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Ceragon Networks Ltd. (CRNT)
:CRNT
US Market
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Ceragon Networks (CRNT) Risk Factors

1,544 Followers
Public companies are required to disclose risks that can affect the business and impact the stock. These disclosures are known as “Risk Factors”. Companies disclose these risks in their yearly (Form 10-K), quarterly earnings (Form 10-Q), or “foreign private issuer” reports (Form 20-F). Risk factors show the challenges a company faces. Investors can consider the worst-case scenarios before making an investment. TipRanks’ Risk Analysis categorizes risks based on proprietary classification algorithms and machine learning.

Ceragon Networks disclosed 51 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Ceragon Networks reported the most risks in the “Finance & Corporate” category.

Risk Overview Q4, 2021

Risk Distribution
51Risks
33% Finance & Corporate
20% Tech & Innovation
16% Legal & Regulatory
12% Macro & Political
10% Production
10% Ability to Sell
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
This chart displays the stock's most recent risk distribution according to category. TipRanks has identified 6 major categories: Finance & corporate, legal & regulatory, macro & political, production, tech & innovation, and ability to sell.

Risk Change Over Time

2020
Q4
S&P500 Average
Sector Average
Risks removed
Risks added
Risks changed
Ceragon Networks Risk Factors
New Risk (0)
Risk Changed (0)
Risk Removed (0)
No changes from previous report
The chart shows the number of risks a company has disclosed. You can compare this to the sector average or S&P 500 average.

The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.

Risk Highlights Q4, 2021

Main Risk Category
Finance & Corporate
With 17 Risks
Finance & Corporate
With 17 Risks
Number of Disclosed Risks
51
+4
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
51
+4
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
Recent Changes
5Risks added
1Risks removed
6Risks changed
Since Dec 2021
5Risks added
1Risks removed
6Risks changed
Since Dec 2021
Number of Risk Changed
6
-3
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 3
6
-3
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 3
See the risk highlights of Ceragon Networks in the last period.

Risk Word Cloud

The most common phrases about risk factors from the most recent report. Larger texts indicate more widely used phrases.

Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 51

Finance & Corporate
Total Risks: 17/51 (33%)Below Sector Average
Share Price & Shareholder Rights7 | 13.7%
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1
If we sell ordinary shares in future financings, shareholders may experience immediate dilution and, as a result, our share price may decline.
In order to raise additional capital, we may at any time offer additional ordinary shares or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our ordinary shares at prices that may not be the same as the price paid for our ordinary shares by our shareholders. On April 23, 2020, we filed a shelf registration statement on Form F-3 with the SEC which allows us to offer and sell, from time to time, in one or more offerings, our ordinary shares, rights, warrants, debt securities and units comprising any combination of these securities with an aggregate offering price of up to U.S.$150 million (the “Shelf Registration Statement”). The price per share at which we sell additional ordinary shares, or securities convertible or exchangeable into ordinary shares, in future transactions, including under the Shelf Registration Statement, may be higher or lower than the price per share paid by our existing shareholders. If we issue ordinary shares or securities convertible into ordinary shares, our shareholders would experience additional dilution and, as a result, our share price may decline. In addition, as opportunities present themselves, we may enter into financing or similar arrangements in the future, including the issuance of debt or equity securities with or without additional securities convertible or exchangeable into ordinary shares. Whether or not we issue additional shares at a discount, any issuance of ordinary shares will, and any issuance of other equity securities may, result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our shareholders and could cause our share price to decline. New investors could also gain rights, preference and privileges senior to those of our shareholders, which could cause the price of our ordinary shares to decline. Debt securities may also contain covenants that restrict our operational flexibility or impose liens or other restrictions on our assets, which could also cause the price of our ordinary shares to decline.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2
The price and trading volume of our ordinary shares are subject to volatility. Such volatility could limit investors’ ability to sell our shares at a profit, could limit our ability to successfully raise funds and may expose us to class actions against the Company and its senior executives.
The stock market in general, and the market price of our ordinary shares in particular, are subject to fluctuation. As a result, changes in our share price and trading volumes may be unrelated to our operating performance. The price of our ordinary shares and the trading volumes in our ordinary shares have experienced volatility in the past and may continue to do so in the future, which may make it difficult for investors to predict the value of their investment, to sell shares at a profit at any given time, or to plan purchases and sales in advance. In the two-year period ended December 31, 2021, the price of our ordinary shares has ranged from a high of $6.90 per share to a low of $0.99 per share. On December 31, 2021 and 2020, the closing prices of our ordinary shares were $2.57 per share and $2.78 per share, respectively. A variety of factors may affect the market price and trading volume of our ordinary shares, including: • announcements of technological innovations or new commercial products by us or by our competitors; • competitors’ positions and other events related to our market; • changes in the Company’s estimations regarding forward looking statements and/or announcement of actual results that vary significantly from such estimations; • the announcement of corporate transactions, merger and acquisition activities or other similar events by companies in our field or industry; • changes and developments effecting our field or industry; • period to period fluctuations in our results of operations; • changes in financial estimates by securities analysts; • our earnings releases and the earnings releases of our competitors; • our ability to show and accurately predict revenues; • our need to raise additional funds and the success or failure thereof; • other announcements, whether by the Company or others, referring to the Company’s financial condition, results of operations and changes in strategy; • changes in senior management or the board of directors; • the general state of the securities markets (with a particular emphasis on the technology and Israeli sectors thereof); • the general state of the credit markets, the volatility of which could have an adverse effect on our investments; • developments concerning material proprietary rights, including material patents; • whether we or our competitors receive or are denied regulatory approvals; and • global macroeconomic developments, including in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak, components shortage, Russia-Ukraine war, and other occurrences. Many of these factors are out of our control, and we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our financial results will not necessarily be indicative of our future performance. All these factors and any corresponding price fluctuations may materially and adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares and may result in substantial losses to our investors. In addition to the volatility of the market price of our shares, the stock market in general and the market for technology companies in particular, has been highly volatile and at times thinly traded. These broad market and industry factors may seriously harm the market price of our ordinary shares, regardless of our operating performance. Investors may not be able to resell their shares following periods of volatility. In addition, the volatility of the market price of our share especially when market price is perceived to be very low may stimulate hostile activities against us such as capital markets’ “activists” trying to influence our operations and hostile takeover attempts by competitors or other potential stakeholders. This may cause a significant distraction of management attention in executing against our plans and adversely impact our business and financial results. Moreover, the market prices of equity securities of companies that have a significant presence in Israel may also be affected by the changing security situation in the Middle East and particularly in Israel. As a result, these companies may experience volatility in their share prices and/or difficulties in raising additional funds required to effectively operate and grow their businesses. Thus, market and industry-wide fluctuations and political, economic and military conditions in the Middle East may adversely affect the trading price of our ordinary shares, regardless of our actual operating performance. Further, as a result of the volatility of our stock price, we could be subject, and are currently subject, to securities litigation, which could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and Company resources from our business. On January 6, 2015, the Company was served with a motion to approve a purported class action, naming the Company, its CEO and its directors as defendants, which was filed with the District Court of Tel-Aviv, was based on Israeli law and alleges breaches of duties by making false and misleading statements in the Company’s SEC filings and public statements during the period between July and October 2014. The plaintiff seeks specified compensatory damages in a sum of up to $75,000,000, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. Interim proceedings were held with respect to the application of the US Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, following a judgment issued by the Israeli Supreme Court stating that Israeli companies whose shares are dually traded in Israel and in certain foreign stock exchange, will be subject to the listing rules in the foreign jurisdiction. To date, after a rehearing proceedings it was ruled that U.S. law will apply also in our case, which was returned to the first judicial instance and will be adjudicated as a class claim under U.S. law. The Court further held that the Company’s claims based upon the statute of limitations should also be adjudicated under U.S. law. On March 20, 2022, following the court’s decision, the Plaintiff filed to the first judicial instance, an amended class action claim, based on provisions of US law. The Company is required to submit its Statement of Defense, by June 26, 2022. (see below in Item 8. “FINANCIAL INFORMATION” – Legal Proceedings”).
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3
Holders of our ordinary shares who are U.S. residents may be required to pay additional U.S. income taxes if we are classified as a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
There is a risk that we may be classified as a PFIC. Our treatment as a PFIC could result in a reduction in the after-tax return for U.S. holders of our ordinary shares and may cause a reduction in the value of our shares. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, we will generally be classified as a PFIC for any taxable year in which either: (1) 75% or more of our gross income is passive income, or (2) at least 50% of the average value (determined on a quarterly basis) of our total assets for the taxable year produce, or are held for the production of, passive income. Based on our analysis of our income, assets, activities and market capitalization, we do not believe that we were a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2021. However, there can be no assurance that the United States Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) will not challenge our analysis or our conclusion regarding our PFIC status. There is also a risk that we were a PFIC for one or more prior taxable years or that we will be a PFIC in future years, including 2022. If we were a PFIC during any prior years, U.S. shareholders who acquired or held our ordinary shares during such years will generally be subject to the PFIC rules. The tests for determining PFIC status are applied annually and it is difficult to make accurate predictions of our future income, assets, activities and market capitalization, which are relevant to this determination. If we were determined to be a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, highly complex rules would apply to U.S. holders owning our ordinary shares and such U.S. holders could suffer adverse U.S. tax consequences. For more information, please see Item 10. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION – E. Taxation - “U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations” – “Tax Consequences if We Are a Passive Foreign Investment Company.”
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4
Being a foreign private issuer exempts us from certain SEC requirements and Nasdaq Rules, which may result in less protection than is afforded to investors under rules applicable to domestic issuers.
We are a “foreign private issuer” within the meaning of rules promulgated by the SEC. As such, we are exempt from certain provisions under the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. public companies, including: • The rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K; • The sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of securities registered under the Exchange Act, including extensive disclosure of compensation paid or payable to certain of our highly compensated executives as well as disclosure of the compensation determination process; • The provisions of Regulation FD aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information; and • The sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and establishing insider liability for profit realized from any “short-swing” trading transaction (a purchase and sale, or sale and purchase, of the issuer’s equity securities within less than six months). In addition, we are permitted to follow certain home country corporate governance practices and laws in lieu of certain Nasdaq Rules applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. For instance, we have relied on the foreign private issuer exemption with respect to shareholder approval requirements for equity-based incentive plans for our employees and the requirement to have a formal charter for our Compensation Committee. Following our home country governance practices rather than the Nasdaq Rules that would otherwise apply to a U.S. domestic issuer, may provide less protection to investors. For the list of the specific exemptions that we have chosen to adopt, please see “Item 16G. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE”.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5
It may be difficult to enforce a U.S. judgment against us or our officers and directors, or to assert U.S. securities laws claims in Israel.
We are incorporated under the laws of the State of Israel. Service of process upon our directors and officers, almost all of whom reside outside the United States, may be difficult to obtain within the United States. Furthermore, because the majority of our assets and investments, and almost all of our directors and officers are located outside the United States, any judgment obtained in the United States against us or any of them may not be collectible within the United States. Additionally, it may be difficult for an investor, to assert U.S. securities law claims in original actions instituted in Israel. Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on an alleged violation of U.S. securities laws reasoning that Israel is not the most appropriate forum to bring such a claim. In addition, even if an Israeli court agrees to hear such a claim, it is not certain if Israeli law or U.S. law will be applicable to the claim. If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proved as a fact by an expert witness, which can be a time-consuming and costly process. Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law. There is little binding case law in Israel that addresses the matters described above.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6
Your rights and responsibilities as a shareholder will be governed by Israeli law which differs in some respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S. companies.
Since we are incorporated under Israeli law, the rights and responsibilities of our shareholders are governed by our Articles of Association as in effect from time to time (the “Articles of Association”), and Israeli law. These rights and responsibilities differ in some respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders in United States-based corporations. In particular, a shareholder of an Israeli company has a duty to act in good faith and in a customary manner in exercising its rights and performing its obligations towards the company and other shareholders and to refrain from abusing its power in the company, including, among other things, in voting at the general meeting of shareholders on certain matters, such as an amendment to a company’s articles of association, an increase of a company’s authorized share capital, a merger of a company and approval of interested party transactions that require shareholder approval. A shareholder also has a general duty to refrain from discriminating against other shareholders. In addition, a controlling shareholder or a shareholder who knows that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a shareholders’ vote or to appoint or prevent the appointment of an office holder in a company, or has another power with respect to a company, has a duty to act in fairness towards such company. Israeli law does not define the substance of this duty of fairness and there is limited case law available to assist us in understanding the nature of this duty or the implications of these provisions. These provisions may be interpreted to impose additional obligations and liabilities on our shareholders that are not typically imposed on shareholders of U.S. corporations.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7
Provisions of Israeli law may delay, prevent, or make undesirable an acquisition of all or significant portion of our shares or assets.
Israeli corporate law regulates mergers and acquisitions and requires that a tender offer be effected when certain thresholds of percentage ownership of voting power in a company are exceeded (subject to certain conditions), which may have the effect of delaying, preventing or making more difficult a merger with, or acquisition of, us. Further, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions undesirable to us, or to some of our shareholders, if the country of residence of such shareholder does not have a tax treaty with Israel (thus not granting relief from payment of Israeli taxes). With respect to mergers, Israeli tax law provides tax deferral in certain circumstances but makes the deferral contingent on the fulfillment of numerous conditions, including a holding period of two years from the date of the transaction, during which certain sales and dispositions of shares of the participating companies are restricted. Moreover, with respect to certain share swap transactions, the tax deferral is limited in time, and when such time expires, the tax becomes payable even if no actual disposition of the shares has occurred. See “Item 10.B. - Mergers and Acquisitions under Israeli Law”. In addition, in accordance with the Israeli Restrictive Trade Practices Law, 1988 (the “Economic Competition Law”), and the R&D Law, to which we are subject due to our receipt of grants from the IIA, a change in control in the Company (such as a merger or similar transaction) may be subject to certain regulatory approvals in certain circumstances. For more information regarding such required approvals please see Item 4. “INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY - B. Business Overview - The Israel Innovation Authority”. In addition, as a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Israel, we are subject to the Economic Competition Law and the regulations promulgated thereunder, under which we may be required in certain circumstances to obtain the approval of the Israel Competition Authority in order to consummate a merger or a sale of all or substantially all of our assets. These provisions of Israeli law could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control and may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so would be beneficial to our shareholders, and may also adversely affect the price that investors may be willing to pay in the future for our ordinary shares.
Accounting & Financial Operations7 | 13.7%
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1
Changed
We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain profitability or positive operating cash flows.
Throughout the years 2015 to 2018 we were profitable, recognized positive net income and generated cash flow from operating activities. However, in 2019 we suffered a reduction in our net income, recognized a net loss of $2.3 million and generated negative cash flow from operating activities of $12.9 million, in 2020 we again were suffered a reduction in our net income and recognized a net loss of $17.1 million but generated a positive cash flow from operating activities of $17.2 million. In 2021 we were exposed to COVID-19 disruptions, suffered a reduction in our net income, recognized a net loss of $14.8 million and generated a negative cash flow from operating activities of $15.0 million. There is no assurance that we will be able to improve such results, which may require the implementation of additional cost reduction measures. Our failure to maintain profitability or to continue to have positive operating cash flows may impact our ability to compete in the market for the short and long term and may impair our financial condition.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2
Added
In previous years we experienced a decline in our revenues, incurred substantial losses and generated negative cash flows. If this decline continues, our results of operations and cash flow may be significantly adversely impacted. Although we were able to increase our booking and backlog in 2021 and in the first quarter of 2022, we cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain this improving trend and convert such backlog into profitability and positive operating cash flows.
In 2019 we incurred a net loss of $2.3 million, a net loss of $17.1 million in 2020 and a net loss of $14.8 million in 2021. We have also experienced a fluctuation in our cash flow from operations of $(12.9) million, $17.2 million and $(15.0) million in 2019 through 2021, respectively. Our prior losses resulted from, among other things, decreases in revenues, decreased gross margins, decline in procurement and capital expenses related to 4G products by our customers as well as slow ramp-up of 5G rollout and new ordering and other factors detailed in in our Annual Reports on Form 20-F for the years 2019 and 2020. Commencing 2020, our losses resulted, among other things, also from the health and economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant expenses, costs and charges associated, among other things, with the global semiconductors and electric components shortage and increase in price of such components, increase in logistical supply chains’, shipment and delivery costs and an extension of delivery timelines, expediting fees and increased inventory expenditures, and other factors as further detailed in this Annual Report on Form 20-F and in our Annual Reports on Form 20-F for the years 2019 and 2020. While in 2021 we have taken measures to improve our gross profit, reduce our operating expenses, improve our working capital management and secure 5G design wins and booking, the implementation of such measures is lengthy, may be delayed as a result of the other risks and uncertainties detailed in this Annual Report on Form 20-F and there is no assurance that such measures will be sufficient or successful or that we will not continue to experience a decline in our revenues, incur substantial losses and generate negative cash flows or that such decline, losses and negative cash flow will not intensify. In the event that our revenues continue to decline and that our losses and negative cash flow increase, our results of operations will be significantly adversely impacted. In such a case, we may need to take additional measures such as cut in costs, which may impact our ability to compete in the market and serve our working capital needs as planned. Furthermore, our working capital needs may require additional or alternate cash resources. If we are unable to obtain such resources nor generate an improved cash flow from our operations, our liquidity and ability to fund operations could be impaired.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 3
