問題是關於新興研發項目。如果你願意的話，最近幾季它已經下降了。我想我很好奇。隨著那裡的下降，有什麼好擔心的嗎？我的意思是，如果您不透過較小的系統（那些研發系統）引入新的潛在客戶，那麼這不是 Sono-Tek 長期成長的管道嗎？

Yeah, that's a good question. I had asked by a few other investors recently also. What's actually happened, as we've matured as an organization, it brought on new capabilities to transition to production machines.

是的，這是個好問題。最近其他幾位投資人也向我詢問過。實際情況是，隨著我們組織的不斷成熟，它帶來了向生產機器過渡的新功能。

The cycle of something staying on our radar as an emerging R&D application has become shorter. Because all of a sudden now, once we've gotten a hold of, hey, here's what they're doing, we could say, all right, let's transition that over to a product line and into one of our market baskets to really go after.

某個新興研發應用出現在我們雷達上的週期已經變得更短了。因為現在突然之間，一旦我們掌握了他們正在做的事情，我們就可以說，好吧，讓我們將其轉移到產品線並轉移到我們真正追求的市場籃子之一。

So where something might have in the past sat out there in that merging R&D area for us for three, four, five, maybe even six or seven years sometimes because we really didn't know how to transition it over to production. That's not the case anymore.

因此，過去某些東西可能需要在合併研發領域擱置三、四、五年，有時甚至六、七年，因為我們真的不知道如何將其轉化為生產。現在情況已經不再如此了。

So what we tend to see is products go through that at a much faster rate and then transition into one of the other baskets for us relatively quickly or one of the other subsections of the baskets for us relatively quickly.

因此，我們傾向於看到產品以更快的速度通過，然後相對快速地轉移到我們的其他購物籃中，或者相對較快地轉移到購物籃的其他子部分。

Okay. All right. Well, again, congratulations for the quarter and thank you for taking my questions. And I will step aside.

好的。好的。好吧，再次恭喜本季取得的成績，並感謝您回答我的問題。而我將退出。

It was good chatting. Thanks.

聊天很愉快。謝謝。

Dick Ryan, Oak Ridge Financial.

迪克‧瑞安 (Dick Ryan)，橡樹嶺金融公司。

Thank you. Steve, just to look at the other half of the backlog then. You got the roughly half that's going to deliver in first, second, third quarter. What's the makeup of the other half of the backlog, either market wise or product segment wise? And what's the delivery -- what's your expectation for delivery on that?

謝謝。史蒂夫，我們先看看積壓的另一半。大約有一半的銷售額將在第一季、第二季和第三季實現。從市場角度或產品區隔角度來看，另一半積壓訂單的組成是怎麼樣的？交付情況如何？您對交付情況有何期望？

Yeah. So looking at our existing record-high backlog, it's pretty much split into those two large orders, which are almost $6 million, going into next fiscal year and pretty much the other half of that backlog of the majority of that all shipping in the current fiscal year. And it just so happens in that mix we do end up having a high level of medical that is in that mix in addition to some clean energy stuff, too.

是的。因此，看看我們現有的創紀錄的高積壓訂單，它基本上分為兩個大訂單，價值近 600 萬美元，將進入下一個財政年度，而積壓訂單的另一半，其中大部分都將在本財政年度發貨。碰巧的是，在這種混合中，我們最終擁有了高水準的醫療，此外還擁有一些清潔能源。

But it just happens to be a very healthy medical backlog for us right. We have a lot of custom medical machines that are flowing through that and some new product machines.

但這對我們來說恰好是一個非常健康的醫療積壓。我們有許多客製化的醫療機器和一些新產品機器正在流經該工廠。

So I think it may not be as high of emerging R&D as it is the first half of the year. But it's kind of nice to see a good mix where it's not just all emerging -- clean energy sector when I say that. It's going to be a lower, probably lower, clean energy sector, but that's okay. It's nice to have a mix of electronics and medical mixing in with that clean energy sector.

因此我認為新興研發的水平可能不如上半年高。但我很高興看到一個好的組合，其中不僅僅是新興的清潔能源領域。清潔能源產業可能會更低，但這沒關係。將電子和醫療與清潔能源領域結合起來是件好事。

Yeah, you've worked on the diversification. That's key. What -- if you turn the clock back a 1.5 year, two years ago, or whatever, you had vendor issues. That limited your capacity to get the product out the door.

