Earnings Call Transcript - VIAV Q4 2021

Operator, Operator

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Viavi Solutions’ Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year End 2021 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Thank you. I would now like to hand the conference over to Bill Ong, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Bill Ong, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Ashley. Welcome to Viavi Solutions’ fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021 earnings call. My name is Bill Ong, Head of Investor Relations. Joining me on today’s call are Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO; and Henk Derksen, CFO. Please note, this call will include forward-looking statements about the company’s financial performance. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations and estimations. We encourage you to view our most recent annual report and SEC filings, particularly the risk factors described in those filings. The forward-looking statements, including guidance we provide during this call, are valid only as of today. Viavi undertakes no obligation to update these statements. Please also note that unless we state otherwise, all results, except revenue, are non-GAAP. We reconcile these non-GAAP results to our preliminary GAAP financials and discuss the usefulness and limitations in today’s earnings release. The release plus our supplemental earnings slide which includes historical financial tables are available on Viavi’s website. Finally, we are recording today’s call and we’ll make the recording available by 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time this evening on our website. I would now like to turn the call over to Henk.

Henk Derksen, CFO

Thank you, Bill. Fiscal Q4 2021 reflects a strong quarter, with Viavi record revenue, non-GAAP profitability and operating cash flow for a given June quarter. Fourth quarter revenue came in at $310.9 million, which exceeded our guidance range of $290 million to $310 million. Revenues grew 16.6% from a year ago level and set an all-time Viavi Q4 record. Consistent with the prior quarter, the year-over-year performance continues to reflect robust recovery from last year’s pandemic impact, as well as continued strength in wireless and fiber, and solid demand for our anti-counterfeiting products. Viavi’s operating profit margin at 20.8% expanded 120 basis points year-over-year and 60 basis points sequentially, and exceeded the guidance range of 19.5% to 20.5%. EPS at $0.22 per share exceeded the high end of the $0.18 to $0.20 guidance range and increased $0.04 from the year ago period. In addition to strong operating performance, we benefited from a lower than anticipated tax rate of 17%. The share count of 241.9 million shares includes the dilutive impact of the convertible notes of 10 million shares. Now moving to our reported Q4 results by business segment, starting with NSE. NSE revenue at $236.5 million, increased 13.5% year-over-year, exceeding our guide range of $219 million to $235 million. Within NSE, NE revenue increased 17.6% from a year ago to an all-time record high of $212.7 million, reflecting strength for our fiber, wireless and cable products. SE revenue at $23.8 million, decreased 13.5% year-over-year and increased 17.2% sequentially, a result of the lag in recovery for our assurance and data center products. NSE gross profit margin at 63.4% decreased 120 basis points year-over-year. Within NSE, NE gross profit margin at 63.1% decreased 60 basis points from last year primarily due to unfavorable product mix. SE gross profit margin at 65.5%, decreased 500 basis points year-over-year due to lower revenue. NSE’s operating profit margin at 15.1% exceeded the high end of our guidance range of 13.5% to 14.5%, primarily as a result of operating leverage on higher revenue. Year-over-year operating profit margins decreased 180 basis points, mainly a result of lower gross profit margins. Sequentially operating profit margins improved by 520 basis points as a result of leverage on higher revenue. Now turning to OSP. Fourth quarter revenue at $74.4 million, up 27.8% year-over-year was at the high end of our guided range of $71 million to $75 million. The strength was driven by robust anti-counterfeiting demand, offset by a modest seasonal decline in our 3D sensing products. Gross profit margin at 57.5% increased 660 basis points year-over-year, driven by higher volume and favorable product mix. Operating profit margin of 38.8% was within a guided range of 38% to 40%, and increased 940 basis points from last year’s levels, as a result of the aforementioned higher gross profit margin. Now moving to our fiscal 2021 performance, while the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the start of fiscal 2021, Viavi experienced a sharp recovery beginning in late last calendar year with a strong finish to record revenue at $1.2 billion, up 5.5% from fiscal year 2020. OSP reached a record revenue of $361 million, up 25.8% year-over-year, while NSE at $837.9 million, saw a modest decline of 1.4% in revenue. Viavi’s full year 2021 gross profit margin at 62.7%, increased 70 basis points from a year ago level, reflecting leverage on volume resulting in improved gross profit margins within our OSP segment. Operating profit margin at 21.1% expanded 250 basis points, reflecting gross profit margin expansion combined with operating expense control. Operating profit at $253.5 million grew 20.2%, increasing $42.6 million year-over-year. EPS at $0.83 per share grew 13.7% or $0.10 from last year. Stronger volume in the Asia-Pacific region resulted in a shift in jurisdictional mix of income contributing to an increased tax rate of 19.4% in fiscal 2021, compared to 17.5% in fiscal 2020. The share count used includes the dilution of the convertible notes and as calculated both on a full year basis and on a quarterly basis. Hence, the resulting full year EPS of $0.83 is $0.01 lower than the summation of the individual quarters. Now, turning to the balance