Varex Imaging Corp (VREX) 2021 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the earnings conference call for the fiscal year of 2021. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Howard Goldman, Director of Investor Relations.

您好，歡迎參加 2021 財年的收益電話會議。（操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給東道主投資者關係總監霍華德·戈德曼 (Howard Goldman)。

Good afternoon, and welcome to Varex Imaging Corporation's earnings conference call for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021. With me today are Sunny Sanyal, our President and CEO; and Sam Maheshwari, our CFO. Please note that a live webcast of this conference call includes a supplemental slide presentation that can be accessed at Varex' website at investors.vareximaging.com. The webcast and supplemental slide presentation will be archived on Varex' website.

下午好，歡迎參加 Varex Imaging Corporation 2021 財年第一季的收益電話會議。今天與我在一起的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Sunny Sanyal；以及我們的財務長 Sam Maheshwari。請注意，本次電話會議的網路直播包括補充幻燈片演示，可在 Varex 網站 Investors.vareximaging.com 上存取。網路廣播和補充幻燈片簡報將存檔在 Varex 的網站上。

To simplify our discussion, unless otherwise stated, all references to the quarter are for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021. In addition, unless otherwise stated, quarterly comparisons are made sequentially from the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020 rather than to the same quarter of the prior year.

為了簡化我們的討論，除非另有說明，所有提及季度的數據均指2021 財年第一季。此外，除非另有說明，季度比較均從2021 財年第一季到2021 財年第四季度依序進行。2020 年，而不是 上一年度的同一季度。

Please be advised that during this call, we will be making forward-looking statements which are predictions or projections about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Risks relating to our business are described in our quarterly earnings release and our filings with the SEC.

請注意，在本次電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，即對未來事件的預測或預測。這些陳述是基於目前的預期和假設，這些預期和假設存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與預期有重大差異。我們的季度收益報告和向 SEC 提交的文件中描述了與我們業務相關的風險。

Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those anticipated is contained in our SEC filings including Item 1A, Risk Factors, of our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our annual report on Form 10-K. The information in this discussion speaks as of today's date, and we assume no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements in this discussion.

有關可能導致實際結果與預期結果有重大差異的因素的更多資​​訊包含在我們向SEC 提交的文件中，包括我們的10-Q 表季度報告和10-K 表年度報告的第1A 項「風險因素」。本次討論中的資訊截至今天為止，我們不承擔更新或修改本次討論中的前瞻性陳述的義務。

On today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures are not presented in accordance with nor are they a substitute for GAAP financial measures. We provided a reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure in our earnings press release which is posted on our website.

在今天的電話會議上，我們將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非 GAAP 衡量標準並非依照 GAAP 財務衡量標準提出，也不能取代 GAAP 財務衡量標準。我們在網站上發布的收益新聞稿中提供了每項非公認會計原則財務指標與最直接可比較的公認會計原則財務指標的調節表。

And now I'll turn the call over to Sunny.

現在我將把電話轉給 Sunny。

Thank you, Howard. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. I'm very excited to say that last week was our fourth anniversary as an independent public company. We continue to remain focused on our mission to help improve and save lives throughout the world by making the invisible visible. We are a world leader in x-ray imaging products for our medical and industrial applications. And with the help of our 2,000 colleagues as well as our customers and suppliers, over the last 70 years, we have continued to bring innovative and breakthrough technologies to market. Global OEMs incorporate our mission-critical components into their x-ray imaging systems, and we have continued to strengthen our relationships with them, many of which span more than 4 decades.

謝謝你，霍華德。大家下午好，歡迎光臨。我很高興地說，上週是我們作為獨立上市公司的四週年紀念日。我們繼續專注於我們的使命，透過讓無形的東西變得可見，幫助改善和拯救全世界的生命。我們是醫療和工業應用 X 光成像產品的世界領導者。在過去 70 年裡，在 2,000 名同事以及客戶和供應商的幫助下，我們不斷將創新和突破性技術推向市場。全球原始設備製造商將我們的關鍵任務組件納入他們的 X 光成像系統中，我們不斷加強與他們的關係，其中許多關係已超過 4 年。

Our first quarter results came in towards the higher end of our guidance range. Revenues increased sequentially by 4%, indicating the start of recovery in our business. Global demand for our CT tubes has stayed strong during the last few quarters, and Q1 followed the same trend. Our non-GAAP gross margin increased to 34%. The improvement was due to realization of benefits from previously disclosed cost reductions as well as a favorable shift in product mix within our medical segment. Non-GAAP operating expenses were down approximately $3 million, reflecting our continued focus on profitability. As a result, our non-GAAP operating margin improved to 8% of revenues. Non-GAAP EPS also came in towards the higher end of our guidance at $0.08 per diluted share. Cash improved to $106 million driven by positive cash flow from operations.

我們第一季的業績接近我們指引範圍的高端。營收季增 4%，顯示我們的業務開始復甦。過去幾個季度，全球對我們 CT 管的需求一直保持強勁，第一季也遵循同樣的趨勢。我們的非 GAAP 毛利率增加至 34%。這項改善是由於先前揭露的成本削減帶來的好處以及我們醫療部門產品結構的有利轉變所致。非 GAAP 營運費用減少了約 300 萬美元，反映出我們對獲利能力的持續關注。結果，我們的非 GAAP 營業利潤率提高至收入的 8%。非 GAAP 每股攤薄每股收益也達到了我們指引的上限，為每股 0.08 美元。由於營運現金流為正，現金增加至 1.06 億美元。

Let me give you some high-level insight into how our different modalities performed during the quarter. We previously indicated that our business had stabilized. This quarter, we began to see a recovery. CT has continued to remain strong for a number of quarters, including Q1. Much of our CT business is coming from new system installations, which bodes well for our replacement business in the future. In fluoroscopy and oncology, we saw some improvement primarily driven by an increase in patient visits for elective procedures. Our other medical modalities remained sequentially flat for the quarter.

讓我向您介紹一下我們不同模式在本季的表現。我們之前表示我們的業務已經穩定下來。本季度，我們開始看到復甦。 CT 在包括第一季在內的多個季度中繼續保持強勁。我們的 CT 業務大部分來自新系統安裝，這對我們未來的更換業務來說是個好兆頭。在透視檢查和腫瘤學方面，我們看到了一些改善，這主要是由於擇期手術患者就診次數的增加所致。本季我們的其他醫療方式與上一季持平。

Industrial is also beginning to see consistent sequential recovery. Cargo and port security as well as baggage screening business remained low, but other nondestructive testing and inspection verticals showed improvement.

工業也開始出現持續的連續復甦。貨物和港口安全以及行李檢查業務仍然較低，但其他無損檢測和檢驗垂直領域有所改善。

Let me now give you an update on our progress in China where we are seeing continued momentum. As a reminder, we estimated that approximately 25,000 new CT systems will be needed in China over a 10-year period. Partially in response to COVID, we believe the Chinese government intends to accelerate the installation of about 10,000 CT systems over the next few years. These systems will be placed in so-called fever clinics and emergency departments at local hospitals in order to provide dedicated CT scanner rooms for patients with infectious conditions. As a result, we're seeing a significant increase in demand for our tubes for new CT systems in China.

現在讓我向您介紹我們在中國的最新進展，我們看到了持續的勢頭。提醒一下，我們估計 10 年內中國將需要約 25,000 套新的 CT 系統。我們相信，中國政府打算在未來幾年內加快安裝約 10,000 個 CT 系統，部分原因是為了應對新冠疫情。這些系統將放置在當地醫院的發燒門診和急診科，以便為感染性疾病患者提供專用的 CT 掃描室。因此，我們看到中國新型 CT 系統對我們的管材的需求顯著增加。

For the past years, we've been working with 8 Chinese OEMs and have active pricing agreements with them to incorporate our CT tubes and other components into their new CT systems. On the left panel of this slide, you can see the current planned introduction and rollout of different CT scanner models by various OEMs. As we have said before, these OEMs are making steady progress with their product development, and we are confident that several new CT models utilizing our components will hit the market over the next couple of years.

在過去的幾年裡，我們一直與 8 家中國 OEM 廠商合作，並與他們簽訂了積極的定價協議，將我們的 CT 管和其他組件整合到他們的新 CT 系統中。在此投影片的左側面板上，您可以看到各個 OEM 目前計劃推出和推出的不同 CT 掃描器型號。正如我們之前所說，這些原始設備製造商的產品開發正在穩步取得進展，我們相信採用我們組件的幾款新 CT 型號將在未來幾年內投放市場。

Now let me give you some perspectives on how Varex is positioned for growth. Our business has started to exhibit sequential growth that should lead us back to pre-COVID revenue levels of about $200 million per quarter. The pace of recovery will initially be driven by increasing demand for service replacement products as surgeries and elective procedure volumes increase. Service replacements are typically funded by hospital operating budgets, whereas the purchase of new imaging systems require capital expenditure budgets.