是的，您致力於多元化。這很關鍵。如果您將時鐘撥回一年半前、兩年前或其他時間，您就會遇到供應商問題。這限制了您推出產品的能力。

And then you were trying to internalize some of those capabilities. Can you just kind of update us on that effort? And if you think your supply chain is in good shape going forward to handle this backlog?

然後你嘗試將其中一些能力內化。您能否向我們介紹一下這項努力的最新進展？您是否認為您的供應鏈狀況良好，可以處理這些積壓問題？

Yeah. It's actually what I would consider a very successful program. It was not an easy program for us to go through. That was bringing in our whole NovoCoat product line which require us to bring in a lot of in-house expertise, a lot of controls, engineers, programmers.

是的。事實上我認為這是一個非常成功的專案。對我們來說，這不是一個容易完成的項目。這引入了我們的整個 NovoCoat 產品線，這需要我們引入大量的內部專業知識、大量的控制、工程師和程式設計師。

But it did two things for us, really. It made us so we would not run into one of these supply chain issues with an outside vendor again. We have -- it's much more within our control now, but we are now starting to see just a little bit of benefit on the gross margin side also.

但它確實為我們做了兩件事。這使得我們不再與外部供應商發生供應鏈問題。我們已經——現在它在我們的控制範圍內，但我們現在也開始看到毛利率方面有一點好處。

There was a lot of initial upfront cost to make those transitions to bring some of those product lines in house. But now that we're through, a big chunk of that curve of bringing that in. I think we'll start to be able to start to see some increased margins on some of these products that we were historically outsourcing and now we're bringing internally within Sono-Tek.

為了將部分產品線引入公司內部，需要大量的前期成本。但是現在我們已經完成了大部分的曲線引入。我認為我們將能夠看到一些產品的利潤率有所提高，這些產品我們過去都是外包的，現在我們在 Sono-Tek 內部生產。

It is certainly most definitely an ongoing project that's happening. It's still -- I would describe it maybe 50% to 70% of the way complete through the process. I mean, we're shipping products through it, but we could ship more.

這肯定是一個正在進行的項目。它仍然——我認為它可能已經完成了整個過程的 50% 到 70%。我的意思是，我們正在透過它運送產品，但我們可以運送更多。

So I think this will be happening for the next year to two years. We'll be continuing to expand that internal capability for us here again, which should increase margins and less dependent on the outside suppliers.

所以我認為這將在未來一到兩年內發生。我們將繼續擴大我們的內部能力，這將增加利潤率並減少對外部供應商的依賴。

Okay. When you look at your lab traffic or conversations with customers about order pipeline, any commentary out there from them that they're looking at the economy that might be weakening or election cycle or funding piles of money may not be flowing? Any concerns on any of those sides?

好的。當您查看實驗室流量或與客戶關於訂單管道的對話時，他們是否有任何評論說他們正在關注可能正在減弱的經濟或選舉週期或資金堆積如山的情況？各方有何擔憂？

Yeah. I would say our older, more established markets, something like printed circuit board, manufacturing, some of the industrial areas, they are -- have definitely expressed some softening in their product sales, their end product sales. Fortunately, for us, the high tech sectors, the medical, the microelectronics, and the alt energy sectors, have not expressed that same slowing.

是的。我想說，我們的一些較老、較成熟的市場，例如印刷電路板、製造業、一些工業領域，其產品銷售、最終產品銷售肯定已經出現一些疲軟。對我們來說幸運的是，高科技產業、醫療產業、微電子產業和替代能源產業並沒有同樣的放緩趨勢。

And those are very clearly the more focused markets for us anyway. They're our older, more mature markets. We like them. We enjoy the flow business we get from them, but we are most certainly more focused on growing our high ASP complex platforms to these nextgen machines.

無論如何，這些顯然都是我們更關注的市場。它們是我們較老、較成熟的市場。我們喜歡它們。我們很享受從他們那裡獲得的流量業務，但我們肯定更專注於將我們的高 ASP 複雜平台擴展到這些下一代機器。

I mean, that's where we're going to be able to get the highest margins and really show the benefits of our technology. But there is certainly an underlying slowness. And it makes me very happy now that we did make this strategic shift to focus on these large platform high ASP very complex machines because the really older, established machines from the more mature markets, there is a slowing of those.

我的意思是，在那裡我們將能夠獲得最高的利潤並真正展示我們技術的優勢。但其中肯定存在著潛在的緩慢現象。現在我很高興我們確實做出了這一戰略轉變，將重點放在這些大型平台、高 ASP 和非常複雜的機器上，因為來自更成熟市場的真正較老的、成熟的機器的增長正在放緩。

And that that's actually shown even in our sales, that we're probably seeing a little slower slowness in our small platform machines, which are the low ASP machines coming from those more mature markets. But we're seeing the acceleration in these big platforms, highly complex machines. So it was a really fortunate strategic shift we made to move over to that direction.