sheet. The ending balance of our total cash and short-term investments was $703.7 million, an increase of $25.6 million sequentially from the prior quarter and up $159.7 million compared to the prior fiscal year. Operating cash flow for the quarter was $63 million, a fourth quarter record and an increase of $35.8 million, compared to $27.2 million in the year ago period. We invested $25.4 million in capital expenditures during the quarter, compared to $8.3 million in the prior year. The increased CapEx reflects a new production facility in support of increased future demand build in Arizona. On a full year basis, we generated record operating cash flow of $243.7 million, up 79.7% and reflecting an increase of $108.1 million, compared to fiscal year 2020 at $135.6 million. On July 1, 2021, the 1% convertible notes due in 2024 with a face value of $460 million matched the 130% pricing trigger, resulting in the notes becoming convertible at the option of holders until September 30, 2021. As a result, we have reclassified the $414.2 million book value of the notes to short-term debt and reported the difference in the book value and the face value of $45.8 million as temporary equity on the face of the balance sheet. This change has no impact to reported interest expense, EPS or the diluted shares calculation. In addition, we are not aware at this time of any noteholders electing conversion. In Q4, we repurchased $10.9 million of Viavi stock at an average cost of $16.77 per share including commissions. In total, as of the end of the fourth quarter, we purchased $87.1 million of the $200 million authorized of the share buyback plan announced in September 2019 at an average price of $12.98 per share. We will continue to be opportunistic in our share repurchases and we continue to develop an intent to execute on our capital allocation and debt management strategy. Now on to our guidance, we expect fiscal first quarter 2022 revenue to be approximately $310 million plus or minus $7 million, operating profit margin is expected to be between 21.5% to 22.5% and earnings per share to be in the range of $0.20 to $0.22. We expect NSE revenue to be approximately $215 million plus or minus $5 million with operating profit margin at 12.5% plus or minus 50 basis points. OSP revenue is expected to be approximately $95 million plus or minus $2 million with operating profit margin at 43.5%, plus or minus 100 basis points. Our tax expense rate is expected to be approximately 20%. We expect our income and expenses to reflect a net expense of approximately $3.5 million. The estimated fully diluted share count used in our calculation is 244 million. This includes an increase of approximately 12 million shares to reflect the estimated dilutive impact from the 2023 and 2024 convertible notes. The share count without the convertible dilution is approximately 232 million shares.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Thank you, Henk. I am pleased with Viavi’s performance in our fiscal second half with both Q3 and Q4 achieving record revenue and profitability. The NE segment achieved new revenue highs benefiting from the continued service providers business recovery and upgrades to the fiber and wireless networks. The demand for 5G wireless equipment reached a record high with strength across all geographic regions. 5G field deployment remains on track for the balance of calendar 2021. The fiber revenues were driven by fiber to the home deployment, 400 gigabits network and data center upgrades and early 800 gigabits adoption. NSE bookings came in at record levels resulting in record backlog and providing us with greater near-term demand visibility. One challenge for our NE segment is the continued shortage of advanced semiconductor devices, dampening our ability to meet an otherwise very strong customer demand. These supply chain constraints have been factored into our fiscal Q1 guidance. Should these supply constraints resolve in the near term, we would expect to see some revenue upside in the NE business segment. The SE business segment continues to recover with revenue increasing 17.2% sequentially as we build the customer business funnel. We expect SE to continue to improve as enterprise customers reevaluate their IT project needs and 5G assurance opportunities start to materialize later in calendar 2022. Now turning to OSP. The OSP business segment delivered a record June quarter revenue and profitability led by strong demand for anti-counterfeiting products. Anti-counterfeiting demand continues to be driven by a combination of global fiscal stimulus, inventory replenishment and banknote redesigns. 3D sensing finished strong in fiscal year 2021, up 18% from last year’s levels driven by broader technology adoption and new applications. Despite strong pandemic-driven headwinds early in the fiscal year, we successfully recovered and managed the very strong finish hitting multiple financial performance records, including record non-GAAP EPS and cash flow from operations, record OSP fiscal year revenue, non-GAAP gross margins and operating profits all up double-digit percentages year-on-year, and the record NE revenue in Q4 driven by strong wireless and fiber demand. As we look ahead into fiscal year 2022, it is off to a strong start with improved NSE demand visibility driven by 5G wireless and new fiber deployment. We expect strong demand for our anti-counterfeiting products to continue, driven by global monetary policies and banknote redesigns. In 3D sensing, while we expect a relatively flat demand in fiscal year 2022, we continue to see it as a major growth driver longer term. Overall, we expect our principal growth drivers, 5G, fiber and 3D sensing to continue driving growth and profitability for Viavi in fiscal year 2022. In conclusion, I’d like to express my appreciation to the Viavi team for its continued strong execution in delivering another record quarter and record fiscal year. I wish all our employees, supply chain partners, customers and our shareholders to remain safe and healthy.

