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Table of Contents

 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 


 

FORM 10-Q

 

(Mark One)

 

x QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the Quarterly Period Ended March 31, 2005

 

or

 

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the transition period from                      to                     

 

Commission File Number 0-23006

 


 

DSP GROUP, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware   94-2683643

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

  (I.R.S. employer identification number)

 

3120 Scott Boulevard, Santa Clara, California   95054
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)   (Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (408) 986-4300

 


 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes  x No  ¨

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes  x No  ¨

 

As of May 2, 2005, there were 28,326,616 shares of Common Stock ($.001 par value per share) outstanding.

 



Table of Contents

INDEX

 

DSP GROUP, INC.

 

          Page No.

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

    

Item 1.

   Financial Statements (Unaudited)     
     Condensed consolidated balance sheets—March 31, 2005 and December 31, 2004    2
     Condensed consolidated statements of income—Three months ended March 31, 2005 and 2004    4
     Condensed consolidated statements of cash flows—Three months ended March 31, 2005 and 2004    5
     Condensed consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity—Three months ended March 31, 2005 and 2004    6
     Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements—March 31, 2005    7

Item 2.

   Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations    12

Item 3.

   Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk    30

Item 4.

   Controls and Procedures    30

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

    

Item 1.

   Legal Proceedings    30

Item 5.

   Other Information    30

Item 6.

   Exhibits    31

SIGNATURES

   32

 

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PART 1. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

DSP GROUP, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(US dollars in thousands)

 

     March 31,
2005


   December 31,
2004


 
     (Unaudited)

   (Audited)

 

ASSETS

               

CURRENT ASSETS:

               

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 35,140    $  60,827 *

Short-term investments

     20,483      14,313 *

Held-to-maturity marketable securities

     62,948      60,184  

Trade receivables, net

     13,537      5,976  

Deferred income taxes

     1,168      1,168  

Other accounts receivable and prepaid expenses

     2,476      2,213  

Inventories

     10,770      9,469  
    

  


Total current assets

     146,522      154,150  
    

  


PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT, NET

     11,115      6,683  
    

  


LONG-TERM ASSETS:

               

Long-term held-to-maturity marketable securities

     205,655      195,671  

Long-term prepaid expenses and lease deposits

     641      628  

Deferred income taxes

     1,410      1,410  

Severance pay fund

     3,868      3,437  

Intangible assets, net

     3,197      3,482  

Goodwill

     1,500      1,500  
    

  


Total assets

   $ 373,908    $ 366,961  
    

  


 

* Reclassified.

 

Note: The balance sheet at December 31, 2004 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date.

 

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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DSP GROUP, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(US dollars in thousands)

 

     March 31,
2005


    December 31,
2004


 
     (Unaudited)

    (Audited)

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

                

CURRENT LIABILITIES:

                

Trade payables

   $ 12,001     $ 7,830  

Accrued compensation and benefits

     6,549       9,421  

Income taxes payables

     13,394       17,083  

Accrued expenses and other accounts payable

     12,954       13,353  
    


 


Total current liabilities

     44,898       47,687  
    


 


LONG-TERM LIABILITIES:

                

Accrued severance pay

     4,056       3,784  
    


 


STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:

                

Preferred stock, $ 0.001 par value - Authorized shares: 5,000,000 at March 31, 2005 and December 31, 2004; Issued and outstanding shares: none at March 31, 2005 and December 31, 2004

     —         —    

Common stock, $0.001 par value - Authorized shares: 50,000,000 at March 31, 2005 and December 31, 2004; Issued and outstanding: 28,241,284 and 27,954,133 shares at March 31, 2005 and December 31, 2004, respectively

     28       28  

Additional paid-in capital

     187,547       187,471  

Treasury stock

     (24,030 )     (29,797 )

Accumulated other comprehensive income

     17       65  

Retained earnings

     161,392       157,723  
    


 


Total stockholders’ equity

     324,954       315,490  
    


 


Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

   $ 373,908     $ 366,961  
    


 


 

Note: The balance sheet at December 31, 2004 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date.

 

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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DSP GROUP, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (UNAUDITED)

(US dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

 

    

Three months ended

March 31,


     2005

   2004

Revenues

   $ 40,163    $ 38,708

Costs of revenues

     22,244      19,858
    

  

Gross profit

     17,919      18,850
    

  

Operating expenses:

             

Research and development

     9,399      7,554

Sales and marketing

     2,886      2,803

General and administrative

     1,865      1,806
    

  

Total operating expenses

     14,150      12,163
    

  

Operating income

     3,769      6,687

Interest and other income, net

     2,272      2,125

Capital gains from sale of available-for-sale marketable securities

     —        21,317
    

  

Income before taxes on income

     6,041      30,129

Taxes on income

     1,034      10,015
    

  

Net income

   $ 5,007    $ 20,114
    

  

Net earnings per share:

             

Basic

   $ 0.18    $ 0.70
    

  

Diluted

   $ 0.17    $ 0.66
    

  

 

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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DSP GROUP, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (UNAUDITED)

(US dollars in thousands)

 

     Three Months Ended
March 31,


 
     2005

    2004

 

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

   $ (5,518 )   $ 11,949  

Investing activities

                

Purchase of held-to-maturity marketable securities and short-term investments

     (26,674 )     (49,343 )

Proceeds from maturity of held-to-maturity marketable securities and short-term investments

     7,402       52,731  

Purchases of property and equipment

     (5,402 )     (376 )

Proceeds from sale of available-for-sale marketable securities

     —         26,420  
    


 


Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

     (24,674 )     29,432  

Financial activities

                

Issuance of Common Stock and Treasury Stock for cash upon exercise of options and upon purchase of Common Stock under employee stock purchase plan by employees

     4,505       3,274  
    


 


Net cash provided by financing activities

     4,505       3,274  
    


 


Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

   $ (25,687 )   $ 44,655  
    


 


Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period

   $ 60,827     $ 36,812  
    


 


Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period

   $ 35,140     $ 81,467  
    


 


 

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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DSP GROUP, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(UNAUDITED)

(US dollars in thousands)

 

Three Months Ended

March 31, 2005


  

Number of

Common

Stock


  

Common

Stock


   

Additional

Paid-In

Capital


  

Treasury

Stock


   

Retained

Earnings


   

Other

Comprehensive

Income (Loss)


    Total
Comprehensive
Income


   

Total

Stockholders’

Equity


 

Balance at December 31, 2004

   27,954    $ 28     $ 187,471    $ (29,797 )   $ 157,723     $ 65             $ 315,490  

Net income

   —        —         —        —         5,007       —       $ 5,007     $ 5,007  

Unrealized gain from hedging activities, net

   —        —         —        —         —         (48 )     (48 )     (48 )
                                                


       

Total comprehensive income

                                               $ 4,959          
                                                


       

Issuance of Treasury Stock upon purchase of Common Stock under employee stock purchase plan

   32      ( *     —        650       (48 )     —                 602  

Issuance of Treasury Stock upon exercise of stock options by employees

   255      ( *     76      5,117       (1,290 )     —                 3,903  
    
  


 

  


 


 


         


Balance at March 31, 2005

   28,241    $ 28     $ 187,547    $ (24,030 )   $ 161,392     $ 17             $ 324,954  
    
  


 

  


 


 


         


Three Months Ended March 31, 2004

                                                            

Balance at December 31, 2003

   28,616    $ 29     $ 174,700    $ (1,192 )   $ 107,799     $ 23,045             $ 304,381  

Net income

   —        —         —        —         20,114       —       $ 20,114       20,114  

Unrealized gain on available-for-sale marketable securities, net

   —        —         —        —         —         (8,719 )     (8,719 )     (8,719 )

Unrealized loss from hedging activities, net

   —        —         —        —         —         (199 )     (199 )     (199 )
                                                


       

Total comprehensive income

                                               $ 11,196          
                                                


       

Issuance of Common Stock upon exercise of stock options by employees

   178      ( *     2,650      —         —         —                 2,650  

Issuance of Treasury Stock upon purchase of Common Stock under employee stock purchase plan

   32      ( *     —        732       (326 )     —                 406  

Issuance of Treasury Stock upon exercise of stock options by employees

   19      ( *     —        460       (242 )     —                 218  
    
  


 

  


 


 


         


Balance at March 31, 2004

   28,845    $ 29     $ 177,350    $ —       $ 127,345     $ 14,127             $ 318,851  
    
  


 

  


 


 


         


 

(* Represents an amount lower than $1.

 

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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DSP GROUP, INC.

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

March 31, 2005

(UNAUDITED)

(U.S. dollars in thousands)

 

NOTE A—BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

 

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2005 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2005. For further information, reference is made to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of DSP Group, Inc. (the “Company”) for the year ended December 31, 2004.

 

NOTE B—RECLASSIFICATION

 

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current-year presentation, including the reclassification of auction rate securities (“ARS”) as short-term investments instead of cash and cash equivalents in accordance with guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company reclassified $11,275 of investments in ARS as of December 31, 2004 that were previously included in cash and cash equivalents as short-term investments. The Company has included purchases and sales of ARS in the Company’s statements of cash flows as a component of investing activities. These reclassifications had no impact on the Company’s results of operations or changes in stockholders’ equity.

