UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

T  ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended:  December 31, 2012  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:  0-25426

 

 

 

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Registrant's telephone number, including area code:  (512) 338-9119

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Preferred Stock Purchase Rights

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.  Yes ¨ No x

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 has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).  Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. £

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer x Accelerated filer ¨ Non-accelerated filer¨Smaller reporting company ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).  Yes ¨ No x

The aggregate market value of voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant at the close of business on June 30, 2012, was $1,789,299,018 based upon the last sales price reported for such date on the NASDAQ Stock Market. For purposes of this disclosure, shares of Common Stock held by persons who hold more than 5% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and shares held by officers and directors of the registrant as of June 30, 2012, have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination is not necessarily conclusive.

 

At the close of business on February 14, 2013, registrant had outstanding 123,423,525 shares of Common Stock.

 

 

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DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III incorporates certain information by reference from the definitive proxy statement to be filed by the registrant for its Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 14, 2013 (the “Proxy Statement”).

 

PART I

 

This Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Any statements contained herein regarding our future financial performance, operations, or other matters (including, without limitation, statements to the effect that we “believe,” “expect,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “project,” “continue,” or “estimate” or other variations thereof or comparable terminology or the negative thereof) should be considered forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of important factors including those set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” beginning on page 11, and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We disclaim any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.

 

ITEM 1.BUSINESS

 

National Instruments Corporation (“NI”, “we”, “us” or “our”) designs, manufactures and sells tools to engineers and scientists that accelerate productivity, innovation and discovery. Our graphical system design approach to engineering provides an integrated software and hardware platform that speeds the development of systems needing measurement and control. We believe our long-term vision and focus on technology supports the success of our customers, employees, suppliers and stockholders.

 

We are based in Austin, Texas, were incorporated under the laws of the State of Texas in May 1976 and were reincorporated in Delaware in June 1994. In March 1995, we completed an initial public offering of our common stock. Our common stock, $0.01 par value, is quoted on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the trading symbol NATI.

 

Our website is http://www.ni.com. Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T are available through our Internet website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with, or furnish them to, the SEC, or upon written request without charge. Our website and the information contained therein or connected thereto are not intended to be incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

Industry Background

 

Engineers and scientists use instrumentation to observe, understand and manage the real-world phenomena, events and processes related to their industries or areas of expertise. Instrumentation systems measure and control electrical signals, such as voltage, current and power, as well as temperature, pressure, speed, flow, volume, torque and vibration. Common general-purpose instruments include voltmeters, signal generators, oscilloscopes, data loggers, spectrum analyzers, cameras, and temperature and pressure monitors and controllers. Some traditional instruments are also highly application-specific, designed with fixed functionality to measure specific signals for particular vertical industries or applications. Instruments used for industrial automation applications include data loggers, strip chart recorders, programmable logic controllers (“PLCs”), and proprietary turn-key devices and/or systems designed to automate or control specific vertical applications.

 

Systems that perform measurement and control can be generally categorized as test, measurement, and embedded systems. These systems that access real-world phenomena are used throughout the research, design, manufacture, and service phases of a wide variety of products and applications.

 

Historically, engineers and scientists have used a variety of high-cost systems that operated independently and could be difficult to customize. Due to the limitations of these systems, adapting them to changing needs can be expensive and time-consuming, and users must often purchase multiple single-purpose instruments, controllers, loggers and other peripherals.

 

 

 

 

 

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Our Approach to Measurement and Automation

 

NI offers a different approach called graphical system design. This approach provides an integrated hardware and software platform for measurement and control systems that can be defined entirely by the customer.  This allows systems to more easily adapt to changing requirements and technologies over time. NI hardware and software also leverage commercially available technology whenever possible to deliver performance and cost benefits to our customers. Therefore these customer-defined systems are more flexible, with higher performance and lower costs, compared to traditional vendor-defined systems.

 

NI equips engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation and discovery. Our customers use our platform to develop test, measurement, control and embedded systems throughout various industries from design to production; in advanced research, and in teaching engineering and science.

 

Compared with traditional solutions, we believe our products and our graphical system design platform provides the following significant benefits to our customers:

 

Abstraction of Complexity to Speed Development

 

Customers face changing requirements and technologies while creating more intelligent systems with fewer resources than ever. Our software-based approach abstracts the complexity of creating these systems by providing higher level interfaces to access changing technology and a way to easily upgrade through software while other fixed function systems require new hardware. When hardware changes are required, our modular, reconfigurable platforms easily migrate users to change only the functions they need while preserving software continuity over time. In this way, the graphical system design platform-based approach accelerates the development of any system that needs measurement and control.