Bill Ong, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Oleg. This quarter we’ll be participating at the Jefferies 2021 Semiconductor, IT Hardware & Communications Infrastructure Investor Summit on August 31st. Ashley, let’s begin the question-and-answer session. We ask everyone to limit their question to one question and one follow-up.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Your first question comes from the line of Samik Chatterjee with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Samik Chatterjee, Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Oleg, I believe you previously mentioned that between fiber and 5G deployment, fiber is the more immediate opportunity, and that you have clearer visibility there compared to 5G, which may come later. Could you share your updated thoughts on this? Is your perspective still the same? You mentioned increased visibility regarding what is driving that, so a bit more detail would be helpful, and I have a follow-up. Thank you.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Fiber remains the primary driver across all segments, including field instruments, data centers, labs, and applications for wireless networks. Installing fiber is essential before provisioning 5G and other wireless services, as it must be connected to the towers or antennas. The demand for fiber is robust, spurred by significant government infrastructure initiatives in Europe and increasingly in North America, focusing on deeper fiber penetration in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and rural areas. However, this strong demand exceeds our capacity to supply due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage. While we have improved visibility into our backlog, it also means that we are unable to fulfill all current orders promptly, resulting in revenue that will be deferred to future quarters. This trend is expected to continue as more European nations initiate fiber projects to connect nearly every home, leading to an increase in requests. Fiber demand remains very strong. Additionally, we are beginning to see more activity in 5G wireless deployment as plans are being realized and major operators start initial rollouts. However, it is still in the early stages and not yet at the level we anticipate in the coming months. We are observing progress in this area as well.

Samik Chatterjee, Analyst

Okay. That’s great. And Oleg, if I can follow up, if you can give us an update on where the process is with EXFO relative to the different actions you’ve taken there. What do you think are the next steps? And as a side note, like, you have been building cash, you’re generating quite a substantial amount of cash now on a yearly basis. Outside of EXFO, what else is kind of in the thought process or alternatives that you can explore to use the cash that you’re generating?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Well, I mean, the cash is not burning a hole in our pockets. I mean, we remain very disciplined. I mean in the case of EXFO, the valuation put forward by the Chairman and Founder of the company was a no-brainer for us and we knew full ahead fundamentally there is no deal unless your main lawman decides to sell. But we felt it was compelling and necessary for us to put a strong offer on the table to signal the value of the business, because it’s effectively our business as well and the bullishness with which we view that environment. And we’ll see tomorrow I think is the day when their shareholders get to vote. If they vote to majority of the minority, shareholders vote to decline the offer then maybe there’ll be further discussions. If they vote to accept it, then they get what they deserve, which is selling their shares subpar. So, I mean, there’s really not much more to it. In the end, it’s really very much up to the Chairman and Founder, what he wants to do with the company. But we felt we owed it to our shareholders to signal that we are not afraid to be aggressive and put an offer on the table. And there are other targets potentially out there, and in due time, we’ll bring them up to the forefront as well.

Samik Chatterjee, Analyst

Okay. Great. Thank you. Thanks for taking my questions.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Sure. Thanks.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Henderson with Needham. Your line is open.