 

NOTE C—INVENTORIES

 

Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market value. Cost is determined using the average cost method. The Company periodically evaluates the quantities on hand relative to current and historical selling prices and historical and projected sales volume. Based on these evaluations, provisions are made in each period to write inventory down to its net realizable value. Inventories are composed of the following:

 

     March 31,
2005


   December 31,
2004


Work-in-process

   $ 4,432    $ 4,571

Finished goods

     6,338      4,898
    

  

     $ 10,770    $ 9,469
    

  

 

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NOTE D—NET EARNINGS PER SHARE

 

Basic net earnings per share are computed based on the weighted average number of shares of Common Stock outstanding during the period. For the same periods, diluted net earnings per share further include the effect of dilutive stock options outstanding during the period, all in accordance with SFAS No. 128, “Earnings per Share”. The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted net earnings per share:

 

     Three months ended
March 31,


     2005

   2004

Net income

   $ 5,007    $ 20,114

Earnings per share:

             

Basic

   $ 0.18    $ 0.70
    

  

Diluted

   $ 0.17    $ 0.66
    

  

Weighted average number of shares of Common Stock outstanding during the period used to compute basic net earnings per share (in thousands)

     28,113      28,767
    

  

Incremental shares attributable to exercise of outstanding options (assuming proceeds would be used to purchase Treasury Stock) (in thousands)

     1,493      1,931
    

  

Weighted average number of shares of Common Stock used to compute diluted net earnings per share (in thousands)

     29,606      30,698
    

  

 

NOTE E—INVESTMENTS IN MARKETABLE SECURITIES

 

The following is a summary of the held-to-maturity securities:

 

     Amortized Cost

   Unrealized Gains

    Estimated Fair Value

     March 31, 2005

   December 31, 2004

   March 31, 2005

    December 31, 2004

    March 31, 2005

   December 31, 2004

Obligations of states and political subdivisions

   $ 145,131    $ 131,999    $ (3,104 )   $ (1,582 )   $ 142,028    $ 130,417

Corporate obligations

     123,471      123,856      (1,288 )     (380 )     122,183      123,476
    

  

  


 


 

  

     $ 268,603    $ 255,855    $ (4,392 )   $ (1,962 )   $ 264,211    $ 253,893
    

  

  


 


 

  

 

The amortized cost of held-to-maturity debt and securities at March 31, 2005 by contractual maturities are shown below:

 

     Amortized
cost


   Unrealized
gains
(losses),
net


    Estimated
fair value


Due in one year or less

   $ 62,948    $ (48 )   $ 62,900

Due after one year to five years

     205,655      (4,344 )     201,311
    

  


 

     $ 268,603    $ (4,392 )   $ 264,211
    

  


 

 

The unrealized losses in the Company’s investments in held-to-maturity marketable securities were mainly caused by interest rate increases. The contractual cash flows of these investments are either guaranteed by the U.S. government or an agency of the U.S. government or were issued by highly rated corporations. Accordingly, it is expected that the securities would not be settled at a price less than the amortized cost of the Company’s investment. Based on the immaterial severity of the impairments and the ability and intent of the Company to hold these investments until maturity, the bonds were not considered to be other than temporarily impaired at March 31, 2005.

 

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NOTE F—INCOME TAXES

 

The effective tax rate used in computing the provision for income taxes is based on projected fiscal year income before taxes, including estimated income by tax jurisdiction. The difference between the effective tax rate and the statutory rate is due primarily to foreign tax holiday and tax-exempt income in Israel. Tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2004 included the provision for taxes associated with the sale of the AudioCodes stock and Tomen stock at a rate of 40% of the capital gain. Tax provision as a percentage of pre-tax income other than the capital gains associated with the sale of the AudioCodes stock and the Tomen Stock was 17% for both the three months ended March 31, 2005 and 2004.

 

On March 29, 2005, the Israeli Parliament passed an amendment to the Law For The Encouragement Of Capital Investments, 1959 (the “Law”), which provides expanded tax incentives for future industrial investments and simplified the bureaucratic process for obtaining approval of investments qualifying for tax incentives (the “2005 Amendment”). Under the Law, capital investments in new or expanded production facilities in Israel upon approval by the Israeli government can be designated as an “Approved Enterprise.” An Approved Enterprise may receive cash incentives from the Israeli government or a company may elect an “alterative track” that allows it to forego the cash incentives in favor of certain tax exemptions. The 2005 Amendment primarily relates to the “alternative track” tax incentives which the Company has elected for its Approved Enterprises. Changes include special tax incentives and expedited approval process for companies that make minimum qualifying investments in fixed assets in production facilities located in Israel. The 2005 Amendment became effective on April 1, 2005. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the 2005 Amendment on its business operations.

 

NOTE G—SIGNIFICANT CUSTOMERS

 

The Company sells its products to customers primarily through a network of distributors and representatives. Revenues derived from sales through one distributor, Tomen Electronics Corporation (“Tomen Electronics”), accounted for 78% of the Company’s total revenues for the first quarter of 2005 as compared to 80% for the first quarter of 2004. The Japanese market and the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that operate in that market are among the largest suppliers of residential wireless products with significant market shares in the U.S. market. Tomen Electronics sells the Company’s products to a limited number of customers. One customer, Panasonic Communications Co., Ltd. (“Panasonic”), has continually accounted for a majority of the sales through Tomen Electronics. The loss of Tomen Electronics as a distributor and the Company’s inability to obtain a satisfactory replacement in a timely manner would harm its sales and results of operations. Additionally, the loss of Panasonic and Tomen Electronics’ inability to thereafter effectively market the Company’s products would also harm its sales and results of operations.

 

NOTE H—INVESTMENTS IN EQUITY SECURITIES OF TRADED COMPANIES

 

The following is a summary of investments in equity securities of traded companies during the first quarter of 2004:

 

(1) AudioCodes Ltd.:

 

AudioCodes Ltd. (“AudioCodes”) is an Israeli corporation primarily engaged in the design, research, development, manufacturing and marketing of hardware and software products that enable simultaneous transmission of voice and data over networks. The Company acquired an approximate 35% ownership in AudioCodes in two separate transactions in 1993 and 1994.

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Company owned approximately 4,500,000 shares of AudioCodes ordinary shares. During the first quarter of 2004, the Company sold 2,000,000 shares of AudioCodes ordinary shares for gross proceeds of approximately $25,647, resulting in a capital gain of approximately $20,827.

 

During the second quarter of 2004, the Company sold 801,000 shares of AudioCodes ordinary shares for gross proceeds of approximately $9,600, resulting in a capital gain of approximately $7,670. During the third quarter of 2004, the Company sold the remaining 1,650,000 shares of AudioCodes ordinary shares for gross proceeds of $19,436, resulting in a capital gain of approximately $15,459.

 

The Company no longer has any equity interest in AudioCodes.

 

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(2) Tomen Corporation:

 

In September 2000, the Company invested approximately $485 (50.0 million Yen) in shares of its largest distributor’s parent company, Tomen Ltd. (“Tomen”), a Japanese distributor, as part of a long strategic relationship. Tomen’s shares are traded on the Japanese stock exchange. The Company accounted for its investment in Tomen in accordance with SFAS No. 115, “Accounting for Certain Investments in Debt and Equity Securities” as available-for-sale marketable securities.

 

During the first quarter of 2004, the Company sold all of its holdings in Tomen for gross proceeds of approximately $773, resulting in a capital gain of approximately $490.

 

The Company no longer has any equity interest in Tomen.

 

NOTE I—DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS

 

Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 133, “Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities” (“SFAS No. 133”), requires companies to recognize all of its derivative instruments as either assets or liabilities in the statement of financial position at fair value.

 

For derivative instruments that are designated and qualify as a cash flow hedge (i.e., hedging the exposure to variability in expected future cash flows that is attributable to a particular risk), the effective portion of the gain or loss on the derivative instrument is reported as a component of other comprehensive income and reclassified into earnings in the same period or periods during which the hedged transaction affects earnings. Any gain or loss on a derivative instrument in excess of the cumulative change in the present value of future cash flows of the hedged item is recognized in current earnings during the period of change.

 

To protect against the increase in value of forecasted foreign currency cash flow resulting from salary and rent payments in New Israeli Shekels (“NIS”) during the year, the Company has instituted a foreign currency cash flow hedging program. The Company hedges portions of the anticipated payroll and lease payments of its Israeli facilities denominated in NIS for a period of one to twelve months with put options and forward contracts.

 

These forward contracts and put options are designated as cash flow hedges, as defined by SFAS No. 133, and are all effective as hedges of these expenses.

 

As of March 31, 2005 and December 31, 2004, the Company recorded comprehensive income amounting to $17 and $65, respectively, from its put options and forward contracts in respect to anticipated payroll and rent payments expected in 2005. Such amounts will be recorded into earnings in the next three quarters of 2005.

 

NOTE J—CONTINGENCIES

 

The Company is involved in certain claims arising in the normal course of business. However, the Company believes that the ultimate resolution of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on its financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

 

NOTE K—ACCOUNTING FOR STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

 

The Company accounts for stock-based compensation in accordance with the provisions of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, “Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees” (“APB No. 25”) and Financial Accounting Standards Board Interpretation No. 44, “Accounting for Certain Transactions Involving Stock Compensation” (“FIN No. 44”). Under APB No. 25, when the exercise price of an employee’s options equals or is higher than the market price of the underlying Common Stock on the date of grant, no compensation expense is recognized. Under Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 123, “Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation” (“SFAS No. 123”), pro-forma information regarding net income and income per share is required, and has been determined as if the Company had accounted for its employee stock options under the fair value method of SFAS No. 123. The fair value of these options is amortized over their

 

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vesting period and estimated at the date of grant using a Black-Scholes multiple option pricing model with the following weighted average assumptions for the three months period ended March 31, 2005 and 2004, respectively: risk-free interest rate of 3.8% and 2.6%; a volatility factor of the expected market price of the Common Stock of 0.40 and 0.39; a dividend yield of 0.0% for both 2005 and 2004; and a weighted-average expected life of the option of 2.9 years for both 2005 and 2004.

