Markforged Holding Corporation (NYSE:MKFG) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Schwartz: Yes. Just to add a little bit, maybe more color to that, Jim. And thanks for the question. I think number one, inflation hit us to a greater degree than we expected. We mentioned middle of last year and this is tempered somewhat, but we were paying $100 square part that should cost us $10. Some of that is absolutely come back down, but we’re nowhere near our target on material costs yet. And to that point a little bit further, when you’re buying materials for production at a certain cost, you have to bleed through all of those materials before you reach a lower material cost on the next procurement cycle. And then the second is labor. Isn’t where we want it to be yet. The cost of labor has increased due to inflation over the last year 18 months as we were thinking through this late last year. And we’re not as efficient yet in our labor as we need to be. And there’s path forward in both of those cases, but it’s going to take us some time to get there.

Jim Suva: Thank you. And then the reason I asked that question about the FX20 rollout is as we look ahead to — on the slide deck number 10 about the PX100, the rollout of that. I’m just wondering your full year sales and margin guidance, does it include similar inefficiencies of the rollout and the ramp as expected? Or is it expected to have a smoother rollout just so we can kind of monitor it as it rolls out in 2023 for the PX100?

Mark Schwartz: So yes, we are anticipating similar, but I also would expect to answer your question both ways that it should be smoother for us because the unit volumes are expected to be lower in that product early on. So I think just how we procure materials for that will be a little bit different than we do for other product rollouts.

Jim Suva: Great. And my last question is, I see you’re giving quarterly guidance as well as full year guidance. Is that due to better visibility, more supply chain being able to calibrate it better or helping investor expectations be more aligned with kind of how you see it. I’m just kind of curious about the slight change of giving additional details, which I’m sure the investing community will appreciate.

Mark Schwartz: Yes. Thanks, Jim. So we continue to be focused on annual and really even the long term, you’ve heard us talk both Shai and I about this long term journey that we’re undertaking and still in the early innings. So we focus on annual and I think to your point, we’ve given a little bit of color maybe on gross margin and some other areas on the quarter. But our intent and our go forward plan is to really focus on the year. I think maybe I’ll take that a step further. When we think about this current year of 2023 and then beyond, we mentioned getting back to a 55% plus gross margin. We also think that we will get back to 25% plus year-over-year growth. Given the demand and the interest we see from not only our existing products, but from the new products that we’ve shared with customers, as well as this paradigm shift we’re seeing in manufacturers increasingly seeking to be more resilient, increasingly seeking more reliable supply chains we — as we’ve said, we’re very excited about the outlook.

We just want to get past this current level of uncertainty in the marketplace.

Jim Suva: Great. And my last part is, you mentioned profitability 2024. I think to be clear, you fully said breakeven end of 2024, not the full year. And is that on an operating income adjusted or EBITDA or EPS? Or how do you actually define the breakeven ’24 comment?