Alex Henderson, Analyst

Hold on. Thanks. I was hoping you could talk a little bit about the magnitude of the impact from the supply chain challenges, to what degree your order rate is above 1.0? And how much of that you might have been able to ship had you had the product and granularity around which particular products were the most impacted?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Thank you, Alex. In the fourth quarter, our order rate was significantly above 1.0, and I mean by a substantial margin. We always advise caution regarding the book-to-bill ratio, as many of our products are shipped within the same quarter. A high book-to-bill index indicates a strong start in the first month of the next quarter. Typically, especially in NSE, most of our products, particularly in NE, are shipped within three to four months. Although we manage most aspects well, we are increasingly facing acute shortages in advanced ICs in the 14 nanometer to 28 nanometer range, particularly with more complex type A6 and processor-type products that are central to our devices. While we have been successful in securing auxiliary parts to assemble kits, this area continues to be a challenge. We made a strategic decision last fall to stock up on parts, but now our inventory is low, and we are starting to notice shortages. We are managing the situation, but while it's not an insignificant amount, it isn't exceedingly large either. Importantly, it would have been substantial enough to contribute significantly to our EPS growth if we had been able to meet the demand for this quarter.

Alex Henderson, Analyst

If you look at it from the cost side of the equation, how much of your costs are being impacted by expediting and higher airfreight, higher container costs and the like that are the side effects of all of us?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Freight costs have risen significantly, and component costs are also up. We are experiencing brokers charging 30 times the normal price for parts that are in extreme shortage. This has created a complete sellers’ market for certain items. These are specific isolated devices, but without that last piece, we cannot build and ship a high-value product. As a result, we did face some pressure on our gross margins. Fortunately, we deal in high-end products, which allows us to absorb the higher costs associated with certain devices, expedite fees, and logistics fees. Additionally, the increased volume helps offset some of these higher manufacturing overhead costs. At the same time, we are actively raising prices on our products, passing some of these cost increases onto our customers while being selective about where we implement those changes. Moving forward, I anticipate that we will see appreciation in average selling prices across all our products, and we are already witnessing this trend. I believe our competitors are facing even more severe shortages and higher costs, presenting us with an opportunity for further price appreciation.

Alex Henderson, Analyst

So can you quantify the impact or no?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

It's not significant. It's within a couple of percentage points.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from John Marchetti with Stifel. Your line is open.

John Marchetti, Analyst

Thanks very much. Oleg, maybe just following on with that on the supply chain side for a moment, can you just talk about, maybe over the last quarter or last several months, how that’s trended? Are things relatively stable, do you still feel like it’s getting worse and kind of where your outlook is, I guess, in terms of how you think this plays out over the next quarter or two?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

I believe we have a bimodal distribution. On the basic components, like discretes, passives, boards, and plastics, there are some challenges, but they are quite manageable and can be addressed with expedites. However, the situation I believe is deteriorating, and I expect the December quarter to be more severe than the September quarter. This pertains particularly to high-performance 14-nanometer to 28-nanometer advanced integrated circuits, such as microcontrollers and FPGAs, which are crucial for high-volume production products currently available. Since we do not utilize 7-nanometer or 5-nanometer technology, I am not aware of shortages in those areas. The main concern lies in the 14-nanometer to 28-nanometer range, where we are experiencing the most significant shortages. Additionally, there are challenges with some of the substrates based on what we have learned from our suppliers.

John Marchetti, Analyst

Got it. And then just briefly…

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

But silicon is by far the biggest…

John Marchetti, Analyst

Okay. Okay. And then if I move just to some of the geographic commentary in the quarter, Asia-Pac had a couple of strong quarters here in a row. I’m just curious if that’s skewed towards either the anti-counterfeiting or anything going on there and how maybe we think about, what’s going on I guess from a geographic basis as we’re looking out over the next several quarters?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

It's a mix of factors. Anti-counterfeiting is one aspect, but we don't discuss specifics about countries. Additionally, our wireless business is performing well in Asia, with numerous vendors and operators involved in 5G. We are also seeing sustained demand for fiber products.

John Marchetti, Analyst

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Tim Savageaux with Northland Capital. Your line is open.

Tim Savageaux, Analyst

Great. Thanks. Sorry about that. I am going to go back on the supply side a little bit here before asking a higher level question. But to the extent you’re talking about strong bookings, looks like that’s continuing into the current quarter across the network enablement business, and I guess, across all three pieces, if you will, fiber, wireless, and cable. Should we assume that given that you had the potential to grow or at least keep NE flat sequentially absent any supply constraints? And then I’ll follow up.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Yeah. Absence of the supply constraints, you probably would have had an all-time record quarter in September. So I mean the answer is, yes, to your question about growth.