 

The following table illustrates the effect on net income and earnings per share, assuming that the Company had applied the fair value recognition provision of SFAS No. 123 on its stock-based employee compensation:

 

     Three months ended March 31,

     2005

   2004

Net income as reported

   $ 5,007    $ 20,114

Deduct: Stock-based compensation expenses determined under fair value method for all awards, net of related tax effects:

     2,580      3,596
    

  

Pro forma net income

   $ 2,427    $ 16,518
    

  

Earnings per share:

             

Basic, as reported

   $ 0.18    $ 0.70
    

  

Basic, pro forma

   $ 0.09    $ 0.57
    

  

Diluted, as reported

   $ 0.17    $ 0.66
    

  

Diluted, pro forma

   $ 0.08    $ 0.54
    

  

 

NOTE L—NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

 

On December 16, 2004, the FASB issued Statement No. 123R (revised 2004 Share-Based Payment (“Statement 123R”), which is a revision of SFAS No. 123. Generally, the approach in Statement 123(R) is similar to the approach described in SFAS No. 123. However, SFAS No. 123 permitted, but did not require, share-based payments to employees to be recognized in income based on their fair values while Statement 123(R) requires all share-based payments to employees to be recognized in income based on their fair values. Statement 123R also revises, clarifies and expands guidance in several areas, including measuring fair value, classifying an award as equity or as a liability and attributing compensation cost to reporting periods.

 

In April 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced the adoption of a new rule which amends the effective date for Statement No. 123R. The new rule does not change any of the accounting provisions. As a result, the Company will adopt the accounting provisions of Statement No. 123R as of January 1, 2006. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of applying the various provisions of Statement No. 123R.

 

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ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

The discussions in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with our accompanying financial statements and the related notes thereto. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements within the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements included or incorporated by reference in this Quarterly Report, other than statements that are purely historical, are forward-looking statements. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” and similar expressions also identify forward looking statements. The forward looking statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward looking statements and include, without limitation, statements regarding:

 

    Our belief that our 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz products will continue to generate a significant portion of our revenue for 2005;

 

    Our expectation that our DECT products will drive our growth in 2005 and 2006, and products for home communication, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi products, will drive our growth in 2007 and beyond;

 

    Our belief that the introduction of features such as motion JPEG, polyphonic ringer, color display and other advanced features will also contribute to our growth in future periods;

 

    Our expectation that sales to new geographical areas such as Korea, China and domestic Japanese market will increase in future periods;

 

    Our belief that sales to our customers in Hong Kong may also increase in future periods;

 

    Our expectation that our planned future lines of products will integrate video, voice and data, as well as other communications technologies, and thereby enable us to strengthen our position as a leading supplier of multimedia communications products;

 

    Our plan to deliver a motion JPEG video over 2.4GHz for incorporation into a leading U.S. electronic brand;

 

    Our belief that our current investment in Wi-Fi technology may allow us to develop products that will improve the quality of voice and video wireless communication in the residence, and may increase our market share in IP phones; and

 

    Our expectation that we can capitalize on the industry trend for deployment of broadband to the residence by adding VoIP capabilities to our chipsets designated for cordless phones.

 

All forward-looking statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. The reader should also consult the cautionary statements and risk factors included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein.

 

Overview

 

The following discussion and analysis is intended to provide an investor with a narrative of our financial results and an evaluation of our financial condition and results of operations. The discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto.

 

Our business model is relatively straightforward. DSP Group is a fabless semiconductor company that is a leader in providing chipsets to telephone equipment and design manufacturers that incorporate our chipsets into consumer products for the residential wireless telecommunication market. Our chipsets incorporate advanced technologies, such as DSP processors, communications technologies, highly advanced radio frequency (RF) devices and in-house developed Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) hardware and software technologies. Our products include 900MHz, 1.9GHz (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony (DECT)), 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz chipsets for cordless telephones, Bluetooth for voice, data and video communication, solutions for digital voice recorders and multimedia players, and VoIP and other voice-over-packet applications. Our current primary focus is cordless telephony as sales of our 2.4GHz

 

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and 5.8GHz chipsets represented approximately 71% of our total revenues for the first quarter of 2005, with the 5.8GHz chipsets gaining increased sales.

 

During recent years we have become a worldwide leader in developing and marketing Total Telephony Solutions for a wide range of applications for wireless residential markets. We believe we were able to penetrate the residential wireless telephony market and increase our market share and customer base by taking advantage of the market transformation from analog-based to digital-based technologies for telephony products, the earlier shift from 900MHz to 2.4GHz technologies, and the recent shift from 2.4GHz to 5.8GHz technologies. Our focus on the convergence of these trends has allowed us to offer products with more features, and better range, security and voice quality. One additional factor that contributed significantly to our revenue growth over the past few years is the market acceptance of our multi-handset solutions for cordless telephony, as well as our other advanced features such as conversion of text to speech.

 

In order to increase our sales volume and expand our business, we recognize that we will need to penetrate new markets. Thus, we introduced our first DECT standard for the European market in 2004, and began delivering initial shipments of these chipsets to our first key customer in the second half of 2004. Our future growth is substantially dependent on our success in penetrating the European DECT market and the general market deployment and acceptance of our DECT products.

 

In the first quarter of 2005, our revenue grew by 4% in comparison to the same period in 2004, reaching a level of $40.2 million in sales. Our gross profit decreased to a level of 44.6% in the first quarter of 2005 from 48.7% in the same period in 2004. Our operating expenses increased by 16% in the first quarter of 2005 as compared to the same period in 2004. This increase in operating expenses was mainly a result of our significant increase in research and development expenses, which increased by approximately 24% as compared to 2004, primary attributable to hiring new employees and related expenses. As a result, our operating profit decreased by 44% in the first quarter of 2005 as compared to the first quarter of 2004. Our operating profit reached a level of $3.8 million, approximately 9.4% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2005 as compared to 17.3% in the first quarter of 2004. In order to develop new products and penetrate new markets, we will need to continue to increase our operating expenses, mainly in research and development and applications engineering, for the remainder of 2005 and future periods.

 

During the second quarter of 2003, we moved into the multimedia communications market by acquiring the assets of Teleman Inc., for a total consideration of $5.0 million plus transaction expenses. In addition, we hired 10 engineers that were previously employed by Teleman. Teleman, founded in 1998, developed an advanced silicon platform for video compression and decompression designed to interface with image sensors and panel displays. The Teleman silicon platform supports compression standards such as MPEG4, JPEG and H263.

 

During the fourth quarter of 2004, we acquired substantially all of the assets of Bermai Inc. for a total consideration of $5.0 million, plus transaction costs. Bermai developed an advanced Wi-Fi technology based on the 802.11 protocol that is optimized for quality of service for video streaming applications. We plan to leverage this technology to further develop and offer new communications products. We believe the current investment in Wi-Fi technology may allow us to develop products that will improve the quality of residential, wireless video communication, and may increase our market share in IP phones that combine the Wi-Fi communication channel in the same system that connects to a broadband connection feeding VoIP services.

 

We believe we will be able to expand our portfolio of new technologies targeted at the residential communications market through our acquisition of the video and Wi-Fi technologies of Teleman and Bermai. We believe these strategic acquisitions will enable us to integrate voice, data and video technologies with broadband offerings and prepare us for the dynamic and evolving nature of the short-range multimedia communication and home wireless networking markets. In order to keep pace with competition, market trends and innovation, we are constantly developing new features and applications. For example, we recently announced a plan to deliver a motion JPEG video over 2.4GHz for incorporation into a leading U.S. electronic brand.

 

Our business operates in a highly competitive environment, characterized by changing standards and rapid introduction of new products. Competition has historically increased pricing pressures for our products and decreased our average selling prices. In order to penetrate new markets and maintain our market share with our traditional products, we may need to offer our products in the future at lower prices than we currently anticipate which may result in lower profits.

 

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In addition, as we are a fabless semiconductor company, global market trends such as “over-capacity” problems in fabrication facilities may increase our raw material costs and thus decrease our gross margins. We must continue to monitor and control costs, improve operating yields and maintain our current level of gross margin in order to offset future declines in average selling prices. In addition, our future growth is also dependent on the continued market deployment and acceptance of our existing 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz digital products as well as our success in penetrating the DECT market. Also, since our products are incorporated into end products of our original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers, our business is very dependent on their ability to achieve market acceptance of their end products in consumer electronic markets, which are similarly very competitive.

 

There are also several emerging market trends that challenge our ability to continue to grow our business. We believe that new developments in the home residential market may adversely affect our operating results. For example, the rapid deployment of new communication access methods, including mobile, wireless broadband, cable and other connectivity, as well as the projected lack of growth in products using fixed-line telephony would reduce our revenues derived from, and unit sales of, cordless telephony products, which is currently our primary focus. Our ability to maintain our growth will depend on the expansion of our product lines to capitalize on the emerging communication access methods and on our success in developing and selling a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions that integrate video, voice, data and communication technologies in a wider multimedia market. Our business may also be affected by the outcome of the current competition between cell phone operators and fixed line operators for the provision of residential communication. Our revenues are currently primarily generated from sales of chipsets used in cordless phones that are based on fixed-line telephony. As a result, a decline in the use of fixed-line telephony for residential communication would adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

 

In view of the current market trends, our currently planned future products are anticipated to enable connectivity of Bluetooth-enabled cellular phones to fixed-line phones and will also include Wi-Fi capabilities. We are also preparing for the deployment of broadband services to the residence, a current trend in our market, by adding VoIP capabilities to our chipsets designed for cordless phones. Our initial solution for connecting the traditional residential handsets to the public network using Internet protocol through personal computers is based on a universal serial bus (USB) dongle that we recently developed. We believe that these pioneer solutions will allow us to provide the desired flexibility for residential users. We cannot provide any assurances, however, about if and when these and other future features and products we are currently developing will be commercially available and, if and when developed, will achieve market acceptance, and allow us to maintain our market share and future growth.

 

One additional factor that could affect our results of operations is the potential shift in the U.S. digital telephony market towards DECT products. We were recently informed that at the conclusion of negotiations between the DECT Forum and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), FCC authorized the use of the DECT frequency band in the U.S. This allows companies and private households to use the multifunctional DECT technology for various communications. As our DECT chipsets are in the early stage of deployment, we can provide no assurance that we can penetrate any emerging U.S. DECT market. The U.S. market is currently our dominant market. The increase in demand for DECT products in the U.S. and our inability to develop and market new DECT products to compete effectively with the introduction of new products by our competitors may have a material adverse effect on our profits and results of operation.