 

Performance and Efficiency

 

Our software brings the power of commercial computers, handheld devices, networks and the internet to instrumentation and embedded devices. With features such as graphical programming, automatic code generation, graphical tools libraries, ready-to-use example programs, libraries of specific instrumentation functions, and the ability to deploy applications on a range of platforms, scientists and engineers can quickly build a system that meets individual application needs. Because the continuous performance improvement of personal computers (“PC”), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (“FPGA”) and networking technologies are the core platforms for our approach, scientists and engineers can quickly realize direct performance benefits,  faster execution for measurement and automation applications, shorter test times, faster automation, higher performing embedded systems and higher manufacturing throughput.

 

Modularity, Reusability and Reconfigurability

 

Our products include reusable hardware and software modules to provide considerable flexibility in configuring systems. This ability to reconfigure measurement and automation systems allows users to quickly adapt their systems to new and changing needs, eliminate duplicated programming efforts, and ultimately improve their efficiency and productivity. In addition, these features help protect both hardware and software investments against obsolescence.

 

Lower Total Solution Cost

 

National Instruments solutions offer price to performance and energy-efficiency advantages over traditional proprietary systems. Graphical system design allows customers to equip powerful industry-standard computers, with reusable system design software and modular cost-effective hardware. In addition, these systems give engineers and scientists the flexibility and portability to adapt to changing needs, while offering a smaller form factor that occupies less space on the manufacturing floor and consumes less energy than traditional instrumentation equipment.

 

Products, Technology and Services

 

We offer an extensive line of measurement and control products to work either separately, as stand-alone products or as an integrated solution; however, customers generally purchase our software and hardware together. We believe that the flexibility, functionality and ease of use of our system design software promotes sales of our other software and hardware products.

 

 

 

 

 

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System Design Software

 

For more than 25 years, NI has invested in its flagship software product, LabVIEW, which the company believes is the ultimate system design software for measurement and control. LabVIEW promotes problem-solving, accelerates productivity, and empowers innovation. With LabVIEW, users program graphically and can design custom virtual instruments by connecting icons with software wires to create “block diagrams” which are natural design notations for scientists and engineers. Users can customize front panels with knobs, buttons, dials and graphs to emulate control panels of instruments or add custom graphics to visually represent the control and operation of processes.

 

NI believes that LabVIEW is a comprehensive development environment with the hardware integration and wide-ranging compatibility that engineers and scientists need to design and deploy measurement and control systems. The LabVIEW programming environment is graphical, with engineering-specific libraries of software functions and hardware interfaces. It also offers data analysis, visualization and sharing features. Engineers and scientists can bring their vision to life with LabVIEW, and have access to a vast ecosystem of partners and technology alliances, and a global and active user community to innovate with confidence. When customers use LabVIEW, combined with the modular hardware approach with NI Data Acquisition, CompactRIO and PCI Extensions for Instrumentation (“PXI”) platforms, they are able to quickly integrate system components and do their jobs faster, better and at a lower cost.

 

LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW FPGA are strategic modular software add-ons. With LabVIEW Real-Time, the user can easily configure their application program to execute using a real-time operating system kernel instead of the Windows operating system, so users can easily build virtual instrument solutions for mission-critical applications. In addition, with LabVIEW Real-Time, users can easily configure their programs to operate remotely on embedded processors in PXI-based systems, on embedded processors inside CompactRIO distributed I/O systems, or on processors embedded on plug-in PC data acquisition boards. With LabVIEW FPGA, the user can configure their application to execute directly in silicon via a Field Programmable Gate Array (“FPGA”) residing on one of our reconfigurable I/O hardware products. LabVIEW FPGA allows users to build their own highly specialized, custom hardware devices for ultra high-performance requirements or for unique or proprietary measurement or control protocols.

 

Programming Tools

 

In addition to LabVIEW, NI offers LabWindows/CVI and Measurement Studio as alternative programming environments.  LabWindows/CVI users use the conventional, text-based programming language of C for creating test and control applications. Measurement Studio consists of measurement and automation add-on libraries and additional tools for programmers who prefer Microsoft’s Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, and Visual Studio.NET development environments.

