Velodyne Lidar Announces Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results

Velodyne Lidar Announces Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results

• Dr. Theodore L. Tewksbury will join Velodyne as Chief Executive Officer on November 10, 2021

• As of November 1, 2021, there are 35 long-term contracts in progress

• LiDAR shipments exceeded 4,400

• As of August 1, 2021, there are 220 long-term contracts in the pipeline

• As of September 30, 2021, cash and short-term investments on the balance sheet were $324.5 million

Recently, lidar company Velodyne Lidar released its third-quarter financial report ending September 30, 2021.

Business and Financial Performance

• Velodyne maintained its market leadership with more than 4,400 lidar shipments in the third quarter of 2021. In terms of solid-state lidar sensor sales, Velodyne maintained its leadership with more than 630 units sold.

• As of November 1, 2021, there are 35 long-term contracts in progress

• As of August 1, 2021, there are 220 long-term contracts in the pipeline

• Revenue of $13.1 million in the third quarter of 2021

• Full-year 2021 revenue guidance revised to $60-63 million

• As of September 30, 2021, cash and short-term investments on the balance sheet were $324.5 million

“We are pleased that Dr. Theodore L. Tewksbury will join Velodyne as CEO on November 10,” said Drew Hamer, CFO of Velodyne Lidar. “He is an experienced senior executive and we believe his extensive leadership experience, in addition to his engineering expertise, will help Velodyne continue to lead the lidar industry with cutting-edge products and scaled production, and expand our business footprint.”

Today, LiDAR is experiencing strong growth in markets we already serve and in other emerging target markets. For example, we are entering the first wave of large-scale commercialization in the industrial and robotics markets, as evidenced by the large volume orders from customers, who now expect stable and consistent performance across our product lines. This is a natural evolution of past R&D purchases from our customers, as our test samples have been very satisfactory. As we prepare large-scale purchase orders to meet customer needs, there are many uncertainties in the linear forecast of orders, but this does not affect our outlook for market growth opportunities. With a solid balance sheet, as a leader in the LiDAR field, we will focus on accelerating improvements in our commercial and manufacturing execution roadmaps to provide customers with consistent quality levels. We expect to ship approximately 4,000 LiDAR units in the fourth quarter and a total of more than 15,000 units for the full year, an increase of approximately 28% compared to the full year 2020.

Velodyne is demonstrating how lidar-based automation technology is transforming and reshaping the automotive and industrial sectors and helping to create a sustainable and efficient infrastructure. We believe that as the only lidar company that provides holistic safety and automation, Velodyne can deliver enhanced long-term shareholder value through its hardware and software solutions for automation and safety.”

Since its earnings call in August, Velodyne has disclosed a number of core business and operational developments that demonstrate and support the company's continued success and long-term outlook.

Company News

• Dr. Theodore L. Tewksbury will join Velodyne as Chief Executive Officer on November 10, 2021. Ted is a seasoned senior executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience across a range of public and private companies.

• Virginia Boulet has been appointed to the Velodyne Board of Directors. An expert in corporate governance, Boulet has served on three major New Orleans corporations, more than 30 years of corporate and securities law experience, more than 22 years of service on public boards, and many years of teaching experience at Loyola Law School.

Customer Growth

• The University of California, Irvine (UCI) has selected Velodyne’s Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions (IIS) for its Smart City initiative. IIS will be used at 25 intersections as part of a $6 million road network project in Irvine, California.

• TOPODRONE, a Switzerland-based company that develops affordable, high-precision solutions for aerial surveying, has signed a long-term contract with Velodyne. Velodyne sensors will be used for high-precision mapping and 3D modeling in demanding environments such as farmland, forests, and infrastructure to boost the economy and support sustainability goals.

• AGM Systems has deployed the Alpha Prime lidar sensor on its latest high-performance mobile scanning solution, the AGM-MS5.Prime, which is the second sensor type AGM Systems has purchased from Velodyne.

• Velodyne has teamed up with MOV.AI to provide robot manufacturers with enterprise-grade automation solutions including mapping, navigation, obstacle avoidance, and risk avoidance.

• Renu Robotics signs long-term contract with Velodyne, selecting Puck sensors to transform vegetation management at solar facilities.

Business Outlook and Plans for 2021

Drew Hamer concluded: “To meet our customers’ expectations for consistent performance, we are improving our manufacturing and production processes. As a result, in the third quarter, we shifted approximately $4.3 million of product sales to the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. Our full year 2021 revenue outlook is now in the range of $60 to $63 million, excluding any one-time engineering charges in the fourth quarter.”

We expect to sign three more long-term contracts, for a total of 38 long-term contracts by December 31, 2021.

As of the end of the third quarter, Velodyne expects to generate more than $800 million in revenue from signed and awarded projects by 2025. The company expects a pipeline of projects that have not yet been signed and awarded to contribute approximately $4.2 billion in revenue by 2025.

About Velodyne Lidar, Inc.

Velodyne Lidar ushered in a new era of autonomous technology with the invention of real-time surround view lidar sensors. Velodyne is the global leader in lidar and is recognized for its broad portfolio of breakthrough lidar technologies. Velodyne’s revolutionary sensor and software solutions provide flexibility, quality, and reliable performance to meet the needs of a wide range of industries, including autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), smart cities, and security. Through continuous innovation, Velodyne strives to transform lives and communities by advancing safer mobility for all.