Our operating results and revenue are hard to predict and may vary significantly from quarter to quarter and from our expectations for any specific period.
Our quarterly results are difficult to predict and may vary significantly from quarter to quarter, or from our expectations and guidance for any specific period. Most importantly, delays in product delivery or completion of related services, delays in performing acceptance tests or delays in projects timetable on part of our customers or their other vendors, can cause our revenues, net income and operating cash flow to deviate significantly from anticipated levels, especially as a large portion of our revenues are traditionally generated towards the end of each quarter. Additionally, as a significant portion of our business is concentrated with certain customers, who are not obligated to purchase from us a fixed amount of products or services over any period of time and may terminate or reduce their purchases from us at any time without prior notice or penalty, we have difficulty projecting future revenues from these customers, which highly affect our overall revenue, cash-flow and business. In addition to the inherent uncertainty associated with such business pattern, any credit crunch, distressed financial situation or insolvency on the part of such customers, may adversely affect our ability to collect the balance due from them and further expend the variation in our revenues and operating results. Moreover, factors such as geographical mix, delivery terms and timeline(s), product mix, related services mix and other deal terms may differ significantly from our expectations, and thus impact our revenue recognition timing, gross margins, costs and expenses, as well as cash flow from operations. In addition, the spending decisions of our customers throughout the year may also create unpredictable fluctuations in the timing in which we receive orders and can recognize revenues, which may impact our quarterly results. Such unpredictable fluctuations could be material in cases where these spending decisions are made by our largest customers or regarding significant deals. Additionally, the aggregation of several revenue recognition requirements for each such transaction, results in difficulty and complexity in establishing a firm prediction as to the end-of-term results, and consequently, our actual revenue rates may significantly exceed or be less than our expectations.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 4
It is difficult to predict our gross margin as it is exposed to significant fluctuations as a result of potential changes in the geographical mix of our revenues.
Our revenues are derived from multiple regions, each of which may consist of a number of countries. Gross margin percentages may vary significantly between different regions and even among different countries within the same region and even within different customers in the same country, dependent on the size and characteristic of specific deal terms. A significant change in the actual ratio of our revenues among the different regions/countries, whereby the actual ratio of revenues from a higher gross margin region/country exceeds our expectations, may cause our gross margin to significantly increase, while in case the actual ratio of revenues from a lower gross-margin region/country exceeds our expectations, our gross-margin may significantly decrease.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 5
Our future operations are based on forward-looking forecasts, among other things, on market trends, future business concepts and use cases, and customers’ needs and requirements, while there is no assurance that such forecasts will materialize as we predicted. If we fail to rightfully identify those needs and trends, we may experience a decline in the demand for our products and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
We have based the future planning of our corporate, business, marketing and product strategies on the forecasted evolution of the market developments, such as market trends, future use cases, business concepts, technologies and future demand, and accordingly shape the development of our networks’ architecture design, technological and operational solutions and offering, so as to adapt to such estimated needs and changes. As an example, part of our solutions are focused on Open RAN and on disaggregated architecture model. We cannot assure you that the concept of Open RAN and disaggregation will be accepted, or that we have successfully forecasted or will continue to successfully forecast such trends, that the markets will shape as we anticipated or that our offering will indeed satisfy the future demand. A failure in any of the above, may result in significant losses and a decline in the demand for our products, and may adversely affect our financial results and reputation.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 6
Due to inaccurate forecasts or business changes, we may be exposed to inventory-related losses on inventory purchased by our contract manufacturers and other suppliers, or to increased expenses should unexpected production ramp up be required. In addition, part of our inventory may be written off, which would increase our cost of revenues.
Our contract manufacturers and other suppliers are required to purchase inventory based on manufacturing projections we provide to them. If the actual orders from our customers are lower than projected, or the mix of products ordered changes, or if we decide to change our product line and/or our product support strategy, our contract manufacturers or other suppliers will have excess inventory of raw materials or finished products, which we would typically be required to purchase, thus incurring additional costs and our gross profit and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, our inventory levels may be too high, and inventory may become obsolete or over-stated on our balance sheet. This would require us to write off inventory, which could adversely affect our gross profit and results of operations. We require our contract manufacturers and other suppliers from time to time, to purchase more inventory than is immediately required and with respect to our contract manufacturers, to partially assemble components, in order to shorten our delivery time in case of an increase in demand for our products. In the absence of such increased demand, we may need to make advance payments, compensate our contract manufacturers or other suppliers, or even buy the redundant inventory, as needed. We also may purchase components or raw materials from time to time for use by our contract manufacturers in the manufacturing of our products. This may cause additional write offs and may have a negative impact on our results of operations and cash flow. Alternatively, if we underestimate our requirements and our actual orders from customers are significantly larger than our planned forecast, we may be required to accelerate the production and purchase of supplies, which may result in additional costs of buying components at less attractive prices, paying expediting fees and excess shipment costs, overtime and other manufacturing expenses. As a result, our gross margins and results of operations could be adversely affected. Inventory of raw materials, work in-process or finished products located either at our warehouses or our customers’ sites as part of the network build-up may accumulate in the future, and we may encounter losses due to a variety of factors, including: • new generations of products replacing older ones, including changes in products because of technological advances and cost reduction measures; and • the need of our contract manufacturers to order raw materials that have long lead times and our inability to estimate exact amounts and types of items thus needed, especially regarding the frequencies in which the final products ordered will operate. Further, our inventory of finished products located either at our warehouse or our customers’ sites as part of a network build-up may accumulate if a customer were to cancel an order or refuse to physically accept delivery of our products, or in rollout projects, which include acceptance tests, refuse to accept the network. The rate of accumulation may increase in a period of economic downturn. Lastly, and as indicated above, given the significant increase in components lead time, particularly the electronics part of it (with many cases of a lead time longer than a year), and in order to minimize disruption to business, we increased our forecast horizon to 12-18 months. As a result, our forecast our inventory level increased significantly and risk of write-offs due to, among other factors, missing our forecast has increased.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 7
Our failure to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in material misstatements in our financial statements or a failure to meet our reporting obligations. This may expose us to fines and damages and cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could result in the trading price of our shares to decline.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act. Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, using the criteria established in “Internal Control - Integrated Framework” set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (COSO). Based on our assessment under that framework and the criteria established therein, our management concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2021 in providing reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of the Company’s financial reporting. However, if we conclude in the future that our internal controls over financial reporting are not effective, we may fail to meet our future reporting obligations on a timely basis, our financial statements may contain material misstatements, our operating results may be negatively impacted, and we may be subject to litigation and regulatory actions, causing investor perceptions to be adversely affected and potentially resulting in a decline in the market price of our shares. Even if we conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting are adequate, any internal control or procedure, no matter how well designed and operated, can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving desired control objectives and cannot prevent all mistakes or intentional misconduct or fraud.
Debt & Financing1 | 2.0%
Debt & Financing - Risk 1
We could be adversely affected by our failure to comply with the covenants in our credit agreement or by the failure of any bank to provide us with credit under committed credit facilities.
We have a committed credit facility available for our use from a syndicate of several banks. Our credit agreement contains financial and other covenants. Any failure to comply with the covenants, including due to poor financial performance, may constitute a default under the credit facility, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. In addition, the payment may be accelerated, and the credit facility may be cancelled upon an event, in which a current or future shareholder acquires control (as defined under the Israeli Securities Law) of us. For more information, please refer to Item 5: “OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS; Liquidity and Capital Resources.” In addition, the credit facility is provided by the syndication with each bank agreeing severally (and not jointly) to make its agreed portion of the credit loans to us. If one or more of the banks providing the committed credit facility were to default on its obligation to fund its commitment, the portion of the committed facility provided by such defaulting bank would not be available to us. In the event that the credit facility is terminated in accordance with its terms, including due to breach of covenants by us, and we shall not be able to secure alternative financing, we could experience a distressed cash flow challenges that could harm our business operations and prospects, results of operations, cash flow and financial position.
Corporate Activity and Growth2 | 3.9%
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1
Merger and acquisition activities expose us to risks and liabilities, which could also result in integration problems and adversely affect our business.
We continue to explore potential merger and acquisition opportunities within our wireless transport market or as a diversification effort in order to create a growth engine and implement a growth strategy. In addition, we also explore merger and acquisition opportunities aimed at obtaining technological improvement of our products, adding new technologies to our products and to diversify our business. However, we are unable to predict whether or when any prospective deals will be completed. In addition, these strategic transactions involve numerous risks, which can jeopardize or even eliminate the benefits entailed in such transactions, such as: • we may not be able to discover, or the target company may fail to provide us with, all relevant information and documents in relation to the transaction, which could lead to a failure to achieve the objectives of acquisition and to a substantial loss; • we may fail to reveal that the due diligence materials and documents provided contain untrue statements of material facts or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, hence fail to achieve the objectives of acquisition and suffer a substantial loss; • we may fail to correctly assess the due diligence investigation findings, establish a correct investment thesis or establish a correct post-merger integration plan; • the process of integrating an acquired business including, for example, the operations, systems, technologies, products, and personnel of the combined companies, particularly companies with large and widespread operations and/or complex products, may be prolonged due to unforeseen difficulties; • the implementation of the transaction may distract and divert management’s attention from the normal daily operations of our business; • we may sustain and record significant expenditure and costs associated with outstanding transactions that either did not or will not materialize or would fail to achieve its objectives; • there will be increased expenses associated with the transaction, and we may need to use a substantial portion of our cash resources or incur debt in order to cover such expenses; expenses which the combined revenues of the merged companies may not be sufficient to offset; • we may generate negative cash flow as a result of such transaction, which may require fund raising that may not be available for us; • we may incur unexpected accounting and other expenses associated with the transaction, such as tax expenses, write offs, amortization expenses related to intangible assets, restructuring costs, litigation costs or such other costs derived from the acquisition; • the transaction may harm our business as currently conducted (for example, there may be a temporary loss of revenues, we may experience loss of current key employees, customers, resellers, vendors and other business partners or companies with whom we engage today or which relate to any acquired company); • we may be required to issue ordinary shares as part of the transaction, which would dilute our current shareholders; • we may need to assume material liabilities of the merged entity; • the failure to successfully complete the integration associated with the transaction (including integrating any acquired technology into our products), which may cause new markets we were aiming for not to materialize or in which competitors may have a stronger market position; or • we may fail to effectively obtain the technological improvement. Failure to manage and successfully complete a strategic transaction could materially harm our business operating results and cash flow. As a result, the anticipated benefits or cost savings of such mergers and acquisitions or other restructuring activities may not be fully realized, or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, any of which could harm our business, results of operations cash flow and financial condition as well as the price of our ordinary shares.
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 2
Added
Design Wins may not assure or secure the materialization of an actual sale.
As part of the marketing and sales of our products, predominantly such that had been recently released and introduced to the market or to the specific customer, including new 5G technologies, our products and solutions undergo an evaluation stage and design into the customer’s products or systems. The award of a Design Win does not necessarily mean that such customer shall eventually buy our products or that only our solution has been chosen for the design. Any such design and evaluation phase is subject to the risk of failure to meet the customer’s technological and operational requirements, specifications, delivery date or certain other parameters at any time before the design is frozen. Thus, being awarded a Design Win does not assure nor secure the materialization of actual sale and should not be relied upon by you as such.
Tech & Innovation
Total Risks: 10/51 (20%)Below Sector Average
Innovation / R&D3 | 5.9%
Innovation / R&D - Risk 1
Changed
The markets for our products change rapidly. If we fail to timely develop, commercialize and market new products and solutions that keep pace with technological developments, the changing industry standards and our customers’ needs, or if our competitors or new market entrants introduce their products before us, we may not be able to grow, may lose market share or may not be able to sustain our business.
The wireless equipment industry is characterized by rapid technological developments, changing customer needs that expect increase in product performance and evolving industry standards, as well as increasing pressure to produce more cost-effective products. These rapid technological developments could either render our products obsolete or require us to modify our products, necessitating significant investment, both in time and cost, in new technologies, products and solutions. Our success depends, among other things, on our ability to maintain an agile infrastructure that is capable of adapting to such changes in a timely manner, developing and marketing new products or enhancing our existing products in a timely manner in order to keep pace with developments in technology, customer requirements and competitive solutions offered by third parties, but we cannot assure you that any such development or production ramp-up will be completed in a timely or cost-effective manner, or how the market will receive or adopt our products compared to our competitors’ products. We are continuously seeking to develop new products and enhance our existing products. In 2020 we released our IP-50 products’ family, which joined our line of point-to-point wireless transport products, designed to deliver premium wireless transport capabilities. The IP-50 products deliver solutions to various use cases, including 5G scenarios. In addition, we have achieved leadership in technology by innovating through design of state-of-the-art Systems-on-Chip (SoC), which we plan to integrate in the products we provide. While we expect to productize our 5G SoC in the next couple of months, the overloads and continuous delays in deliveries in the semiconductor market can cause delays in the mass production and productization of our SoC, and therefore, we cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully commercialize such sophisticated and technology-rich SoC by the time we expected. As a result, we may need to purchase SoCs from another source, which may not have the same qualities, and may be more expensive, thus negatively impacting our gross profit. Also, delays in the production of our SoC may delay the launch of new products and consequently we may lose our competitive advantage. Moreover, we cannot provide any assurance that our new products will be accepted in the market or will result in profitable sales or that such products will not require additional quality assurance and defect-fixing processes. We also record perpetual usage rights of technologies of third parties, as well as part of our R&D investments, as assets on our balance sheet. While at the time we record such items as assets, the estimated risk of failure of our R&D integration efforts into our new products and into our new SoC is low, if we fail with our new product introduction, we may incur significant loss. Furthermore, as noted above, we consider the wireless market transition from 4G to 5G technologies to be one of our main growth engines in the foreseeable future. If our competitors or new market entrants will develop products for this market that are, or are perceived to be, more advantageous to our customers from a technological and/or financial (i.e., cost-benefit) perspective, or if they introduce and market their products prior to us doing so, they may be able to better position themselves in the market and we may lose potential or existing market share, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial results and financial condition. Our market is also characterized by a growing demand for more sophisticated and rich software-based capabilities within the network IP layer (layer 3 routing/MPLS), some of which may require us to utilize and embed additional components, either in hardware or software (including third-party software), in the solutions we provide. We cannot assure you that we will continue to be successful in providing these necessary software-based capabilities in a cost-effective manner, which could affect our business performance. Additionally, we have established technological cooperation with third parties to address some of these capabilities, but we cannot assure that such technological cooperation will be successful or achieve the expected results. If indeed such cooperation will not be successful, we shall have to consider other alternatives, and such investigation and entering into new cooperation in lieu of the failed ones, might cause a delay in the introduction of such capabilities. In addition, new products and new versions of existing products are more prone to technical problems which may, among other things, adversely affect our ability to ramp up and to meet delivery commitments to our customers in a timely manner, and may cause us to incur additional manufacturing, development and repair costs. This may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operation. Last, we cannot assure you that we will successfully forecast technology trends or that we will anticipate innovations made by other companies and respond with our own innovation in a timely manner, which could affect our competitiveness in the market.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 2
Our engagement in long term projects expose us to customers credit risks.
