Luna Innovations Incorporated (NASDAQ:LUNA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Unidentified Analyst: Right. And I noticed inventories are up. So is there a revenue recognition timing kind of thing that’s going to make things look a little better in Q1 than otherwise would?

Gene Nestro: Well, I think €“ and that’s why I mentioned inventory is up in many cases due to some of the supply issues that we’ve had and we’re inventorying things. That could be finished good inventory that’s waiting to be delivered on the project side that has that up. And that certainly is the case as well as some parts that we’re buying six months, a year’s worth. We never had to do that in the past. So I don’t know where we’ve finished. I think mid-30s probably on the inventory side. That’s high for us and we recognized that, but it is. We’ve never done that before mainly due to some of these issues that we’re having on the project side with the finished goods and on the part side €“ on the product side, so.

Unidentified Analyst: But if you can get that inventory out, is that upside for the Q1?

Gene Nestro: It’s upside for 2023. We talk about Q1 being on the softer side. So love to flush it out in Q1 for sure. I think we certainly see it staging out in 2023, which is why we have it laid out that way.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay. And my last question, last time I think you mentioned you had about six deals in the red zone that were going to be repeatable and recurring revenue and that kind of thing. And I saw you got Dominion, obviously that was a great one, and Intuitive Surgical. I saw something in the release about Silicon Photonics a new laser. Is that going to be one of those?

Scott Graeff: Yes. Well when you look at the Intuitive Surgical, was certainly one of those bigger customers that we’ve been selling to for years and placed that $14.5 million order on us over 18 months. The follow-on with the F-35 with Northrop Grumman was another one of those. You have the big programs like some of the mining, dam issues that are out there. We talked about with Dominion on the windmill. There’s a couple €“ there’s probably €“ there’s still three or four hanging out there that have not come in, some on the EV battery manufacturing, some on the medical side. So we have some big things still lingering out there, and we will certainly announce those when they come to fruition. But there’s quite a few still sitting inside that area. It just takes longer to get to punch it into the end zone, if you will.

Unidentified Analyst: Yes. I imagine you’ve seen the after hours pricing on the stock. So I guess, I’m searching for some good news for everybody?

Scott Graeff: Yes. I haven’t looked closely at it. We’re kind of tied up here in prep, but I’m many times surprised whether it goes one direction or the other because it was a really good year for us. And with some of the things that that we’ve been able to achieve that, I say transformational, I don’t say €“ I don’t take transformational lightly. In that divestiture of the Luna Labs and removing that and becoming a pure-play, this is the full execution of a five-year plan that we put together five years ago and really feel good about delivering on that with all the other side static that was going on throughout the last five years or so.

Unidentified Analyst: Yes. It’s a big accomplishment. So is there another five-year plan coming then for the next five years?