現在讓我向您介紹 Varex 如何定位成長的一些觀點。我們的業務已開始呈現環比成長，這將使我們回到新冠疫情爆發前每季約 2 億美元的營收水準。隨著手術和擇期手術量的增加，對服務替代產品的需求增加將首先推動復甦的步伐。服務更換通常由醫院營運預算資助，而購買新的影像系統則需要資本支出預算。

Beyond the initial recovery, we expect that hospitals and medical facilities will begin to commit capital for new imaging systems once utilization levels reach certain thresholds. We also expect that COVID vaccines will play a key role in increasing utilization levels. In our industrial segment, we expect to see continued gradual improvement as the broader economy recovers.

除了最初的恢復之外，我們預計一旦利用率達到一定閾值，醫院和醫療機構將開始投入資金購買新的影像系統。我們也預計新冠疫苗將在提高利用率方面發揮關鍵作用。在我們的工業領域，隨著整體經濟的復甦，我們預計將持續逐步改善。

The pandemic has revealed substantial vulnerabilities in the preparedness of health care systems and associated infrastructure globally. In response, in the midterm, just like we're seeing in China, other governments and medical facilities around the world are likely to increase spending on health care. Such spending is likely to occur over many years in numerous areas of health care, including modernizing and expanding x-ray imaging capabilities. Over the long term, we expect our new technologies and innovative products to drive growth. These include our photon counting digital detectors and our nanotube technology, which I will discuss in a moment.

這場大流行暴露了全球醫療保健系統和相關基礎設施準備工作的重大漏洞。作為回應，從中期來看，就像我們在中國看到的那樣，世界各地的其他政府和醫療機構可能會增加醫療保健支出。此類支出可能會在許多醫療保健領域持續多年，包括現代化和擴展 X 光成像能力。從長遠來看，我們期望我們的新技術和創新產品能夠推動成長。其中包括我們的光子計數數位探測器和奈米管技術，我稍後將討論這些技術。

Let me give you a summary of what we have achieved as a company since the spin-off from Varian and where we are headed. During our first 3 years, we focused on standing up a new public company, completing the integration and consolidation of a major acquisition and expanding our global footprint. We consider Varex 1.0 to be a success. Beginning last year, we entered the second phase, which we call Varex 2.0 and are in the early stages of this transformation. Here, we remain focused on 3 major areas: first, strengthening our balance sheet; second, improving our operating margins; and third, accelerating our growth through innovation.

讓我向您總結一下自瓦里安分拆以來我們公司所取得的成就以及我們的發展方向。在最初的三年裡，我們專注於建立一家新的上市公司，完成一項重大收購的整合和整合，並擴大我們的全球足跡。我們認為 Varex 1.0 是成功的。從去年開始，我們進入了第二階段，我們稱之為 Varex 2.0，目前正處於這項轉型的早期階段。在這裡，我們仍然專注於三個主要領域：第一，加強我們的資產負債表；第二，提高我們的營業利益率；第三，透過創新加速發展。

We have already completed the first element of our transformation with the new capital structure that provides increased flexibility with limited financial covenants. Second, we're working to improve the operating structure of the company. Our objective is to improve profitability by expanding our gross margin and reducing our operating expenses. We expect the significant cost reductions that we recently made to largely remain in place even as business recovers.

我們已經透過新的資本結構完成了轉型的第一個要素，該結構在有限的財務契約下提供了更大的靈活性。二是完善公司經營架構。我們的目標是透過擴大毛利率和降低營運費用來提高獲利能力。我們預計，即使業務復甦，我們最近做出的大幅成本削減也將基本保持不變。

And third, we're focused on releasing new products based on game-changing technologies. We expect that our investments in new and innovative platforms will enable us to release a number of new products over the coming years. While adoption of new technologies can take several years, upside is a long, multiyear tail of recurring revenues from products that have been engineered into our customers' x-ray imaging systems.

第三，我們專注於發布基於改變遊戲規則的技術的新產品。我們預計，我們對新的創新平台的投資將使我們能夠在未來幾年發布許多新產品。雖然新技術的採用可能需要數年時間，但好處是來自客戶 X 光成像系統的產品所帶來的長期、多年的經常性收入。

Our new products include the Z Platform family of dynamic digital detectors. These detectors are designed to produce high-quality images at lower doses compared to equivalent amorphous silicon detectors. Since the acquisition of Direct Conversion, we have continued to invest in our photon counting technology. Detectors using photon counting produce high contrast images at low doses and enable very good soft tissue resolution due to their ability to do precise energy discrimination. An exciting application for photon counting technology is CT detectors. We plan to leverage our technology to enter the CT detector market, which is complementary to our CT tube business.

我們的新產品包括 Z Platform 系列動態數位探測器。與同等非晶矽探測器相比，這些探測器旨在以更低的劑量產生高品質影像。自從收購 Direct Conversion 以來，我們繼續投資於我們的光子計數技術。使用光子計數的偵測器可以在低劑量下產生高對比度影像，並且由於其能夠進行精確的能量辨別，因此能夠實現非常好的軟組織解析度。光子計數技術的一個令人興奮的應用是 CT 偵測器。我們計劃利用我們的技術進入CT探測器市場，這與我們的CT管業務形成互補。

At RSNA last year, we introduced our new photon counting CT detector modules. These modules should soon be available for customer evaluation. We believe our entry into the CT detector market has the potential to expand our addressable market by $0.5 billion. While the adoption of this technology may take a few years, we are excited about the opportunity.

去年在 RSNA 上，我們推出了新型光子計數 CT 偵測器模組。這些模組應該很快可供客戶評估。我們相信，我們進入 CT 偵測器市場有可能將我們的目標市場擴大 5 億美元。雖然這項技術的採用可能需要幾年時間，但我們對這個機會感到興奮。

We continue to work on nanotube technology with our joint venture VEC Imaging. We are developing a multi-beam, cold cathode x-ray nanotube. We are pleased with the progress we have made so far and look forward to providing updates on future developments.

我們繼續與合資企業 VEC Imaging 合作開發奈米管技術。我們正在開發一種多束冷陰極 X 射線奈米管。我們對迄今為止所取得的進展感到高興，並期待提供有關未來發展的最新資訊。

In our Industrial segment, we intend to grow by extending our technology into select verticals. We have been focused on our components and subsystems. And going forward, in certain verticals, we may develop full imaging systems. We are excited about industrial products we are developing.

在我們的工業領域，我們打算透過將我們的技術擴展到特定的垂直領域來實現成長。我們一直專注於我們的組件和子系統。展望未來，在某些垂直領域，我們可能會發展出完整的成像系統。我們對正在開發的工業產品感到興奮。

With that, let me hand over the call to Sam to talk about our financial performance in greater detail.

接下來，讓我將電話轉交給 Sam，更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Sunny, and hello, everyone. I wish you all a very happy new year and hope you and your families are keeping safe and healthy. As a reminder, unless otherwise indicated, I will provide sequential comparison of our results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 with those of our fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

謝謝，Sunny，大家好。祝大家新年快樂，並希望您和您的家人保持安全和健康。提醒一下，除非另有說明，我將提供 2021 財年第一季與 2020 財年第四季業績的連續比較。

As Sunny mentioned, we have begun to see recovery in our business. First quarter revenues were $177 million, an increase of 4% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. Medical segment revenues were $139 million or 79% of total revenues. Industrial segment revenues were $38 million or 21% of total revenues. Sequentially, medical sales grew 2% while industrial sales saw a robust 11% growth. On a regional basis, first quarter revenues were $62 million in Americas, $58 million in EMEA and $57 million in the APAC region. We saw strong growth in China.

正如桑尼所提到的，我們的業務已經開始復甦。第一季營收為 1.77 億美元，較 2020 財年第四季成長 4%。醫療部門營收為 1.39 億美元，佔總營收的 79%。工業部門收入為 3,800 萬美元，佔總收入的 21%。隨後，醫療銷售額成長了 2%，而工業銷售額則強勁成長了 11%。按地區劃分，第一季美洲地區收入為 6,200 萬美元，歐洲、中東和非洲地區為 5,800 萬美元，亞太地區為 5,700 萬美元。我們看到中國的強勁成長。

Let me now cover our results on a GAAP basis. First quarter GAAP gross margin was 32%, a sequential improvement of 570 basis points from the previous quarter. GAAP operating expenses were lower by $7 million compared to the fourth quarter, and loss per share was $0.16 on a fully diluted basis.

