Item 1A. Risk Factors
Risk Factors Summary
Pursuant to Item 105(b) of Regulation S-K, the following represents a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below under the heading “Risk Factors” and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC, before making an investment decision regarding our common stock.
Risks related to our business and industry
• Our business is subject to risk based on global economic conditions, including inflationary pressures and lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• If third parties with substantial marketing rights for certain of our historical products, existing products, or future products under development are not successful in marketing those products, then our sales and financial position may suffer.
• We rely substantially on third party suppliers and rights under contracts with third parties. The loss of products, or rights under contracts, or delays in product availability from one or more third party suppliers could substantially harm our business.
• We depend on key personnel for our future success. If we lose our key personnel or are unable to attract and retain additional personnel, we may be unable to achieve our goals.
• We operate in a highly competitive industry, which could render our products obsolete or substantially limit the volume of products that we sell. This would limit our ability to compete and maintain sustained profitability.
• We often depend on third parties for products we intend to introduce in the future. If our current relationships and collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to introduce the products we intend to introduce in the future.
• We may be unable to market and sell our products successfully.
• We face risks associated with our international operations and our international expansion may not generate the results we anticipate.
• We may face costly legal disputes, including disputes related to our intellectual property or technology or that of our suppliers or collaborators.
• Interpretation of existing legislation, regulations and rules, including financial accounting standards, or implementation of future legislation, regulations and rules could cause our costs to increase or could harm us in other ways.
• We are currently evaluating, and we intend to pursue, acquisitions, investments, licenses, joint ventures, and other strategic development opportunities, which may not have desired results and could be detrimental to our financial position.
• Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals in order to market our products may be costly and could delay the marketing and sales of our products. Failure to meet regulatory requirements could cause significant losses from affected inventory and the loss of market share.
• Our future revenues depend on successful product development, direct manufacturing, contract manufacturing, commercialization and/or market acceptance, any of which can be slower than we expect or may not occur.
• Many of our expenses are fixed and if factors beyond our control cause our revenue to fluctuate, this fluctuation could cause greater than expected losses, cash flow and liquidity shortfalls.
• Cyberattack related breaches of our information technology systems could have an adverse effect on our business.
• We may be unable to protect our stakeholders’ privacy or we may fail to comply with privacy laws.
• We may not be able to achieve sustained profitability or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
• We may face product returns and product liability litigation in excess of, or not covered by, our insurance coverage or indemnities and/or warranties from our suppliers. If we become subject to product liability claims resulting from defects in our products, we may fail to achieve market acceptance of our products and our sales could substantially decline.
• We may be held liable for the release of hazardous materials, which could result in extensive remediation costs or otherwise harm our business.
Risks related to our common stock
• Our stock price has historically experienced high volatility, and could do so in the future, including experiencing a material price decline resulting from a large sale in a short period of time. This volatility could affect the value of our common stock.
• Our NOL Protective Amendment could adversely impact the value and trading liquidity of our common stock.
• If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they downgrade our stock, the price of our stock could decline.
• We have not declared or paid any dividends on our common stock since 2012 and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
• We have fewer than 200 holders of record, which could allow us to terminate voluntarily the registration of our common stock with the SEC and after which we would no longer be eligible to maintain the listing of our common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market. We may also be unable to otherwise maintain our listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market.
• Provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws and under Delaware law might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.
Risks related to the outstanding Notes
• Servicing our debt will require a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our substantial debt.
• We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversions of our convertible notes (the "Notes") in cash or to repurchase the Notes upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion or repurchase of the Notes.
• The conditional conversion feature of the Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
Risk Factors
Our future operating results may vary substantially from period to period due to a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. The following discussion highlights the material factors and the possible impact of these factors on future results of operations. If any of the following factors actually occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be harmed. In that case, the price of our Public Common Stock could decline and investors in our Public Common Stock could experience losses on their investment.
Risks related to our business and industry
Our business is subject to risk based on global economic conditions, including inflationary pressures and lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Macroeconomic, global inflationary pressures and pandemic-related disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our veterinarians, their customers and the companion animals they serve could be affected by continuing local and global inflationary pressures, lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, further or unexpected economic recessionary fears, increased political instability and threats of war and could suffer from increased borrowing costs that limit discretionary consumer spending, which could lead to decreased pet visits, demand for our products and delayed companion animal diagnostic testing and treatment.
The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will cause lingering economic effects on our business, results of operation and financial condition is difficult to predict and depends on numerous rapidly evolving factors, such as the severity and transmission rate of the virus, the emergence and spread of variants, infection rates in areas where we operate, the extent and effectiveness of containment actions, including the continued availability and effectiveness of vaccines in the markets where we operate, the impact of actions taken by governmental authorities and other third parties in response to the pandemic, and the impact of these and other factors on our employees, customers, and suppliers. We are also monitoring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operation of veterinary clinics, consumer discretionary spending on their pets’ health and wellbeing, research and development trends regarding animal health vis a vis human health, and the ability of our sales staff to travel and our manufacturing staff to operate in their normal capacities. However, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the foregoing issues and numerous other potential issues is difficult to predict, both in the short-term and in the long-term, and any one of them could cause a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition. Global economic conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic could also have the effect of heightening other risk factors described in this report.
If third parties with substantial marketing rights for certain historical products, existing products or future products under development are not successful in marketing those products, then our sales and financial position may suffer.
We are party to agreements with Merck Animal Health for our canine heartworm preventive product, TRI-HEART Plus Chewable Tablets, and Elanco for certain bovine vaccines, which have been sold primarily under the Titanium and MasterGuard brands. Either of these marketing partners may not devote sufficient resources to marketing our products and our sales and financial position could suffer significantly as a result. For example, in 2019, Merck Animal Health failed to market, sell and support our heartworm preventive product, which resulted in depressed PVD product annual revenue in our North America segment. Furthermore, there may be nothing to prevent these partners from pursuing alternative technologies, products or supply arrangements, including as part of mergers, acquisitions or divestitures. Third party marketing assistance may not be available in the future on reasonable terms, if at all. If the third parties with marketing rights for our products were to merge or go out of business, the sale and promotion of our products could be diminished.