Tim Savageaux, Analyst

Fantastic. And then zooming a little higher level here, last quarter you mentioned the kind of super cycle dynamic underway across your various communications test businesses. It sounds like that continues to develop favorably, but I just wonder if you might provide us with an update on whether any particular piece of equation has accelerated or changed in a meaningful way since the last couple…

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Sure. That’s actually one area that’s very exciting for us. Over the years, we’ve seen significant growth in Europe, Asia, and South and Latin America. North America has been lagging, where major players have focused less on network buildout and management. However, in the past six months, there has been a remarkable shift among operators in North America, with media focus and content taking a backseat to core business aspects like building and operating networks. A lot of investment is currently being poured into upgrading and rebuilding networks, which I believe will be a multiyear trend. The current discussions around infrastructure buildout, particularly in extending broadband to rural areas and pushing fiber to homes, suggest that North America will shine in the coming year. Now we see all three major regions—Europe, Asia, and, finally, North America—performing well. The reversal of the trend in North America is likely to drive our NE segment strongly.

Tim Savageaux, Analyst

Thanks very much.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Sure.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line as Michael Genovese with WestPark Capital. Your line is open.

Michael Genovese, Analyst

Okay. Thanks. I wanted to check in on some further segment data on the OSP. So did 3D sensing come in up about 15% year-over-year, I think, is about what you were targeting, is that where it ended up?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

That’s about right. Yeah. It’s mainly, that’s in the absence of anything in Android, which we already talked to earlier in the year about.

Michael Genovese, Analyst

Okay. So as we think about that look ahead, should we also think about that as, like, the absence of Android and sort of model it off of flat to slightly up units with the main customer, is that...

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Yeah. We said we are kind of looking flattish in here, because I mean I think there may be an upside if some of the Android players in the second half started deploying 3D sensing. But we are not factoring that in and while we will probably see higher unit volume, but there is also a roadmap pricing that kicks in. So there’s some ASP reductions coming in place. So I’d say, net-net, between the higher unit volume from volume growth and greater penetration of various applications, and the ASP reductions. We expect in the absence of Android that business should be roughly flat in this fiscal year.

Michael Genovese, Analyst

Okay. Great. And then, I guess, for the core OSP, is the sort of low 60s the right way to think about it going forward?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

I think we said…

Michael Genovese, Analyst

How should we think about it going forward?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Yeah. I think we said for the foreseeable future you take $60 million of the kind of base business. Remember, we used to say $50 million, now $60 million is the new $50 million. So that’s going to continue for quite some time in my view.

Michael Genovese, Analyst

Great. All right. Thanks. I appreciate it. Congrats on the strong bookings.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Meta Marshall with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Meta Marshall, Analyst

Great. Thanks. First question, AT&T recently announced a slowdown in some of their fiber builds, and while we’re discussing a strong fiber environment with them being sold out of capacity, how should we think about any potential lull before some of these broadband plans take off? Do you believe that the current demand coupled with your ability to supply will keep you in a sold-out position for an extended period? I have a follow-up question as well.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

AT&T is clearly very aggressive, pushing forward with fiber as a new focus for the company. They are moving quickly, although they are currently facing shortages from various suppliers. However, they are not alone in this; similar discussions are happening among all fiber and network operators in North America and Europe who are looking to achieve the same goals. Therefore, I believe we will experience a capacity-constrained environment for several quarters until the supply chain can catch up.

Meta Marshall, Analyst

Got it. And then maybe just following up on Mike’s question on OSP, clearly, you guys have had three drivers over time, increasing kind of monetary volumes, reprints and inventory. And you noted kind of the first two being the biggest driver, do we think by the end of this fiscal year we’re even getting back towards an inventory build position or is this kind of a multiyear kind of the $60 million baseline?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

When capacity is limited, it's challenging to quickly replenish inventories. Therefore, we will need to manage it over time. I would estimate that we have several quarters ahead of us to run our production lines at full capacity to catch up and rebuild our inventories. We are also experiencing rising demand from various printers as different countries implement fiscal policies to stimulate their economies. Additionally, many print shops are still operating sporadically due to the COVID situation being more severe in several regions than in the U.S. This creates even more latent demand moving forward, in my opinion. However, the pattern is not uniform; it fluctuates with substantial orders appearing followed by dips. Overall, if you look at the average over several months, there is a strong upward trend.