現在讓我介紹一下我們按照公認會計準則計算的結果。第一季 GAAP 毛利率為 32%，較上一季較上季提高 570 個基點。與第四季相比，公認會計準則營運費用減少了 700 萬美元，完全攤薄後每股虧損為 0.16 美元。

Let me now cover our results on a non-GAAP basis. Comparable GAAP measures have been included in our earnings release posted on our website. Gross margin was 33.6%, a sequential improvement of 580 basis points from the fourth quarter and significantly ahead of the midpoint of our previously communicated expectations. Please note that we completed the exit from Santa Clara manufacturing operations in Q1 itself, ahead of the previously stated schedule. As a result, the Santa Clara closure-related savings were fully reflected in our Q1 non-GAAP results. Just as a reminder, we had previously communicated that we expected to fully realize these savings from the second quarter onwards.

現在讓我介紹一下我們在非公認會計準則基礎上的表現。類似的公認會計準則衡量標準已包含在我們網站上發布的收益報告中。毛利率為 33.6%，較第四季環比提高 580 個基點，顯著高於我們先前公佈的預期中位數。請注意，我們在第一季就完成了從聖克拉拉製造業務的退出，比之前規定的時間表提前。因此，聖克拉拉工廠關閉相關的節省充分反映在我們第一季的非公認會計準則業績中。提醒一下，我們之前曾表示，我們預計從第二季開始將完全實現這些節省。

Overall, Q1 gross margin when compared to Q4 benefited from progress on our cost reduction efforts, favorable product mix and to a smaller extent, by higher sales volume. In general, I want to remind you that our gross margin can fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter due to segment mix between medical and industrial, product mix within each segment, customer concentration, cost performance and factory utilization levels. One of our fiscal 2021 initiatives is to improve efficiencies in our manufacturing and servicing efforts where we are targeting a gross margin improvement of 100 basis points by the end of this fiscal year. When revenue volume returns to pre-COVID levels and we complete our efficiency initiatives, we expect non-GAAP gross margin in the mid-30s level. R&D spending in the first quarter was 9% of revenue as compared to 10% in the prior quarter due to lower spending in R&D materials.

總體而言，與第四季度相比，第一季的毛利率受益於我們降低成本的努力、有利的產品組合以及在較小程度上得益於銷量的增加。總的來說，我想提醒您，由於醫療和工業之間的細分市場組合、每個細分市場內的產品組合、客戶集中度、成本績效和工廠利用率水平，我們的毛利率可能會出現季度波動。我們 2021 財年的措施之一是提高製造和服務工作的效率，我們的目標是到本財年末將毛利率提高 100 個基點。當收入量恢復到新冠疫情之前的水平並且我們完成效率計劃時，我們預計非 GAAP 毛利率將達到 30 多歲的水平。由於研發材料支出減少，第一季研發支出佔收入的 9%，而上一季為 10%。

Non-GAAP operating expenses were $46 million and down from $48 million in the previous quarter. This $2 million sequential decrease was due to lower R&D expenses as well as fully realizing the benefit from reduction in force that occurred in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings were $14 million as compared to a non-GAAP operating loss of $1 million in the previous quarter.

非 GAAP 營運支出為 4,600 萬美元，低於上一季的 4,800 萬美元。環比減少 200 萬美元是由於研發費用減少以及充分實現上一季度人力減少的好處。非 GAAP 營運利潤為 1,400 萬美元，而上一季非 GAAP 營運虧損為 100 萬美元。

As we outlined in our prior earnings call, our annual cash interest expense is approximately $32 million or about $8 million per quarter, although the amount actually paid in the quarter can vary. Non-GAAP tax expense in the first quarter was $2 million. The tax rate in Q1 was unusually high at 34% due to Q1 being the transition quarter where we started generating profit from operations as opposed to incurring losses in the prior [3] quarters.

正如我們在先前的財報電話會議中概述的那樣，我們的年度現金利息支出約為 3,200 萬美元，每季約 800 萬美元，儘管該季度實際支付的金額可能有所不同。第一季非 GAAP 稅費為 200 萬美元。第一季的稅率異常高，達到 34%，因為第一季是過渡季度，我們開始從營運中產生利潤，而不是在前 [3] 季度出現虧損。

Non-GAAP net earnings were $3 million or $0.08 per diluted share. This compares to a non-GAAP net loss in the fourth quarter of $2 million or $0.04 per diluted share.

非 GAAP 淨利為 300 萬美元，或攤薄後每股收益 0.08 美元。相比之下，第四季非 GAAP 淨虧損為 200 萬美元，即稀釋後每股虧損 0.04 美元。

Now turning to the balance sheet. Accounts receivables decreased by $3 million, inventory decreased by $2 million and accounts payables also decreased by $5 million during the quarter. Inventory reduction is a priority for us. We have started to make early progress on this initiative and continue to target a $25 million to $30 million inventory reduction by the end of this fiscal year. We plan to achieve this through a combination of completing facility consolidation, implementing lean programs, further streamlining our supply chain and discontinuing low velocity products. However, our reduction efforts have been partially offset by the need to bring in higher levels of raw materials to support growth in sales. As a result, in the first quarter, inventory declined by only $2 million from the prior quarter.

現在轉向資產負債表。本季應收帳款減少 300 萬美元，庫存減少 200 萬美元，應付帳款也減少 500 萬美元。減少庫存是我們的首要任務。我們已開始在這項措施上取得早期進展，並繼續目標是到本財年末減少 2,500 萬至 3,000 萬美元的庫存。我們計劃透過完成設施整合、實施精益計劃、進一步簡化我們的供應鏈和停止低速產品來實現這一目標。然而，我們的減排努力已被引入更高水準的原材料以支持銷售成長的需求所部分抵消。結果，第一季庫存僅比上一季減少了 200 萬美元。

Now moving to debt and cash flow information. Cash flow from operations was $7 million. We ended the quarter with cash of $106 million on the balance sheet, an increase of about $5 million. Gross debt was $514 million, and debt net of cash was $408 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $22 million in the first quarter, a significant improvement from $4 million in the prior quarter.

現在轉向債務和現金流資訊。營運現金流為 700 萬美元。本季末，我們資產負債表上的現金為 1.06 億美元，增加了約 500 萬美元。總債務為 5.14 億美元，扣除現金的債務為 4.08 億美元。第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 2,200 萬美元，較上一季的 400 萬美元大幅提高。

Now moving to our business outlook for Q2. We expect revenues between $180 million to $200 million driven by continued recovery in our business, and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share between $0.05 and $0.25. These expectations are based on non-GAAP gross margin between 33% and 35% and non-GAAP operating expenses in the range of $44 million to $45 million.

現在轉向我們對第二季的業務展望。在業務持續復甦的推動下，我們預計收入將在 1.8 億美元至 2 億美元之間，非公認會計原則稀釋後每股收益將在 0.05 美元至 0.25 美元之間。這些預期基於 33% 至 35% 的非 GAAP 毛利率以及 4,400 萬美元至 4,500 萬美元的非 GAAP 營運費用。

And with that, we will now open up the call for your questions.

現在，我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Anthony Petrone with Jefferies.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Anthony Petrone。

Congrats on a good quarter and start to the year. Maybe a couple for Sunny and then a follow-up [with a few] for Sam. Sunny, maybe just starting with medical. Can you give us a sense maybe by indication where you're seeing strength? I think last quarter mammography was a driver and was offset maybe perhaps a little bit by dental. Maybe just an update on end indications in medical where you're seeing strength. And then pivoting to China, the rebound there. Can you give us a sense of how much of that is driven by CT tubes versus other components? And in particular, are you seeing any recapture on the flat panel detector side?

恭喜季度業績良好並開啟新的一年。也許給 Sunny 一些，然後給 Sam 一些後續。陽光明媚，也許只是從醫療開始。您能否透過表明您在哪些方面看到了優勢來讓我們了解一下？我認為上個季度的乳房X光檢查是一個驅動因素，並且可能被牙科稍微抵消了一點。也許只是您看到力量的醫療最終跡象的更新。然後轉向中國，那裡出現反彈。您能否讓我們了解其中有多少是由 CT 管驅動的，而不是由其他組件驅動的？特別是，您是否在平板探測器一側看到任何重新捕獲？

Yes. Anthony, so one thing that's been consistent for the last several quarters has been we've seen strength in CT. So on the medical side, we've continued to see strength in CT, and we've now seen some uptick in a couple of other areas like fluoroscopy, oncology and these are driven by ongoing increase in patient visits and procedure volumes. For the quarter particularly, we -- dental has -- we -- dental was down last quarter. Dental also continued to be slow and soft this quarter, and mammography was soft as well. So the strength this quarter primarily came from recovery in oncology, fluoroscopy and CT.