We rely substantially on third party suppliers and rights under contracts with third parties. The loss of products, or rights under contracts, or delays in product availability from one or more third party suppliers could substantially harm our business.
To be successful, we must contract for the supply of, or manufacture ourselves, current and future products of appropriate quantity, quality and cost. Such products must be available on a timely basis and be in compliance with any regulatory requirements. Similarly, we must provide ourselves, or contract for the supply of, certain services. Such services must be provided in a timely and appropriate manner. Failure to do any of the above could substantially harm our business.
We rely on third party suppliers to manufacture those products we do not manufacture ourselves and to provide services we do not provide ourselves. Proprietary products provided by these suppliers represent a majority of our revenue. We currently rely on these suppliers for our POC laboratory instruments and consumable supplies for these instruments, for our imaging products and related software and services, for key components of our POC diagnostic tests as well as for the manufacture of other products.
The loss of access to products from one or more suppliers could have a significant, negative impact on our business. Major suppliers that sell us proprietary products are FUJIFILM Corporation and Shenzen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. We often purchase products from our suppliers under agreements that are of limited duration or potentially can be terminated on short notice subsequent to unfavorable legal action. In the case of our POC laboratory instruments and our digital radiography solutions, post-termination, we are typically entitled to non-exclusive access to consumable supplies, or ongoing non-exclusive access to products and services to meet the needs of an existing customer base, respectively, for a defined period upon expiration of exclusive rights, which could subject us to competitive pressures in the period of non-exclusive access. There can be no assurance that our suppliers will meet their obligations under any agreements we may have in place with them or that we will be able to compel them to do so. Risks of relying on suppliers include:
• Inability to meet minimum obligations . Current agreements, or agreements we may negotiate in the future, may commit us to certain minimum purchase or other spending obligations. It is possible we will not be able to create the market demand to meet such obligations, which could create a drain on our financial resources and liquidity. Some agreements may require minimum purchases and/or sales to maintain product rights and we may be significantly harmed if we are unable to meet such requirements and lose product rights.
• Loss of exclusivity . In the case of our POC laboratory instruments, if we are entitled to non-exclusive access to consumable supplies for a defined period upon expiration of exclusive rights, we may face increased competition from a third party with similar non-exclusive access or our former supplier, which could cause us to lose customers and/or significantly decrease our margins and could significantly affect our financial results. In addition, current agreements, or agreements we may negotiate in the future, with suppliers may require us to meet minimum annual sales levels to maintain our position as the exclusive distributor of these products. We may not meet these minimum sales levels and maintain exclusivity over the distribution and sale of these products. If we are not the exclusive distributor of these products, competition may increase significantly, reducing our revenues and/or decreasing our margins.
• Changes in economics . An underlying change in the economics with a supplier, such as a large price increase or new requirement of large minimum purchase amounts, could have a significant, adverse effect on our business, particularly if we are unable to identify and implement an alternative source of supply in a timely manner.
• Supply chain constraints in raw materials to suppliers . Our suppliers rely on sourcing raw materials, instrument components and other items necessary to produce the supply of products we offer our customers. Supply chain constraints faced by our suppliers may delay a supplier’s ability to produce our products, which could create an interruption in our ability to fulfill orders.
• The loss of product rights upon expiration or termination of an existing agreement . Unless we are able to find an alternate supply of a similar product, we would not be able to continue to offer our customers the same breadth of products and our sales and operating results would likely suffer. In the case of an instrument supplier, we could also potentially suffer the loss of sales of consumable supplies, which would be significant in cases where we have built a significant installed base, further harming our sales prospects and opportunities. Even if we were able to find an alternate supply for a product to which we lost rights, we would likely face increased competition from the product whose rights we lost being marketed by a third party or the former supplier and it may take us additional time and expense to the necessary approvals and launch an alternative product.
• High switching costs . In our POC laboratory instrument products, we could face significant competition and lose all or some of the consumable revenues from the installed base of those instruments if we were to switch to a competitive instrument. If we need to change to other commercial manufacturing contractors for certain of our regulated products, additional regulatory licenses or approvals generally must be obtained for these contractors prior to our use. This would require new testing and compliance inspections prior to sale, thus resulting in potential delays. Any new manufacturer would have to be educated in, or develop, substantially equivalent processes necessary for the production of our products. We likely would have to train our sales force, distribution network employees and customer support organization on the new product and spend significant funds marketing the new product to our customer base.
• The involuntary or voluntary discontinuation of a product line . Unless we are able to find an alternate supply of a similar product in this or similar circumstances with any product, we would not be able to continue to offer our customers the same breadth of products and our sales would likely suffer. Even if we are able to identify an alternate supply, it may take us additional time and expense to gain the necessary approvals and launch an alternative product, especially if the product is discontinued unexpectedly.
• Inconsistent or inadequate quality control . We may not be able to control or adequately monitor the quality of products we receive from our suppliers. Poor quality items could damage our reputation with our customers.
• Limited capacity or ability to scale capacity . If market demand for our products increases suddenly, our current suppliers might not be able to fulfill our commercial needs, which would require us to seek new manufacturing arrangements and may result in substantial delays in meeting market demand. If we consistently generate more demand for a product than a given supplier is capable of
handling, it could lead to large backorders and potentially lost sales to competitive products that are readily available. This could require us to seek or fund new sources of supply, which may be difficult to find or may require terms that are less advantageous if available at all.
