Comtech Telecommunications Corp /De/ Q2 FY2026 Earnings Call

Welcome to Comtech Telecommunications Corp.'s Conference Call for the Second Quarter of Fiscal 2026. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Maria Ceriello, Senior Director of FP&A of Comtech. Please go ahead, Maria.

Thank you, operator, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. I'm here with Ken Traub, Comtech's Chairman, President and CEO; and Mike Bondi, our CFO. After Ken and Mike's remarks, they will be available for questions together with Daniel Gizinski, President of our Satellite and Space Communications segment; and Jeff Robertson, President of our Allerium segment. Before we get started, please note we have a detailed discussion of the quarter in the press release and 10-Q we issued this afternoon, which are available on our website as well as the SEC's website. Certain information presented in this call will include, but not be limited to, information relating to the future performance and financial condition of the company, the company's plans, objectives and business outlook and the plans, objectives and business outlook of the company's management. The company's assumptions regarding such performance, business outlook and plans are forward-looking in nature and always involve significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from such forward-looking information. Any forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by cautionary statements contained in the company's SEC filings. With that, I will turn it over to Ken. Ken?

Thank you, Maria, and good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate you joining us today. I'm going to discuss some key trends, and Mike will discuss our financials in more detail. Comtech continued on its positive trajectory of improvement as we delivered our fourth consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow and ended the quarter with approximately $50 million of total liquidity. With net bookings of $175 million in the quarter, we've achieved a book-to-bill ratio of 1.64x, increased our backlog to $732 million and maintained our revenue visibility at approximately $1.1 billion. As previously disclosed, we've streamlined our product lines and are more selective in the customer orders we accept. As a result of these deliberate decisions, as well as the temporary impact of the U.S. government shutdown, consolidated net sales decreased from $127 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2025 to $107 million this past quarter. But importantly, we increased gross profit from $34 million to $36 million, increased our gross profit percentage from 27% to 34% and increased adjusted EBITDA from $2.9 million to $9.1 million. These improvements are due to the initiatives we have implemented to enhance operational efficiency, reduce the cost structure and focus our product development and sales efforts on strategic higher operating margin products. As a result of our improved performance and stronger financial position, we continue to see increased support and enthusiasm from both current and prospective customers, vendors and employees. Now I will provide some commentary on our business units. Our Satellite and Space Communications business continues to improve as a result of our transformation initiatives under Daniel Gizinski's leadership. As anticipated, net sales in the Satellite and Space segment declined by 31% as a result of the company's decision to phase out and eliminate certain low-margin and working capital-intensive revenues as well as the impact of the recent U.S. government shutdown. Examples of revenues that have been phased out include contracts for services such as the Very Small Aperture Terminal, or VSAT satellite Systems and Services contract and the Global Field Services Representative, or GFSR contract as well as legacy troposcatter-related products and services. As part of this repositioning, S&S is pursuing sales of innovative, higher-margin solutions such as digital common ground modems, network solutions and rapidly deployable multipath radios, which we refer to as MPRs. Despite the decrease in net sales, S&S improved its operating income to $2.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to $1.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. The year-over-year improvement in Satellite and Space operating income primarily reflects the cost reduction and optimization initiatives we have implemented, partially offset by increased research and development expenditures. In terms of recent accomplishments, in the second quarter, among other key wins, Satellite and Space was awarded over $5.5 million of funded orders from several international government end customers who purchased our troposcatter family of systems, including our multipath radios and Modular Transportable Transmission Systems, which we refer to as MTTS. Satellite and Space also received incremental funding in excess of $4.5 million for ongoing training and support of complex cybersecurity operations for U.S. government customers. We have begun deliveries of initial production units to our prime contractor in support of a next-generation satellite modem contract. We anticipate transitioning into full production during fiscal 2026. A second next-generation product with the same prime contractor has significantly progressed in development, and it, too, is expected to begin production deliveries in this fiscal 2026. Furthermore, we have recently begun deliveries of our first digital common ground 7000 high-speed, small form factor, software-defined modems to Lite Coms for integration, interoperability and performance testing across diverse government and commercial satellite communications applications and ground terminal configurations. DCG-7000 modems support DVB-S2X, along with other protected waveforms, and incorporate modern cybersecurity design principles, including integrated transmission security, also known as TRANSEC for over-the-air transmission. These are important milestones as they signify the long-awaited migration from low-margin, nonrecurring engineering efforts to higher volume production with improved operating margins and faster cash conversion cycles. Now I'll provide some commentary on our Allerium segment. Allerium, led by Jeff Robertson, continues to perform well. Net sales were $56.2 million, an increase of 6.2% compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Compared to the prior year period, Allerium experienced higher net sales in all three product areas: location-based next-generation 911 and call handling solutions. Such increase reflects the continued adoption of Allerium solutions by new customers as well as the migration of more PSAPs onto Allerium's Next-Generation 911 core services, cloud-based platforms and monthly recurring revenue streams. Allerium's operating income was $5.5 million compared to $3.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal '25. The year-over-year increase reflects higher net sales and gross profit, both in dollars and as a percentage of segment net sales. Allerium is also moving forward with cloud-based and AI-infused software applications designed to deliver advanced emergency communication platforms to its customers. In the second quarter, Allerium received over $107 million of incremental funding toward a multiyear contract extension valued in excess of $130 million by Allerium's largest customer, a leading U.S. telecommunications company in the United States. Allerium was also awarded in excess of $10.5 million in multiyear funding towards the deployment of a new next-generation 911 system in the South Central region of the United States. With these and other key strategic wins in the U.S., Canada and Australia, we believe Allerium's position as a trusted leader in 911, Next-Generation 911 and public safety applications translates well to delivering similarly sophisticated solutions for other types of emergencies. Before turning it over to Mike to cover the financials in more detail, I would first like to address one more development of significance during the quarter. As previously disclosed, in March 2024, Comtech terminated Ken Peterman, its President and CEO at the time, for Cause. Also as previously disclosed, Mr. Peterman filed a claim against the company with the American Arbitration Association, claiming he was owed direct contractual damages in excess of $6 million and consequential damages in excess of $35 million. Comtech has defended itself against Mr. Peterman's claims and filed counterclaims against Mr. Peterman seeking damages for breach of fiduciary duty, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, breach of contract and defamation. In January of this year, Mr. Peterman's Counsel wrote to the American Arbitration Association with two motions. First, he voluntarily asked to withdraw Mr. Peterman's claims against Comtech; and second, they sought dismissal of Comtech's counterclaims against Mr. Peterman. In January 2026, the arbitrator granted Mr. Peterman's motion to withdraw all of his claims against Comtech in the arbitration, but rejected Mr. Peterman's motion for dismissal of Comtech's counterclaims. Accordingly, Comtech's counterclaims are still pending against Mr. Peterman. Finally, I would like to thank our shareholders for their strong support, including the approval of all of the company's proposals at the fiscal 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on March 9. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike to walk through the financials.