 

Application Software

 

NI offers a suite of software products, including NI TestStand, NI VeriStand, NI DIAdem and NI Multisim, which are complimentary to LabVIEW.

 

NI TestStand. NI TestStand is targeted for T&M applications in a manufacturing environment. TestStand is a test management environment for organizing, controlling, and running automated prototype, validation, and manufacturing test systems. It also generates customized test reports and integrates product and test data across the customers’ enterprise and across the Internet. TestStand manages tests that are written in LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Measurement Studio, C and C++, and Visual Basic, so test engineers can easily share and re-use test code throughout their organization and from one product to the next. TestStand is a key element of our strategy to broaden the reach of our application software products across the corporate enterprise.

 

NI VeriStand. NI VeriStand is a ready-to-use software environment for configuring real-time testing applications, including hardware-in-the-loop (“HIL”) test systems. With NI VeriStand, users configure real-time I/O, stimulus profiles, data logging, alarming, and other tasks; implement control algorithms or system simulations by importing models from a variety of software environments; build test system user interfaces quickly; and add custom functionality using NI LabVIEW, NI TestStand, and other software environments.

 

NI DIAdem. NI DIAdem offers users configuration-based technical data management, analysis, and report generation tools to interactively mine and analyze data. DIAdem helps users make informed decisions and meet the demands of today’s testing environments, which require quick access to large volumes of scattered data, consistent reporting, and data visualization. 

 

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We offer volume licensing that helps customers maximize their software investment by reducing total cost of ownership and simplifying their software budgeting and purchasing.

 

Hardware Products and Related Driver Software

 

Using cutting-edge commercial technology, such as the latest microprocessors, Analog to Digital Converters (“ADCs”), FPGAs, and PC busses, our hardware delivers modular and easy-to-use solutions for a wide range of applications – from automated test and data logging to industrial control and embedded design. Our hardware and related driver software products include data acquisition (“DAQ”), PXI chassis and controllers, image acquisition, motion control, distributed I/O, modular instruments and embedded control hardware/software, industrial communications interfaces, General Purpose Interface Bus (“GPIB”) interfaces, and VME Extension for Instrumentation (“VXI”) Controllers. The high level of integration among our products provides users with the flexibility to mix and match hardware components when developing custom virtual instrumentation systems.

 

Data Acquisition (DAQ) Hardware/Driver Software.    Our DAQ hardware and driver software products are “instruments on a board” that users can combine with sensors, signal conditioning hardware and software to acquire analog data and convert it into a digital format that can be accepted by a computer. Computer-based DAQ products are typically a lower-cost solution than traditional instrumentation and exploit the processing power, display, and connectivity capabilities of industry-standard computers. Applications suitable for automation with computer-based DAQ products are widespread throughout many industries, and many systems currently using traditional instrumentation (either manual or computer-controlled) could be displaced by computer-based DAQ systems. We offer a range of computer-based DAQ products with a variety of form factors and degrees of performance. In 2006, we introduced NI CompactDAQ, a rugged, portable, USB data acquisition system designed for high-performance mixed-signal measurement systems. Since its introduction, we have expanded the CompactDAQ platform with wireless and Ethernet technologies that have extended the reach of computer-based DAQ from across the lab to around the world. The platform also offers high-performance stand-alone systems for embedded measurement and logging. NI DAQ products also include X Series DAQ which delivers state-of-the-art measurement, generation, timing and triggering on a single device.

 

PXI Modular Instrumentation Platform.  Our PXI modular instrument platform, which was introduced in 1997, is a standard PC packaged in a small, rugged form factor with expansion slots and instrumentation extensions for timing, triggering and signal sharing. It combines mainstream PC software and PCI hardware with advanced instrumentation capabilities. In essence, PXI is an instrumentation PC with several expansion slots supporting complete system-level opportunities and delivering a high percentage of the overall system content using our own products. We continue to expand our PXI product offerings with new modules, which address a wide variety of measurement and automation applications. The platform is now a testing standard, with a wide array of companies developing on the platform and investing in its future through the PXI System Alliance (“PXISA”). In 2006, we introduced our first PXI Express products which provide backward software compatibility with PXI while providing advanced capabilities for high-performance instrumentation, such as RF instrumentation. Today, we have a rapidly expanding portfolio of PXI Express products that are further expanding the capabilities of this important platform.