• Regulatory risk . Our manufacturing facility and those of some of our third-party suppliers are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by regulatory authorities, including the FDA, USDA and other federal, state and foreign agencies for compliance with regulations and similar foreign standards. We do not have control over our suppliers’ compliance with these regulations and standards. Regulatory violations could potentially lead to interruptions in supply that could cause us to lose sales to readily available competitive products. If one of our suppliers is unable to provide a raw material or finished product due to regulatory issues, it could have a material adverse financial impact on our business and could expose us to legal action if we are unable to perform on contracts to our customers involving related products.
• Developmental delays . We may experience delays in the scale-up quantities needed for product development that could delay regulatory submissions and commercialization of our products in development, causing us to miss key opportunities.
• Limited geographic rights . We typically do not have global geographic rights to products supplied by third parties. If we were to determine a market opportunity in a geography where we did not have distribution rights and were unable to obtain such rights from the supplier, it might hamper our ability to succeed in such geography and our sales and profits would be lower than they otherwise would have been.
• Limited intellectual property rights . We typically do not have intellectual property rights, or may have to share intellectual property rights, to the products supplied by third parties and any improvements to the manufacturing processes or new manufacturing processes for these products.
• Changes to United States tariff and import/export regulations . Changes to United States trade policies, treaties and tariffs could have a material adverse effect on global trade. These changes could result in increased costs of goods imported into the United States for the Company and our third-party suppliers. Our third-party suppliers may limit their trade with companies in the United States, including us.
• Global human and animal health risk . Several of our suppliers have operations in areas that may be susceptible to public health emergencies that could restrict global trade generally, and our access to consumables and product, specifically. The risk of infectious disease in humans and animals may limit trade and product access with third party suppliers with companies inside and outside the United States, including us. In particular, the use of animal bi-product may affect our consumable supply as a result of global animal health risks.
Potential problems with suppliers such as those discussed above could substantially decrease sales, lead to higher costs and/or damage our reputation with our customers due to factors such as poor quality goods or delays in order fulfillment, resulting in our being unable to sell our products effectively and substantially harming our business.
We depend on key personnel for our future success. If we lose our key personnel or are unable to attract and retain additional personnel, we may be unable to achieve our goals.
Our future success is substantially dependent on the efforts of our senior management and other key personnel, including our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and President, Kevin Wilson. The loss of the services of members of our senior management or other key personnel may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives. Although we have employment agreements with many of these individuals, all are at-will employees, which means that either the employee or Heska may terminate employment at any time without prior notice. If we lose the services of, or fail to recruit, key personnel, the
growth of our business could be substantially impaired. We do not maintain key person life insurance for any of our senior management or key personnel.
We also expect that we may incur increased compensation expenses and higher-than-normal employee turnover as we attempt to attract and retain skilled employees during a macro working environment where qualified labor is in short supply, job-mobility is high in part because of remote working arrangements, and the benefits of company culture and personal relationships are more difficult to realize outside of the traditional office setting.
We operate in a highly competitive industry, which could render our products obsolete or substantially limit the volume of products that we sell. This would limit our ability to compete and maintain sustained profitability.
The market in which we compete is intensely competitive. Our competitors include independent animal health companies and major pharmaceutical companies that have animal health divisions. We also compete with independent, third party distributors, including distributors that sell products under their own private labels. In the POC diagnostic testing market, our major competitors include IDEXX and Zoetis. The OVP products manufactured by our North America segment for sale by third parties compete with similar products offered by a number of other companies, some of which have substantially greater financial, technical, research and other resources than us and may have more established marketing, sales, distribution and service organizations than those of our OVP product customers. Competitors may have facilities with similar capabilities to our Des Moines, Iowa facility, which they may operate and sell at a lower unit price to customers than we sell our OVP products for, which could cause us to lose customers. Companies with a significant presence in the companion animal health market, such as CEVA Sante´ Animale, Elanco, Merck Animal Health, Sanofi, Vétoquinol S.A. and Virbac S.A. may be marketing or developing products that compete with our products or would compete with them if developed. These and other competitors and potential competitors may have substantially greater financial, technical, research and other resources and larger, more established marketing, sales and service organizations than we do. Our competitors may offer broader product lines and have name recognition than we do. Our competitors may also develop or market technologies or products that are more or commercially than our current or future products or that would render our technologies and products . Further, additional competition could come from new entrants to the animal health care market. Moreover, we may not have the financial resources, technical expertise or marketing, sales or support capabilities to compete .
If we fail to compete successfully, our ability to achieve sustained profitability will be limited and sustained profitability, or profitability at all, may not be possible.
We benefit from relationships or collaboration with third parties, including but not limited to, companies, buying groups, veterinary hospital groups and reference laboratory entities that operate in our markets. Beneficial third party, semi-competitive, directly competitive and cooperative relationships that affect how we go to market, develop products, generate leads and other commercial efforts of Heska may be negatively affected as a result of consolidation, acquisition, merger, exclusive arrangement or other agreements or activities between and amongst those third parties and others.
We may depend on third parties for products we intend to introduce in the future. If our current relationships and collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to introduce the products we intend to introduce in the future.
We are occasionally dependent on third parties and collaborative partners to perform research and development activities to successfully develop new products. We routinely discuss Heska marketing in the veterinary market instruments being developed by third parties for use in the human health care market. In the future, one or more of these third parties or collaborative partners may not complete research and
development activities in a timely fashion, or at all. Even if these third parties are successful in their research and development activities, we may not be able to come to an economic agreement with them. If these third parties or collaborative partners fail to complete research and development activities or fail to complete them in a timely fashion, or if we are unable to negotiate economic agreements with such third parties or collaborative partners, our ability to introduce new products may be impacted negatively and our revenues may decline.
We may be unable to market and sell our products successfully.