Thank you, Ken, and good afternoon, everyone. Overall, the successful turnaround continues to take root. We are pleased to be delivering another quarter of improved profitability and operating cash flows relative to our recent past. Now let's turn to the financials. Net sales for the second quarter were $106.8 million. This compares to $126.6 million in the second quarter of last year. As Ken just referenced, net sales reflect the impact of the decision to phase out certain low or no-margin revenues in our Satellite and Space Communications segment as we continue to streamline our product lines and focus on strategic, higher-margin opportunities while optimizing cash flow. Timing delays as a result of the recent but prolonged U.S. government shutdown also impacted S&S orders and net sales this past quarter. As for Allerium, Allerium's growth continued this past quarter with Allerium reporting higher net sales in all three product areas as compared to the prior year period. Gross profit in the second quarter was $36.2 million or 33.9% of net sales, representing an increase from $33.7 million or 26.7% of net sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. This improvement demonstrates the progress we are making in improving our product mix, including our ongoing shift back to higher volume production orders in our satellite ground infrastructure solutions product line. The improvement in our quarterly gross profit percentage builds upon the improving quarterly trend achieved throughout all of fiscal '25 and the first quarter of fiscal '26. In our second quarter of fiscal 2026, we reported an operating loss of $1.2 million, which compares to an operating loss of over $10 million in the second quarter of last year. Our second quarters for each year reflect several noncash and one-time charges as further discussed in our Form 10-Q filed earlier today. Excluding such items, our consolidated operating income for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 would have been $6.2 million or 5.8% of net sales as compared to roughly breakeven in the second quarter of last year. The improvement primarily reflects higher gross profit, both in dollars and as a percentage of consolidated net sales and lower selling, general and administrative expenses, including lower restructuring costs, no proxy solicitation costs and lower amortization of stock-based compensation, offset in part by higher CEO transition costs that included a net benefit from the recovery of certain legal-related expenses in the prior year period. The improvement in our financial performance resulted in $9.1 million of adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter, a 200% increase over the $2.9 million in the second quarter of last year. As Ken mentioned, net bookings were $175.4 million in the second quarter, resulting in a strong book-to-bill ratio of 1.64x. This compares to 0.63x in the prior year comparable period. Bookings for our second quarter included over $107 million of incremental funding towards Allerium's multiyear contract extension with a large domestic Tier 1 mobile network operator. The improvements in our financial performance also resulted in $4.9 million of positive operating cash flows for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to roughly breakeven cash flows in the second quarter of last year. As Ken mentioned, this marks our fourth sequential quarter of positive operating cash inflows. The significant improvement from a year ago reflects favorable changes in net working capital requirements due primarily to improved accountability and process disciplines as well as the timing of and progress toward completion on contracts accounted for over time, including related shipments, billings and collections against those contracts. These activities allowed us to further reduce receivables and inventory levels from July 31, 2025. Also, as a result of our enhanced liquidity, operating cash flows in the more recent period reflect our concerted efforts to maintain lower levels of accounts payable in order to improve the efficiency of our supply chains. Now turning to the balance sheet. As previously disclosed, we amended our credit facility and subordinated credit facility on October 17, 2024, March 3, 2025, and again on July 21, 2025, to, among other things, suspend testing of the net leverage ratio and fixed charge coverage ratio covenants until the four-quarter period ending on January 31, 2027. These amendments, combined with our significantly improved operational and financial performance led to our enhanced financial flexibility and importantly, removal of our going concern disclosures in our fiscal 2025 Form 10-K filed in November of 2025. As of January 31, 2026, total outstanding borrowings under our credit facility were just about $125 million. Of such amount, $7.6 million was drawn on the revolver loan. And during the second quarter, we repaid $10 million against the revolver loan and made our scheduled principal payment against the term loan. Total outstanding borrowings under our subordinated credit facility were $102.8 million, including interest paid in kind or accrued on the $35 million subordinated priority term loan. Such total does not include the $32.5 million of make-whole amounts associated with the $65 million portion of the subordinated credit facility. The liquidation preference of our convertible preferred stock was $213.4 million, excluding potential increases under certain circumstances. And our available sources of liquidity on January 31, 2026, totaled $49.9 million, which includes qualified cash and cash equivalents of approximately $30.2 million and the remaining available portion of the revolver loan of $19.6 million. Now with that, let me please turn the call back over to Ken.