是的。安東尼，所以過去幾個季度我們一直看到了CT的實力。因此，在醫療方面，我們繼續看到 CT 的優勢，而且我們現在看到透視、腫瘤學等其他幾個領域的一些增長，這是由患者就診量和手術量持續增加所推動的。特別是在本季度，我們——牙科——我們——牙科上個季度出現了下滑。本季牙科業務也持續緩慢而疲軟，乳房X光檢查也同樣疲軟。因此，本季的強勢主要來自腫瘤學、透視檢查和 CT 領域的復甦。

And your question about China. China for us is a very strong CT market, so that means CT tubes and other components that go with that. As you know, we sell some assemblies in China related to CT. We sell high-voltage connectors, and there is general pull-through of components that are tied to CT. Your question about detectors. There's -- we talked about our detector production in Wuxi is up and running. We have begun producing dental detectors, and we have seen an uptick from customers in that area. But there's no particular details that I can give at this time about recovery in detectors in China. But in general, there -- the market has been strong on CT, and we are continuing to -- our strong -- our strength in our position with our customers, and market leadership is helping us there.

還有你關於中國的問題。對我們來說，中國是一個非常強大的 CT 市場，因此這意味著 CT 管和其他與之相關的組件。如您所知，我們在中國銷售一些與CT相關的組件。我們銷售高壓連接器，與 CT 相連的組件通常具有拉通功能。你關於探測器的問題。我們談到我們在無錫的探測器生產已經啟動並運行。我們已經開始生產牙科探測器，並且我們看到該地區的客戶數量增加。但目前我無法提供有關中國探測器回收情況的具體細節。但總的來說，CT 市場一直很強勁，我們將繼續增強我們在客戶中的地位，市場領導地位正在幫助我們。

And then the follow-up, one would be on industrial and then one for Sam on gross margin. On industrial, I think you referenced nondisruptive testing doing well here. When do you envision you'll see a rebound in airport security and cargo screening? When do you think those 2 businesses can get back to pre-COVID levels? And then for Sam on gross margin, how much of the sequential uptick was specific to Santa Clara savings relative to mix?

然後是後續行動，一項是工業方面的，然後是山姆毛利率方面的。在工業方面，我認為您提到的無中斷測試在這裡表現良好。您預計機場安檢和貨物檢查何時會回升？您認為這兩家企業什麼時候可以恢復到新冠疫情爆發前的水準？然後，對於 Sam 的毛利率而言，相對於混合而言，有多少連續上升是特定於聖克拉拉儲蓄的？

Okay. So on the industrial side, in the non -- let me start with the non-security-related vertical. So that is all those other NDT, nondestructive testing, and inspection. There, the recovery was fairly broad-based with the exception of aerospace. Aerospace is still down, but we saw -- we've seen beginnings of recovery in most other verticals: in food, in electronic inspection, battery inspection, automotive, fluid inspection. And so that's been very encouraging.

好的。因此，在工業方面，讓我從非安全相關的垂直領域開始。這就是所有其他無損檢測、無損檢測和檢查。那裡的復甦相當廣泛，航空航太業除外。航空航太業仍然低迷，但我們看到——我們已經看到大多數其他垂直行業開始復甦：食品、電子檢查、電池檢查、汽車、液體檢查。這非常令人鼓舞。

Security, and particularly cargo and security inspection, we expect to see -- start seeing some amount of recovery in the second half of the year. As you've -- as you might have noticed and we've noticed that our -- there were some major tender wins by our customers. Those tender wins have not translated to specific orders for us because the delivery side has been slow and as our customers have been challenged by with -- due to COVID in getting their installations scheduled. But we're very happy to see that there has been orders activity and sooner or later, those will translate into actual shipments for us. We expect that to be in the second half of the year.

我們預計安全，特別是貨物和安全檢查將在今年下半年開始出現一定程度的復甦。正如您所注意到的，我們也注意到了，我們的客戶贏得了一些重大招標。這些得標尚未轉化為我們的具體訂單，因為交貨方面進展緩慢，而且我們的客戶在安排安裝方面受到了新冠疫情的挑戰。但我們很高興看到訂單活動不斷出現，這些訂單遲早會轉化為我們的實際出貨量。我們預計這將在今年下半年進行。

Airports, different story. We have seen some modest uptick in passenger travel-related activity at airports, and that has translated to a little bit of increased business at airports tied mostly to our tubes that go into the baggage screening equipment. But nothing yet that I can call as a strong trend or a major contributor.

機場，不同的故事。我們看到機場與旅客旅行相關的活動略有增加，這也導致機場業務成長，主要與我們進入行李檢查設備的管道有關。但目前還沒有什麼可以稱之為強勁趨勢或主要貢獻者。

Sure. And Anthony, this is Sam here. I'll try to address your question on gross margin. So sequentially from Q4 to Q1, we saw about 6% improvement. 4% of that is related to what we call the cost bucket. 1% improvement is due to product mix and, say, about less -- slightly less than 1% is related to uptick in volume here. So within the cost bucket, the 4%, about 3% of that is from our cost reduction efforts. And so 2% to Santa Clara migration. 1% is number of positions that we eliminated in Q4, which is now [fully] flowing through Q1 results. So again, 2% Santa Clara, 1% cost reduction outside of Santa Clara and then another 1% is driven by productivity improvements, improving yields and stuff like that. So that's overall 4% improvement in cost, and 1% in mix and slightly less than 1% in the volume area.

當然。安東尼，這是山姆。我將嘗試解決您有關毛利率的問題。因此，從第四季度到第一季度，我們看到了大約 6% 的改善。其中 4% 與我們所謂的成本桶有關。 1% 的改進是由於產品組合，比如說，略低於 1% 的改進與銷量的增加有關。所以在成本範圍內，4%，大約3%是來自我們降低成本的努力。因此，有 2% 的人遷移到聖克拉拉。 1% 是我們在第四季度消除的頭寸數量，現在[完全]流向第一季度的結果。再說一次，聖克拉拉成本降低 2%，聖克拉拉以外的成本降低 1%，然後生產力提高、產量提高等因素推動另外 1% 的成本降低。因此，總體成本提高了 4%，混合提高了 1%，體積提高了略低於 1%。

Our next question is with Larry Solow with CJS Securities.

我們的下一個問題是詢問 CJS 證券公司的 Larry Solow。

I guess the first question, kind of a high-level question. Sam, maybe for you, maybe you can take a shot. So I know you sort of target getting back to pre-COVID levels, which is $800 million, plus or minus. And it does sound like if we take the high end of your guidance, and maybe that's a little bit of your aggressive position where the low end is sort of a sequential flat number, but just trying to decipher. Do you -- between the low end and the high end, is -- are there -- do you see that as being the difference between a lot of your markets actually coming back and your mix significantly improving in some of the areas in medical that has lagged? Or are there sort of other variables there?

我想第一個問題是一個高級問題。山姆，也許對你來說，也許你可以嘗試一下。所以我知道你們的目標是恢復到新冠疫情爆發前的水平，即 8 億美元（上下浮動）。聽起來確實像是我們採用你的指導的高端，也許這有點你的激進立場，其中低端是一個連續的平坦數字，但只是試圖破解。您是否認為，在低端和高端之間，您是否認為，許多市場實際上正在復蘇，而您的組合在某些醫療領域的顯著改善之間存在差異？已經落後了？或是還有其他變數嗎？

Look, I'll ask Sam to provide some additional color. Let me just tee up maybe the latter part of your question to answer that. When we talk about -- when we say recovering to 2019 levels, that basically means getting back to $195 million to $200 million type of quarterly run rate. To get there, we'll need to see -- well, to get there, 2 things would have to happen: ongoing strength in medical and recovery in medical. Fortunately for us, the CT side of our medical business is doing well, and we expect to continue to see strength there. So that will pull the medical wagon harder than it has previously on a year-over-year basis.

聽著，我會請 Sam 提供一些額外的顏色。讓我準備好你問題的後半部來回答這個問題。當我們談論恢復到 2019 年的水平時，這基本上意味著恢復到 1.95 億美元至 2 億美元的季度運行率。為了實現這一目標，我們需要看到——嗯，為了實現這一目標，必須發生兩件事：醫療方面的持續實力和醫療方面的恢復。對我們來說幸運的是，我們醫療業務的 CT 方面表現良好，我們預計該領域將繼續保持強勁勢頭。因此，這將比以前逐年拉動醫療車。

So I think the medical side, we expect to continue to do well through CT. But to get to the $200 million level, we'll have to see some recovery in our -- on the industrial side that is more broad-based. So we will continue -- I'm happy with the recovery that we're seeing in NDT, but we'll need to see some recovery in cargo and that's likely to happen towards the second half of the year. So I can't give you a timing, but it's -- we'll have to see broad-based recovery to get to that 2019 levels. But all the trends are encouraging.