Our offering includes long term projects such the networks rollout, program-based selling, 5G design wins and the like. Some of those projects are characterized by providing customers’ credit and availing long payment terms, which exposes us to the risks of default, insolvency, or other adverse effect on the customer’s ability to pay us. Although we hedge or insure some of those risks, the entire exposure cannot be covered. This may result in significant losses and may adversely affect our financial results.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 3
It is difficult to predict the impact of the transition to 5G technologies on our revenues as it depends, among other things, on the timelines of such transition.
We consider the wireless market transition from 4G to 5G technologies to be one of our main growth engines in the foreseeable future. Thus, the development roadmap of our products is designed to introduce to the market 5G-based products. Nonetheless, the pace of the transition is hard to predict, as it depends on numerous factors which are uncertain and beyond our control, including 5G technology developments, standardization and deployments of 5G networks, as well as on the effect of COVID-19 on the ability to, among other things, deploy 5G networks. The expected transition from 4G to 5G technologies has led to an overall slowdown in procurement and capital investments in 4G infrastructure and equipment by our customers, and such slowdown, among other things, together with the continuing COVID-19 effects, contributed to a decline in our results from 2019 to 2020. Further delays in 5G technologies deployment, could have an adverse effect on our future revenues, profitability and cash flow and cause our results to materially differ from our expectations.
Trade Secrets3 | 5.9%
Trade Secrets - Risk 1
We occasionally use Open Source codes during our development process. An unintentional breach of Open Source licenses might compel us to publish certain confidential and proprietary codes, incur damages, and result with intellectual property infringement claims that could be expensive and could disrupt our business.
We occasionally use open source software component under open source licenses. As certain open source copyright licenses may be categorized as “copyleft licenses” that place certain requirements and restrictions on users, we maintain a process to assure the use of permissive licenses that guarantee the freedom to use, modify and redistribute, and creating proprietary derivative works, in order to avoid any limitations on our IPs and exposure of confidential proprietary software. Nonetheless, if we shall not correctly monitor and manage those licenses, fail to maintain their terms or otherwise fail in identifying limited open source codes, we might be subject to third party copyright and to reciprocity obligation requiring us to make our code open for use by others as well. Such claims my harm our development efforts and competitive advantage and expose us to copyright infringement claims that could be expensive and could disrupt our business.
Trade Secrets - Risk 2
Defending against intellectual property infringement claims could be expensive and could disrupt our business.
The wireless equipment industry is characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights, which has resulted in often protracted and expensive litigation. We have been exposed to infringement allegations in the past, and we may in the future be notified that we or our vendors, allegedly infringed certain patent or other intellectual property rights of others. Any such litigation or claim could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. In the event of an adverse result of any such litigation, we could be required to pay substantial damages (including potentially punitive damages and attorney’s fees should a court find such infringement willful), or to cease the use and licensing of allegedly infringing technology and the sale of allegedly infringing products (including those we purchase from third parties). We may be forced to expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology, obtain licenses for the infringing technology or replace infringing third party equipment. We cannot assure you that we would be successful in developing such non-infringing technology, that any license for the infringing technology would be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, or that we would be able to find a suitable substitute for infringing third party equipment.
Trade Secrets - Risk 3
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position may be harmed.
Our ability to compete will depend, in part, on our ability to obtain and enforce intellectual property protection for our technology internationally. We currently rely upon a combination of trade secret, patent, trademark and copyright laws, as well as contractual rights, to protect our intellectual property. However, as our patent portfolio may not be as extensive as those of our competitors, we may have limited ability to assert any patent rights in negotiations with, or in counterclaims against, competitors who assert intellectual property rights against us. We also enter into confidentiality, non-competition and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors engaged in our research and development activities, as well as non-disclosure agreements with our suppliers and certain customers so as to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. We cannot assure you that any steps taken by us will be adequate to deter misappropriation or impede independent third-party development of similar technologies. Moreover, under current law, we may not be able to enforce the non-competition agreements with our employees to their fullest extent. We cannot assure you that the protection provided for our intellectual property by the laws and courts of foreign nations will be substantially similar to the remedies available under U.S. law. Furthermore, we cannot assure you that third parties will not assert infringement claims against us based on foreign intellectual property rights and laws that are different from those established in the United States. Any such failure or inability to obtain or maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property rights, for any reason, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, in an effort to further grow our business, we may also sell our innovative Systems-on-Chip (SoC), which we use within our products, to some of our larger competitors, with full or limited access to our technology capabilities, over which they may design products that more effectively compete with our own.
Cyber Security2 | 3.9%
Cyber Security - Risk 1
Cyber-attacks on our customers’ networks involving our products could have an adverse effect on our business.
Maintaining the security of our products (including newly introduced software products) which are installed with our customers is a critical issue for us, therefore each year we invest additional resources and technologies to better protect our assets. However, security researchers, criminal hackers and other third parties regularly develop new techniques to penetrate computer and network security measures. Cyber-attacks, or other breaches of security on our customers’ networks, may be initiated at any network location or device including initiation through our products. Although we maintain high levels of cyber-security aware development processes, we cannot assure that such attacks, or other breaches of security through our products, will fail and therefore may negatively affect our customers’ business. Moreover, criminal hackers or hackers associated with national governments, may target a customer of ours or even try to get access to a wider group of the communication network users while devoting immense resourced for long-term access to industry, economy or critical infrastructure users, gather intelligence and develop the means to disable their systems, which attacks are hard to detect, prevent and illuminate. Such attacks could be highly sophisticated, such as slipping malware and Trojan horses and warms into software updates or systematically search for vulnerabilities in our products or in the components we use even before it supplies to us. While we maintain insurance coverage for some of these events, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred. In addition, these events could also result in damage to our reputation which will further negatively impact our business. Unauthorized use or behavior on part of our customers’ employees or taking insufficient cybersecurity measures by certain customers, could result with data leaks and penetration to our systems that are located or installed in its network. In addition, the shift to software solutions coupled with requirement to move data to cloud-based and open-source environments impose enhanced cybersecurity challenges that can make our products and services more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These potential breaches of our security measures could expose our customers to network failures or other related risks, result in litigation and potential liability or fines for us, damage to our brand and reputation or otherwise harm our business.
Cyber Security - Risk 2
Increased breaches of network or information technology security along with changes in privacy and data protection laws could have an adverse effect on our business.
Cyber-attacks or other breaches of network or IT security may cause equipment failures or disrupt our systems and operations, expose us to ransom demands or sensitive data leaks. We might be subject to attempts to breach the security of our networks and IT infrastructure through cyber-attacks, malware, computer viruses and other means of unauthorized access. While we maintain insurance coverage for some of these events, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred. While we take cybersecurity measures and maintain redundancy and disaster recovery practices for our critical services, we cannot assure you that our cybersecurity measures and technology will adequately protect us from these and other risks. Furthermore, our inability to operate our facilities as a result of such events, even for a limited period of time, may result in significant expenses or loss of market share to our competitors. Maintaining the security of our products, computers and networks is a critical issue for us and our customers. Therefore, each year we invest additional resources and technologies to better protect our assets. However, security researchers, criminal hackers and other third parties regularly develop new techniques to penetrate computer and network security measures. In addition, hackers also develop and deploy viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other malicious software programs, some of which may be specifically designed to attack our products, systems, computers or networks. Moreover, due to COVID-19 and current labor market trends, a significant number of our employees or employees of our vendors, suppliers and service providers, have moved to work from their homes and remotely access our or such vendors’, suppliers’ or service providers’ IT networks. Such remote working mode creates the risk of attacking the end-point user stations, connection channels and gateways. We have seen a significant increase of cyberattacks on enterprises and individuals in recent years and we assume that we shall further be exposed to such threats going forward. In addition, our and our vendors’, suppliers’ and service providers’ IT systems are increasingly being moved to cloud-based platforms such as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service) IT solutions. The or based cloud-based arena poses risks of attack on and from the end-point user stations, connection channels and gateways as well as the IaaS and SaaS infrastructures of our service providers. Additionally, external parties may attempt to fraudulently induce our employees or users of our products to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our data or our customers’ data. These potential breaches of our security measures and the accidental loss, inadvertent disclosure or unauthorized dissemination of proprietary information or sensitive, personal or confidential data about us, our employees or our customers, including the potential loss or disclosure of such information or data as a result of hacking, fraud, trickery or other forms of deception, could expose us, our employees, our customers or the individuals affected, to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, result in litigation and potential liability or fines for us, damage to our brand and reputation or otherwise harm our business. In addition, a failure to protect the privacy of customers’ or employees’ confidential and/or personal data against breaches of network or IT security could result in monetary liabilities and damage to our reputation. The regulatory framework for data and privacy protection issues is evolving worldwide, including the imposition of more comprehensive data protection requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which imposes stricter obligations and provides for greater penalties for noncompliance. These laws and regulations constantly evolve and remain subject to significant change. In addition, the application and interpretation of these laws and regulations are often uncertain. New data protection and privacy laws and regulations add additional complexity, requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment in resources to compliance programs, and could result in increased compliance costs and/or changes in business practices and policies. Unauthorized use or behavior on part of our vendors’, suppliers’ and service providers’ employees or taking insufficient cybersecurity measures by them, could result with data leaks and penetration to our databases that are located or installed in their network. In addition, the shift to software solutions coupled with requirement to move data to cloud-based and open-source environments impose enhanced cybersecurity challenges that can make our vendors, suppliers and service providers more vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Technology2 | 3.9%
Technology - Risk 1
Our products are used in critical communications networks, which may subject us to significant liability claims.
Since our products are used in critical communications networks, we may be subject to significant liability claims if our products do not work properly. The terms of agreements with our customers do not always provide sufficient protection from liability claims. In addition, any insurance policies we have may not adequately cover our exposure with respect to such claims. We warrant to our current customers that our products will operate in accordance with our product specifications, but if our products fail to conform to these specifications, our customers could require us to remedy the failure or could assert claims for damages. Liability claims could require us to spend significant time and money in litigation or to pay significant damages. Any such claims, successful or not, would be costly and time-consuming to defend, and could divert management’s attention and seriously damage our reputation and our business.
Technology - Risk 2
Added
We are expanding our service offering to new areas, including software-based services (SaaS) and solutions for wireless communication networks design, implementation, operation, monitoring and maintenance, either remotely or on premise, which pose product development, marketing, sales, operation, implementation and support challenges that might result in significant losses and may adversely affect our financial results.
We are expanding the services we offer to new areas including the introduction of software-based tools and services to support design, implementation, operation, monitoring and maintenance of wireless communication networks, either remotely or on-premise. Although we have deployed similar solutions for our own use for many years, the complexity of such solutions, the lack of customer-experience in such SaaS and similar solutions, us having to operate and support such activities vis-à-vis multiple third parties if demand increases rapidly without us having sufficient time to accommodate accordingly, all increase the risk of not meeting our performance obligations. Furthermore, the selling of software solutions includes inherent risks common for such type of activities, such as, among other things, cybersecurity vulnerability, unexpected integration challenges, debugging, upgrading and increased need for version releases, underpricing, etc. In addition, new products and new versions of existing products or tools, are more prone to bugs, software failure and other problems which may, among other things, adversely affect our ability to ramp up this activity or meet our commitments to our customers, and may cause us to incur additional development, debugging and implementation costs. Moreover, the outcome following such projects’ implementation may not be to the full satisfaction of the customer or aligned with their expectations (whether or not justified), who may in turn, impose penalties against us or exercise any other remedy available to it under agreement or law. Any of these risks, among others, may also cause the NRE (Non-Recurring Engineering) and cost of such projects to be higher than planned. Our planning, shaping and development of these software-based solutions is based on our experience and understanding of the market needs and challenges, and forecasted evolution of market developments, such as market trends, future use cases, business concepts, technologies and future demand. However, there is no assurance that we have successfully forecasted or will continue to successfully forecast such trends and needs, that the markets will accept our solutions as we anticipate or that our offering will satisfy future demand. A failure in any of the above, may result in significant losses and may adversely affect our financial results and reputation.
Legal & Regulatory
Total Risks: 8/51 (16%)Below Sector Average
Regulation5 | 9.8%
Regulation - Risk 1
We are subject to complex and evolving regulatory requirements that may be difficult and expensive to comply with and that could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our business and operations are subject to regulatory requirements in Israel and may be subject to additional regulatory requirements in other jurisdictions where we operate or where our subsidiaries’ offices are located, including, among other things, with respect to government contracts, global trade compliance, export controls, trade sanctions, labor, tax, anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and data privacy and protection. Compliance with these regulatory requirements may be onerous, time-consuming, and expensive, especially where these requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction or where the jurisdictional reach of certain requirements is not clearly defined or seeks to reach across national borders. Regulatory requirements in one jurisdiction may make it difficult or impossible to do business in another jurisdiction. Moreover, the cross-border nature of our business operations may trigger not only a responsibility to comply with Israeli trade compliance legislation but also a responsibility to comply with certain applicable foreign trade control regulations. Certain of such requirements may also vary from the jurisdiction in which we operate to jurisdictions in which our suppliers, customers or resellers are operating. If we or our suppliers fail to obtain any required export licenses, or where existing licenses are revoked or become subject to export restrictions, our ability to manufacture, market and sell our products and services could be adversely affected. Additionally, we may be limited in our ability to transfer or outsource certain aspects of our business to certain jurisdictions, and may be limited in our ability to undertake research, development, or sales activities in certain jurisdictions, or we may be unsuccessful in obtaining permits, licenses or other authorizations required to operate our business, such as for the marketing, sale, import or export of products, solutions and services, which may adversely affect our business, operations and results. We rely on a global supply chain and on certain marketing channels that may be similarly affected by these regulatory requirements. We cannot assure you that despite our efforts we will be able to successfully or effectively assure that all of our suppliers, agent and resellers will adhere, or will succeed in making sure that their suppliers or customers adhere, to the regulatory requirements that flow down to them. Further, these regulatory requirements are subject to change and governments around the world are adopting a growing number of compliance and enforcement initiatives. In particular, the pace and scope of changes to global trade control regulations has increased dramatically over the past year, in multiple jurisdictions relevant to our business. These regulations may continue to increase and change at an unusually rapid pace. It has been and may continue to be increasingly difficult to keep up with the pace and scope of these changes. Violations of applicable laws or regulations, including by our officers, employees, contractors or agents, may harm our reputation and deter governments and governmental agencies and other existing or potential customers or partners from purchasing our solutions. Furthermore, non-compliance with applicable laws or regulations could result in fines, damages, civil penalties, or criminal penalties against us, our officers or our employees, restrictions on the conduct of our business, and damage to our reputation. While we make efforts to comply with such regulatory requirements, we cannot assure you that we will be fully successful in our efforts, or that that regulatory changes will not negatively affect our ability to develop, manufacture and sell the products, solutions and services we offer. Our business is subject to numerous laws and regulations designed to protect the environment, including with respect to discharge management of hazardous substances. Although we believe that we comply with these requirements and that such compliance does not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows, the failure to comply with current or future environmental requirements could expose the Company to criminal, civil and administrative charges. Due to the nature of our business and environmental risks, we cannot provide assurance that any such material liability will not arise in the future. Our wireless communications products emit electromagnetic radiation. While we are currently unaware of any negative effects associated with our products, there has been publicity regarding the potentially negative direct and indirect health and safety effects of electromagnetic emissions from wireless telephones and other wireless equipment sources, including allegations that these emissions may cause cancer. Health and safety issues related to our products may arise that could lead to litigation or other actions against us or to additional regulation of our products, and we may be required to modify our technology without the ability to do so. Even if these concerns prove to be baseless, the resulting negative publicity could affect our ability to market these products and, in turn, could harm our business and results of operations. Claims against other wireless equipment suppliers or wireless service providers could adversely affect the demand for our transport solutions. The regulatory framework for data protection and privacy issues is rapidly evolving worldwide and is likely to continue developing in the foreseeable future. As such, in May 2016, the European Union adopted the GDPR, fully enforceable as of May 25, 2018, which imposes striker data protection obligations and provides for greater penalties for noncompliance. Any inability to adequately address these privacy and data protection concerns or to comply with the respective applicable laws, rules and regulations could have an adverse effect on our business prospects, results of operations and/or financial position.