 

We believe that our DECT product lines will drive our growth in 2005 and 2006, and products for home communication, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi products, will contribute to our revenues in 2007 and beyond. We believe that our introduction of additional features, such as motion JPEG, polyphonic ringer, color display and other advanced features, will also contribute to our growth in future periods. However, our ability to expand into new markets may not occur and may require us to substantially increase our operating expenses. As a result, you should not rely upon our past operating results as an indication of future performance.

 

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

Total Revenues. Our total revenues were $40.2 million for the first quarter of 2005 as compared to $38.7 million for the same period in 2004. This increase of 4% in 2005 was primarily as a result of strong demand for our 5.8GHz products. Sales of 5.8GHz products represented approximately 30% and 14% of our total revenues for the first quarters of 2005 and 2004, respectively, representing an increase of 129% in absolute dollar amount. The increase in revenues in the

 

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first quarter of 2005, as compared to the same period of 2004, was also a result of sales of our DECT products, as well as increased revenue derived from sales of our VoIP and other IDT chips. The above mentioned increase was partly offset by a decrease in sales of our 2.4GHz chipsets. Revenues from the 2.4GHz products represented 41% and 65% of our revenues for the quarters ended March 31, 2005 and 2004, respectively. As is typical in the semiconductor consumer industry, we experienced pricing pressures for our current products. However, the impact of the decline in average selling prices of our products was offset by an increase in the number of units sold for the same period. We cannot provide any assurances, however, that we will be able to offset future declines in average selling prices with an increase in the number of units sold. During these comparable periods we were also able to partially offset the decline in average selling price of our products by adding advanced and pioneer features to our products.

 

Export sales to manufacturers in Europe and Asia, including Japan and Asia Pacific, represented 99% of our total revenues for the first quarters of 2005 and 2004. All export sales are denominated in U.S. dollars. The following table shows the breakdown of net revenues for the periods indicated by geographic location (in thousands):

 

     Period Ended March 31,

     2005

   2004

United States

   $ 636    $ 315

Japan

   $ 31,242    $ 31,098

Europe

   $ 265    $ 594

Hong Kong

   $ 5,490    $ 5,386

Other

   $ 2,530    $ 1,315
    

  

Total revenues

   $ 40,163    $ 38,708

 

During the first quarter of 2005, our OEM customers began shipments of their telephony products to new geographical areas such as Korea, China and the domestic Japanese market. We expect sales to these new geographical areas to increase in future periods.

 

Sales to our customers in Hong Kong may also increase in future periods in absolute dollars and as a percentage of total revenues. This possible increase is a result of our penetration of new markets and the expansion of our product lines as our new DECT products are anticipated to be sold to original design manufacturers (ODMs) that are mainly located in Hong Kong.

 

As our products are generally incorporated into consumer products sold by our OEM customers, our revenues are affected by seasonal buying patterns of consumer products sold by our OEM customers that incorporate our products. The fourth quarter in any given year is usually the strongest quarter of sales for our OEM customers and, as a result, the third quarter in any given year is usually the strongest quarter for our revenues as our OEM customers request increased shipments of our products in anticipation of the fourth quarter holiday season. This trend can be generally observed from reviewing our quarterly information and results of operations. However, the magnitude of this trend varies annually.

 

Significant Customers. Revenues derived from sales through one distributor, Tomen Electronics Corporation (“Tomen Electronics”), accounted for 78% of our total revenues for the first quarter of 2005 as compared to 80% for the same period in 2004. The decrease in 2005 as compared to 2004 was primarily due to a greater volume of total sales in 2005.

 

The Japanese market and the OEMs that operate in that market are among the largest suppliers for residential wireless products with significant market share in the U.S. market. Tomen Electronics sells our products to a limited number of customers. One customer, Panasonic Communications Co., Ltd., (“Panasonic”), has continually accounted for a majority of the sales through Tomen Electronics. The loss of Tomen Electronics as a distributor and our inability to obtain a satisfactory replacement in a timely manner would harm our sales and results of operations. Additionally, the loss of Panasonic and Tomen Electronics’ inability to thereafter effectively market our products would also harm our sales and results of operations.

 

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Significant Products. Revenues from our 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz digital products represented 71% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2005. We believe that sales of these product lines will continue to represent a substantial percentage of our revenues in 2005 and in future periods. However, we believe that the rapid deployment of new communication access methods, as well as the projected lack of growth in fixed-line telephony, will reduce our total revenues derived from, and unit sales of, cordless telephony products, including future sales of our 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz products. We believe that in order to maintain our growth, we will need to expand our product lines by penetrating the DECT market and by developing a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions that will integrate video, voice, and data, as well as communications technologies in a broader multimedia market.

 

Gross Profit. Gross profit as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 44.6% for the first quarter of 2005 from 48.7% for the first quarter of 2004. The decrease in our gross margin in 2005 as compared to 2004 was primarily due to increased cost of goods expenses due to yield reduction, increased testing expenses related to one of our chips and other expenses related to product malfunction events. During the first quarter of 2005, we were able to offset the continuing decline in the average selling prices of our products with a similar reduction in material, manufacturing, assembly and testing costs.

 

However, we cannot guarantee that our ongoing efforts in cost reduction will be successful or that they will keep pace with the anticipated continued decline in average selling prices of our processors. As an example, our gross profit for 2004 was 49%. We believe that the 49% gross profit figure is not sustainable for future periods. Our gross profit may decrease in the future due to a variety of factors, including the continued decline in the average selling prices of our products, our failure to achieve the corresponding cost reductions, roll-out of new products in any given period and our failure to introduce new engineering processes. Also, future increases in the pricing of silicon wafers or in other production costs may affect our ability to implement cost reductions. As we are a fabless company, global market trends such as “over-capacity” problems in fabrication facilities may also increase our raw material costs and thus decrease our gross profit.

 

As gross profit reflects the sale of chips and chipsets that have different margins, changes in the mix of products sold have impacted and will impact our gross profit in future periods. Moreover, penetration of new competitive markets, such as the European DECT market, could require us to reduce sale prices or increase the cost per product and thus reduce our total gross profit in future periods. As a result, you should not rely on our past gross profit figures as an indication of future results.

 

Research and Development Expenses. Our research and development expenses increased to $9.4 million in the first quarter of 2005 from $7.6 million in the first quarter of 2004. The increase in 2005 was primarily attributed to increased salary expenses, mainly due to a greater number of research and development employees and to increased depreciation expenses of our development software and other related expenses. As of March 31, 2005, we had 193 research and development employees, as compared to 144 as of March 31, 2004. Research and development expenses for the first quarter of 2005 included expenses in the amount of $0.3 million related to the amortization of workforce and patents acquired from Teleman in 2003 and from amortization of patents related to the acquisition of Bermai assets in 2004. Amortization expenses for the first quarter of 2004 were $0.15 million.

 

Our research and development expenses as a percentage of total revenues were 23% for the three months ended March 31, 2005 and 20% for the three months ended March 31, 2004. This increase in research and development expenses as a percentage of total revenues was due to the increase in absolute dollars of the research and development expenses.

 

As our research and development staff is currently working on various projects simultaneously, we anticipate that we will need to incur additional expenses and hire additional research and development staff related to the development of new products and to support the development of existing products and technologies. As a result, our research and development expenses in absolute dollars are anticipated to increase in the coming quarters of 2005.

 

Research and development expenses consist mainly of payroll expenses to employees involved in research and development activities, expenses related to tape-out and mask work, subcontracting and engineering expenses, depreciation and maintenance fees related to equipment and software tools used in research and development and facilities expenses associated with and allocated to research and development activities.

 

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Sales and Marketing Expenses. Our sales and marketing expenses increased slightly to $2.9 million for the first quarter of 2005 from $2.8 million for the first quarter of 2004. This increase was attributed mainly to higher sales commissions paid to our representatives and distributors due to higher levels of revenues for the first quarter of 2005 as well as to higher levels of salary expenses.

 

Our sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of total revenues were 7% for both the three months ended March 31, 2005 and 2004.

 

Sales and marketing expenses consist mainly of sales commissions to our representatives and distributors, payroll expenses to direct sales and marketing employees, travel, trade show expenses and facilities expenses associated with sales and marketing.

 

General and Administrative Expenses. Our general and administrative expenses were $1.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2005, as compared to $1.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2004. The slight increase was attributed mainly to higher payroll and related expenses due to a greater number of general and administrative employees and due to an increase in accounting and legal expenses, partially offset by a decrease in facilities and bad debt expenses.

 

General and administrative expenses as percentage of total revenues were 5% for both the first quarter of 2004 and 2005.

 

General and administrative expenses consist mainly of payroll for management and administrative employees, expenses related to investor relations, accounting and legal fees, as well as facilities expenses associated with general and administrative activities.

 

Interest and Other Income, net. Interest and other income, net, for the three months ended March 31, 2005 increased to $2.3 million from $2.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2004. The increase was primarily due to an increase in the levels of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and overall higher market interest rates during the three months ended March 31, 2005, as compared to the same period in 2004. Our total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $324.2 million as of March 31, 2005, compared to $316.8 million as of March 31, 2004.

 

Capital Gains from Sale of Available-for-Sale Marketable Securities. During the first quarter of 2004, we sold 2,000,000 shares of AudioCodes ordinary shares for gross proceeds of approximately $25.6 million, resulting in a capital gain of approximately $20.8 million. During the first quarter of 2004, we also sold all of our holdings in Tomen Corporation for gross proceeds of approximately $0.7 million, resulting in a capital gain of approximately $0.5 million.

 

Provision for Income Taxes. Our income tax expenses were $1.0 million and $10.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2005 and 2004, respectively. The provision for income taxes as a percentage of income before taxes was 17% and 33% for the three months ended March 31, 2005 and 2004, respectively. Provision for income taxes, excluding the tax expenses related to the capital gains from the sale of stock, amounted to $1.5 million for the period ended March 31, 2004, representing 17% of pretax income.