所以我認為在醫療方面，我們期望透過CT繼續表現良好。但要達到 2 億美元的水平，我們必須看到基礎更廣泛的工業方面出現一些復甦。因此，我們將繼續——我對我們在無損檢測中看到的復甦感到高興，但我們需要看到貨運的一些復甦，這可能會在今年下半年發生。所以我無法給你一個時間安排，但我們必須看到廣泛的復甦才能達到 2019 年的水平。但所有的趨勢都令人鼓舞。

Right. But said another way, it sounds like almost qualitatively, not all your markets have fully recovered. And I wouldn't expect them to fully recover in 2 quarters. And so to me, it almost seems like that $200 million number, when we get back to full recovery especially with China now, I assume, at a higher level than we were a year ago and growing, that full recovery, maybe we could be at -- not putting a number on it, but above $800 million, right, at some point, right? Because it does sound like qualitatively, you're not there yet. Maybe a couple of quarters or maybe as we look out [maybe even to] '22 just on a macro level. So to me, [$780 million] to $800 million is an encouraging number. That's sort of how I look at it. But I was just trying to figure out -- gauge what's in that number and what could surprise even to the upside as we look out?

正確的。但換句話說，聽起來幾乎是定性的，並非所有市場都已完全恢復。我不認為他們會在兩個季度內完全康復。所以對我來說，這幾乎像是2 億美元的數字，當我們恢復全面復甦，特別是現在的中國時，我認為，在比一年前更高的水平上，並且還在增長，全面復甦，也許我們可以沒有給出具體數字，但超過 8 億美元，對吧，在某個時候，對吧？因為它聽起來確實像是定性的，但你還沒有達到那個目標。可能是幾個季度，也可能是我們在宏觀層面上展望[甚至可能] 22 年。所以對我來說，[7.8 億美元]到 8 億美元是一個令人鼓舞的數字。我就是這麼看的。但我只是想弄清楚——衡量這個數字中的內容，以及當我們展望未來時，什麼可能會令人驚訝？

Yes. So again, what's going well for us is CT. So if CT continues to go well and if every other area also recovers, then you're talking -- the scenario you're talking about is possible, right? At this time, dental is still down. It hasn't recovered, and it's slow. It will get there. We're confident we'll get there because people do need to go to the dentist office, and they need to -- they need implants and all that will come back. We need to see recovery in dental. We need to see recovery in mammography. And as, let's say, all the medical modalities are firing on all cylinders and we're getting the uplift from CT, then it should be a good situation for us.

是的。再說一遍，CT 對我們來說進展順利。因此，如果 CT 繼續進展順利，並且其他所有區域也都恢復，那麼您正在談論的情況是可能的，對吧？此時，牙還在下。還沒恢復，而且很慢。它會到達那裡。我們相信我們會實現這一目標，因為人們確實需要去牙醫診所，他們需要——他們需要植牙，而所有這些都會回來。我們需要看到牙科的復健。我們需要透過乳房X光檢查來觀察恢復情況。可以說，所有的醫療方式都在全力以赴，而且我們從 CT 中得到了提升，那麼這對我們來說應該是一個很好的情況。

I'll also add that industrial -- yes, Larry, industrial is still below its historical level. So industrial also comes back. So that can also add to our growth here going forward.

我還要補充一點，工業——是的，拉里，工業仍然低於歷史水準。所以工業也回來了。因此，這也可以促進我們未來的成長。

Right. And you guys sort of said as you get back into pre-COVID levels, gross margins settle in, in the mid-30s. Could we -- is that sort of -- can we ever get back? What sort of -- is there a fundamental obstacle to ever get back sort of to that targeted 38% to 40% that you had targeted for several -- a couple of years, even post spin? Or is that -- or maybe even just a 38%, the low end of that range. Is that something that would inevitably attainable or not without putting a timeline on it?

正確的。你們說，當你們回到新冠疫情之前的水平時，毛利率就會穩定在 30 多歲左右。我們能──是這樣的──我們能回來嗎？回到你幾年前、甚至是旋轉後的目標 38% 到 40% 的目標，是否有什麼根本障礙？或者是——或者甚至可能只是 38%，即該範圍的低端。如果沒有設定時間表，這是否是不可避免地可以實現的事情？

Yes. So let me try to address the questions, Larry. So look, right now, we have some initiatives going on in manufacturing and servicing area. And compared to what we just reported, there's also upside to volume here. So as these initiatives get completed and the volume comes back, I think I'm looking at mid-30s type of a gross margin, call it, mid-30s, plus/minus 1% something like that. And then beyond that range and once these initiatives are completed and once the volume is back, I think we still target the higher 30s and 30s -- you said, 37%, 38% type of a gross margin. That is our goal. But for that goal, you would need these new technologies and new products to be released to provide us that boost. Of course, volume-driven boost will help us as we cross, say, the $200 million per quarter type of a level. But we do need these new products also to give us that extra boost to get to 37%, 38%, 39% type of a gross margin. And that is definitely our goal and a target. So that's how I see us getting there in terms of gross margin.

是的。拉里，讓我嘗試回答這些問題。所以看，現在我們在製造和服務領域正在採取一些措施。與我們剛剛報道的相比，這裡的成交量也有上升的空間。因此，隨著這些舉措完成並且銷量回升，我認為我正在考慮 30 多歲左右的毛利率，稱之為 30 多歲左右，正負 1% 之類的東西。然後超出這個範圍，一旦這些舉措完成，一旦銷量恢復，我認為我們的目標仍然是更高的 30 到 30 歲——你說的 37%、38% 的毛利率。這就是我們的目標。但為了實現這一目標，您需要發布這些新技術和新產品來為我們提供推動力。當然，當我們跨越每季 2 億美元的水平時，銷售驅動的成長將幫助我們。但我們確實需要這些新產品來為我們帶來額外的推動，以達到 37%、38%、39% 的毛利率。這絕對是我們的目標。這就是我認為我們在毛利率方面達到目標的方式。

Okay. Great. And then just back on just one last question just on the China opportunity. And Sunny, you mentioned, I know there's like the signature of 25,000 CT machines over, I think, was a 10-year period. And even you spoke of sort of expedited or taking a slice of that and the 40,000 machines -- or 4,000 machines. And that sounds like if we do the math on that number -- I mean, on that 10,000 machines, could be, if I recall, I think these tubes are like $40,000. Is that still sort of the average price of the tube? And is it still sort of you and Philips who are the only primary suppliers into China today?

好的。偉大的。然後回到最後一個關於中國機會的問題。 Sunny，你提到，我知道有 25,000 台 CT 機器的簽名，我想，這是 10 年的時間。甚至您也談到了加急或從 40,000 台機器或 4,000 台機器中分一杯羹。聽起來，如果我們對這個數字進行數學計算，我的意思是，如果我沒記錯的話，在那 10,000 台機器上，我認為這些管子的價格約為 40,000 美元。這還是管子的平均價格嗎？如今，您和飛利浦仍然是中國唯一的主要供應商嗎？

Yes. So let me start with the last part. Yes. So from an OEM -- sales to OEMs, we're a market leader, and it's us and largely Philips in terms of the global suppliers. In terms of the average price, it depends on the mix, so it's not as high as 40,000 because it's a mix of a variety of different from high-end CTs to the 16-slice CTs, so it's in a different, let's say, bracket, so to say, and I won't call out with average prices.

是的。讓我從最後一部分開始。是的。因此，從 OEM 到 OEM 的銷售，我們是市場領導者，就全球供應商而言，我們主要是飛利浦。就平均價格而言，它取決於組合，所以不會高到40,000，因為它是從高端CT到16排CT的多種不同的組合，所以它是不同的，比如說，可以這麼說，我不會喊出平均價格。

But the good news there is what you're referring to, which is the acceleration of the CT purchases, the number 10,000 has been thrown around by our customers as they are their plans -- as they're planning for what capacity expansions they need to put in place. And by the same token, they're asking us to be thinking about our capacity as well to be able to deliver. So they're expecting in the range of about 10,000 CTs over the next few years, which has clearly been acceleration. And so that's -- and by the way, the reason China is doing this is also the thought process here that we -- that I mentioned there in the earlier -- in the prepared remarks that we expect other governments would do something similar, which is the pandemic has shown where the chinks are in their armor. And the weaknesses in their health care delivery systems have been exposed through this pandemic. And for the Chinese government, particularly, they have expressed that they want to separate the main inpatient facilities from -- or I'm sorry, they want to make sure that the patients are diverted to alternate facilities, particularly for infectious diseases. So that's this notion of setting up -- I think they're calling it fever clinics. The fever clinics basically are facilities that are adjunct to the hospitals, part of the same campus or part of the same facility, but it's a separate location. And so they want to equip it. They've realized that if they bring in COVID patients into the middle of their hospital, they're endangering the broader hospital population and they're consuming the capacity of the broader hospital and hurting their ability to deliver health care to others, which results in all kinds of downstream mess and capacity issues and then ability to manage the pandemic. So this is actually a very progressive thinking here by a set of the fever clinics. And so they've also said that they would equip their emergency rooms with CT scanners for fast triaging.