Thank you, Mike. To sum up briefly, Comtech has executed a successful transformation and is now a much stronger company. Our revitalized financial health is increasingly reassuring to our current and prospective employees, customers and vendors. I believe this creates a positive flywheel effect as our recent strengthening of our financial position is reassuring to employees, which aids in retention, recruitment and motivation, reassuring to customers, particularly those that rely on us for mission-critical technologies and services, and reassuring for vendors who now see us as a reliable partner ready to deepen critical relationships. As a reminder, Jeff and Daniel will be joining us for Q&A. With that, operator, please open the call to any questions.

We'll take a question from Keith Housum with Northcoast Research.

Ken, as we look at the revenue in the quarter, how much of that revenue decline was due to the fiscal discipline you guys are showing versus prior quarters? And perhaps how much was from the federal business? And is that federal business that kind of lost or pushed out to later quarters?

So first of all, Keith, welcome. Nice to have you. And if you compare this year to last year, pretty much all of the decline in satellite and space is the result of phasing out old legacy business that was very low margin and not good business to have. That's the GFSR, the VSAT contract and the legacy troposcatter. In addition, we did have delays due to the government shutdown. That was offset by new revenue, particularly in the launch of the next-generation troposcatter products as well as the digital ground modem.

Great. As we look forward, is there any more of that low-margin business that still has to be worked off just because of prior commitments or anything of that nature?

No. We phased that revenue out.

Okay. Great. And then this is kind of new to the story here. Just trying to understand the two modems that are hopefully going to reach production sometime here in the second half of the year. Is there any way to kind of dimensionalize the opportunity just as kind of we think about the opportunity for the end of the year and perhaps outwards as well?

Keith, can you repeat the question?

Yes. Regarding the two contracts that we hope will go into production in the second half of the year, I'm trying to understand if you can elaborate on the true opportunity for Comtech. How should we consider this in terms of revenue or the number of units? I'm looking for more clarity on what the potential opportunity might be.

Sure, Keith. With regard to the two contracts, there are multiple modems coming online. One is already in low-rate production, and we anticipate it will ramp up in the second half of the year. We believe this platform will be viable for many years. The other program, known as the EDIM program, is nearing the end of development and we are preparing for production towards the end of the fiscal year. This is also a long-term program and serves as the successor to the EBEM modem sold by Viasat, which had a duration of about 10 years. During that time, tens of thousands of modems were sold. So, when considering the installed base, we expect to upgrade a significant number of those systems, although not necessarily all of them.

Great. Okay. I appreciate that. And if I can get one more in here, if you guys don't mind. Jeff, nice to meet you here over the phone. In terms of Allerium, I understand in the PSAP space, AI is being introduced quickly amongst yourself and competitors. Can you perhaps provide a little bit of color about how you guys are embracing AI with your product portfolio? I guess, this is the first part. And the second part, how far along are you guys in the transition to the cloud for your customers? Or are you guys already there?

Yes. Thank you, Keith, for the great questions. Regarding AI and PSAPs, which include the 911 and dispatch centers, the main application is in handling the overwhelming amount of information during emergency requests. We are using AI to gather diverse data sources and create a clear picture for emergency responses, enabling the proper dispatch of personnel and first responders to the right locations. This is where we see significant AI utilization. Additionally, we are implementing AI in other aspects of our operations for productivity improvements, such as in development, coding, and administrative tasks. I believe your question focused on the product side, where we are particularly focused on information gathering during emergencies. Concerning cloud transition, I would estimate that we are about three quarters of the way there. Last year, we introduced our new cloud-based 911 call handling platform called Mira, which has received positive market feedback. We are also transitioning many of our NextGen 911 core services to a private cloud infrastructure, and overall, I would say we are approximately 75% through this transition.

At this time, there are no further questions in queue. I will now turn the meeting back to Ken for any additional or closing remarks.

Well, thank you all for joining us today, and we look forward to speaking with you again soon. Thank you all. Have a good evening.

Take care.

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.