 

Modular Instruments.  We offer a variety of modular instrument devices used in general purpose test and communication test applications.  These devices include digitizers, digital multimeters, signal generators, RF analyzers/generators, power supplies, source measurement units and switch modules that users can configure through software to meet their specific measurement tasks. Because these instruments are modular and software-defined, they can be quickly interchanged and easily repurposed to meet evolving test needs. Additionally, our modular instruments provide high-speed test execution by harnessing the power of industry-standard PC’s FPGAs and advanced timing and synchronization technologies. Options are available for a variety of platforms including PXI, PXI Express, PCI, PCI Express, and USB.

 

Machine Vision/Image Acquisition. Our machine vision platform includes a range of hardware platform options, from embedded NI Smart Cameras that integrate the sensor and processor in a single package to plug-in boards for PCI and PXI systems. We offer two scalable software options for use across the entire NI vision hardware portfolio. A user can configure a system with NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection, an easy-to-use, stand-alone package for machine vision, or program it using the NI Vision Development Module, a comprehensive library of imaging functions. With NI Vision hardware, a user can build high-performance, PC based systems using the latest processor techniques with NI Frame Grabbers, save on cost and space by combining an image sensor and real-time embedded processors into one rugged, industrial package with NI Smart Cameras, or harness multicore performance with fanless designs, connectivity to multiple cameras and reconfigurable digital I/O with NI Vision systems.

 

 

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Motion Control. By integrating flexible software with high-performance hardware, our motion control products offer a powerful solution for motion system design. From automating test equipment and research labs to controlling biomedical, packaging, and manufacturing machines, engineers use our motion products to meet a diverse set of application challenges. Our software tools for motion easily integrate with our other product lines, so users can combine motion control with image acquisition, test, measurement, data acquisition, and automation to create robust, flexible solutions. We introduced our first line of motion control hardware, software and peripheral products in 1997.

 

NI LabVIEW Reconfigurable I/O (RIO) Architecture.  NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) hardware combined with NI LabVIEW system design software provides a commercial off-the-shelf solution to simplify development and shorten time to market when designing advanced measurement and control systems. All RIO hardware systems, which include CompactRIO, NI Single-Board RIO, R Series boards and PXI-based FlexRIO products, feature a standard, high-performance architecture that combines a powerful floating-point processor, reconfigurable FPGA, and modular I/O. Engineers can program all RIO hardware components with LabVIEW, including the LabVIEW FPGA Module, to rapidly create custom timing, signal processing and control for I/O without requiring expertise in low-level hardware description languages or board-level design. NI provides a breadth of RIO hardware targets that provide varying degrees of performance, cost, I/O rates, and ruggedness, to meet any unique application need. NI first released the LabVIEW RIO architecture in 2003 with the first R Series PXI plug-in board along with the first CompactRIO rugged, high-performance embedded system. To date, NI has released over 75 NI RIO FPGA-based hardware products.

 

Industrial Communications Interfaces.  In 1995, we began shipping our first interface boards for communicating with serial devices, such as data loggers and PLCs targeted for industrial/embedded applications, and benchtop instruments, such as oscilloscopes, targeted for test and measurement applications. We offer hardware and driver software product lines for communication with industrial devices—Controller Area Network (“CAN”), DeviceNet, Foundation Fieldbus, and RS-485 and RS-232.

 

GPIB Interfaces/Driver Software.  We began selling GPIB products in 1977 and are a leading supplier of GPIB interface boards and driver software to control traditional instruments. These traditional instruments are manufactured by a variety of third-party vendors and are used primarily in T&M applications. Our diverse portfolio of hardware and software products for GPIB instrument control is available for a wide range of computers. Our GPIB product line also includes products for controlling GPIB instruments using the computer’s standard parallel, USB, Ethernet, and serial ports.

 

NI Education Platform

 

The NI education platform combines software, hardware and courseware designed to create engaging, authentic learning experiences that prepare students for the next generation of innovation. Our cost-effective, scalable solutions offer academic institutions flexible integration across multiple science and engineering disciplines.