但好消息就是你所指的，即 CT 採購的加速，我們的客戶已經拋出了 10,000 個數字，因為這是他們的計劃 - 因為他們正在規劃他們需要的產能擴展到位。基於同樣的原因，他們要求我們也考慮我們的交付能力。因此，他們預計未來幾年 CT 數量將達到約 10,000 個，這顯然是在加速成長。因此，順便說一句，中國這樣做的原因也是我們的思考過程——我在前面提到過——在準備好的發言中，我們預計其他政府也會做類似的事情，這場大流行病已經顯示了中國人的盔甲在哪裡。這次大流行暴露了他們醫療保健服務系統的弱點。特別是對於中國政府來說，他們表示希望將主要住院設施與——或者我很抱歉，他們希望確保患者被轉移到其他設施，特別是針對傳染病的設施。這就是建立的想法——我認為他們稱之為發燒診所。發熱診基本上是醫院的附屬設施，是同一校園的一部分或同一設施的一部分，但它是一個單獨的地點。所以他們想裝備它。他們意識到，如果將新冠肺炎患者帶入醫院，就會危及更廣泛的醫院人群，並且會消耗更廣泛醫院的能力，損害他們為他人提供醫療服務的能力，從而導致各種下游混亂和能力問題，以及管理大流行病的能力。所以這其實是發燒門診的一個非常進步的想法。因此他們也表示，他們將為急診室配備 CT 掃描儀，以進行快速分類。

Now play that forward. There are many countries that are in this situation. And the political elected officials in many countries are looking at this as a career-breaking situation. And no one wants this to happen on their watch again. So we believe that there will be a general push towards closing these gaps. And so this is going to be an ongoing thing, and it's a good thing for us, where we will see continued investments in health care delivery, care delivery. And once you do that, the first thing you need is medical equipment, particularly imaging. So we expect this to be a favorable trend for us.

現在向前打。有很多國家都處於這種情況。許多國家的政治民選官員都將這種情況視為職業生涯的終結。沒有人希望這種事在他們任內再次發生。因此，我們相信，將會普遍推動縮小這些差距。因此，這將是一個持續的事情，這對我們來說是一件好事，我們將看到對醫療保健服務和護理服務的持續投資。一旦你做到了這一點，你首先需要的是醫療設備，特別是成像設備。因此，我們預期這對我們來說是一個有利的趨勢。

Our next question is with Suraj Kalia with Oppenheimer & Company.

我們的下一個問題是奧本海默公司的蘇拉吉·卡利亞 (Suraj Kalia)。

Congrats on the quarter. Sunny, can you hear me, all right?

恭喜本季。桑尼，你聽得到我說話嗎？

Yes, we can hear you.

是的，我們能聽到你的聲音。

Okay. Perfect. So Sunny, let me start out with a very high-level question, and then I'll drill down into 2 specific and rather technical questions. Listening to your commentary, Sunny, you sound very confident about the outlook. I understand the initiatives that you and Sam are putting in place to drive Varex 2.0. And I think so the numbers are starting to show the results. Your comments about the end markets, they were somewhat mixed. Maybe I can phrase the question differently. What are your end customers seeing in terms of speeding up of the average sales cycle? Just trying to see if we can get some leading indicators from you guys in terms of what's happening in the end markets and trying to plan out from that scenario?

好的。完美的。 Sunny，讓我從一個非常高級的問題開始，然後我將深入探討兩個具體且相當技術性的問題。 Sunny，聽你的評論，聽起來你對前景非常有信心。我了解您和 Sam 為推動 Varex 2.0 所採取的舉措。我認為數字已經開始顯示結果。您對終端市場的評論有些複雜。也許我可以用不同的方式來表達這個問題。您的最終客戶對平均銷售週期的加速有何看法？只是想看看我們是否可以從你們那裡得到一些關於終端市場正在發生的事情的領先指標，並嘗試根據這種情況進行規劃？

So Suraj, first, confidence in the outlook. A lot of actions that we took last quarter and the quarter before that are helping our -- improve our financial performance, which is a lot of the cost-reduction actions that we took. The factory initiatives that we put in place to improve productivity efficiency. So part of my confidence in our financial performance and my optimism or comes from the fact that those actions have been completed. And many of the actions are already completed and both relate to Santa Clara and non-Santa Clara. So as we look for line of sight to the benefits from those, we've got clear visibility. So that's one confidence factor.

因此，蘇拉吉首先對前景充滿信心。我們上個季度和上個季度採取的許多行動正在幫助我們提高財務業績，這就是我們採取的許多降低成本的行動。我們為提高生產效率而採取的工廠措施。因此，我對我們的財務表現的信心和我的樂觀情緒部分來自於這些行動已經完成的事實。許多行動已經完成，並且都與聖克拉拉和非聖克拉拉有關。因此，當我們尋找這些好處的視線時，我們就擁有了清晰的可見性。所以這是一個信心因素。

So second, in terms of end markets, I would frame it as optimism, more so than super confidence. So when I see that -- when I see a recovery in our volumes in oncology, when I see recovery in volumes in broad-based modalities like fluoroscopy, that means people are going -- the hospitals are performing the general elective procedures and general surgeries, which had really come to a grinding halt previously. So that's a positive indicator that even though COVID is still rampant, and even though countries in Europe are in lockdown state, the health care delivery side is -- has not allowed itself to get frozen like it did 9 months ago. So that's -- that means for us when -- and as we look at our inbound orders and incoming orders and what we're seeing, that makes us believe that we're now starting to see a recovery. If you layer on top of the fact that no one seems to be -- lockdowns don't seem to be locking down hospitals and health care delivery, that's what gives us confidence that the recovery is moving in the right direction.

其次，就終端市場而言，我將其視為樂觀，而不是超級信心。因此，當我看到——當我看到我們的腫瘤學數量恢復時，當我看到像透視檢查這樣的廣泛模式的數量恢復時，這意味著人們正在去——醫院正在執行普通擇期手術和普通手術，之前確實已經戛然而止了。因此，這是一個積極的跡象，表明儘管新冠肺炎疫情仍然猖獗，儘管歐洲國家處於封鎖狀態，但醫療保健提供方面並沒有像 9 個月前那樣被凍結。因此，這對我們來說意味著當我們查看入庫訂單和傳入訂單以及我們所看到的情況時，這使我們相信我們現在開始看到復甦。如果你考慮到似乎沒有人這樣做的事實——封鎖似乎並沒有封鎖醫院和醫療保健服務，這讓我們相信復甦正在朝著正確的方向發展。

Now where our end -- where some markets haven't quite recovered the way we would like to see them happen has been -- like I said, in mammography and dental, those are -- those vary by geography. So when I think hard to pinpoint, which and when. But at the same time, if you take that general inpatient trend, the inpatient trend has been very good, and I like that. That fluoroscopy and other surgery and other procedures are coming back. I haven't exactly seen that in the outpatient space yet. So mammography and dental are predominantly in the outpatient space. There, we're seeing increase in replacement volumes. That means, yes, procedures are being performed. But the larger increases in volumes will come when people start placing orders for new capital equipment. But once the procedure volumes come back, once hospitals -- I mean, these clinics start performing these procedures, then as the utilization goes up, then the replacement cycle starts move forward. So we're optimistic that if as long as patients keep going to these clinics, then the replacement of older systems and addition of new systems to handle the capacities, those will start to come back.

現在，我們的結局——一些市場尚未完全恢復到我們希望看到的情況——就像我說的，在乳房X光檢查和牙科領域——這些都因地理位置而異。所以當我很難確定是哪一個、什麼時候。但同時，如果你考慮整體住院趨勢，住院趨勢一直非常好，我喜歡這一點。透視檢查和其他手術和其他程序正在回歸。我還沒有在門診看到這種情況。因此，乳房X光檢查和牙科檢查主要在門診進行。在那裡，我們看到更換量增加。這意味著，是的，正在執行程式。但當人們開始訂購新的資本設備時，銷售量就會大幅增加。但是，一旦手術量恢復，一旦醫院——我的意思是，這些診所開始執行這些手術，隨著利用率的上升，更換週期就開始向前推進。因此，我們樂觀地認為，只要患者繼續去這些診所，然後更換舊系統並添加新系統來處理容量，這些就會開始恢復。

So while we can't pinpoint time line, these are all positive trends, okay? So -- and layer on that, the fact that even though vaccine distribution hasn't picked up the pace yet, there's a general optimism in the market that there's going to be a flood of vaccines in the near future because there's so many different manufacturers that have now -- that are in the throes of introducing their vaccines. So all this is contributing towards a sense of end market optimism here that we're sharing.

因此，雖然我們無法確定時間線，但這些都是正面的趨勢，好嗎？因此，事實上，儘管疫苗分發尚未加快步伐，但市場普遍樂觀地認為，在不久的將來將會出現大量疫苗，因為有太多不同的製造商現在正在努力推出疫苗。因此，所有這些都有助於我們分享終端市場的樂觀情緒。

Now our customers, they have given us anecdotal guidance that their sales activity is picking up, but there hasn't been very specific guidance on when exactly some of these -- some of the orders backlog that they have captured, with what velocity they'll start shipping those. Except for CT -- and CT, people want it now. They want it yesterday. And so there's been a high sense of urgency around CT. But other modalities, they're picking up orders, they're booking orders, we like that. And that means sooner or later, the shipments will come. So that's -- look, all of this creates a positive atmosphere, which perhaps you're sensing from us.