Regulation - Risk 2
If we fail to obtain regulatory approval for our products, or if sufficient radio frequency spectrum is not allocated for use by our products, our ability to market our products may be restricted.
Generally, our products must conform to a variety of regulatory requirements and international treaties established to avoid interference among users of transmission frequencies and to permit interconnection of telecommunications equipment. Any delays in compliance with respect to our future products could delay the introduction of those products. Also, these regulatory requirements may change from time to time, which could affect the design and marketing of our products as well as the competition we face from other suppliers’ products, which may not be affected as much from such changes. Delays in allocation of new spectrum for use with wireless transport communications, such as the E, V, D and W bands in various countries, at prices which are competitive for our customers, may also adversely affect the marketing and sales of our products. In addition, in most jurisdictions in which we operate, users of our products are generally required to either have a license to operate and provide communications services in the applicable radio frequency or must acquire the right to do so from another license holder. Consequently, our ability to market our products is affected by the allocation of the radio frequency spectrum by governmental authorities, which may be by auction or other regulatory selection. These governmental authorities may not allocate sufficient radio frequency spectrum for use by our products. We may not be successful in obtaining regulatory approval for our products from these authorities and as we develop new products either our products or some of the regulations will need to change to take full advantage of the new product capabilities in some geographies. Historically, in many developed countries, the lack of available radio frequency spectrum has inhibited the growth of wireless telecommunications networks. If sufficient radio spectrum is not allocated for use by our products, our ability to market our products may be restricted, which would have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, regulatory decisions allocating spectrum for use in wireless transport at frequencies used by our competitors’ products, could increase the competition we face. In addition, the 5G rollout could be contingent upon the allocation of the radio frequency spectrum by governmental authorities which could cause a delay in the ramp up of those activities. Other areas of regulation and governmental restrictions, including tariffs on imports and technology controls on exports or regulations related to licensing and allocation processes, could adversely affect our operations and financial results.
Regulation - Risk 3
An industry downturn, reduction in our customers’ profitability due to increased regulation or new mobile services requirements, may cause operators’ investments in networks to slow, be delayed or stop, which could harm our business.
We are exposed to changing network models that affect operator spending on infrastructure as well as trends in investment cycles of telecom operators and other service providers. The changes include: (i) further expansion of coverage; expansion out of metro, as well as other urban and suburban areas to rural areas; (ii) densification and optimization of the 4G networks to provide faster speeds; (iii) introduction of 5G services; and (iv) 2G and/or 3G networks shutdown, which is expected to take place within the next several years and designed to free spectrum for the delivery of 5G services. The proliferation of strategic options for service providers, as outlined above, coupled with uncertain development path and clarity as to the future standards and mass-market use cases, may cause service providers to prolong evaluations of services and network strategies, resulting in slower and smaller budget spent in the next several years, which may negatively affect our business. In addition, the intensification of use of “over-the-top services” - which make use of the operators’ network to deliver rich content to users but do not generate revenue to operators - is causing operators to lose a substantial portion of their potential revenues. In addition, changes in regulatory requirements in certain jurisdictions around the world are allowing smaller operators to enter the market, which may also reduce our customers’ pricing to their end-users, further causing them to lose revenues. This has made operators more careful in their spending on infrastructure upgrades and buildouts. As a result, operators are looking for more cost-efficient solutions and network architectures, which will allow them to break the linearity of cost, coverage, capacity and costs of service delivery through more efficient use of existing infrastructure and assets. If operators fail to monetize new services, fail to introduce new business models or experience a decline in operator revenues or profitability, their willingness or ability to invest further in their network systems may decrease, which will reduce their demand for our products and services and may have an adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
Regulation - Risk 4
Business practices in emerging markets may expose us to legal and business conduct-related regulatory risks.
Local business practices in jurisdictions in which we operate, and particularly in emerging markets, may be inconsistent with international regulatory requirements, such as anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations, to which we are subject. It is possible that, notwithstanding our strict policies and in violation of our instructions, employees of ours, subcontractors, agents or business partners may violate such legal and regulatory requirements, which may expose us to criminal or civil enforcement actions. If we fail to comply with or effectively enforce such legal and regulatory requirements, our business and reputation may be harmed, and we might be exposed to civil and criminal penalties or sanctions.
Regulation - Risk 5
We may lose our status as a foreign private issuer, which would increase our compliance costs and could negatively impact our operations results.
We may lose our foreign private issuer status if (a) a majority of our outstanding voting securities are either directly or indirectly owned of record by residents of the United States and (b) one or more of (i) a majority of our executive officers or directors are United States citizens or residents, (ii) more than 50% of our assets are located in the United States or (iii) our business is administered principally in the United States. In such case, we would be required to, among other things, file periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms with the SEC, which are more extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer, follow U.S. proxy disclosure requirements, including the requirement to disclose, under U.S. law, more detailed information about the compensation of our senior executive officers on an individual basis, modify certain of our policies to comply with accepted governance practices associated with U.S. domestic issuers and we would lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements on U.S. stock exchanges that are available to foreign private issuers, as described in the previous risk factor above. All of the above would cause us to incur substantial additional internal and external costs, including for outside legal and accounting support.
Taxation & Government Incentives3 | 5.9%
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 1
We received grants from the IIA that may require us to pay royalties and restrict our ability to transfer technologies or know-how outside of Israel.
In prior years we have received government grants from the Israel Innovation Authority (the “IIA”) for the financing of a significant portion of our research and development expenditures in Israel. Unless otherwise agreed by IIA, we must nevertheless continue to comply with the requirements of the Israeli Law for the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development, 1984 and regulations promulgated thereunder (the “R&D Law”) with respect to technologies that were developed using such grants (the “Financed Know-How”), including an obligation to repay such grants from consideration received from sales of products which are based on the Financed Know-How, if and when such sales occur and if applicable in accordance with the grant plan or under the agreements entered into between the Company and IIA. In accordance with certain grant plans, in addition to the obligation to pay royalties to the IIA, the R&D Law requires that products which incorporate Financed Know-How be manufactured in Israel, and prohibits the transfer of Financed Know-How and any right derived therefrom to third parties, unless otherwise approved in advance by the IIA. Such prior approval may be subject to payment of increased royalties. Although such restrictions do not apply to the export from Israel of the Company’s products developed with such Financed Know-How, they may prevent us from engaging in transactions involving the sale, outsource or transfer of such Financed Know-How or of manufacturing activities with respect to any product or technology based on Financed Know-How, outside of Israel, which might otherwise be beneficial to us. Furthermore, the consideration available to our shareholders in a transaction involving the transfer outside of Israel of Financed Know-How (such as a merger or similar transaction) may be reduced by any amounts that we are required to pay to the IIA. For more information regarding the restrictions imposed by the R&D Law and regarding grants received by us from the IIA, please see Item 4. “INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY- B. Business Overview - The Israel Innovation Authority.”
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 2
The tax benefits to which we are currently entitled from our approved enterprise program, require us to satisfy specified conditions, which, if we fail to meet, would deny us from these benefits in the future. Further, if such tax benefits are reduced or eliminated in the future, we may be required to pay increased taxes.
The Company has certain capital investment programs that have been granted approved enterprise status by the Israeli government (the “Approved Programs”), pursuant to Israel’s Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959 (the “Encouragement Law”). When we begin to generate taxable income from these approved enterprise programs, the portion of our income derived from these programs will be tax exempt for a period of two years. The benefits available to an approved enterprise program are dependent upon the fulfillment of conditions stipulated under the Encouragement Law and in the certificates of approval or in rulings obtained from the Israeli Tax Authorities. If we fail to comply with these conditions, in whole or in part, we may be required to pay additional taxes for the period(s) in which we benefited from the tax exemption and would likely be denied these benefits in the future. The amount by which our taxes would increase will depend on the difference between the then-applicable corporate tax rate and the rate of tax, if any, that we would otherwise pay as an approved enterprise, and on the amount of any taxable income that we may earn in the future. In addition, the Israeli government may reduce, or eliminate in the future, tax benefits available to approved enterprise programs. Our Approved Programs and the resulting tax benefits may not continue in the future at their current levels or at any level. The termination or reduction of these tax benefits would likely increase our tax liability. The amount, if any, by which our tax liability would increase will depend upon the rate of any tax increase, the amount of any tax rate benefit reduction, and the amount of any taxable income that we may earn in the future. For a description of legislation regarding “Preferred Enterprise” see Item 10. “ADDITIONAL INFORMATION”.
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 3
Additional tax liabilities could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
As a global corporation, we are subject to income and other taxes both in Israel and in various foreign jurisdictions including indirect as well as withholding taxes. Our domestic and international tax liabilities are subject to the allocation of revenues and expenses in different jurisdictions and differentiation in the timing of recognizing revenues and expenses. Our tax expense includes estimates or additional tax, which may be incurred for tax exposures and reflects various estimates and assumptions, including assessments of our future earnings that could impact the valuation or recognition of our deferred tax assets. From time to time, we are subject to income and other tax audits, the timing of which is unpredictable. Our future results of operations could be adversely affected by changes in our effective tax rate as a result of a change in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in our overall profitability, changes in tax legislation and rates, changes in tax treaties, changes in international tax guidelines (such as the OECD Base Erosions and Profit Shifting project – known as BEPS), changes in generally accepted accounting principles, changes in the valuation or recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities, the results of audits and examinations of previously filed tax returns and continuing assessments of our tax exposures. While we believe we comply with applicable tax laws, there can be no assurance that a governing tax authority will not have a different interpretation of the law and impose additional taxes. Should we be assessed with additional taxes, there could be a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
Macro & Political
Total Risks: 6/51 (12%)Above Sector Average
Economy & Political Environment2 | 3.9%
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 1
Conditions in the Middle East and in Israel may adversely affect our operations.
Our headquarters, a substantial part of our research and development facilities and some of our contract manufacturers’ facilities are located in Israel. Accordingly, we are directly influenced by the political, economic and military conditions affecting Israel. Specifically, we could be adversely affected by: • hostilities involving Israel; • the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its present trading partners; • a downturn in the economic or financial condition of Israel; and • a full or partial mobilization of the reserve forces of the Israeli army. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has been subject to a number of armed conflicts that have taken place between it and its Middle Eastern neighbors. While Israel has entered into peace agreements with Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, it has no peace arrangements with any other neighboring or other Arab countries. Further, all efforts to improve Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians have failed to result in a peaceful solution, and there have been numerous periods of hostility, acts of terror against Israeli civilians, as experienced recently once again in Israel, as well as civil insurrection of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel is engaged, from time to time, in armed conflicts with Hamas (a militia group and political party controlling the Gaza Strip). These conflicts have involved missile strikes against civilian targets in the south and center parts of Israel, most recently in May 2021. Over the years, this state of hostility, varying from time to time in intensity and degree, has led to security and economic problems for Israel. In addition, relations between Israel and Iran continue to be hostile, due to the fact that Iran is perceived by Israel as sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah (a Shia Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon), maintains a military presence in Syria, and is viewed as a strategic threat to Israel in light of its nuclear program. Air bombing attacks on what is perceived to be Iranian facilities, assets and weapons supplies in Syria and the assassinations of certain Iran’s senior generals which to Iran belief is associated to Israel, has contributed to the tension in the region and further intensified the hostility between Iran and Israel and between Israel and Hezbollah, which is positioned alongside Israel’s northern border. All of the above raise a concern as to the stability in the region, which may affect the political and security situation in Israel and therefore could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, the continued conflict with the Palestinians is disrupting some of Israel’s trading activities. Certain Muslim countries, as well as certain companies and organizations around the world, continue to participate in a boycott of Israeli brands and others doing business with Israel and Israeli companies. The boycott, restrictive laws, policies or practices directed towards Israel or Israeli businesses could, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business in the future, for example by way of sales opportunities that we could not pursue or from which we will be precluded. In addition, should the BDS Movement, the movement for boycotting, divesting and sanctioning Israel and Israeli institutions (including universities) and products become increasingly influential in the United States and Europe, this may also adversely affect our business and financial condition. Further deterioration of Israel’s relations with the Palestinians or countries in the Middle East could expand the disruption of international trading activities in Israel, may materially and negatively affect our business conditions, could harm our results of operations. and adversely affect the Company’s share price. Our business may also be affected by the obligation of personnel to perform military service. Our employees who are Israeli citizens are generally subject to a periodical obligation to perform reserve military service, until they reach the age of 40 (or older, for reservists with certain occupations). During times of a military conflict, these employees may be called to active duty for longer periods of time. In response to the increase in violence and terrorist activity in the past years, there have been periods of significant call-ups for military reservists and it is possible that there will be further military reserve duty call-ups in the future. In case of further regional instability such employees, who may include one or more of our key employees, may be absent for extended periods of time which may materially adversely affect our business. Furthermore, our Company’s insurance does not cover loss arising out of events related to the security situation in the Middle East. While the Israeli government generally covers the reinstatement value of direct damages caused by acts of war or terror attacks, we cannot be certain that such coverage will be maintained. We can give no assurance that the political, economic and security situation in Israel will not have a material adverse effect on our business in the future.
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 2
Added
As part of our business is located throughout Europe, we are exposed to the negative impact of invasion of Ukraine by Russia on the European markets in which we operate and on our operations.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is likely to have numerous adverse effects on the global and European markets in which we operate. Sanctions and export controls imposed by the U.S. U.K. and E.U. countries significantly limit trade with Russian entities and individuals, requiring us to apply for export licenses and approval for orders placed by Russian customers or that are to be delivered to Russian end-users, while there is no assurance that such licenses and permissions shall be awarded. Due to the pace of changes, the complexity and the immediate effect of the new sanctions and export controls, they pose a risk of failure to timely respond, adjust, implement or comply therewith. These new regulatory measures may also lead to the cancellation or suspension of orders in the short term as well as a more long-term loss of market share to competitors who are unaffected or do not seek to comply with the new Russia-related trade limitation. Furthermore, as Russia is a global source of raw materials, oil and gas and additional goods and commodities, the ongoing war and hostility also disrupts the supply of these resources (in addition to the imposition of sanctions and embargoes), causes price increases, shortage, disruption to deliveries, shipping and transportation. These disruptions are reflected both in price increases and shortages impacting our contract manufacturers and suppliers, and adversely affect our production and supply chain costs and timelines. Furthermore, there is an increased risk of cyber-attacks and deliberate disruption to the routine activities in general and communication channels in particular. The above-described risks are continuously changing and developing at an unprecedented rate as the war continues. Those and other risks could have an adverse effect on us, our business, suppliers and customers.
International Operations2 | 3.9%
International Operations - Risk 1
Added
Our global operation exposes us to the effects of global economic trends such as rising inflation, rising interest rates, commodity price increases/fluctuations, commodity shortages, exposure to economic slowdown, etc.