 

Software Products for Teaching

 

NI Multisim Circuit Design Software. NI Multisim is an industry-standard, Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) simulation environment. It is the cornerstone of the NI circuits teaching solution to build expertise through practical application in designing, prototyping, and testing electrical circuits. Developed for the educator who needs to teach all aspects of circuits and electronics, Multisim Education Edition provides the ability to seamlessly move students from theory to simulation to the lab. Regardless of the application area, the powerful environment offers students the ability to visualize and interact with circuit theory and equations and focus on course-specific concepts with SPICE simulation.

 

NI LabVIEW for Education. LabVIEW is a graphical system design environment used on campuses all over the world to deliver hands-on learning to the classroom, enhance research applications, and foster the next generation of innovation. By teaching with LabVIEW, educators help students accomplish hands-on and system-based learning in a single environment with skills and methods they will use in their careers. With built-in I/O integration and instrument control, thousands of functions for math and signal processing, user interfaces to visualize and explore data, and deployment to multiple hardware targets, students access the power of graphical system design to go from concept to prototype in one semester.

 

LabVIEW for LEGO® MINDSTORMS®.  This version of LabVIEW is specifically designed to extend the LEGO MINDSTORM set’s teaching power, making it easier, and more fun, to manage robotics projects. This easy-to-learn programming environment provides access to tools exclusive to the National Instruments Education Platform.  LabVIEW for LEGO MINDSTORMS helps prepare students for university courses and engineering careers where LabVIEW is already in use.

 

 

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Hardware Products for Teaching

 

National Instruments Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS). The NI ELVIS measurement and prototyping platform delivers hands-on lab experience with an integrated suite of more than 12 of the most commonly used instruments in one compact form factor specifically designed for education. Based on industry-standard NI LabVIEW graphical system design software, NI ELVIS, with powerful data acquisition and USB plug-and-play capabilities, offers users the flexibility of virtual instrumentation and allows for quick and easy measurement acquisition and instrumentation across multiple disciplines.

 

NI myDAQ Measurement and Instrumentation Device. This powerful, portable device allows students to measure and analyze the world around them. It is engineered to work with LabVIEW right out of the box. A user can start simply, with built-in virtual instruments, or get creative and connect the user’s own sensors and controls. NI myDAQ combines hardware with eight ready-to-run software-defined instruments, including a function generator, oscilloscope, and digital multimeter (DMM); these software instruments are also used on the NI ELVIS hardware platform so the lab experience can be extended to experiments anywhere, anytime. With NI LabVIEW graphical system design software, users can extend the instrument functionality into hundreds of custom applications.

 

NI Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP). The NI USRP is an affordable, flexible radio that turns a standard PC into a wireless prototyping platform. The NI USRP platform offers a new approach to RF and communications education, which has traditionally been limited to a focus on mathematical theory. With NI USRP and LabVIEW, students gain hands-on experience exploring a working communications system with live signals to gain a better understanding of the link between theory and practical implementation.

 

NI Services

 

NI provides global services and support as part of our commitment to our customers’ success in efficiently building and maintaining high-quality measurement and control systems using graphical system design.

 

Hardware Services and Maintenance

 

System Configuration and Deployment. Our NI System Assurance Program provides a fast, easy way to get our customer’s new NI system up and running. Our trained technicians install software and hardware and configure our customers’ PXI, PXI/SCXI combination, and NI CompactRIO system to their specifications.

 

Calibration. To help our customers’ calibration needs, NI provides calibration solutions, including recalibration services, manual calibration procedures, and automated calibration software. In 2011, the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) accredited NI Calibration Services Austin to one of the highest international calibration standards in the industry, ISO/IEC 17025:2005. National Instruments now offers 17025 calibration services for OEMs and other organizations seeking to maintain compliance with the strictest governmental, medical, transportation and electronics regulations.  The new calibration service offering is ideal for companies standardizing their automated test and measurement systems on PXI modular instrumentation, which provides some of the most advanced technology for addressing the latest engineering challenges.

 

Warranty and Repair. We offer standard and extended warranties to help meet project life-cycle requirements and provide repair services for our products, express repair, and advance replacement services.

 

Software Maintenance Services

 

Software Services for End Users: Our Standard Service Program (SSP) is designed to help ensure that our end users are successful with our products. This software maintenance contract provides the end user with regular product upgrades and service packs, professional technical support from local engineers, 24-hours a day access to self-paced online product training, and access to older versions of their owned software.

 

Volume Licensing for Account-Level Services: The NI Volume License Program (VLP) is designed to meet the needs of the business in addition to the success of each end user. On top of access to the SSP program for each end user, businesses that invest in the VLP receive account-level benefits designed to help effectively manage their software assets and lower their total cost of ownership.