現在，我們的客戶向我們提供了他們的銷售活動正在回升的軼事指導，但還沒有非常具體的指導來說明其中的一些——他們捕獲的一些訂單積壓，以及他們的速度」將開始運送那些。除了CT——還有CT，人們現在想要它。他們昨天就想要了。因此，CT 具有高度的緊迫感。但其他方式，他們正在接受訂單，他們正在預訂訂單，我們喜歡這樣。這意味著貨物遲早會來。所以，看，所有這一切都創造了一種積極的氛圍，也許你已經從我們身上感受到了。

Got it. Sunny, this might be getting down into the weeds, and I'd be more than happy to take it offline. So you mentioned about your photon counting detector for CT applications. I can't help but think when you launch it eventually with a partner, is the emphasis going to be purely on any or at least initial image quality? Or are there going to be some clinical attributes that would also be in the mix, i.e., dose reduction that potentially could be -- or do you all think that would be the next phase with marrying up with your cold cathode technology?

知道了。陽光明媚，這可能會陷入困境，我非常樂意將其離線。您提到了用於 CT 應用的光子計數偵測器。我忍不住想，當你最終與合作夥伴一起推出它時，重點是否純粹是在任何或至少是初始圖像品質上？或者是否還會有一些臨床屬性，即可能會減少劑量，或者你們都認為這將是與冷陰極技術結合的下一階段？

Okay. So let me just comment in general about photon counting and what it's capable of. And then Suraj, you ask to your question about how they'll manifest themselves in the field. Luckily, a lot will depend a lot on how our customers choose to implement it. So photon counting as a technology, its main benefit -- there's 2 huge benefits from photon counting. Number one, since it counts x-ray photons versus measuring something that's a proxy for, let's say, amount of equivalent to what would be a waveform as an amplitude. Instead of measuring the value of that, we're just counting. This is like AM to FM. AM is used to measure the amplitude. It was susceptible to noise. So photon counting detector because it does not measure anything that's an intensity, it is not subject to noise. So there's no -- so if you take a signal-to-noise ratio, which is the number one thing that impacts your quality of your image, if the noise, which is in the denominator is 0. So you get theoretically, very, very high signal-to-noise ratio. So conversion efficiency of a photon counting detector is very, very high. And what that means is you get very good image quality with very low dose. That means these detectors are exceptionally sensitive. That's number one. Exceptionally sensitive detectors that -- and every photon of x-ray is used in the imaging process versus traditional detectors, a lot of that is lost and it cause noise, et cetera. So dose reduction, sensitivity, number one.

好的。因此，讓我對光子計數及其功能進行一般性評論。然後蘇拉吉（Suraj），你問了關於他們將如何在現場表現自己的問題。幸運的是，這在很大程度上取決於我們的客戶選擇如何實施它。因此，光子計數作為一項技術，它的主要好處是－光子計數有兩個巨大的好處。第一，因為它計算的是 X 射線光子，而不是測量相當於波形幅度的代理量。我們只是在計算，而不是衡量它的價值。這就像 AM 到 FM 一樣。 AM 用於測量幅度。它很容易受到噪音的影響。因此，光子計數探測器由於不測量任何強度，因此不會受到雜訊的影響。所以，如果你採用信噪比，這是影響影像品質的第一因素，如果分母中的雜訊為 0。所以從理論上講，你會得到，非常高的信噪比。所以光子計數偵測器的轉換效率非常非常高。這意味著您可以以非常低的劑量獲得非常好的影像品質。這意味著這些探測器異常靈敏。這是第一名。與傳統探測器相比，異常靈敏的探測器以及 X 射線的每個光子都用於成像過程，其中許多光子都會丟失，並產生雜訊等。因此，減少劑量、提高敏感度是第一位的。

Number two, and this is where some of the applications creativity will come in with -- from our customer side, which is photon counting detectors are able to -- while we're capturing and counting the photons, we put them in different buckets of energy levels. So that means you get -- you can just differentiate very, very precisely, all kinds of, I mean, a very precise material discrimination. Now what that means is you get -- you've heard people want dual energy. They want spectral imaging. What it all comes down to is, can you -- how well can you image soft tissue? So photon counting detectors because their inherent ability to the energy discrimination and the way we build our photon counting detector and it's the software algorithms, we can do very, very precise energy discrimination, which then -- like you take these as the foundational capabilities, what we expect is that our customers will apply these to their new development and come up with new applications, new clinical algorithms and it -- really we'll have to watch and see how they position them in terms of their effectiveness. So I can't quite answer that part of the question yet, but we know that the capabilities bring enormous potential opportunities to the table for our new applications.

第二，這是一些應用程式創造力的體現——從我們的客戶角度來看，光子計數探測器能夠——當我們捕獲和計數光子時，我們將它們放入不同的桶中能量水平。所以這意味著你可以非常非常精確地區分各種，我的意思是，非常精確的物質歧視。現在這意味著你知道——你聽說人們想要雙重能源。他們想要光譜成像。歸根究底是，您對軟組織的成像效果如何？因此，光子計數探測器由於其固有的能量辨別能力以及我們構建光子計數探測器的方式以及軟體演算法，我們可以進行非常非常精確的能量辨別，然後 - 就像你將這些作為基本能力一樣，我們期望的是，我們的客戶將這些應用到他們的新開發中，並提出新的應用程式、新的臨床演算法等等——實際上，我們必須觀察並了解他們如何根據其有效性來定位它們。所以我還不能完全回答問題的這一部分，但我們知道這些功能為我們的新應用程式帶來了巨大的潛在機會。

Fair enough. And Sunny, last one, and I'll hop in queue. You guys have been public for a relatively shorter period of time. And we look at product life cycles, right? Intuitive Surgical, they launched the da Vinci Xi in 2014, now 70% have been replaced. We can clearly map one is to one, okay? This is what happened and the net effect of it. When we start talking about you guys are working on some pretty interesting innovations that you all are still relatively tight lipped about, whether it's photon, cold cathode, so on and so forth. How should we start thinking about -- can you give us an example of -- in the past, under Varian, this was a life cycle, so that we can sort of extrapolate and say, okay, this is the time where we should start looking at the next step up, just in terms of the churn and new technology coming in?

很公平。桑尼，最後一位，我會插隊。你們公開的時間相對較短。我們會關注產品生命週期，對吧？ Intuitive Surgical，他們在2014年推出了da Vinci Xi，現在70%已經被更換。我們可以清楚地將一映射到一，好嗎？這就是所發生的事情及其最終影響。當我們開始談論你們正在研究一些非常有趣的創新時，你們仍然對這些創新守口如瓶，無論是光子、冷陰極等等。我們應該如何開始思考——你能給我們舉個例子嗎——過去，在瓦里安的領導下，這是一個生命週期，這樣我們就可以推斷並說，好吧，這是我們應該開始的時間僅僅從客戶流失和新科技的出現來看下一步的發展？

Yes. Hey, look, Suraj, that last question was a very good question, but a very difficult question. And so let me frame it for you. When we have an existing platform in the market. So let's say, a more of a silicon detector. Actually, let me even back up further. Let's say, when there were -- film was being used and CR was being used for detectors. And we wanted to bring analog -- I mean, we want to move to digital and introduce digital detectors. It takes -- for a new platform, it takes a very long time. It takes 5 to 7 years of active development work and then your OEMs get into it. And by the time, they bring something to market, it can be closer to 7 years or more to actually start seeing the results of that technology investments start to pay back with revenues.

是的。嘿，聽著，Suraj，最後一個問題是一個非常好的問題，但卻是一個非常困難的問題。讓我為您設計它。當我們在市場上擁有現有平台時。可以說，更像是矽探測器。事實上，讓我進一步備份。比方說，當時使用的是膠片，而 CR 則用於探測器。我們想要引入模擬——我的意思是，我們想要轉向數位並引入數位探測器。對於一個新平台來說，這需要很長時間。需要 5 到 7 年的積極開發工作，然後您的 OEM 才會介入。當他們將某些產品推向市場時，可能需要接近 7 年或更長時間才能真正開始看到技術投資的結果開始透過收入得到回報。

But then after that, you get this very long stream of revenues because in health care, 2 things. Adoption cycles can be slow, but there's also a very large installed base. So when you're talking about digital detectors, you're talking about 2 things. You're talking about introduction into the new systems, and then there's a massive installed base of 0.5 million or more x-ray-based systems that are out there that eventually will get converted. So you get this tail that's very, very long. So a new platform takes very long for it to bring to market. It also takes -- the adoption rate is slower. But there's generally a tipping point. And the tipping point, even though digital detectors were introduced 20 years ago, the tipping point came with reimbursement and it accelerated adoption of radiographic detectors into the market. And so volumes have picked up, right? Long-winded answer.