We may not develop and maintain marketing and/or sales capabilities successfully, and we may not be able to make arrangements with third parties to perform these activities on satisfactory terms, or at all. If our marketing and sales strategy is unsuccessful, our ability to sell our products will be negatively impacted and our revenues will decrease. This could result in the loss of distribution rights for products or failure to gain access to new products and could cause damage to our reputation and adversely affect our business and future prospects. The market for companion animal healthcare products is highly fragmented. Because our proprietary products are generally available only to veterinarians or by prescription and our medical instruments require technical training to operate, we ultimately sell our products primarily to or through veterinarians. The acceptance of our products by veterinarians is critical to our . Changes in our ability to obtain or maintain such acceptance or changes in veterinary medical practice could significantly decrease our anticipated sales. As the vast majority of cash flow to veterinarians ultimately is funded by pet owners without private insurance or government support, our business may be more to economic than other health care businesses that rely less on individual consumers.
For our POC laboratory blood diagnostics products, we primarily rely on contracts with our veterinary customers for their use of our owned equipment and our consumable supplies over a multiple year period. If veterinarians under these contracts experience a significant downturn in their business, they may not fulfill their use and financial obligations under these contracts. If veterinarians breach our contracts, and we are unable to collect on default payment provisions or otherwise enforce the terms of our contracts, our business will be adversely affected. If we have to litigate against customers to enforce our contracts, our expenses may increase, our sales may decrease to those customers, and our reputation may suffer. If significant numbers of our customers under contracts for use of our equipment and consumable supplies do not renew their contracts, our business will be adversely affected.
We have entered into agreements with independent third party distributors who we anticipate will market and sell our products to a greater degree than in the recent past. Independent third party distributors may be effective in increasing sales of our products to veterinarians, although we would expect a corresponding lower gross margin as such distributors typically buy products from us at a discount to end user prices. It is possible new or existing independent third-party distributors could cannibalize our direct sales efforts and lower our total gross margin. For us to be effective when working with an independent third party distributor, the distributor must agree to market and/or sell our products and we must provide proper economic incentives to the distributor as well as contend effectively for the time, energy and focus of the employees of such distributor given other products the distributor may be carrying, potentially including those of our competitors. If we fail to be effective with new or existing independent third-party distributors, our financial performance may suffer.
We face risks associated with our international operations and our international expansion may not generate the results we anticipate.
A core component of our future growth strategy is international expansion. As we continue to expand our international footprint, we will be increasingly susceptible to the risks associated with international operations including, but not limited to, the following:
• Increased competition from global market competitors;
• uncertain political and economic climates, including as a result of the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine;
• fluctuations in exchange rates, such as the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar, that may increase the volatility of foreign-based revenue and expense;
• burdens of complying with and unexpected changes in foreign laws, accounting and legal standards, regulatory requirements, taxes, tariffs and other barriers or trade restrictions;
• lack of experience in connection with the customs, cultures, languages and sales cycle;
• reduced or altered protection for intellectual property rights; and
• data privacy and cybersecurity laws in foreign countries, which may subject our data collection, storage and processing to different and more expansive requirements than the United States.
As a result of these and other factors, international expansion may be more difficult and not generate the results we anticipate, which could negatively impact our business.
We may face costly legal disputes, including disputes related to our intellectual property or technology or that of our suppliers or collaborators.
We have faced, and may face in the future, legal disputes related to our business. Even if meritless, these disputes may require significant expenditures on our part and could entail a significant distraction to members of our management team or other key employees. Insurance coverage may not cover any costs required to litigate a legal dispute or an unfavorable ruling or settlement. A legal dispute leading to an unfavorable ruling or settlement, whether or not insurance coverage may be available for any portion thereof, could have material adverse consequences on our business. Moreover, we may have to use legal means and incur affiliated costs to secure the benefits to which we are entitled under third party agreements, such as to collect payment for goods shipped to third parties, which would reduce our income as compared to what it otherwise would have been.
We may become subject to patent infringement claims and litigation in the United States or other countries or interference proceedings conducted in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, to determine the priority of inventions. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property suits, USPTO interference proceedings and related legal and administrative proceedings are likely to be costly, time-consuming and distracting. As is typical in our industry, from time to time we and our collaborators and suppliers have received, and may in the future receive, notices from third parties claiming infringement and invitations to take licenses under third-party patents. Any legal action against us or our collaborators or suppliers may require us or our or suppliers to obtain one or more licenses in order to market or manufacture affected products or services. We or our or suppliers may not, however, be to obtain licenses for technology patented by others on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, or to develop alternative approaches to access or replace such technology if we or they are to obtain such licenses or if current and future licenses prove , any of which could substantially our business.
We may also need to pursue litigation to enforce any contractual rights or patents issued to us or our collaborative partners, to protect trade secrets or know-how owned by us or our collaborative partners, or to
determine the enforceability, scope and validity of our contractual rights or the proprietary rights of others. Any litigation or interference proceedings will likely result in substantial expense to us and significant diversion of the efforts of our technical and management personnel. Any adverse determination in litigation or interference proceedings could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties. Further, as a result of litigation or other proceedings, we may be required to seek licenses from third parties which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.
Interpretation of existing legislation, regulations and rules, including financial accounting standards, or implementation of future legislation, regulations and rules could cause our costs to increase or could harm us in other ways.
As a public company, we have incurred and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses due to our compliance with regulations and disclosure obligations applicable to us, including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Stock Market. We prepare our financial statements in conformance with GAAP. These accounting principles are established by and are subject to interpretation by the SEC, the FASB and others which interpret and create accounting policies. These rules and regulations will continue to cause us to incur significant legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. A change in those policies or how those policies are interpreted can have a significant effect on our reported results and may affect our reporting of transactions completed before a change is made effective. Such changes may require us to incur additional compliance costs, adversely affect our reported financial results and the way we conduct our business or have a negative impact on us if we fail to track such changes.