 

 

 

 

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Training and Certification

 

NI Training Program. NI training helps the customer build the skills to more efficiently develop robust, maintainable applications, and certification confirms the customer’s technical growth and skill using NI software.We offer fee-based training classes and self-paced online training for many of our software and hardware products. On-site courses are quoted per customer requests and we include on-line course offerings with live teachers.

 

NI Certification Program We offer programs to certify programmers and instructors for our products.

 

Markets and Applications

 

Our products are used across many industries in a variety of applications including research and development, simulation and modeling, product design, prototype and validation, production testing and industrial control and field and factory service and repair. We serve the following industries and applications worldwide: advanced research, automotive, automated test equipment, consumer electronics, commercial aerospace, computers and electronics, continuous process manufacturing, education, government/defense, medical research/pharmaceutical, power/energy, semiconductors, telecommunications and others.

 

Customers

 

We have a broad base of over 35,000 customers worldwide, with no customer accounting for more than 7%, 4%, and 4% of our sales in 2012, 2011, and 2010, respectively.

 

Marketing

 

Through our worldwide marketing efforts, we strive to educate engineers and scientists about the benefits of our graphical system design philosophy, products and technology, and to highlight the performance and cost advantages of our products. We also seek to present our position as a technology leader among producers of instrumentation software and hardware and to help promulgate industry standards that can benefit users of computer-based instrumentation.

 

We reach our intended audience through our website at ni.com as well as through the distribution of written and electronic materials including demonstration versions of our software products, participation in tradeshows and technical conferences and training and user seminars.

 

We actively market our products in higher education environments, and we identify many colleges, universities and trade and technical schools as key accounts. We offer special academic pricing and products to enable universities to utilize our products in their classes and laboratories. We believe our prominence in the higher education area can contribute to our future success because students gain experience using our products before they enter the work force.

 

Sales and Distribution

 

We sell our software and hardware products primarily through a direct sales organization. We also use independent distributors, OEMs, VARs, system integrators and consultants to market our products. Sales through these alternative channels accounted for less than 7% of our total sales in 2012. Our Hungarian manufacturing facility sources a substantial majority of our sales throughout the world. We have sales offices in the U.S. and sales offices and distributors in key international markets. Sales outside of the U.S. accounted for approximately 63%, 63% and 62%, of our revenues in 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The vast majority of our foreign sales are denominated in the customers’ local currency, which exposes us to the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We expect that a significant portion of our total revenues will continue to be derived from international sales. (See Note 13 – Segment information of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details concerning the geographic breakdown of our net sales, operating income, interest income and long-lived assets.)

 

We believe the ability to provide comprehensive service and support to our customers is an important factor in our business. We permit customers to return products within 30 days from receipt for a refund of the purchase price less a restocking charge. Our products are generally warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for one year from the date we ship the products to our customers. Historically, warranty costs and returns have not been material.

 

 

 

 

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The marketplace for our products dictates that many of our products be shipped very quickly after an order is received. As a result, we are required to maintain significant inventories. Therefore, inventory obsolescence is a risk for us due to frequent engineering changes, shifting customer demand, the emergence of new industry standards and rapid technological advances including the introduction by us or our competitors of products embodying new technology. We strive to mitigate this risk by monitoring inventory levels against product demand and technological changes. Additionally, many of our products have interchangeable parts and many have long lives. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in these efforts in the future.

 

Our foreign operations are subject to certain risks set forth on page 17 under “We are Subject to Various Risks Associated with International Operations and Foreign Economies.”

 

See discussion regarding fluctuations in our quarterly results and seasonality in ITEM 1A, Risk Factors, “Our Revenues are Subject to Seasonal Variations.”

 

Competition

 

The markets in which we operate are characterized by intense competition from numerous competitors, some of which are divisions of large corporations having far greater resources than we have, and we may face further competition from new market entrants in the future. A key competitor is Agilent Technologies Inc. (“Agilent”). Agilent offers hardware and software products that provide solutions that directly compete with our virtual instrumentation products including its own line of PXI based hardware. Agilent is aggressively advertising and marketing products that are competitive with our products. Because of Agilent’s strong position in the instrumentation business, changes in its marketing strategy or product offerings could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

We believe our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors both within and outside our control, including:

 

 

We currently believe that we compete effectively with respect to the foregoing factors; however, there can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully in the future.