但在那之後，你會獲得很長的收入來源，因為在醫療保健領域，有兩件事。採用週期可能很慢，但安裝基礎也非常大。因此，當您談論數位探測器時，您談論的是兩件事。您談論的是引入新系統，然後有 50 萬個或更多基於 X 射線的系統的龐大安裝基礎，這些系統最終將被轉換。所以你會得到這條非常非常長的尾巴。因此，一個新平台需要很長時間才能推向市場。它還需要——採用率較慢。但一般都會有一個轉折點。轉捩點是，儘管數位探測器在 20 年前就已推出，但轉折點伴隨著報銷而來，並加速了射線照相探測器在市場上的採用。所以銷量有增加，對嗎？長篇大論的回答。

But when we have an existing product -- now that we have detectors in the market, for us to bring new detector models and new detector products, those are relatively fast. So from that perspective, we expect that our Z Platform, even though it's a new platform, it's not the same as going from film to digital detectors. That cycle we expect to be faster. It's taken us about 3 years to bring digital detector -- sorry, Z Platform to market, and now our customers are catching the front end of their new product introduction cycles. So now we're in our customers' development cycles for introducing the products, which is somewhere between 1.5 to 3 years. So we will start to see revenues from these as customers start ordering engineering, supplies, et cetera. And we'll see soon -- even though we call it the new platform, it is actually on -- it's a digital detector. So we'll see faster adoption than, let's say, the first digital detectors.

但是當我們有了現有的產品時——現在我們在市場上有了探測器，對於我們來說推出新的探測器型號和新的探測器產品，這些是相對較快的。因此，從這個角度來看，我們期望我們的 Z 平台，儘管它是一個新平台，但它與從膠片探測器到數位探測器不同。我們預計這個週期會更快。我們花了大約 3 年的時間將數位探測器（抱歉，Z 平台）推向市場，現在我們的客戶正處於新產品推出週期的前端。因此，現在我們正處於客戶推出產品的開發週期中，大約在 1.5 到 3 年之間。因此，隨著客戶開始訂購工程、供應品等，我們將開始看到這些的收入。我們很快就會看到——儘管我們稱之為新平台，但它實際上已經上線——它是一個數位探測器。因此，我們將看到比第一個數位探測器更快的採用速度。

Now fast forward to photon counting. Photon counting is a very drastically different type of a detector and a different type of an application. So it takes longer. What we have seen now is that over the last few years, particularly driven by the fact that we have gotten over some of the technical hurdles, the interest in it is expanding. We still expect that it's a new platform. So our customers will have to do a lot of work with software and their applications to bring this to market. And we will see that option, but it will take some time. It will take some time on our customer side. We are now ready -- we're getting very close to being ready for it. Now we're in our customer cycles.

現在快轉到光子計數。光子計數是一種截然不同類型的偵測器和不同類型的應用。所以需要更長的時間。我們現在看到的是，在過去的幾年裡，特別是在我們克服了一些技術障礙的推動下，人們對它的興趣正在擴大。我們仍然期望它是一個新平台。因此，我們的客戶必須對軟體及其應用程式進行大量工作才能將其推向市場。我們會看到這個選項，但這需要一些時間。我們的客戶需要一些時間。我們現在已經準備好了——我們已經非常接近做好準備了。現在我們正處於客戶週期中。

Then you take nanotubes, it's farther behind than photon counting detectors in terms of the market understanding these technologies. There, I think the adoption cycle will be similar to what you bring digital technology to market versus analog. It's a whole different platform. So I don't have a clean answer for you other than these are long product cycles. We're just going through them, and it will take some time for the market adoption. We will be there faster than the market as always happens. But once it changes, then a sea change occurs and we get the front seat in that race, and we're looking forward to that.

然後你就拿奈米管來說，就市場對這些技術的理解而言，它比光子計數探測器落後得多。在那裡，我認為採用週期將類似於數位技術與類比技術推向市場的周期。這是一個完全不同的平台。所以除了產品週期長之外，我沒有明確的答案給你。我們正在研究它們，市場採用還需要一些時間。我們將一如既往地比市場更快到達那裡。但一旦情況發生變化，就會發生翻天覆地的變化，我們會在那場比賽中佔據領先地位，我們對此充滿期待。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is from Jim Sidoti with Sidoti & Company.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Sidoti & Company 的 Jim Sidoti。

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes, we can Jim.

是的，我們可以，吉姆。

Great. Great. I think you've done a really good job tonight laying out where you think the business is and then how it's going. So the one question I have was, it's been about a month now since we've -- we changed administrations, have you seen any impact from that? And do you expect any impact from that at this point with regard to tax rate, tariffs, all those issues?

偉大的。偉大的。我認為你今晚做得非常好，列出了你對業務的看法以及它的進展。所以我的一個問題是，自從我們更換政府以來已經大約一個月了，你看到了任何影響嗎？您預計目前這會對稅率、關稅以及所有這些問題產生什麼影響嗎？

It's a -- Jim, great question, tough question, but yes, let met hand back to Sam.

這是一個——吉姆，很好的問題，很棘手的問題，但是，是的，讓我們把會議交給山姆。

Yes. So Jim, so far, we've not seen any change. And we'll be closely monitoring anything that comes out. So that's where we are. I think we are in a monitoring mode as best as I can say at this time. But we -- our -- from a tariffs -- so that's on the tax side. On the tariffs perspective, we've been working on our local-for-local manufacturing strategy. So we have plant in Wuxi, China. And we also have factory in Europe. And of course, here in Salt Lake City. So we've been moving slowly and surely towards the situation where we are somewhat buffeted from some of these actions, whether they happen or not. So we feel good about it. But again, even on that side, we are on a monitoring basis at this time.

是的。吉姆，到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何變化。我們將密切注意任何出現的情況。這就是我們現在的情況。我認為目前我們正處於最佳的監控模式。但我們——我們的——來自關稅——所以這是在稅收方面。從關稅角度來看，我們一直在製定本地製造策略。所以我們在中國無錫有工廠。我們在歐洲也有工廠。當然，是在鹽湖城。因此，我們一直在緩慢而堅定地走向這樣的境地：無論這些行為是否發生，我們都會受到一些影響。所以我們對此感覺良好。但同樣，即使在這一方面，我們目前也在監控的基礎上。

Okay. Got it. Really, that's it from me. I mean, it's all I had. And I think it's what we're trying to commit is that it's really -- it's not a matter of -- if it's a matter of when, at some point, these businesses will come back. And some of the measures you've put in place to get through this week period are starting to pay off and if they should pay off even more once the business returns?

好的。知道了。真的，這就是我說的。我的意思是，這就是我所擁有的一切。我認為我們正在努力承諾的是，這不是問題，而是這些業務何時、在某個時候會回來的問題。您為度過本周而採取的一些措施已開始產生成效，一旦業務恢復，它們是否應該獲得更多回報？

That's correct.

這是正確的。

Yes. That's correct. Jim. The only thing I would add for you there is that prior 2 quarters, we said that the business has stabilized, and now we are saying that business is recovering. And as you look at, at the midpoint of our guidance, it clearly indicates that business is recovering, and that is what we are seeing in the order pattern and then the flow, et cetera, at the leading edge in the company here. So we feel good about recovery that, that it will happen. Definitely, that will be proceeding in that direction.

是的。這是正確的。吉姆.我唯一要為您補充的是，前兩個季度，我們說業務已經穩定，現在我們說業務正在復甦。正如您所看到的，在我們指導的中點，它清楚地表明業務正在復蘇，這就是我們在訂單模式和流程等中看到的公司領先優勢。因此，我們對恢復感到滿意，這將會發生。毫無疑問，這將朝著這個方向發展。

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of our question-and-answer session, and I would like to turn the call back over to Howard Goldman for closing remarks.

女士們先生們，我們的問答環節已經結束，我想將電話轉回給霍華德·戈德曼（Howard Goldman）做總結發言。

Thank you for your questions and participating in our earnings conference call for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021. The webcast and supplemental slide presentation will be archived on our website. A replay of this quarterly conference call will be available through February 18 and can be accessed at the company's website or by calling (877) 660-6853 or by dialing (201) 612-7415. The replay conference call access code is 13715201. Goodbye.

感謝您提出問題並參加我們的 2021 財年第一季財報電話會議。網路廣播和補充投影片簡報將存檔在我們的網站上。本季度電話會議的重播將持續到 2 月 18 日，您可以透過公司網站、致電 (877) 660-6853 或 (201) 612-7415 進行觀看。重播電話會議接入碼是13715201。再見。

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

今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。