The global nature of our activity and our global presence and operation in different countries, regulatory, legal and financial regimes, exposure to wide spread of customers, suppliers, subcontractors and contractors, global and local macro and micro developments, and the aggregative impact thereof, might have direct or indirect impact on our business and results of operations, which are hard to predict, monitor or asses, causing uncertainties and high volatility with respect to our estimated or expected results of operations and, in addition, could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
International Operations - Risk 2
Due to the volume of our sales in emerging markets, we are susceptible to a number of political, economic and regulatory risks that could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.
A majority of our sales are made in emerging economies in Latin America, India, Asia Pacific and Africa. For each of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, sales in these regions accounted for approximately 68% and 69% of our revenues, respectively. As a result, the occurrence of international, political, regulatory or economic events in these regions could adversely affect our business and result in significant revenue shortfalls and collection risk. Any such revenue shortfalls and/or collection risks could have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, other governmental action related to tariffs or international trade agreements, changes in U.S. social, political, regulatory and economic conditions or in laws and policies governing foreign trade, manufacturing, development and investment in the territories and countries, where our customers are located, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows. Below are the main risks and challenges that we face as a result of operating in emerging markets: • unexpected or inconsistent changes in regulatory requirements, including security regulations, licensing and allocation processes; • unexpected changes in or imposition of tax, tariffs, customs levies or other barriers and restrictions; • fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; • restrictions on currency and cash repatriation; • the burden of complying with a variety of foreign laws, including foreign import restrictions which may be applicable to our products; • difficulties in protecting intellectual property; • laws and business practices favoring local competitors; • collection delays and uncertainties; • business interruptions resulting from geopolitical actions, including war and acts of terrorism, or natural disasters, emergence of a pandemic, or other widespread health emergencies (or concerns over the possibility of such an emergency, including for example, the COVID-19 outbreak); • requirements to do business in local currency; • requirements to manufacture or purchase locally, including the possible transfer of knowhow and intellectual property licenses; and • judicial systems that do not apply the principals of natural justice with regard to disputes with foreign nationals. All of these risks could result in increased costs or decreased revenues, either of which could have a materially adverse effect on our profitability.
Natural and Human Disruptions1 | 2.0%
Natural and Human Disruptions - Risk 1
The global COVID-19 pandemic may continue to negatively impact the global economy in a significant manner for a further extended period of time, and may also adversely affect our operating results in a material manner.
The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic had created macro-economic uncertainty and disruption in the business and financial markets. Many countries around the world, including Israel, have taken various measures designated to limit the spread of COVID-19, including the closure of workplaces, restricting travel, prohibiting assembling, closing international borders and quarantining populated areas. As our global operations require physical presence in many stages of our business activities, including lab work that cannot be done remotely, travel for installation and services, shipment of materials and products, as well as teamwork, we are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of and the restrictions caused by COVID-19. If COVID-19 continues to negatively impact the global economy in a significant manner for a further extended period of time, this may also adversely affect our operating results in a material manner. Below are some of the main risks and challenges that we have been facing and may continue to face as a result of a prolonged disruption of work, global deliveries and transportation due to COVID-19, which could have an adverse effect on our business, and on various aspects of our results of operations, cash flow and financial condition: • Increase in shipment and logistical costs and delivery time. COVID-19 presents various challenges to global shipment and delivery of goods, products and materials, resulting in continuous growth in shipment costs, shortage in vehicles and available shipping time slots, conjunction and cul-de-sac in sea ports, which are slowing down the delivery timetables and endanger the timely performance of projects and contractual delivery obligations. Such increased costs cannot always be reflected in the prices for our products, which causes erosion in our margins. In addition, we may suffer from cancellation of orders or termination of agreements, and imposition of penalties for late deliveries. • Disruptions to our Marketing and Sales activities. Disruptions or restrictions may also be imposed on our marketing and sales operations, including on our ability to interact with existing and new customers. • Adverse effects on employees’ health, working routines and teamwork. COVID-19 could continue to endanger or harm the health of our employees, including key employees, which could in turn harm our ability to function fully and effectively. • Damage to significant customers. COVID-19 has had and could continue to have an adverse effect on our business as a result of the materialization of any of the above or similar risks with respect to our significant customers. Our business has been and could further be impacted negatively if there is a prolonged impact of COVID-19 in countries from which we generate a significant portion of our business. For example, this may cause and to some extent has caused a freeze of procurement budgets, cancellation, suspension or reduction in new equipment purchases from us, failure by our customers in meeting their obligations under purchase orders already issued, postponement or cancellation of rollout projects for wireless networks, or the inability to pursue network development towards 5G, and consequently, postponement in the transition to 5G technologies and in the introduction of our new products and capabilities. • Difficulties in debt collection. COVID-19 may cause delays in billing and in collection of amounts due from our customers, and in satisfying revenue recognition procedures, including as a result of financial difficulties and insolvencies of major customers, which could lead to slowing the payment of their obligations to us or even discharging those obligations, or due to inability to surrender or receive payment documents such as acceptance certificates which sometimes require on-site acceptance tests that depend on our or our subcontractors’ ability to arrive to the respective sites. • Damage to our competitive position in the market. Since we focus on certain elements of wireless communication networks and not on the entire end-to-end offering up to the end-users’ end points (as further detailed below), we may not benefit from certain conditions resulting from COVID-19, as opposed to other players in the market. For example, we did not benefit from the growth in demand for bandwidth and Wi-Fi connectivity due to the increased need for remote applications, as did the WISPs (Wireless Internet Service Providers). As the scale and duration of these effects remain uncertain, further realization of any of the above-mentioned or other risks could have macro and micro negative effects on the global economy and financial markets in general, and on our business in particular, and cause a material risk to our operations, financial condition and share price.
Capital Markets1 | 2.0%
Capital Markets - Risk 1
Our international operations expose us to the risk of fluctuations in currency exchange rates and restrictions related to foreign currency exchange controls.
We are a global company that operates in a multi-currency environment. Although we derive a significant portion of our revenues in U.S. dollars, a portion of our revenues are derived from customers operating in local currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Therefore, devaluation in the local currencies of our customers relative to the U.S. dollar could cause our customers to cancel or decrease orders or to delay payment, which could have a negative impact on our revenues and results of operations. We are also subject to other foreign currency risks including repatriation restrictions in certain countries, particularly in Latin America, Asia Pacific and in Africa. See also the risk of “Due to the volume of our sales in emerging markets, we are susceptible to a number of political, economic and regulatory risks that could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations”. A substantial portion of our operating expenses are denominated in NIS, and to a lesser extent, other non-U.S. dollar currencies. Our NIS-denominated expenses consist principally of salaries and related costs as well as other related personnel expenses. In addition, our lease and Israeli facility-related expenses and certain engagements with other Israeli vendors are denominated in NIS as well. We anticipate that a portion of our expenses will continue to be denominated in NIS. Devaluation of the U.S. dollar against the NIS, could have a negative impact on our results of operations. We use derivative financial instruments, such as foreign exchange forward contracts, to mitigate the risk of changes in foreign exchange rates on our balance sheet accounts and forecast cash flows. We do not use derivative financial instruments or other “hedging” techniques to cover all our potential exposure and may not purchase derivative instruments that adequately insulate us from foreign currency exchange risks. In some countries, we are unable to use “hedging” techniques to mitigate our risks because hedging options are not available for certain government restricted currencies. Moreover, derivative instruments are usually limited in time and as a result, cannot mitigate currency risks for the longer term. During 2021, we incurred losses in the amount of $3.4 million as a result of exchange rate fluctuations that have not been fully offset by our hedging policy. The volatility in the foreign currency markets may make it challenging to hedge our foreign currency exposures effectively. In some cases, we may face regulatory, tax, accounting or corporate restrictions on money transfer from the country from which consideration should have been paid to us (or to our respective selling subsidiary) or revenues could have accumulated and allocated to us, or could face general restriction on foreign currency transfer outside of such country. Inability to collect and receive amounts that are already due and payable, could have a negative impact on our results of operations.
Production
Total Risks: 5/51 (10%)Below Sector Average
Manufacturing1 | 2.0%
Manufacturing - Risk 1
We are engaged in providing installation or rollout projects for our customers, which are long-term projects that are subject to inherent risks, including early delivery of our products with delayed payment terms, delays or failures in acceptance testing procedures and other items beyond our control, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.
In certain projects, we serve as an integrator and prime contractor of end-to-end rollout projects, which include installation and other services for our customers. In this context, we may act as the prime contractor and equipment supplier for network build-out projects, providing installation, supervision and commissioning services required for these projects, or we may provide such services and equipment (or part thereof) for projects handled by others, primarily system integrators. Those rollout projects often require us to deliver products and services representing an important portion of the contract price before receiving any significant payment from the customer, as significant amounts are to be paid by our customers over time. In cases where we do not serve as prime contractors as aforesaid, and the full project is handled by others, even if we have delivered to our commitments, there is a risk that we will not be able to receive payments in a timely fashion due to failure or default on part of the prime contractor or other issues which are not related to the performance of our portion of the project, causing payment delays by the end customers. Therefore, these types of projects could cause us to experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in our results of operations, cash flow and financial condition. Once a purchase order has been executed, the timing and amount of revenue may remain difficult to predict. The completion of the installation and testing of the customer’s networks and the completion of all other suppliers’ network elements are subject to the customer’s timing and efforts, and other factors outside our control, such as site readiness for installation or availability of power and access to sites, which may prevent us from making predictions of revenue with any certainty. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, for example, we have experienced difficulties in completion and testing of sites or in obtaining acceptance certificates due to travel limitations, lockouts restrictions and other disruption of our and our suppliers’ activities or of our customers’ operations, which impair our ability to recognize revenue. Also, as we usually engage subcontractors, third party service providers and temporary employees to perform a significant part of the work (such as installation, supervision, on-site testing, commissioning, repair and replacement services), we are dependent on such service providers’ and temporary employees’ timely and quality performance, including with respect to the fulfillment of or default under their back-to-back obligations to those we may have undertaken vis-à-vis our customers, as well as pricing that may fluctuate significantly due to various factors. All these factors may affect our ability to accurately project our costs and profits in providing these services and may result in significant deviations from our projections, which may adversely affect our financial results. In addition, we may be subject to other risks that may apply to our subcontractors or associated with their businesses. In some of these projects, we may need to provide bank guarantees to ensure successful completion of the rollout services, to secure an advance payment we have received, in case we fail to meet our obligations, or to secure our warranty obligations. As a result, in these projects we assume greater financial risk. In addition, typically in rollout projects, we are dependent on the customer to issue acceptance certificates to generate and recognize revenue. In such projects, we bear the risks of loss and damage to our products until the customer has issued an acceptance certificate upon successful completion of acceptance tests. Moreover, we are not always the prime integrator in these projects and in such cases, the acceptance may be delayed even further since it depends on the acceptance of other network elements not in our control. The early deployment of our products during a long-term project reduces our cash flow, as we generally collect a significant portion of the contract price after successful completion of an acceptance test. If our products are damaged or stolen, if the network we install does not pass the acceptance tests or if the customer does not or will not issue an acceptance certificate, the end user or the system integrator could refuse to pay us any balance owed and we would incur substantial costs, including fees owed to our installation subcontractors, increased insurance premiums, transportation costs and expenses related to repairing or manufacturing the products. In such a case, we may not be able to repossess the equipment, thus suffering additional losses. Our offering includes full design and implementation of wireless communication networks, while also using technologies of third-party vendors. The complexity of such projects and the reliance on third parties’ performance is increasing the risk of not meeting our performance obligations. As a result, the completion of such projects may be delayed, or the outcome may not be to the full satisfaction of the customer, who may in turn, impose penalties or exercise any other remedy available to customers in the service contract. In addition, the cost of such projects may be higher than planned. This may result in significant losses and may adversely affect our financial results.
Employment / Personnel1 | 2.0%
Employment / Personnel - Risk 1
Changed
If we fail to attract or retain qualified and skilled “talents” and personnel, our business, operations and product development efforts may be materially adversely affected.
Our products require sophisticated research and development, marketing and sales, and technical customer support. Our success depends on our ability to attract, train and retain qualified personnel in all these professional areas while also taking into consideration varying geographical needs and cultures. We compete with other companies for personnel in all of these areas, both in terms of profession and geography, and we may not be able to hire sufficient personnel to achieve our goals or support the anticipated growth in our business. The market for the highly trained personnel we require globally is competitive, due to the limited number of people available with the necessary technical skills and understanding of our products and technology. Particularly commencing in 2021, especially in the Israeli labor market, we are experiencing immense competition on talent predominantly among R&D and technological personnel, or employees having experience or expertise in high-tech and traded companies, which is reflected, among other things, an increase in salaries and retention challenges. If we fail to attract and retain qualified personnel due to compensation or other factors, our business, operations and product development efforts would suffer. Furthermore, in addition to the shortage in skilled engineers and other computers science and technology professionals versus high market demand and competitive environment predominantly in Israel where our laboratories are located, we are also experiencing fierce competition driven from the effect of major fund raising and initial public offerings activities in the Israeli capital markets that had created sudden and high demand for professional manpower having skills, experience and expertise in the management and performance of professional functions at all levels within publicly traded companies, coupled with the means to place challenging highly competitive offers. As the demand for qualified and highly skilled personal is on constant demand, our ability to retain existing “talents” and recruit new ones is becoming more challenging. Consequently, we may have to face with increasing employment costs for existing and new personnel in professions characterized with high demand, and might have to increase our equity-based long-term incentive programs, which in turn could result in the dilution of our shareholders due to the exercise of such rights. Loss of senior level “talents” may cause delays in our development efforts and operational challenges as well as shortage in knowhow and capabilities which cannot always immediately mitigated.
Supply Chain3 | 5.9%
Supply Chain - Risk 1
Relying on third-party manufacturers, suppliers and service providers may disrupt the proper and timely management of deliveries of our products, a risk that is intensified in the case of a single source supplier.
We outsource our manufacturing and the majority of our logistics operations and purchase ancillary equipment for our products from contract and other independent manufacturers. Although our policy is to maintain a second source for all of our products’ components, disruption in deliveries or in operations of these and other third-party suppliers or service providers, as a result of, for example, capacity constraints, production disruptions, price increases, regulatory restrictions, force majeure events, decreased availability of raw materials or commodities, as well as quality control problems related to components, may all cause such third parties not to comply with their contractual obligations to us. This could have an adverse effect on our ability to meet our commitments to customers and could increase our operating costs. Such risk is intensified when there is a sharp increase in demand for components throughout the electronic industry. For additional information see “The global supply of electronic components, including ICs, has experienced, and may continue to experience, a sharp increase in demand, while production capacity remains limited, which had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on the lead-time for our components and increased their prices”. Although we believe that our contract manufacturers and logistics service providers have sufficient economic incentive to perform our manufacturing and logistics services requirements, the resources devoted to these activities are not within our control. We cannot assure you that manufacturing or logistics problems will not occur in the future due to insufficient resources devoted to our requirements by such manufacturers and logistics service providers, or due to insolvency or other circumstances that could have a material adverse effect on those manufacturers and logistics service providers’ operations. In addition, we cannot assure that we will have the ability or be in the position to demand from our contract manufacturers to assume our obligations to our customers, apply the same terms back-to-back to our contract manufacturers and suppliers, a risk that is intensified in the case of a single source supplier. In addition, some of our contract manufacturers currently obtain key components from a limited number of suppliers. Our contract manufacturers’ dependence on a single or sole source supplier, or on a limited number of suppliers, subjects us to the following risks: • The component suppliers may experience shortages in components and interrupt or delay their shipments to our contract manufacturers. Consequently, these shortages could delay the manufacture of our products and shipments to our customers. • The component suppliers could discontinue the manufacture or supply of components used in our systems. In such an event, we or our contract manufacturers may be unable to develop alternative sources for the components necessary to manufacture our products, which could force us to redesign our products or buy a large stock of the component into inventory before it is discontinued. Any such redesign of our products would likely interrupt the manufacturing process and could cause delays in our product shipments. Moreover, a significant modification in our product design may increase our manufacturing costs and bring about lower gross margins. In addition, we may be exposed to excess inventory of such component, which we will have to write-down in case the demand is not as high as we anticipated at the time of buying these components. • The component suppliers may significantly increase component prices at any time and particularly if demand for certain components increases dramatically in the global market which would have an adverse effect on the Company’s business. • The component suppliers may significantly increase the time to produce and deliver their components at any time resulting in an immediate effect, as evidenced recently with respect to the semiconductors foundry industry. These lead time increases would delay our products’ delivery timetable and could expose us to shortage in supply or late supplies that may trigger penalties, orders cancellation and losing some of our customers. • The component suppliers may refuse or be unable to further supply such component for various reasons, including, among other things, their prioritization, focus, regulations, force majeure events or financial situation. The materialization of the risks detailed above could result in delays in deliveries of our products to our customers, which could subject us to penalties payable to our customers or cancellation of orders, increased warranty costs as well as increases in manufacturing and shipment expenses in the case of expedited deliveries, as well as damage our reputation. If any of these problems occur, we may be required to seek alternate manufacturers or logistics service providers and we may not be able to secure such alternate manufacturers or logistics service providers that meet our needs and standards in a timely and cost-effective manner. Consequently, such occurrences, extra costs and penalties could significantly reduce our gross margins and profitability. The above-mentioned risks are exacerbated in the case of raw materials or component parts that are purchased from a single-source supplier.