If our regulators and/or auditors adopt or interpret more stringent standards than we anticipate, we could experience unanticipated changes in our reported financial statements, including but not limited to restatements, which could adversely affect our business due to litigation and investor confidence in our financial statements. In addition, changes in the underlying circumstances to which we apply given accounting standards and principles may affect our results of operations and have a negative impact on us. For example, we review goodwill recognized on our consolidated balance sheets at least annually and if we were to conclude there was an impairment of goodwill, we would reduce the corresponding goodwill to its estimated fair value and recognize a corresponding expense in our statement of operations. This impairment and corresponding expense could be as large as the total amount of goodwill recognized on our consolidated balance sheets, which was $135.9 million at December 31, 2022 and $118.8 million at December 31, 2021. There can be no assurance that future goodwill impairments will not occur if projected financial results are not met, or otherwise.
We regularly evaluate, and we intend to pursue, acquisitions, investments, licenses, joint ventures, and other strategic development opportunities, which may not have desired results and could be detrimental to our financial position.
We continue to evaluate, and we intend to pursue, acquisitions and other strategic development opportunities, including minority investments where strategic, such as our acquisition of scil in 2020, our acquisitions of Lacuna, BiEsseA, and Biotech in 2021, our acquisition of VetZ in 2022, and our acquisition of LightDeck in 2023. The ultimate business and financial performance of these opportunities may not create, and may end up adversely affecting materially, the value we hope to enhance by pursuing them. Any acquisition may significantly underperform relative to our financial expectations and may serve to diminish rather than enhance stockholder value. We may also diminish our cash resources or dilute stockholders in order to finance any such acquisition or other strategic transaction.
The success of any acquisition will depend on, among other things, our ability to integrate assets and personnel acquired in these transactions and to apply our internal controls process to these acquired businesses. The integration of acquisitions is likely to require significant attention from our management, and
the diversion of management’s attention and resources could have a material adverse effect on our ability to manage our business. Furthermore, we may not realize the degree or timing of benefits we anticipated when we first entered into the acquisition transaction. If actual integration costs are higher than amounts originally anticipated, if we are unable to integrate the assets and personnel acquired in an acquisition as anticipated, or if we are unable to fully benefit from anticipated synergies, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected. Furthermore, it is possible we will use management time and resources to pursue opportunities we ultimately are unable or decide not to consummate, in which case, we may not be able to utilize such management time and resources on what may have proved to be more productive matters in other areas of our business.
We make investments into licenses, third parties, and contracts with legal, development and commercial rights and obligations. These investments may not produce positive results, economic or strategic value, or any benefits and may decline in value or have no value.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals in order to market our products may be costly and could delay the marketing and sales of our products. Failure to meet all regulatory requirements could cause significant losses from affected inventory and the loss of market share.
Many of the products we develop, market or manufacture may subject us to extensive regulation by one or more of the USDA, the FDA, the EPA and foreign and other regulatory authorities. These regulations govern, among other things, the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, storage, pre-market approval, advertising, promotion and sale of some of our products. Satisfaction of these requirements can take several years and time needed to satisfy them may vary substantially, based on the type, complexity and novelty of the product. The decision by a regulatory authority to regulate a currently non-regulated product or product area could significantly impact our revenue and have a corresponding adverse impact on our financial performance and position while we attempt to comply with the new regulation, if such compliance is possible at all.
The effect of government regulation may be to delay or to prevent marketing of our products for a considerable period of time and to impose costly procedures upon our activities. We may not be able to estimate the time to obtain required regulatory approvals accurately and such approvals may require significantly more time than we anticipate. We have experienced in the past, and may experience in the future, difficulties that could delay or prevent us from obtaining the regulatory approval or license necessary to introduce or market our products. Such delays in approval may cause us to forego a significant portion of a new product’s sales in its first year due to seasonality and advanced booking periods associated with certain products. Regulatory approval of our products may also impose limitations on the indicated or intended uses for which our products may be marketed.
Difficulties in making established products to all regulatory specifications may lead to significant losses related to affected inventory as well as market share. Among the conditions for certain regulatory approvals is the requirement that our facilities and/or the facilities of our third party manufacturers conform to current Good Manufacturing Practices and other analogous or additional requirements. If any regulatory authority determines that our manufacturing facilities or those of our third party manufacturers do not conform to appropriate manufacturing requirements, we or the manufacturers of our products may be subject to sanctions, including, but not limited to, warning letters, manufacturing suspensions, product recalls or seizures, injunctions, refusal to permit products to be imported into or exported out of the United States, refusals of regulatory authorities to grant approval or to allow us to enter into government supply contracts, withdrawals of previously approved marketing applications, civil fines and . Furthermore, third parties may perceive procedures required to obtain regulatory approval and may attempt to
disrupt or otherwise damage our business as a result. In addition, certain of our agreements may require us to pay penalties if we are unable to supply products, including for failure to maintain regulatory approvals.
Any of these events, alone or in combination with others, could significantly damage our business or results of operations.
Our future revenues depend on successful product development, direct manufacturing, contract manufacturing, commercialization and/or market acceptance, any of which can be slower than we expect or may not occur.
The product development and regulatory approval and maintenance process for many of our current and potential products is extensive and may take substantially longer than we anticipate. Research projects may fail. New products that we may be developing for the veterinary marketplace may not perform consistently within our expectations. Because we have limited resources to devote to product development and commercialization, any delay in the development of one product or reallocation of resources to product development efforts that prove unsuccessful may delay or jeopardize the development of other product candidates. If we fail to successfully develop new products and bring them to market in a timely manner, our ability to generate additional revenue will decrease.