而這實際上已經體現在我們的銷售中，我們可能會看到小型平台機器的運行速度稍微慢一些，這些機器是來自那些更成熟市場的低 ASP 機器。但我們看到這些大型平台和高度複雜的機器正在加速發展。因此，我們向這個方向做出的策略轉變真的很幸運。

Okay, good. Takes care of it for me. Thanks, Steve, and congratulations.

好的，很好。幫我處理。謝謝，史蒂夫，恭喜你。

Thanks. Good talking to you.

謝謝。很高興和你交談。

Bill [Nicklin, Bill White Insights].

帳單[尼克林，比爾懷特見解]。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my call. Actually, Ted and Dick covered a lot of what -- details of what I was interested in, but I do have an over-arching question. I think it's pretty obvious that you've been investing, flash spending heavily over the last few years; increased R&D; adding new capabilities as you've described; expanding your total addressable market; shifting into new markets with higher AP.

嘿，早安。謝謝您接聽我的電話。實際上，泰德和迪克已經談到了很多我感興趣的細節，但我確實有一個總體問題。我認為很明顯，過去幾年你一直在投資，大量花錢；增加研發；添加您所描述的新功能；擴大您的總體目標市場；進入具有更高 AP 的新市場。

And we're there, possibly providing better visibility and predictability down the road as you get these long live type contracts. Maybe you could describe in some detail the journey surrounding these achievements that you've made and then how you see them affecting Sono-Tek's growth and profitability trajectory over the next couple of years.

而且，當您獲得這些長期合約時，我們可能會提供更好的可見度和可預測性。也許您可以詳細描述您取得這些成就的歷程，以及您認為它們將如何影響 Sono-Tek 未來幾年的成長和獲利軌跡。

Sure, sure. Right now, it's -- as you know, Bill, it's been quite a journey for us, the focus to drive the ASP higher and higher on our machines. And I've got to tell you, it's been one of those things that I don't think any of us predicted we could have done what we've done.

當然，當然。現在，正如你所知，比爾，這對我們來說是一段相當漫長的旅程，重點是推動我們機器的 ASP 越來越高。我必須告訴你們，我認為我們中沒有人能夠預料到我們會做出這樣的事情。

We went from saying, hey, let's sell this $10,000 nozzle into a $100,000 machine. And then, hey, can we make that $100,000 machine a $0.25 million machine? And then can we make it $1 million machine? We're still with the ultrasonic nozzle at the heart of every one of those machines.

我們一開始就說，嘿，讓我們把這個價值 10,000 美元的噴嘴賣成價值 10 萬美元的機器。那麼，嘿，我們能把那台價值 10 萬美元的機器變成價值 25 萬美元的機器嗎？那我們能把它製造成價值 100 萬美元的機器嗎？我們仍然將超音波噴嘴作為每台機器的核心。

I think it actually was somewhat of a surprise to us even that we -- that was a possibility to sell $1.5 million with this $10,000 nozzle at the heart of it. But once we started heading down that path, we found it really wasn't that difficult as long as you had the application engineering know-how and expertise to become the customer's partner in creating these precision thin film coatings on next gen products.

我認為這實際上對我們來說是一個驚喜——這個價值 10,000 美元的噴嘴有可能賣出 150 萬美元。但是，一旦我們開始沿著這條道路前進，我們發現只要你擁有應用工程知識和專業知識，成為客戶的合作夥伴，在下一代產品上創造這些精密薄膜塗層，這真的不是那麼困難。

The customers really desired it, and they even desired it before we had the capabilities. They were asking us for this, but we just didn't realize that we had the capabilities to do it. And it just took us a while to say, let's really spend the resources and upfront money to develop that inhouse capabilities to make these very complex systems for these thin film coatings.

客戶確實渴望它，甚至在我們擁有這種能力之前他們就渴望它。他們向我們提出了這個要求，但我們只是沒有意識到我們有能力做到這一點。我們花了一段時間才決定，讓我們真正投入資源和前期資金來開發內部能力，為這些薄膜塗層製造非常複雜的系統。

And we've now done that. Some of these latest projects, like Aries and Altair, I mean, these are huge projects. They took a lot of money that we spent and a lot of investment in R&D. But now we're shipping products that are just like we hoped. They are the $0.5 million, $1 million order that we're getting.