 

Research and Development

 

We believe that our long-term growth and success depends on delivering high quality hardware and software products on a timely basis. We focus our research and development efforts on enhancing existing products and developing new products that incorporate appropriate features and functionality to be competitive with respect to technology and price/performance characteristics.

 

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Our research and development staff strives to build quality into our products at the design stage in an effort to reduce overall development and manufacturing costs. Our research and development staff also designs proprietary application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), many of which are designed for use in several of our different products. The goal of our ASIC design program is to further differentiate our products from competing products, to improve manufacturability and to reduce costs. We seek to reduce our time to market for new and enhanced products by sharing our internally developed hardware and software components across multiple products.

 

As of December 31, 2012, we employed 2,007 people in product research and development. Our research and development expenses were $223 million, $199 million and $158 million for 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

 

Intellectual Property

 

We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark law, contracts and technical measures to establish and protect our proprietary rights in our products. As of December 31, 2012, we held 678 U.S. patents (675 utility patents and 3 design patents) and 28 patents in foreign countries (25 patents registered in Europe in various countries; and 3 patents in Japan), and had 251 patent applications pending in the U.S. and foreign countries. 195 of our issued U.S. patents are software patents related to LabVIEW, and cover fundamental aspects of the graphical programming approach used in LabVIEW. Our patents expire from 2013 to 2031. The expiration of any patents in the short term is not expected to have any significant negative impact on our business. No assurance can be given that our pending patent applications will result in the issuance of patents. We also own certain registered trademarks in the United States and abroad. See further discussion regarding risks associated with our patents in ITEM 1A, Risk Factors, “Our Business Depends on Our Proprietary Rights and We are Subject to Intellectual Property Litigation.”

 

Manufacturing and Suppliers

 

We manufacture a substantial majority of our products at our facilities in Debrecen, Hungary. Additional production primarily of our RF products and of low volume, complex or newly introduced products is done in Austin, Texas. We are currently in the process of ramping up our third manufacturing site in Penang, Malaysia. It is expected that in 2013 our site in Malaysia will produce around 15% to 20% of our total production and will focus primarily on making existing products transferred from our Hungarian production facility to support anticipated growth in our business. Our product manufacturing operations can be divided into four areas: electronic circuit card and module assembly; chassis and cable assembly; technical manuals and product support documentation; and software duplication. We manufacture most of the electronic circuit card assemblies, modules and chassis in-house, although subcontractors are used from time to time. We manufacture some of our electronic cable assemblies in-house, but many assemblies are produced by subcontractors. We primarily subcontract our software duplication, our technical manuals and product support documentation.

 

Our manufacturing processes use large volumes of high-quality components and subassemblies supplied by outside sources in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Several of these components are available through limited sources. Limited source components purchased include custom ASICs and other RF or custom components. Any disruption of our supply of limited source components, whether resulting from business demand, quality, production or delivery problems, could adversely affect our ability to manufacture our products, which could in turn adversely affect our business and results of operations. See “Our Business is Dependent on Key Suppliers” at page 16 for additional discussion of the risks associated with limited source suppliers.

 

See “Our Manufacturing Operations are Subject to a Variety of Environmental Regulations and Costs” at page 18 for discussion of environmental matters as they may affect our business.

 

Backlog

 

Backlog is a measure of orders that are received but that are not shipped to customers at the end of a quarter. We typically ship products shortly following the receipt of an order. Accordingly, our backlog typically represents less than 5 days sales. Backlog should not be viewed as an indicator of our future sales.

 

Employees

 

As of December 31, 2012, we had 6,869 employees worldwide, including 2,007 in research and development, 3,167 in sales and marketing and customer support, 936 in manufacturing and 760 in administration and finance. None of our employees are represented by a labor union and we have never experienced a work stoppage. We consider our employee relations to be good. For fourteen consecutive years, from 1999 to 2012, we have been named among the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America according to FORTUNE magazine.