Meta Marshall, Analyst

Great. Thank you.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Sure.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from Dave Kang with B. Riley. Your line is open.

Dave Kang, Analyst

Thank you. Good afternoon. My first question is regarding the supply chain impact. I think you said, 2%. I believe you were talking about revenue impact of 2%. I just wanted to clarify that and what was the margin impact, was it like 50 bps or 100 bps, any color there?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

So I did not give you any numbers. I think I don’t know where you heard the 2%. I think when I said 2%, it might have been the impact of higher transportation logistics, expedite costs. It’s maybe 2% impact on gross margin. But at the same time with higher volumes, we have a greater manufacturer overhead absorption that more or less can offset that. But in the absence of all things normal, I mean, we would, obviously, have seen higher gross margin on our products, and probably, higher revenue growth as well.

Dave Kang, Analyst

Got it. And my follow-up is, so you talked about high end shifts that could get worse in December. How should we think about seasonality since December quarter is seasonally strong?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

I believe that seasonality is no longer a concern. The focus now is on the share of allocation we can secure. I've been actively reaching out to leading vendors to ensure we receive at least our fair share, and hopefully even more. My supply chain team has been diligently searching globally for a reliable supply. The good news is that we don't require a large number of units to significantly enhance our revenue. We don't deal in low-end consumer products; each of these devices generates substantial revenue, often in the thousands or even tens of thousands. Therefore, if we can acquire a few hundred units, it can make a significant difference in our margins and overall revenue growth.

Dave Kang, Analyst

Got it. Thank you.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Sure.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Fahad Najam with MKM Partners. Your line is open.

Fahad Najam, Analyst

Thank you for your question. I want to focus on your comments about expecting growth next year. Can you provide more details on that? As I understand it, the main driver for growth seems to be stimulus spending in North America, including the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund, with the first tranche of Phase 1 now starting to reach your end customers. We anticipate that spending will ramp up, likely starting in the fourth quarter of this year, benefiting you as suppliers. Additionally, there’s the recently passed infrastructure spending bill and the American Rescue Act, both of which have yet to impact your business. It appears that 2022 could be a remarkably strong growth year, despite supply chain challenges. Can you clarify whether the supply situation is worsening, or are we seeing the worst of the supply chain issues and anticipating an improvement? How does this shape your outlook for the remainder of the year? I have a few follow-up questions as well.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

So, I would say, first of all, I think, this quarter is bad in terms of supply tightness. I think December quarter will be worse. And as they say hope is eternal, we always hope that at least first half of next year starts getting better and it’s only because we don’t think that’s far away. Our customers don’t even look that far. But I do expect some new capacity coming in line and things starting to rebalance. So I do think sometime first half of next year we should see things improving. In terms of what’s driving demand, we’re not counting on any of these rural broadband or any of these stimulus things for driving our current sales. I mean our current sales are driven just purely by upgrading your existing networks and really playing catch up in many cases especially in North America to what should have been done in the last five years. So that is just the first tranche. The second driver is the Europe. I mean U.K. started driving fiber to every home about a year and a half ago, and it’s in the full swing of it. And now we’re seeing other countries like Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands are following this trade and that’s obviously driving the next level of demand. Then now on top of it you overlay all these government infrastructure stimulus programs, which I think is before you see the money for it, it probably be one year or two years. Just as you’ll be in a full swing on all these other things, that is going to start kicking in and then we’re going to see that kind of will create the second wave or extend the wave of demand that we are seeing today. That’s kind of how we see things playing out.

Fahad Najam, Analyst

I appreciate the answer. I want to follow up on the OSP. If I'm not mistaken, I think I heard you say that 3D sensing was up 18% year-over-year. Can you remind us if that comparison included any Huawei revenue from last year or if this is solely the growth excluding Huawei?

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

So that is a net increase and we did have Huawei in the prior year. So, it’s obviously been zeroed out and all things being equal.

Fahad Najam, Analyst

Appreciate the answer. Thank you.

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO

Sure.

Operator, Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Bill Ong for closing remarks.

Bill Ong, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Ashley. This concludes our earnings call for today. Thank you everyone.

Operator, Operator

This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.