 

In 2005 and 2004 we benefited for federal tax purposes from foreign tax holiday and tax-exempt income in Israel. DSP Group Ltd., our Israeli subsidiary, was granted “Approved Enterprise” status by the Israeli government with respect to six separate investment plans. Approved Enterprise status allows our Israeli subsidiary to enjoy a tax holiday for a period of two to four years and a reduced corporate tax rate of 10%-25% for an additional six or eight years, on each investment plan’s proportionate share of taxable income. The tax benefits under these investment plans are scheduled to expire starting 2005 through to 2017.

 

On March 29, 2005, the Israeli Parliament passed an amendment to the Law For The Encouragement Of Capital Investments, 1959 (the “Law”), which provides expanded tax incentives for future industrial investments and simplified the bureaucratic process for obtaining approval of investments qualifying for tax incentives (the “2005 Amendment”). Under the Law, capital investments in new or expanded production facilities in Israel upon approval by the Israeli government can be designated as an “Approved Enterprise.” An Approved Enterprise may receive cash incentives from the Israeli government or a company may elect an “alterative track” that allows it to forego the cash incentives in favor of

 

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certain tax exemptions. The 2005 Amendment primarily relates to the “alternative track” tax incentives which we have elected for its Approved Enterprises. Changes include special tax incentives and expedited approval process for companies that make minimum qualifying investments in fixed assets in production facilities located in Israel. The 2005 Amendment became effective on April 1, 2005. We are currently evaluating the impact of the 2005 Amendment on our business operations.

 

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

 

Operating Activities. During the first quarter of 2005, we used $5.5 million for our operating activities. We generated $11.9 million of cash and cash equivalents from our operating activities during the first quarter of 2004. The decrease in net cash provided by operating activities in the first quarter of 2005 as compared to the same period in 2004 resulted mainly from the payment of capital gains tax for the sale of AudioCodes shares in 2004, an increase of $7.6 million in account receivables in the first quarter of 2005, and a decrease in net income for the first three months of 2005 compared to the same period in 2004. Net income for the first quarter of 2004, excluding the effect of the capital gains and related taxes, was $7.3 million, as compared to $5.0 million for the same period in 2005. Accounts payable increased by $4.2 million during the first three months of 2005 and increased by 6.2 million for the first three months of 2004. The increase in both periods was mainly a result of an increase in inventory and operating expenses as compared to the respective preceding quarter. Accrued compensation and benefits decreased by $2.9 million and $3.4 million in the first quarters of 2005 and 2004, respectively, due to the payment of annual bonuses to our executive officers and employees. Income tax payable increased by $8.2 million during the first quarter of 2004 due to a tax liability associated with the sale of AudioCodes shares.

 

Investing Activities. We invest excess cash in marketable securities of varying maturity, depending on our projected cash needs for operations, capital expenditures and other business purposes. During the first three months of 2005, we purchased $26.7 million of investments classified as held-to-maturity marketable securities, bank deposits and auction rate securities, as compared to $49.3 million during the first three months of 2004. During the same periods, $7.4 million and $52.7 million, respectively, of investments classified as held-to-maturity marketable securities matured.

 

Cash proceeds from the sale of available-for-sale marketable securities, consisting of AudioCodes and Tomen stock, amounted to $26.4 million during the first quarter of 2004.

 

Our capital equipment purchases for the first three months of 2005, consisting primarily of research and development CAD software tools, computers and other peripheral equipment, totaled $5.4 million, as compared to $0.4 million for the first three months of 2004.

 

Financing Activities. During the first quarter of 2005, we received $4.5 million upon the exercise of employee stock options and through purchases pursuant to our employee stock purchase plan, as compared to $3.3 million during the first quarter of 2004. We cannot predict cash flows from option exercises and employee stock purchases for future periods.

 

In March 1999, our board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to an aggregate of 4.0 million shares of our common stock. In 2003, our board authorized the repurchase of an additional 2.5 million shares. In 2004, our board authorized the repurchase of an additional 2.5 million shares. We did not make any repurchases during the first quarter of 2005. Pursuant to our share repurchase program, approximately 3.7 million shares of our common stock remain authorized for repurchase.

 

At March 31, 2005, our principal source of liquidity consisted of cash and cash equivalents totaling approximately $35.1 million, bank deposits and auction rate securities in the amount of $20.5 million and held-to-maturity marketable securities of approximately $268.6 million. The market value of held-to-maturity securities amounted to $264.2 million.

 

Our working capital at March 31, 2005 was approximately $101.6 million, and our backlog as of March 31, 2005 was $51.1 million. We believe that our current cash, cash equivalents, bank deposits and marketable securities, and our forecasted positive cash flows for future periods, will be sufficient to meet our cash requirements for both the short and long term.

 

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In addition, as part of our business strategy, we occasionally evaluate potential acquisitions of businesses, products and technologies. Accordingly, a portion of our available cash may be used at any time for the acquisition of complementary products or businesses. Such potential transactions may require substantial capital resources, which may require us to seek additional debt or equity financing. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully identify suitable acquisition candidates, complete acquisitions, integrate acquired businesses into our current operations, or expand into new markets. Furthermore, we cannot assure you that additional financing will be available to us in any required time frame and on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. See “Factors Affecting Future Operating Results—We may engage in future acquisitions that could dilute our stockholders’ equity and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.” for more detailed information.

 

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

 

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements, as such term is defined in recently enacted rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission, that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that are material to investors.

 

QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

 

Interest Rate Risk. It is our policy not to enter into interest rate derivative financial instruments, except for hedging of foreign currency exposures discussed below. We do not currently have any significant interest rate exposure since we do not have any financial obligation and our financial assets are measured on a held-to-maturity basis.

 

Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk. As a significant part of our sales and expenses are denominated in U.S. dollars, we have experienced only insignificant foreign exchange gains and losses to date, and do not expect to incur significant gains and losses in 2005. However, due to the volatility in the exchange rate of the NIS versus the U.S. dollar, we decided to hedge part of the risk of a devaluation of the NIS, which could have an adverse effect on the expenses that we incur in the State of Israel. For example, to protect against an increase in value of forecasted foreign currency cash flows resulting from salary payments and lease payments for our Israeli facilities denominated in NIS during 2005 we instituted a foreign currency cash flow hedging program.

 

These option and forward contracts are designated as cash flow hedges, as defined by SFAS No. 133, “Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities”, and are all effective as hedges of these expenses. For more information about our hedging activity, see Note I to the attached Notes to Consolidated Financial Statement for the period ended March 31, 2005.

 

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FACTORS AFFECTING FUTURE OPERATING RESULTS

 

This Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements concerning our future products, expenses, revenue, liquidity and cash needs as well as our plans and strategies. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and we assume no obligation to update this information. Numerous factors could cause our actual results to differ significantly from the results described in these forward-looking statements, including the following risk factors.

 

We rely on a primary distributor for a significant portion of our total revenues and the failure of this distributor to perform as expected would materially reduce our future sales and revenues.

 

We sell our products to customers primarily through a network of distributors and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) representatives. Particularly, revenues derived from sales through our Japanese distributor, Tomen Electronics, accounted for 78% and 80% of our total revenues in the first quarter of 2005 and 2004, respectively. Our future performance will depend, in part, on this distributor to continue to successfully market and sell our products. Furthermore, Tomen Electronics sells our products to a limited number of customers. One customer, Panasonic Communications Co., Ltd., has continually accounted for a majority of the sales through Tomen Electronics. The loss of Tomen Electronics as our distributor and our inability to obtain a satisfactory replacement in a timely manner would materially harm our sales and results of operations. Additionally, the loss of Panasonic and Tomen Electronics’ inability to thereafter effectively market our products would also materially harm our sales and results of operations.

 

Because our products are components of end products, if OEMs do not incorporate our products into their end products or if the end products of our OEM customers do not achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to generate adequate sales of our products.

 

Our products are not sold directly to the end-user; rather, they are components of end products. As a result, we rely upon OEMs to incorporate our products into their end products at the design stage. Once an OEM designs a competitor’s product into its end product, it becomes significantly more difficult for us to sell our products to that customer because changing suppliers involves significant cost, time, effort and risk for the customer. As a result, we may incur significant expenditures on the development of a new product without any assurance that an OEM will select our product for design into its own product and without this “design win,” it becomes significantly difficult to sell our products. Moreover, even after an OEM agrees to design our products into its end products, the design cycle is long and may be delayed due to factors beyond our control which may result in the end product incorporating our products not to reach the market until long after the initial “design win” with the OEM. From initial product design-in to volume production, many factors could impact the timing and/or amount of sales actually realized from the design-in. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the competitive position of our technology, our customers’ financial stability, and our ability to ship products according to our customers’ schedule.

 

Furthermore, we rely on the end products of our OEM customers that incorporate our products to achieve market acceptance. Many of our OEM customers face intense competition in their markets. If end products that incorporate our products are not accepted in the marketplace, we may not achieve adequate sales volume of our products, which would have a negative effect on our results of operations.

 

The slow economic recovery and related uncertainties may adversely impact our revenues and profitability.

 

Slower economic activity, decreased consumer confidence, reduced corporate profits and capital spending, unemployment, adverse business conditions and liquidity concerns in the telecommunications, semiconductor and related industries, and recent international conflicts and terrorist and military activity have resulted in a slow economic recovery after the downturn in worldwide economic conditions. If the economy continues to recover at a slow pace, we may experience a slowdown in customer orders, an increase in the number of cancellations and rescheduling of backlog. We cannot predict the timing, strength and duration of any economic recovery in the telecommunications and semiconductor industry. In addition, the continuing unrest in Iraq can be expected to continue to place pressure on economic conditions in the United States and worldwide. These conditions make it difficult for our customers, our vendors and for us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities. If such conditions continue or worsen, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

 

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We generate a significant amount of our total revenues from the sale of Integrated Digital Telephony (IDT) products and our business and operating results may be materially adversely affected if we do not continue to succeed in the highly competitive IDT market.