Even if we are successful in the development of a product or obtain rights to a product from a third party supplier, we may experience delays or shortfalls in commercialization and/or market acceptance of the product. For example, veterinarians may be slow to adopt a product, a product may not achieve the anticipated technical performance in field use or there may be delays in producing large volumes of a product. The former is particularly likely where there is no comparable product available or historical precedent for such a product. The ultimate adoption of a new product by veterinarians, the rate of such adoption and the extent veterinarians choose to integrate such a product into their practice are all important factors in the economic success of any new products and are factors that we do not control to a large extent. If our products do not achieve a significant level of market acceptance, demand for our products will not develop as expected and our revenues will be lower than we anticipate.
Even if we are successful in the development of a product or obtain rights to a product from a third party supplier, we may not be able to, ourselves or through a third party, manufacture such product or continue to manufacture such product on an ongoing basis necessary to realize economic value or service customers, or manufacture such product economically or to the standard necessary to realize economic value or service customers.
Many of our expenses are fixed and if factors beyond our control cause our revenue to fluctuate, this fluctuation could cause greater than expected losses, cash flow and liquidity shortfalls.
We believe that our future operating results will fluctuate on a quarterly basis due to a variety of factors which are generally beyond our control, including:
• supply of products and components, including minimum purchase agreements, from third party suppliers or termination, cancellation or expiration of such relationships;
• competition and pricing pressures from competitive products;
• the introduction of new products or services by our competitors or by us;
• large customers failing to purchase at historical levels;
• fundamental shifts in market demand;
• manufacturing delays;
• shipment problems;
• information technology problems, which may prevent us from conducting our business effectively, or at all, and may also raise our costs;
• regulatory and other delays in product development;
• product recalls or other issues which may raise our costs;
• changes in our reputation and/or market acceptance of our current or new products; and
• changes in the mix of products sold.
We have high operating expenses, including those related to personnel. Many of these expenses are fixed in the short term and may increase over time. If any of the factors listed above cause our revenues to decline, our operating results could be substantially harmed.
Cyberattack related breaches of our information technology systems could have an adverse effect on our business.
Cyberattacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, and have become increasingly difficult to detect and defend against, notwithstanding our ongoing evaluation of and improvements to the preventive measures we take on to reduce the risks associated with these threats based on our own experience and those observed in the broader market. Cyberattacks, ranging from the use of malware, computer viruses, dedicated denial of services attacks, credential harvesting, social engineering and other means for obtaining unauthorized access to our Company's confidential information or assets or disrupting our Company’s ability to operate normally, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Cyberattacks may cause equipment failures, loss of information or assets, including sensitive personal information of third-party vendors, customers or employees, or technical and marketing information, as well as to our or our vendor or customers’ operations. These attacks may be committed by company employees or external actors operating in any geography, including jurisdictions where law enforcement measures to address such attacks are or . may occur alone or in conjunction with physical attacks, especially where of service is an objective of the attacker. The preventive actions we take on an ongoing basis to reduce the risks and mitigate the potential associated with , including protection of our systems, networks and assets and the retention of cybersecurity insurance policies, may be to repel or mitigate entirely the effects of a .
We devote significant resources to network security, data encryption and other security measures to protect our systems and data, but these security measures cannot provide absolute security. To the extent we were to experience a breach of our systems and were unable to protect sensitive data in the wake of the breach, such a breach could materially damage business partner and customer relationships and reduce or otherwise negatively impact access to online services. Moreover, if a computer security breach affects our systems or results in the unauthorized release of Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”), our reputation and brand could be materially damaged; use of our products and services could decrease, we could suffer from reputational harm impacting sales revenue, and we could be faced with unforeseen regulatory investigation, remediation and costs. Our cybersecurity insurance policies may not cover the full extent, or any, of the potential financial that could be caused by a of our systems, including in respect of theft or possible that may be brought us by our business partners and customers in respect of any such .
The frequently changing attack techniques, along with the increased volume and sophistication of the attacks, create additional potential for us to be adversely impacted by this activity. This impact could result in reputational, competitive, operational or other business harm as well as management distraction, financial losses and costs, and regulatory action.
We may be unable to protect our stakeholders’ privacy or we may fail to comply with privacy laws.
The protection of customer, employee, supplier and company data is critical and the regulatory environment surrounding information security, storage, use, processing, and disclosure of personal information is demanding. There is frequent imposition of new and changing requirements and enforcement risks, particularly as more U.S. states enact comprehensive privacy laws, including Colorado, which recently passed the Colorado Privacy Act, effective July 2023. In addition, our customers, employees and suppliers expect that we will protect their personal information. Any actual or perceived cyberattack, unauthorized access or acquisition of customer, employee or supplier data, or our failure to comply with federal, state, local and foreign privacy laws, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, could result in lost sales, extensive remediation costs, and legal liability including severe penalties, regulatory action and reputational harm. The GDPR became effective in 2018, for example, and requires companies to meet requirements regarding the processing of personal data, and provides data subjects with various rights, including the right to request or deletion of their personal data. to meet GDPR requirements could result in of up to 4% of worldwide revenue. implementation of reasonable technical, administrative, and physical safeguards, and our efforts and investments in technology to secure our ecosystem, no computer network or system can ever be 100% secure. Given the sophisticated and evolving landscape, system or data can occur and result in the compromise or of personal or confidential information. In addition, in the event of a data , to comply with applicable security requirements or timely rectify a security issue may result in and notice obligations to regulators, consumers, or third parties, and the imposition of restrictions on our ability to accept payment by credit or debit cards. In addition, the payment card industry (“PCI”) is controlled by a limited number of vendors that have the ability to impose changes in PCI’s fee structure and operational requirements on our payment processing vendors without negotiation. Such changes in fees and operational requirements may result in the to comply with PCI security standards, as well as significant expenses. Such could materially affect our operating results and financial condition. Furthermore, we maintain cybersecurity insurance coverage at levels that we believe are appropriate for our business. However, the costs related to significant security or could be material and exceed the limits of the cybersecurity insurance we maintain such risks, and given the increase in , cybersecurity insurance providers are increasingly raising premiums while narrowing the scope of coverage. If the amounts of our insurance coverage are to any and in the event of a cybersecurity , we may have to expend significant resources to mitigate the impact of such an , and to develop and implement protections to prevent future from occurring. Such financial exposure could have a material effect on our business.