現在我們已經做到了。其中一些最新項目，例如 Aries 和 Altair，我的意思是，這些都是大型項目。他們拿走了我們花費的大量資金和大量的研發投資。但現在我們運送的產品正如我們所希望的那樣。我們收到的訂單價值分別為 50 萬美元和 100 萬美元。

And that's what we want. We feel like we're kind of coming out of the area where $100,000 are no longer going to be the norm. We want to make these $0.5 million, $1 million dollar orders our normal flow business. And that's our strategy there.

這正是我們想要的。我們感覺我們正逐漸走出 10 萬美元不再是常態的境地。我們希望將這些 50 萬美元、100 萬美元的訂單作為我們的正常業務流。這就是我們的策略。

And we'll still sell those $100,000 machines and $50,000 machines. But the goal of those $50,000 and $100,000 machines is only to get to sell the million dollar machine. We've got to be selling the R&D and pilot line machine to reach the production machine.

我們仍將銷售那些價值 10 萬美元和 5 萬美元的機器。但那些售價 5 萬和 10 萬美元的機器的目標只是賣出價值百萬美元的機器。我們必須銷售研發和中試生產線機器才能生產生產機器。

And very significantly, we may only sell one or two R&D machines, or a pilot line machine for $50,000 or $100,000. But when you go time -- it becomes time to sell the production machines, the customer doesn't want just one or two typically. They typically want multiple machines to meet their end throughput requirements for their product.

非常重要的是，我們可能只賣出一兩台研發機器，或是一台售價 5 萬或 10 萬美元的中試生產線機器。但是當你需要銷售生產機器時，客戶通常不只想要一兩台。他們通常需要多台機器來滿足其產品的最終吞吐量要求。

So excitingly, that same customer that buys one R&D and then two pilot line machines, they might buy 10 or 20 production machines at very high ASPs. So that's the strategy that we've really been plowing through.

令人興奮的是，同一個客戶在購買一台研發機器和兩台中試生產線機器之後，可能會以非常高的平均售價購買 10 或 20 台生產機器。這就是我們一直在努力推行的策略。

And at some point, as long as we keep on seeing that we can sell higher and higher ASPs with more and more machines, maybe we'll just keep kicking that R&D that profit right back into the growth of our company.

在某個時候，只要我們繼續看到我們能夠透過越來越多的機器銷售越來越高的平均銷售價格，也許我們就會繼續將研發利潤投入到公司的成長中。

But if we ever chose to, if we ever said, hey, let's just become -- make a lot more money, we could do that at any point. We could say that, hey, listen, flip the lever the other way and make a lot more money. But right now, we see such a big open road for growth of the company that it really -- we want to take advantage of that while it's there.

但如果我們選擇這樣做，如果我們說，嘿，讓我們賺更多的錢，我們可以隨時這樣做。我們可以說，嘿，聽著，把槓桿扳向另一個方向，就能賺更多的錢。但目前，我們看到公司的成長之路如此廣闊，我們真的想充分利用它。

Thank you very much. Sounds good. Congratulations. I've been watching you folks for a while, and you're getting the job done. I appreciate that.

非常感謝。聽起來不錯。恭喜。我已經觀察你們一段時間了，你們正在完成工作。我很感激。

Thanks, Bill. It was good chatting.

謝謝，比爾。聊天很愉快。

Thank you, Bill.

謝謝你，比爾。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Steve Harshberger for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議交還給史蒂夫·哈什伯格 (Steve Harshberger) 來做結束語。

Okay. All right. Well, thank you everyone for joining us today. Sono-Tek's outlook is strong and based on our ongoing success with our large platform initiatives in these high tech markets and the clean energy markets. And we really look forward to our next call that we will review our full fiscal 2025 results, and that's going to be in May.

好的。好的。好吧，感謝大家今天加入我們。Sono-Tek 的前景十分光明，這基於我們在這些高科技市場和清潔能源市場中大型平台計劃所取得的持續成功。我們非常期待下一次電話會議，屆時我們將審查我們 2025 財年的全部業績，會議將在 5 月舉行。

But please, anybody can feel to contact us directly if you have any questions before that. And on behalf of Dr. Coccio, Steve Bagley, and myself, we hope you all have a great rest of your day. And we look forward to talking to you again in another six months.

但是，如果您在此之前有任何問題，請直接與我們聯繫。我謹代表 Coccio 博士、Steve Bagley 和我本人，祝大家今天過得愉快。我們期待六個月後再次與您交談。

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。