 

Sales of our Integrated Digital Telephony (IDT) products comprised 89% of our total revenues for the first quarter of 2005. Specifically, sales of our 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz products comprised 71% of our total revenues for the first quarter of 2005. We expect that our 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz products, especially our 5.8GHz products, will continue to account for a substantial portion of our revenues for the remainder of 2005. As a result, any adverse change in the digital IDT market or in our ability to compete and maintain our competitive position in that market would harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. The IDT market is extremely competitive, and we expect that competition will only increase. Our existing and potential competitors in each of our markets include large and emerging domestic and foreign companies, many of which have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sale and distribution resources and management expertise than we do. It is possible that we may one day be unable to respond to increased price competition for IDT processors or other products through the introduction of new products or reduction of manufacturing costs. This inability would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Likewise, any significant delays by us in developing, manufacturing or shipping new or enhanced products in this market also would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

In addition, we believe new developments in the home residential market may adversely affect the revenues we derive from our IDT products. For example, the rapid deployment of new communication access methods, including mobile, wireless broadband, cable and other connectivity, may reduce the market for products using fixed-line telephony. This decrease in demand would reduce our revenues derived from, and unit sales of, our cordless telephony products.

 

Because our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly, the price of our common stock may decline.

 

Our quarterly results of operations may vary significantly in the future for a variety of reasons, many of which are outside our control, including the following:

 

    fluctuations in volume and timing of product orders;

 

    changes in demand for our products due to seasonal consumer buying patterns and other factors;

 

    timing of new product introductions by us or our customers or competitors;

 

    changes in the mix of products sold by us or our competitors;

 

    fluctuations in the level of sales by our OEM customers and other vendors of end products incorporating our products;

 

    the timing and size of expenses, including expenses to develop new products and product improvements;

 

    mergers and acquisitions by us, our competitors, and existing and potential customers; and

 

    general economic conditions, including the changing economic conditions in the United States and worldwide.

 

Each of the above factors is difficult to forecast and could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Also, we sell our products to OEM customers that operate in consumer markets. As a result, our revenues are affected by seasonal buying patterns of consumer products sold by our OEM customers that incorporate our products and the market acceptance of such products supplied by our OEM customers. The fourth quarter in any given year is usually the strongest quarter for sales by our OEM customers in the consumer markets, and thus, our third quarter in any given year is usually the strongest quarter for revenues as our OEM customers request increased shipments of our products in anticipation of the increased activity in the fourth quarter. By contrast, the first quarter in any given year is usually the weakest quarter for us.

 

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Our average selling prices continue to decline which may materially adversely affect our profitability.

 

Sales of our IDT telephony and RF products comprised 89% and 92% of our total revenues for the first quarter of 2005 and 2004, respectively. We have experienced and continue to experience a decrease in the average selling prices of our IDT processors, which we have to date been able to partially offset on an annual basis through manufacturing cost reductions by achieving a higher level of product integration and improving our yield percentages. However, there is no guarantee that our ongoing efforts will be successful or that they will keep pace with the anticipated, continued decline in average selling prices of our IDT processors, which could ultimately lead to a decline in revenues and have a negative effect on our gross margins.

 

Because we depend on independent foundries to manufacture all of our integrated circuit products, we are subject to additional risks that may materially disrupt our business.

 

All of our integrated circuit products are manufactured by independent foundries. While these foundries have been able to adequately meet the demands of our increasing business, we are and will continue to be dependent upon these foundries to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields, quality levels and costs, and to allocate to us a sufficient portion of their foundry capacity to meet our needs in a timely manner.

 

A significant majority of our integrated circuit products at this time is manufactured by TSMC and tested and assembled at ASE. We have entered into a short-term supply arrangement with TSMC pursuant to which it is obligated to supply a specified amount of wafers to us for a specific period. We may incur charges to TSMC if we fail to utilize all the quantities of products reserved for us in accordance with this arrangement, which may increase our operating expenses and adversely affect our operating profit.

 

While we currently believe we have adequate capacity to support our current sales levels pursuant to our arrangement with our foundries, we may encounter capacity shortage issues in the future. In the event of a worldwide shortage in foundry capacity, we may not be able to obtain a sufficient allocation of foundry capacity to meet our product needs or we may incur additional costs to ensure specified quantities of products and services. Over-capacity at the current foundries we use, or future foundries we may use, to manufacture our integrated circuit products may lead to increased operating costs and lower gross margins. In addition, such a shortage could lengthen our products’ manufacturing cycle and cause a delay in the shipment of our products to our customers. This could ultimately lead to a loss of sales of our products, harm our reputation and competitive position, and our revenues could be materially reduced. Our business could also be harmed if our current foundries terminate their relationship with us and we are unable to obtain satisfactory replacements to fulfill customer orders on a timely basis and in a cost-effective manner.

 

In addition, as TSMC produces a significant portion of our integrated circuit products and ASE tests and assembles them, earthquakes, aftershocks or other natural disasters in Asia, or adverse changes in the political situation in Taiwan, could preclude us from obtaining an adequate supply of wafers to fill customer orders. Such events could harm our reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations.

 

Because the manufacture of our products is complex, the foundries on which we depend may not achieve the necessary yields or product reliability that our business requires.

 

The manufacture of our products is a highly complex and precise process, requiring production in a highly controlled environment. Changes in manufacturing processes or the inadvertent use of defective or contaminated materials by a foundry could adversely affect the foundry’s ability to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields and product reliability. If the foundries we currently use do not achieve the necessary yields or product reliability, our customer relationships could suffer. This could ultimately lead to a loss of sales of our products and have a negative effect on our gross margins and results of operations.

 

Furthermore, there are other significant risks associated with relying on these third-party foundries, including:

 

    risks due to the fact that we have reduced control over production cost, delivery schedules and product quality;

 

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    less recourse if problems occur as the warranties on wafers or products supplied to us are limited; and

 

    increased exposure to potential misappropriation of our intellectual property.

 

As we depend on independent subcontractors, located in Asia, to assemble and test our semiconductor products, we are subject to additional risks that may materially disrupt our business.

 

Independent subcontractors, located in Asia, assemble and test our semiconductor products. Because we rely on independent subcontractors to perform these services, we cannot directly control our product delivery schedules or quality levels. Our future success also depends on the financial viability of our independent subcontractors. If the capital structures of our independent subcontractors weaken, we may experience product shortages, quality assurance problems, increased manufacturing costs, and/or supply chain disruption.

 

Moreover, the economic, market, social, and political situations in countries where some of our independent subcontractors are located are unpredictable, can be volatile, and can have a significant impact on our business because we may not be able to obtain product in a timely manner. Market and political conditions, including currency fluctuation, terrorism, political strife, war, labor disruption, and other factors, including natural or man-made disasters, adverse changes in tax laws, tariff, import or export quotas, power and water shortages, or interruption in air transportation, in areas where our independent subcontractors are located also could have a severe negative impact on our operating capabilities.

 

Because we have significant international operations, we may be subject to political, economic and other conditions relating to our international operations that could increase our operating expenses and disrupt our business.

 

Although the majority of end users of the consumer products that incorporate our products are located in the U.S., we are dependent on sales to OEM customers, located outside of the U.S., that manufacture these consumer products. We expect that international sales will continue to account for a significant portion of our net product sales for the foreseeable future. For example, export sales, primarily consisting of IDT speech processors shipped to manufacturers in Europe and Asia, including Japan and Asia Pacific, represented 99% of our total revenues for the first quarter of 2005. As a result, the occurrence of any negative international political, economic or geographic events could result in significant revenue shortfalls. These shortfalls could cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to be harmed. Some of the risks of doing business internationally include:

 

    unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;

 

    fluctuations in the exchange rate for the United States dollar;

 

    imposition of tariffs and other barriers and restrictions;

 

    burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws;

 

    political and economic instability; and

 

    changes in diplomatic and trade relationships.

 

Because we have significant operations in Israel, we may be subject to political, economic and other conditions affecting Israel that could increase our operating expenses and disrupt our business.

 

Our principal research and development facilities are located in the State of Israel and, as a result, at March 31, 2005, 215 of our 279 employees were located in Israel, including 145 out of 193 of our research and development personnel. In addition, although we are incorporated in Delaware, a majority of our directors and executive officers are residents of Israel. Although substantially all of our sales currently are being made to customers outside of Israel, we are nonetheless directly influenced by the political, economic and military conditions affecting Israel. Any major hostilities involving Israel, or the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its present trading partners, could significantly harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

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Israel’s economy has been subject to numerous destabilizing factors, including a period of rampant inflation in the early to mid-1980s, low foreign exchange reserves, fluctuations in world commodity prices, military conflicts and civil unrest. In addition, Israel and companies doing business with Israel have been the subject of an economic boycott by the Arab countries since Israel’s establishment. Although they have not done so to date, these restrictive laws and policies may have an adverse impact on our operating results, financial condition or expansion of our business.

 

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a state of hostility has existed, varying in degree and intensity, between Israel and the Arab countries. Although Israel has entered into various agreements with certain Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority, and various declarations have been signed in connection with efforts to resolve some of the economic and political problems in the Middle East, hostilities between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors have recently escalated and intensified. We cannot predict whether or in what manner these conflicts will be resolved. Our results of operations may be negatively affected by the obligation of key personnel to perform military service. In addition, certain of our officers and employees are currently obligated to perform annual reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces and are subject to being called for active military duty at any time. Although we have operated effectively under these requirements since our inception, we cannot predict the effect of these obligations on the company in the future. Our operations could be disrupted by the absence, for a significant period, of one or more of our officers or key employees due to military service.

 

Our future profits may be diminished if the current Israeli tax benefits that we enjoy are reduced or withheld.