We may not be able to achieve sustained profitability or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $168.5 million. Relatively small differences in our performance metrics may cause us to generate an operating or net loss in future periods. Our ability to be profitable in future periods will depend, in part, on our ability to increase sales, including maintaining and growing our installed base of instruments and related consumables, to maintain or increase gross margins and to limit the increase in our operating expenses to a reasonable level as well as avoid or effectively manage any unanticipated issues. We may not be able to generate, sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. If we cannot achieve or sustain profitability for an extended period, we may not be able to fund our expected cash needs, including the repayment of debt as it comes due, or continue our operations.
We may face product returns and product liability litigation in excess of, or not covered by, our insurance coverage or indemnities and/or warranties from our suppliers. If we become subject to product liability claims resulting from defects in our products, we may fail to achieve market acceptance of our products and our sales could substantially decline.
The testing, manufacturing and marketing of our current products as well as those currently under development entail an inherent risk of product liability claims and associated adverse publicity. Following the introduction of a product, adverse side effects may be discovered. Adverse publicity regarding such effects could affect sales of our other products for an indeterminate time period. To date, we have not experienced any material product liability claims, but any claim arising in the future could substantially harm our business. Potential product liability claims may exceed the amount of our insurance coverage or may be excluded from coverage under the terms of the policy. We may not be able to continue to obtain adequate insurance at a reasonable cost, if at all. In the event that we are held liable for a claim against which we are not indemnified or for damages exceeding the $10 million limit of our insurance coverage or which results in significant publicity us, we may revenue, be required to make substantial payments which could exceed our financial capacity and/or or to market acceptance.
We may be held liable for the release of hazardous materials, which could result in extensive remediation costs or otherwise harm our business.
Certain of our products and development programs produced at our Des Moines, Iowa facility involve the controlled use of hazardous and biohazardous materials, including chemicals and infectious disease agents. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of such an accident, we could be held liable for any fines, penalties, remediation costs or other damages that result. Our liability for the release of hazardous materials could exceed our resources, which could lead to a shutdown of our operations, significant remediation costs and potential legal liability. In addition, we may incur substantial costs to comply with environmental regulations if we choose to expand our manufacturing capacity.
Risks related to our common stock
Our stock price has historically experienced high volatility, and could do so in the future, including experiencing a material price decline resulting from a large sale in a short period of time. This volatility could affect the value of our common stock.
Should a relatively large stockholder decide to sell a large number of shares in a short period of time, it could lead to an excess supply of our shares available for sale and correspondingly result in a significant decline in our stock price.
The securities markets have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations and the market prices of securities of many small cap companies have in the past been, and can in the future be expected to be, especially volatile. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the closing price of our common stock has ranged from a low of $60.21 to a high of $171.74, and the closing price of our common stock on February 16, 2023 was $83.41 per share. Fluctuations in the trading price or liquidity of our common stock may adversely affect our ability to raise capital through future equity financings. Factors that may have a significant impact on the market price and marketability of our common stock include:
• stock sales by large stockholders or by insiders;
• changes in the outlook for our business;
• our quarterly operating results, including as compared to expected revenue or earnings and in comparison to historical results;
• termination, cancellation or expiration of our third-party supplier relationships;
• announcements of technological innovations or new products by our competitors or by us;
• litigation;
• regulatory developments, including delays in product introductions;
• developments or disputes concerning patents or proprietary rights;
• availability of our revolving line of credit and compliance with debt covenants;
• releases of reports by securities analysts;
• economic and other external factors;
• issuances of equity or equity-linked securities by us; and
• general market conditions
In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted. If a securities class action suit is filed against us, it is likely we would incur substantial legal fees and our management’s attention and resources would be diverted from operating our business in order to respond to the litigation.
Our NOL Protective Amendment could adversely impact the value and trading liquidity of our common stock.
On May 4, 2010, our stockholders approved an amendment (the “NOL Protective Amendment”) to our Certificate of Incorporation. The NOL Protective Amendment places restrictions on the transfer of our common stock that could adversely affect our ability to use our domestic Federal Net Operating Loss carryforward (“NOL”). In particular, the NOL Protective Amendment prevents the transfer of shares without the approval of our board of directors if, as a consequence, an individual, entity or groups of individuals or entities would become a 5-percent holder under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the related Treasury regulations, and also prevents any existing 5-percent holder from increasing his or her ownership position in the Company without the approval of our board of directors. Any transfer of shares in violation of the NOL Protective Amendment (a “Transfer Violation”) shall be void ab initio under the our Certificate of Incorporation and our board of directors has procedures under our Certificate of Incorporation to remedy a Transfer Violation including requiring the shares causing such Transfer Violation to be sold and any profit resulting from such sale to be transferred to a entity chosen by the Company’s board of directors in specified circumstances. The NOL Protective Amendment could have an impact on the value and trading liquidity of our stock if certain buyers who would otherwise have bid on or purchased our stock, including buyers who may not be comfortable owning stock with transfer restrictions, do not bid on or purchase our stock as a result of the NOL Protective Amendment. In addition, because some corporate takeovers occur through the acquirer’s purchase, in the public market or otherwise, of sufficient shares to give it control of a company, any provision that restricts the transfer of shares can have the effect of a takeover. The NOL Protective Amendment could or otherwise prevent accumulations of substantial blocks of shares in which our stockholders might receive a substantial premium above market value and might tend to insulate management and the board of directors the possibility of removal to a degree than had the NOL Protective Amendment not passed.