Supply Chain - Risk 2
We experience high volatility in the supply needs of our customers, which from time to time lead to delivery issues due to long lead time and availability of components and manufacturing power. If we fail to effectively cope with such volatility and short-noticed supply demands of our customers, we may be unable to timely fulfill our customer commitments, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations for a certain quarter.
The delivery requirements of our customers are unevenly spread throughout the year. We may receive very large orders that were not forecasted, or that were expected with a different timing requirement. In addition, we offer our products to our customers in a wide variety of products variations and configurations, and our inability to forecast the quantities or mix of the delivery demands for our products may result in underestimating our material purchasing needs, as well as production capacity requirements. If we fail to effectively manage our deliveries to the customers in a timely manner, or otherwise fulfill our contractual obligations to them - for example if we are unable to synchronize our supply chain and production process in cases of rapidly increasing production needs - the cost of our material purchasing, manufacturing and logistics may increase and we may also be obligated to pay expediting fees to our contract manufacturers or penalties to our customers for delays, all of which would adversely affect our business, financial results and our relationship with our customers.
Supply Chain - Risk 3
The global supply of electronic components, including integrated circles, has experienced, and may continue to experience, a sharp increase in demand, while production capacity remains limited, which had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on the lead-time for our components and increase in their prices.
The global demand for electronic components including digital components, chipsets and semiconductors, has experienced a sharp increase in the past several years, with a growing number of industries increasing their demand and consumption. This, together with the effect of COVID-19 and trade embargos which have discouraged U.S. companies from using fabs in China, have led to longer lead-time of electronic components, which in turn has led many companies to stock up and increase their inventory levels, which has added to the pressure on the supply chain and caused an increase in the prices and lead-time of the electronic components (either electronic or such having the electronics as part of it), with many cases of a lead time longer than a year. The lack of sufficient production facilities and capacity of the semiconductor foundry industry to meet such demand, which created shortage in chipsets, electronic equipment and components, has already caused, and is expected to continue to cause, significant price increases and extension of delivery time. As a result of this situation, we may be unable to obtain essential components in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost that is necessary for us to remain competitive. During such times, supplier-specific or industry-wide lead times for delivery can be as long as twelve months or more. If we are unable to obtain components in a timely manner to fulfill our customers’ demand, or at a reasonable cost, we may be unable to meet commitments under our contracts with customers, which could expose us to substantial liquidated damages and other claims and could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, business and prospects. Additionally, the increase in lead time and the shortage in chipsets may result in delays in the delivery of our products and in meeting the timetables for the execution of our projects, which may trigger penalties, cancellation of orders and loss of some of our customers or market share. This has adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, our costs (including a significant increase in production costs) and to erode our gross margin. Furthermore, as our new Systems-on-Chip (SoC) commercialization and commencement of mass production is highly dependent on the timely delivery of the chipsets, these delays may also adversely affect the commercialization and mass production timetable, causing a delay in our ability to timely introduce the new SoC-based products to the market and safeguard and maintain our position and market share as leaders in the introduction of advanced 5G solution. In addition, given the significant increase in components lead time, and in order to minimize disruption to our business, we increased our forecast horizon to 12-18 months. As a result, our inventory level increased significantly and risk of write-offs due to, among other factors, missing our forecast has increased.
Ability to Sell
Total Risks: 5/51 (10%)Below Sector Average
Competition1 | 2.0%
Competition - Risk 1
Changed
We face intense competition from other wireless transport equipment providers and from other communication solutions that compete with our high-capacity point-to-point wireless products. If we fail to compete effectively, we may experience a decline in the demand for our products and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
The market for wireless transport equipment is rapidly evolving, highly competitive and subject to rapid changes. Our main competitors include companies such as Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., L.M. Ericsson Telephone Company, NEC Corporation, Nokia and ZTE Corporation, commonly referred to as “generalists”, each providing a vast wireless solutions portfolio, which includes a wireless transport solution within their portfolio. These generalists may also compete with us on “best-of-breed” projects, in which operators invest resources and efforts to select the best wireless transport solution. In addition to these primary competitors, a number of smaller wireless transport specialists, including Aviat Networks Inc., SIAE Microelectronica S.P.A. and Intracom Telecom, offer, or are developing, competing products. In addition, the industry generalists are substantially larger than us, have longer operating histories and possess greater financial, sales, service, marketing, distribution, technical, manufacturing and other resources. These generalists have greater name recognition, a larger customer base and may be able to respond more quickly to changes in customer requirements and evolving industry standards. To our knowledge, many of these generalists also have well-established relationships with our current and potential customers and may have extensive knowledge of our target markets, which may give them additional competitive advantages. In addition, to our knowledge, these generalists focus more on selling services and bundling the entire network as a full-package offering, and therefore some of our customers, which seek “best-of-breed” solutions like ours, may prefer to purchase “bundled” solutions from the generalists. Moreover, as these generalists are usually financially stronger than us, they may be able to offer customers more attractive pricing and payment terms, as well as customer credit programs, which may increase the appeal of their products in comparison to ours. In addition, our products compete with other high-speed communications solutions, including fiber optic lines and other wireless technologies. Some of these technologies utilize existing installed infrastructure and have achieved significantly greater market acceptance and penetration than high-capacity point-to-point wireless technologies. Moreover, as more and more data demands are imposed on existing network frameworks coupled with growing demand for additional bandwidth as a result of massive use of remote services and work from home modes of operation accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and due to consolidation of fixed and mobile operators, operators may be more motivated to invest in more expensive high-speed fiber optic networks to meet current needs and remain competitive. Some of the principal disadvantages of high capacity, point-to-point wireless technologies that may make other technologies more appealing include suboptimal operations in extreme weather conditions and limitations in connection with the need to establish line of sight between antennas and limitations in site acquisition for multiple links, or the perception that fiber-optic solutions are more “environmentally-friendly” predominantly in populated areas, favoring other technologies. To counter the disadvantages of licensed point to point wireless technologies, license exempt technologies in the V-band spectrum (60Ghz band), which can operate in the wide bandwidth available at this band, may be used to deliver multi-Gbps capacity backhaul for a limited set of scenarios, such as dense urban areas, serving short range point-to-multipoint communications, thereby reducing site acquisition barriers, enabling flexible deployment models. Though the applicability of such solutions is limited to a small set of use cases, with shared capacity thus limiting the peak capacity available for urban backhaul, those may take a share of point-to-point solutions we provide for these same urban scenarios. Furthermore, future 5G implementations may require on-the-move solutions to establish communication channels with moving platforms, creating an additional advantage to point to multi-point solutions. In addition, 5G-NR Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB of 5G-NR) technology which operates within the 5G access band, can potentially be used to connect base station/small cell sites to one another. Though the applicability of such solutions is limited to a small set of use cases, with shared capacity thus limiting the peak capacity available for urban backhaul, those may take a share of point to point solutions we provide for these same urban scenarios. To the extent that these competing communications solutions reduce demand for our high-capacity point-to-point wireless transmission products, there may be a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Moreover, some of our competitors can benefit from currency fluctuations as their costs and expenses are primarily denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. In case the U.S. dollar strengthens against these currencies these competitors might offer their products and services for a lower price and capture market share from us, which might adversely affect our business and negatively influence our results of operation and financial condition. We expect to face continuing competitive pressures in the future. If we are unable to compete effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected. For more information on the “best-of-breed” market, please refer to Item 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY; B. Business Overview – “Wireless Transport; Short-haul, Long-haul and Small Cells Transport”.
Demand3 | 5.9%
Demand - Risk 1
Changed
Until recently, we sold products and services in one single market domain - the wireless communication market, and were focused on the “best-of-breed” market segment of the wireless transport market, which we believed to have the most profit potential. We are currently expanding our offering, and until such new offering will rump-up, we continue selling mostly in a single market domain, which may result in sensitivity to the changes in demand for this market segment. If this segment should experience a decline in demand which is not replaced by our new offering, we will likely experience a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Until recently, we mainly attributed our leadership position in our target market to the focus on the “best-of-breed” market segment of the wireless transport market. Focusing on this one market segment led to a decline in sales in 2019 to 2021, as opposed to a growth in sales in 2018 and 2017. Investment cycles in this market depend on technology cycles of mobile networks services (e.g., 4G to 5G technologies). Hence, if this segment of the market or the service providers enter into a negative cycle, or our market share in the market shrinks, our sales and revenues may decline, and our results of operations and cash flow may be significantly and adversely affected. In such case, we may need to take cost reduction and other measures, which may adversely impact our research and development, operations, marketing and sales activities and our ability to effectively compete in the market. Moreover, we used to develop and sell products in one market domain of the wireless communication market, characterized as point-to-point licensed wireless connectivity - often referred to as “backhaul”, “midhaul”, “fronthaul” or simply wireless “transport” - into this “best-of-breed” market segment. As a result, we were, and still are, more likely to be adversely affected by a reduction in demand for point-to-point wireless transport products in comparison to companies that also sell multiple and diversified product lines and solutions in different market domains. If technologies or market conditions change, resulting in a decreased demand for our specific technology, and our new offering will not be mature or material enough to compensate for it, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial results and financial condition as we attempt to address these issues. Although we have revisited and updated our strategy to include, among other things, WISPs (wireless internet services), private networks, software based solutions and disaggregated cell-site routing, it will take time for our new offering to mature and have a significant impact on our results in a way that would mitigate and compensate for the aforementioned risks, and as such activities bear their own inherent risks, we currently might not be able to secure an alternative in order to avoid the implications of the realization of the risks detailed above.
Demand - Risk 2
Changed
A major portion of our business concentrates on large mobile operators that due to their significant weight compared to the then overall ordering by other customers at the same point of time, such as in India, where two customers represent a significant portion of our revenues, coupled with inconsistent ordering patterns and volume of business which may deviate as a result of numerous parameters, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In 2021, approximately 28.3% of our total revenues were attributed to two customers in India. In 2020 approximately 19.7% of our total revenues were attributed to one customer in India and in 2019 approximately 17% of our total revenues were attributed to two customers in India. Since (i) government actions relating to the rollout of cellular networks affect the demand for our products from customers in India, (ii) our sales are mostly generated from case-by-case purchase orders rather than long-term contracts, (iii) said customers in India are not bound by any minimum quota, and (iv) the ordering pattern and volume of business directed to us by such customers may fluctuate as a result of parameters such as buying decisions, price lists, roll-out strategy, local market conditions, regulatory environment, etc. - we have difficulty projecting future revenues from these customers. The loss of such significant customers or any material reduction in orders from them in the absence of gaining new significant customers to replace such lost business has adversely affected, and in the future could adversely affect, various aspects of our results of operations, including our cash flow and financial condition. In addition, the difficulty to project future revenues from these customers, could have, and has had in the past, predominantly with respect to such customers in India, an adverse effect on our ability to report future revenues, profitability and cash flow. Furthermore, since a significant portion of our business is derived from specific countries, such as India, our business could be negatively impacted should certain events occur in these countries, such as a slowdown in investments and expansion of communication networks due to the cyclical characteristic of the investment in this industry, as well as changes in local legislation, changes in governmental controls and regulations (including those specifically related to the communication industry), changes in tariffs and taxes, trade restrictions, downturn in economic or financial conditions, and an outbreak of natural calamities, including floods, epidemics (such as COVID-19) and fires. Also, an outbreak of hostilities, political or economic instability, as well as any other extraordinary events having an adverse effect on the economy or business environment in these countries, may harm the operations of our customers in these countries, and result in a significant decline of business coming from those countries. Realization of any of these or other risks could result in a material reduction in orders and could adversely affect our results of operations, including cash flow and our financial condition. Although some of those risks derive inherently from the concentration of our business, certain risks may be attributed also to the geographical territories in which we operate as detailed under the risk “Due to the volume of our sales in emerging markets, we are susceptible to a number of political, economic and regulatory risks that could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations”.
Demand - Risk 3
Consolidation within our customer base could harm our business.
The increasing trend towards mergers in the telecommunications industry, such as the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint in the United States, has resulted in the consolidation of our current and potential customer base. In situations where an existing customer consolidates with another industry participant, which uses a competitor’s products or which already has an installed base covering the areas which are of interest to our customer, our sales to that existing customer could be reduced or eliminated completely to the extent that the consolidated entity decides to adopt the competing products or use the existing installed base. Furthermore, during the interim period commencing the announcement until the actual closing or failure to close under such transaction, the parties to the merger or any of them might suspend, delay or cancel new engagements with us or procurement of our products, even if the merger shall not be consumed. Further, consolidation of our customer base could result in purchasing decision delays as consolidating customers integrate their operations and could generally reduce our opportunities to win new customers, to the extent that the number of the existing or potential customers decreases. Moreover, some of our customers may agree to share networks, resulting in a decreased requirement for network equipment and associated services, and thus a decrease in the overall size of the market. Some network operators share parts of their network infrastructure through cooperation agreements rather than legal consolidations, which may adversely affect demand for network equipment and could harm our business and results of operations.
Sales & Marketing1 | 2.0%
Sales & Marketing - Risk 1
Our sales cycles in connection with competitive bids or to prospective customers are lengthy.
It typically takes from three to twelve months after we first begin discussions with a prospective customer, before we receive an order from that customer, if an order is received at all. In some instances, we participate in competitive bids, in tenders issued by our customers or prospective customers, and these tender processes can continue for many months before a decision is made by the customer. In addition, even after the initial decision is made, there may be a lengthy testing and integration phase or contract negotiation phase before a final decision to purchase is made. In some cases, even if we have signed a contract and our products were tested and approved for usage, it could take a significant amount of time until the customer places purchase orders, if at all. As a result, we are required to devote a substantial amount of time and resources to secure sales. In addition, the lengthy sales cycle results in greater uncertainty with respect to any particular sale, as events that impact customers’ decisions occur during such cycle and in turn, increase the difficulty of forecasting our results of operations and may cause an increase in inventory levels and our liability to our suppliers, and a risk for inventory write downs and write-offs.
See a full breakdown of risk according to category and subcategory. The list starts with the category with the most risk. Click on subcategories to read relevant extracts from the most recent report.