 

We receive certain tax benefits in Israel, particularly as a result of the “Approved Enterprise” status of our facilities and programs. To be eligible for tax benefits, we must meet certain conditions, relating principally to adherence to the investment program filed with the Investment Center of the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade and to periodic reporting obligations. Although we have met such conditions in the past, should we fail to meet such conditions in the future, we would be subject to corporate tax in Israel at the standard corporate tax rate (34% for 2005) and could be required to refund tax benefits already received. We cannot assure you that such grants and tax benefits will be continued in the future at their current levels, if at all. The tax benefits under these investment plans are scheduled to expire starting in fiscal year 2005 through 2017. The termination or reduction of certain programs and tax benefits (particularly benefits available to us as a result of the Approved Enterprise status of our facilities and programs) or a requirement to refund tax benefits already received may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

Our failure, and the failure of our OEM customers, to obtain the necessary complementary components required to produce various products could diminish the sales of our products.

 

Our IDT speech processor products require external components, which are supplied by third-party manufacturers. Temporary fluctuations in the pricing and availability of these components could negatively impact sales of our IDT speech processors, which could in turn harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, some of the raw materials, components and subassemblies included in the end products manufactured by our OEM customers, which also incorporate our products, are obtained from a limited group of suppliers. Supply disruptions, shortages or termination of any of these sources associated with the manufacturing processes of our OEM customers could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations due to a delay or discontinuance of orders for our products by our OEM customers until those necessary components are available for their end products.

 

We may engage in future acquisitions that could dilute our stockholders’ equity and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We have pursued, and will continue to pursue, growth opportunities through internal development and acquisition of complementary businesses, products and technologies. We are unable to predict whether or when any other prospective acquisition will be completed. The process of integrating an acquired business may be prolonged due to unforeseen difficulties and may require a disproportionate amount of our resources and management’s attention. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully identify suitable acquisition candidates, complete acquisitions, integrate acquired businesses into our operations, or expand into new markets. Further, once integrated, acquisitions may not achieve comparable levels of revenues, profitability or productivity as our existing business or otherwise perform as expected. The occurrence of any of these events could harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.

 

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Future acquisitions may require substantial capital resources, which may require us to seek additional debt or equity financing.

 

Future acquisitions by us could result in the following, any of which could seriously harm our results of operations or the price of our stock:

 

    issuance of equity securities that would dilute our current stockholders’ percentages of ownership;

 

    large one-time write-offs;

 

    the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities;

 

    difficulties in the assimilation and integration of operations, personnel, technologies, products and information systems of the acquired companies;

 

    diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;

 

    contractual disputes;

 

    risks of entering geographic and business markets in which we have no or only limited prior experience; and

 

    potential loss of key employees of acquired organizations.

 

Third party claims of infringement or other claims against us could adversely affect our ability to market our products, require us to redesign our products or seek licenses from third parties, and seriously harm our operating results and disrupt our business.

 

As is typical in the semiconductor industry, we have been and may from time to time be notified of claims that we may be infringing patents or intellectual property rights owned by third parties. For example, in a lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation, AT&T asserted that our TrueSpeech 8.5 algorithm includes certain elements covered by a patent held by AT&T. AT&T sued Microsoft, one of our TrueSpeech 8.5 licensees, for infringement. We were not named in AT&T’s suit against Microsoft. If litigation becomes necessary to determine the validity of any third party claims, it could result in significant expense to us and could divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel, whether or not the litigation is determined in our favor.

 

If it appears necessary or desirable, we may try to obtain licenses for those patents or intellectual property rights that we are allegedly infringing. Although holders of these types of intellectual property rights commonly offer these licenses, we cannot assure you that licenses will be offered or that the terms of any offered licenses will be acceptable to us. Our failure to obtain a license for key intellectual property rights from a third party for technology used by us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to suspend the manufacturing of products utilizing the technology.

 

Alternatively, we could be required to expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology. We cannot assure you that we would be successful in developing non-infringing technology.

 

We may not be able to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, which could harm our competitive position.

 

Our success and ability to compete is in part dependent upon our internally-developed technology and other proprietary rights, which we protect through a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as through confidentiality agreements and licensing arrangements with our customers, suppliers, employees and consultants. In addition, we have filed a number of patents in the United States and in other foreign countries with respect to new or improved technology that we have developed. However, the status of any patent involves complex legal and factual questions, and the breadth of claims allowed is uncertain. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that any patent application filed by us will result in a patent being issued, or that the patents issued to us will not be infringed by others. Also, our competitors and potential competitors may develop products with similar technology or functionality as our products, or

 

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they may attempt to copy or reverse engineer aspects of our product line or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Moreover, the laws of certain countries in which our products are or may be developed, manufactured or sold, including Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, may not protect our products and intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Policing the unauthorized use of our products is difficult and may result in significant expense to us and could divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. Even if we spend significant resources and efforts to protect our intellectual property, we cannot assure you that we will be able to prevent misappropriation of our technology. Use by others of our proprietary rights could materially harm our business and expensive litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights.

 

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly due to the cyclicality of the semiconductor industry, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

 

We operate in the semiconductor industry, which is cyclical and subject to rapid technological change and evolving industry standards. From time to time, the semiconductor industry has experienced significant downturns such as the one we experienced during the 2000 and 2001 periods and from which the industry is slowly recovering. These downturns are characterized by diminished product demand, excess customer inventories, accelerated erosion of prices and excess production capacity. These factors could cause substantial fluctuations in our revenues and in our results of operations. The downturn we experienced during the 2000 and 2001 periods was, and future downturns in the semiconductor industry may be, severe and prolonged. Also the slow recovery from the downturn during the 2000 and 2001 periods and the failure of this industry to fully recover from the current downturn could seriously impact our revenue and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. The semiconductor industry also periodically experiences increased demand and production capacity constraints, which may affect our ability to ship products in future periods. Our quarterly results may vary significantly as a result of the general conditions in the semiconductor industry, which could cause our stock price to decline.

 

Because the markets in which we compete are highly competitive, and many of our competitors have greater resources than we do, we cannot be certain that our products will be accepted in the marketplace or capture market share.

 

The markets in which we operate are extremely competitive and characterized by rapid technological change, evolving standards, short product life cycles and price erosion. We expect competition to intensify as current competitors expand their product offerings and new competitors enter the market. Given the highly competitive environment in which we operate, we cannot be sure that any competitive advantages enjoyed by our current products would be sufficient to establish and sustain our new products in the market. Any increase in price or competition could result in the erosion of our market share, to the extent we have obtained market share, and would have a negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

In each of our business activities, we face current and potential competition from competitors that have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution resources and management expertise than we do. These competitors may also have pre-existing relationships with our customers or potential customers. Further, in the event of a manufacturing capacity shortage, these competitors may be able to manufacture products when we are unable to do so. Our principal competitors in the cordless market include National Semiconductor, Philips, Oki Electronic, Micro Linear and Infineon. Our principal competitors in the VoP market include Broadcom, AudioCodes, Texas Instruments, Infineon and new Taiwanese IC vendors.

 

Furthermore, due to various new developments in the home residential market, we may be required to enter into new markets with competitors that have more established presence, and significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution resources and management expertise than we do. For example, the rapid deployment of new communication access methods, including mobile, wireless broadband, cable and other connectivity, as well as the projected lack of growth in products using fixed-line telephony will require us to expand our current product lines and develop a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions that integrate video, voice, data and communication technologies in a wider multimedia market. The expenditure of greater resources to expand our product lines, and develop and sell a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions may increase our operating expenses and reduce our gross profit. We cannot assure you that we will succeed in developing and introducing new products that are responsive to market demands.

 

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Moreover, one additional factor that could affect our results of operations is the potential shift in the U.S. digital telephony market towards DECT products. We were recently informed that at the conclusion of negotiations between the DECT Forum and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), FCC authorized the use of the DECT frequency band in the U.S. This allows companies and private households to use the multifunctional DECT technology for various communications. As our DECT chipsets are in the early stage of deployment, we can provide no assurance that we can penetrate any emerging U.S. DECT market. The U.S. market is currently our dominant market. If we are unable to develop and market new DECT products to compete effectively in any emerging U.S. market against the introduction of new products by our competitors, our profits and results of operation may be materially adversely effected.

 

Because our products are complex, the detection of errors in our products may be delayed, and if we deliver products with defects, our credibility will be harmed, the sales and market acceptance of our products may decrease and product liability claims may be made against us.

 

Our products are complex and may contain errors, defects and bugs when introduced. If we deliver products with errors, defects or bugs, our credibility and the market acceptance and sales of our products could be significantly harmed. Furthermore, the nature of our products may also delay the detection of any such error or defect. If our products contain errors, defects and bugs, then we may be required to expend significant capital and resources to alleviate these problems. This could result in the diversion of technical and other resources from our other development efforts. Any actual or perceived problems or delays may also adversely affect our ability to attract or retain customers. Furthermore, the existence of any defects, errors or failures in our products could lead to product liability claims or lawsuits against us or against our customers. We generally provide our customers with a standard warranty for our products, generally lasting one year from the date of purchase. Although we attempt to limit our liability for product defects to product replacements, we may not be successful, and customers may sue us or claim liability for the defective products. A successful product liability claim could result in substantial cost and divert management’s attention and resources, which would have a negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our executive officers and key personnel are critical to our business, and because there is significant competition for personnel in our industry, we may not be able to attract and retain such qualified personnel.

 

Our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our executive management team, and our technical, marketing, sales customer support and product development personnel. The loss of significant numbers of such personnel could significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not have any life insurance or other insurance covering the loss of any of our key employees. Because our products are specialized and complex, our success depends upon our ability to attract, train and retain qualified personnel, including qualified technical, marketing and sales personnel. However, the competition for personnel is intense and we may have difficulty attracting and retaining such personnel.