In February 2018, our board of directors granted a waiver to a non-affiliated stockholder to allow the purchase, subject to certain limitations, of up to 730,000 shares of our common stock without causing a Transfer Violation. This waiver can be withdrawn by our board of directors at any time, in which case the non-affiliated stockholder is to only sell our stock until the non-affiliated stockholder ceases to be a Five Percent Stockholder (as defined in our Certificate of Incorporation). On August 7, 2019, our board of directors determined to waive the application of any NOL transfer restrictions contained in our Certificate of Incorporation with respect to the issuance and transfer of our Notes, any issuance of shares of the Company’s
common stock upon conversion of any of the Notes, and any subsequent and further transfer of any such common stock, to the extent such restrictions would otherwise have been applicable thereto. In January 2020, our board of directors waived the application of any NOL transfer restrictions contained in our Certificate of Incorporation with respect to the issuance and sale of the shares of preferred stock and underlying common stock issued in connection with the financing of the scil acquisition . In February 2021, our board of directors waived the application of any NOL transfer restrictions contained in our Certificate of Incorporation with respect to the issuance and transfer of the shares of common stock in our March 2021 public offering, and any subsequent and further transfer of any such shares, to the extent such restrictions would otherwise have been applicable thereto. In July 2022, our board of directors granted a waiver to a non-affiliated stockholder with respect to the acquisition of shares by such stockholder in reliance on receipt of certain representations and covenants from such stockholder, to the extent such restrictions would have otherwise been applicable thereto. This waiver can be withdrawn with 90 days of notice to the stockholder. These waivers, and any similar waivers that our board of directors may grant in the future, may make it more likely that we have a “change of ownership” as defined under the provisions of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, which could place a significant restriction on our ability to utilize our domestic Federal NOL in the future and materially adversely affect our results of operations. State net operating carryforwards may be similarly or more stringently limited. Any on our ability to use our pre-change of ownership net operating to offset taxable income could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us.
If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they downgrade our stock, the price of our stock could decline.
The trading market for our common stock will likely be influenced by research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. In the event securities or industry analysts cover our company and one or more of these analysts downgrades our stock, lowers their price target, or publishes unfavorable or inaccurate research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
We have not declared or paid any dividends on our common stock since 2012 and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
We have not declared or paid any dividends on our common stock since October 2012. We intend to retain any earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the future. As a result, investors in our common stock may only receive a return on their investment in our common stock if the market price of our common stock increases.
We have fewer than 200 holders of record, which could allow us to terminate voluntarily the registration of our common stock with the SEC and after which we would no longer be eligible to maintain the listing of our common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market. We may also be unable to otherwise maintain our listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market.
We have fewer than 200 holders of record as of our latest information, a fact which could make us eligible to terminate voluntarily the registration of our common stock with the SEC and therefore suspend our reporting obligations with the SEC under the Exchange Act and become a non-reporting company. If we were to cease reporting with the SEC, we would no longer be eligible to maintain the listing of our common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market, which we would expect to materially adversely affect the liquidity and market price for our common stock. The Nasdaq Capital Market has several additional quantitative and qualitative requirements companies must comply with to maintain this listing. While we believe we are currently in compliance with Nasdaq requirements, there can be no assurance we will continue to meet Nasdaq listing requirements, that Nasdaq will interpret these requirements in the same manner we do if we believe we meet
the requirements, or that Nasdaq will not change such requirements or add new requirements to include requirements we do not meet in the future.
If we were delisted from The Nasdaq Capital Market, our common stock may be considered a penny stock under the regulations of the SEC and would therefore be subject to rules that impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell our securities. The additional burdens imposed upon broker-dealers may discourage broker-dealers from effecting transactions in our common stock, which could severely limit market liquidity of the common stock and any stockholder’s ability to sell our securities in the secondary market. This lack of liquidity would also likely make it more difficult for us to raise capital in the future.
Provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws and under Delaware law might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.
Our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could depress the trading price of our common stock by acting to discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous. These provisions:
• place restrictions on the transfer of our common stock that could adversely affect our ability to use our domestic NOL, which can have an effect of preventing a takeover;
• provide that our board of directors may, without stockholder approval, issue shares of preferred stock with special voting or economic rights;
• prohibit stockholders from calling a special meeting of our stockholders;
• provide that the board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws; and
• establish advance notice requirements for nominations for elections to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings.
Additionally, we are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder and which may discourage, delay, or prevent a change of control of our company.
Any provision of our Certificate of Incorporation, bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also negatively affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.
Risks related to the outstanding Notes
Servicing our debt will require a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our substantial debt.
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, including the amounts payable under the Notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversions of the Notes in cash or to repurchase the Notes upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain, limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion or repurchase of the Notes.
Holders of the Notes will have the right to require us to repurchase their notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. In addition, upon conversion of the Notes, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our common stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the Notes being converted. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of Notes surrendered therefor or Notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the Notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the Notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our existing and future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the Notes as required by the indenture would constitute a default under the indenture. If a fundamental change occurs, or if the Notes are accelerated due to an event of default under the indenture, such events may lead to a under agreements governing our future indebtedness. Any future indebtedness of ours may contain restrictions on our ability to pay cash upon conversion or repurchase of the Notes. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof.
The conditional conversion feature of the Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Notes is triggered, holders of Notes will be entitled to convert the Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share) or by electing an exchange process for the Notes and a designated financial institution delivers the applicable conversion consideration, we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders of Notes do not elect to convert their Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.