FAQ

What are “Risk Factors”?
Risk factors are any situations or occurrences that could make investing in a company risky.
    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that publicly traded companies disclose their most significant risk factors. This is so that potential investors can consider any risks before they make an investment.
      They also offer companies protection, as a company can use risk factors as liability protection. This could happen if a company underperforms and investors take legal action as a result.
        It is worth noting that smaller companies, that is those with a public float of under $75 million on the last business day, do not have to include risk factors in their 10-K and 10-Q forms, although some may choose to do so.
          How do companies disclose their risk factors?
          Publicly traded companies initially disclose their risk factors to the SEC through their S-1 filings as part of the IPO process.
            Additionally, companies must provide a complete list of risk factors in their Annual Reports (Form 10-K) or (Form 20-F) for “foreign private issuers”.
              Quarterly Reports also include a section on risk factors (Form 10-Q) where companies are only required to update any changes since the previous report.
                According to the SEC, risk factors should be reported concisely, logically and in “plain English” so investors can understand them.
                  How can I use TipRanks risk factors in my stock research?
                  Use the Risk Factors tab to get data about the risk factors of any company in which you are considering investing.
                    You can easily see the most significant risks a company is facing. Additionally, you can find out which risk factors a company has added, removed or adjusted since its previous disclosure. You can also see how a company’s risk factors compare to others in its sector.
                      Without reading company reports or participating in conference calls, you would most likely not have access to this sort of information, which is usually not included in press releases or other public announcements.
                        A simplified analysis of risk factors is unique to TipRanks.
                          What are all the risk factor categories?
                          TipRanks has identified 6 major categories of risk factors and a number of subcategories for each. You can see how these categories are broken down in the list below.
                          1. Financial & Corporate
                          • Accounting & Financial Operations - risks related to accounting loss, value of intangible assets, financial statements, value of intangible assets, financial reporting, estimates, guidance, company profitability, dividends, fluctuating results.
                          • Share Price & Shareholder Rights – risks related to things that impact share prices and the rights of shareholders, including analyst ratings, major shareholder activity, trade volatility, liquidity of shares, anti-takeover provisions, international listing, dual listing.
                          • Debt & Financing – risks related to debt, funding, financing and interest rates, financial investments.
                          • Corporate Activity and Growth – risks related to restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, execution of corporate strategy, strategic alliances.
                          2. Legal & Regulatory
                          • Litigation and Legal Liabilities – risks related to litigation/ lawsuits against the company.
                          • Regulation – risks related to compliance, GDPR, and new legislation.
                          • Environmental / Social – risks related to environmental regulation and to data privacy.
                          • Taxation & Government Incentives – risks related to taxation and changes in government incentives.
                          3. Production
                          • Costs – risks related to costs of production including commodity prices, future contracts, inventory.
                          • Supply Chain – risks related to the company’s suppliers.
                          • Manufacturing – risks related to the company’s manufacturing process including product quality and product recalls.
                          • Human Capital – risks related to recruitment, training and retention of key employees, employee relationships & unions labor disputes, pension, and post retirement benefits, medical, health and welfare benefits, employee misconduct, employee litigation.
                          4. Technology & Innovation
                          • Innovation / R&D – risks related to innovation and new product development.
                          • Technology – risks related to the company’s reliance on technology.
                          • Cyber Security – risks related to securing the company’s digital assets and from cyber attacks.
                          • Trade Secrets & Patents – risks related to the company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and to infringement claims against the company as well as piracy and unlicensed copying.
                          5. Ability to Sell
                          • Demand – risks related to the demand of the company’s goods and services including seasonality, reliance on key customers.
                          • Competition – risks related to the company’s competition including substitutes.
                          • Sales & Marketing – risks related to sales, marketing, and distribution channels, pricing, and market penetration.
                          • Brand & Reputation – risks related to the company’s brand and reputation.
                          6. Macro & Political
                          • Economy & Political Environment – risks related to changes in economic and political conditions.
                          • Natural and Human Disruptions – risks related to catastrophes, floods, storms, terror, earthquakes, coronavirus pandemic/COVID-19.
                          • International Operations – risks related to the global nature of the company.
                          • Capital Markets – risks related to exchange rates and trade, cryptocurrency.
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