 

We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

 

A significant portion of our business is conducted outside the United States. Export sales to manufacturers in Europe and Asia, including Japan and Asia Pacific, represented 99% of our total revenues in the first quarter of 2005 as well as in fiscal year 2004. Although most of our revenue and expenses are transacted in U.S. dollars, we may be exposed to currency exchange fluctuations in the future as business practices evolve and we are forced to transact business in local currencies. Moreover, part of our expenses in Israel are paid in Israeli currency, which subjects us to the risks of foreign currency fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the New Israeli Shekel (NIS) and to economic pressures resulting from Israel’s general rate of inflation. Our primary expenses paid in NIS are employee salaries and lease payments on our Israeli facilities. As a result, an increase in the value of Israeli currency in comparison to the U.S. dollar could increase the cost of our technology development, research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses. From time to time, we use derivative instruments in order to minimize the effects of currency fluctuations, but our hedging positions may be partial, may not exist at all in the future or may not succeed in minimizing our foreign currency fluctuation risks.

 

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Because the markets in which we compete are subject to rapid changes, our products may become obsolete or unmarketable.

 

The markets for our products and services are characterized by rapidly changing technology, short product life cycles, evolving industry standards, changes in customer needs, demand for higher levels of integration, growing competition and new product introductions. Our ability to adapt to these changes and to anticipate future standards, and the rate of adoption and acceptance of those standards, will be a significant factor in maintaining or improving our competitive position and prospects for growth. If new industry standards emerge, our products or our customers’ products could become unmarketable or obsolete, and we could lose market share. We may also have to incur substantial unanticipated costs to comply with these new standards. If our product development and improvements take longer than planned, the availability of our products would be delayed. Any such delay may render our products obsolete or unmarketable, which would have a negative impact on our ability to sell our products and our results of operations.

 

Because of changing customer requirements and emerging industry standards, we may not be able to achieve broad market acceptance of our products. Our success is dependent, in part, on our ability to:

 

    successfully develop, introduce and market new and enhanced products at competitive prices and in a timely manner in order to meet changing customer needs;

 

    convince leading OEMs to select our new and enhanced products for design into their own new products;

 

    respond effectively to new technological changes or new product announcements by others;

 

    effectively use and offer leading technologies; and

 

    maintain close working relationships with our key customers.

 

We cannot be sure that we will be successful in these pursuits, that the growth in demand will continue or that our products will achieve market acceptance. Our failure to develop and introduce new products that are compatible with industry standards and that satisfy customer requirements, and the failure of our products to achieve broad market acceptance, could have a negative impact on our ability to sell our products and our results of operations.

 

Specifically, we believe new technological developments in the home residential market may adversely affect our operating results. For example, the rapid deployment of new communication access methods, including mobile, wireless broadband, cable and other connectivity, as well as the projected lack of growth in products using fixed-line telephony would reduce our total revenues derived from, and unit sales of, cordless telephony products. Our ability to maintain our growth will depend on the expansion of our product lines to capitalize on the emerging access methods and on our success in developing and selling a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions that integrate video, voice, data and communication technologies in a wider multimedia market, as well as on our success in developing and selling DECT and video products. We cannot assure you that we will succeed in expanding our product lines, or develop and sell in a timely manner a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions.

 

One additional factor that could affect our results of operations is the potential shift in the U.S. digital telephony market towards 1.9GHz digital products. We were recently informed that at the conclusion of negotiations between the DECT Forum and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), FCC authorized the use of the DECT frequency band in the U.S. This allows companies and private households to use the multifunctional DECT technology for various communications. As our DECT chipsets are in the early stage of deployment, we can provide no assurance that we can penetrate any emerging U.S. DECT market. The U.S. market is currently our dominant market. If we are unable to develop and market new DECT products to compete effectively in any emerging U.S. market against the introduction of new products by our competitors, our profits and results of operation may be materially adversely effected.

 

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We may experience difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry process technologies or in achieving higher levels of design integration, which may result in reduced manufacturing yields, delays in product deliveries and increased expenses.

 

A growing trend in our industry is the integration of greater semiconductor content into a single chip to achieve higher levels of functionality. In order to remain competitive, we must achieve higher levels of design integration and deliver new integrated products on a timely basis. This will require us to expend greater research and development resources, and may require us to modify the manufacturing processes for some of our products, to achieve greater integration. We periodically evaluate the benefits, on a product-by-product basis, of migrating to smaller geometry process technologies to reduce our costs. Although this migration to smaller geometry process technologies has helped us to offset the declining average selling prices of our IDT products, this effort may not continue be successful. Also, because we are a fabless semiconductor company, we depend on our foundries to transition to smaller geometry processes successfully. We cannot assure you that our foundries will be able to effectively manage the transition. In case our foundries or we experience significant delays in this transition or fail to efficiently implement this transition, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

 

Newly adopted accounting standard that requires companies to expense stock options will result in a decrease in our earnings and our stock price may decline.

 

The Financial Accounting Standards Board recently adopted the previously proposed accounting standard that will eliminate the ability to account for share-based compensation transactions using the intrinsic method that we currently use and generally would require that such transactions be accounted for using a fair-value-based method and recognized as an expense in our consolidated statement of income. We will be required to record compensation expense for the unvested portion of previously granted awards that remain outstanding on the date of adoption of the new accounting standard. The new accounting standard is effective for fiscal periods beginning after December 15, 2005, so we are required to implement the standard no later than January 1, 2006. Currently, we generally only disclose such expenses on a pro forma basis in the notes to our annual consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The adoption of this new accounting standard will have a significant impact on our results of operations as our reported earnings will decrease significantly. Our stock price could decline in response to the perceived decline in our reported earnings.

 

Compliance with changing laws and regulations relating to corporate governance and public disclosure has resulted, and will continue to result, in the incurrence of additional expenses associated with being a public company.

 

New and changing laws and regulations, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, new SEC regulations and NASDAQ National Market Rules, impose stricter corporate governance requirements and greater disclosure obligations. They have had the effect of increasing the complexity and cost of our company’s corporate governance compliance, diverting the time and attention of our management from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities, and increasing the risk of personal liability for our board members and executive officers involved in our company’s corporate governance process. Our efforts to comply with evolving laws and regulations have resulted, and will continue to result, in increased general and administrative expenses, and increased professional and independent auditor fees. In addition, it may become more difficult and expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. Furthermore, in order to meet the new corporate governance and disclosure obligations, we have been taking, and will continue to take, steps to improve our controls and procedures and related corporate governance policies and procedures to address compliance issues and correct any deficiencies that we may discover. While we believe that the procedures and policies that we have in place are effective to address the New Sarbanes, NASDAQ and other regulatory requirements, the expansion of our operations and the growth of our business may require us to modify and expand our disclosure controls and procedures and related corporate governance policies. In addition, these new and changed laws and regulations are subject to varying interpretations in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. If our efforts to comply with new or changed laws and regulations differ from the conduct intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities or varying interpretations of the law, we could be subject to regulatory sanctions, our reputation may be harmed and our stock price may be adversely affected.

 

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Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain anti-takeover provisions that could prevent or discourage a third party from acquiring us.

 

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may prevent or discourage a third party from acquiring us, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders. We have a staggered board, which means it will generally take two years to change the composition of our board. Our board of directors also has the authority to fix the rights and preferences of shares of our preferred stock and to issue such shares without a stockholder vote. We also have a rights plan in place. It is possible that these provisions may prevent or discourage third parties from acquiring us, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders. In addition, these factors may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock, and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock.

 

Our stock price may be volatile so you may not be able to resell your shares of our common stock at or above the price you paid for them.

 

Announcements of developments related to our business, announcements by competitors, quarterly fluctuations in our financial results, changes in the general conditions of the highly dynamic industry in which we compete or the national economies in which we do business, and other factors could cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate, perhaps substantially. In addition, in recent years, the stock market has experienced extreme price fluctuations, which have often been unrelated to the operating performance of affected companies. These factors and fluctuations could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

 

ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURE ABOUT MARKET RISK

 

See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

 

ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

 

As of the end of the period covered by this report, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective in timely alerting them to material information required to be included in this report.

 

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during our most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected or is reasonably likely to materially affect our internal control over financial reporting.

 

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

 

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

 

From time to time, we may become involved in litigation relating to claims arising from our ordinary course of business activities. Also, as is typical in the semiconductor industry, we have been and may from time to time be notified of claims that we may be infringing patents or intellectual property rights owned by third parties. For example, in a lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation, AT&T asserted that our TrueSpeech 8.5 algorithm includes certain elements covered by a patent held by AT&T. AT&T sued Microsoft, one of our TrueSpeech 8.5 licensees, for infringement. We were not named in AT&T’s suit against Microsoft. We currently believe that there are no claims or actions pending or threatened against us, the ultimate disposition of which would have a material adverse effect on us.

 

ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION.

 

We are holding our 2005 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on July 20, 2005 (the “2005 Annual Meeting”). In 2004, the annual meeting of stockholders was held on May 4, 2004. As the date of the 2005 Annual Meeting is delayed

 

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by more than 30 days from the date of our previous annual meeting, in accordance with the applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we are hereby notifying our stockholders of the new meeting date for the 2005 Annual Meeting. We will be mailing the proxy statement and related materials in connection with the 2005 Annual Meeting on or about June 15, 2005. In light of this anticipated mailing schedule, we are hereby notifying our stockholders that May 20, 2005 will be the new date for submitting stockholder proposals for inclusion in our proxy statement for the 2005 Annual Meeting. We believe that such a deadline provides a reasonable time before we begin the mailing of our proxy materials for the 2005 Annual Meeting. Stockholder proposals received by us after May 20, 2005 will be considered untimely and will not be included in our proxy statement for the 2005 Annual Meeting.

 

ITEM 6. EXHIBITS.

 

  (a) Exhibits.

 

Exhibit 31.1    Certification of the Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Exhibit 31.2    Certification of the Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Exhibit 32.1    Certification of the Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Exhibit 32.2    Certification of the Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

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SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

 

       

DSP GROUP, INC.

       

(Registrant)

Date:

 

May 10, 2005

     

By:

 

/s/ MOSHE ZELNIK

               

Moshe Zelnik, Vice President of Finance, Chief

Financial Officer and Secretary

               

(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting

Officer)

 

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