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ITEM 1A.            RISK FACTORS

 

Uncertain Economic Conditions Could Materially Adversely Affect Our Business and Results of Operations.  Our business is sensitive to fluctuations in general economic conditions, both in the U.S. and globally. The uncertain economic climate, uncertain budget and tax policies, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, negative financial news, volatile foreign currency markets, natural disasters, energy costs, employment levels, labor costs, healthcare costs, declining income or asset values and credit availability, could continue to negatively impact and cause deterioration in the global industrial economy. Historically, our business cycles have generally followed the expansion and contraction cycles in the global industrial economy as measured by the Global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). The most recent reading for January 2013 showed the PMI had increased to 51.5 up from a reading of 48.8 for September 2012. This marks the second month since May 2012 that the PMI has had a reading above 50. A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expanding industrial economy while a reading below 50 indicates a contracting industrial economy. We are unable to predict whether the industrial economy, as measured by the PMI, will strengthen or contract during 2013. If the industrial economy, as measured by the PMI, remains at or near a neutral reading of around 50, indicating general weakness, or begins to contract, it could have an adverse effect on the spending patterns of businesses including our current and potential customers which could adversely affect our revenues and result of operations.

 

Our Current Domestic Cash Position May Not Be Sufficient to Fund Certain of our Domestic Cash Needs in the Next Twelve Months and We May Need to Seek Funding from External Sources or Repatriate Foreign Earnings. At December 31, 2012, we had $335 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of which $307 million was held in operating and investment accounts of our foreign subsidiaries. Over the next few months, we will likely seek external financing, most likely in the form of a line of credit, so that we will have sufficient domestic cash to fund continued dividend payments to our stockholders and to fund potential acquisitions. We may also choose to raise additional funds by selling equity or debt securities to the public or to selected investors. If we elect to raise additional funds, we may not be able to obtain such funds on a timely basis on acceptable terms, if at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing additional equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership percentages of our existing stockholders would be reduced. In addition, the equity or debt securities that we issue may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of our common stock and a line of credit would likely have covenants or impose other restrictions on our business. We may also choose to repatriate foreign earnings which would be subject to the U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 35% and therefore, would likely have a material adverse effect on our effective tax rate and on our net income and earnings per share. We could also choose to reduce certain expenditures or payments of dividends or suspend our program to repurchase shares of our common stock. Historically, we have not had to rely on debt, public or private, to fund our operating, financing or investing activities.

 

Orders With a Value of Greater than One Million Dollars Expose Us to Significant Additional Business and Legal Risks that Could Have a Material Adverse Impact on our Business, Results of Operations and Financial Condition. In recent years, we have made a concentrated effort to increase our revenue through the pursuit of orders with a value greater than $1.0 million. As a result of such efforts, this business continues to grow as a percent of our overall business. During 2012, we received a series of orders totaling $59 million for a large graphical system design application from one customer. Including this very large order, we received a total of $76 million in orders from this customer in 2012, of which $72 million or 6% of our total net sales was recognized as revenue in 2012. These type of orders exposes us to significant additional business and legal risks compared to smaller orders. These very large customers frequently require contract terms that vary substantially from our standard terms of sale. These orders can be accompanied by critical delivery commitments and severe contractual liabilities can be imposed on us if we fail to provide the quantity of product at the required delivery times. These customers may also impose product acceptance requirements and product performance evaluations which create uncertainty with respect to the timing of our ability to recognize revenue from such orders. These contracts may have supply constraint requirements which mandate that we allocate large product inventories for a specific contract. These inventory requirements expose us to higher risks of inventory obsolescence and can adversely impact our ability to provide adequate product supply to other customers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fulfillment of these contracts can severely challenge our supply chain capabilities at the component acquisition, assembly and delivery stages. Our contracts with such customers may allow the customer to cancel or delay orders without liability which exposes our business and financial results to significant risk. These contracts can require us to develop specific product mitigation plans for product delivery constraints caused by unexpected or catastrophic situations to help assure quick production recovery. We can attempt to manage this risk but there can be no assurance that we will be successful in our efforts. These customers may demand most favored customer pricing, significant discounts, extended payment terms and volume rebates and such terms can adversely impact our revenues, margins, financial results and may also negatively impact our days sales outstanding as these orders become a larger proportion of our overall revenue. These customers may request broad indemnity obligations and large direct and consequential damage provisions in the event their contracts with us are breached, and these provisions expose us to risk and liabilities far in excess of our standard terms and conditions of sale. While we attempt to limit the number of contracts that contain the non-standard terms of sale described above and attempt to contractually limit our potential liability under such contracts, we have been and expect to be forced to agree to some or all of such provisions to secure these customers and to continue to grow our business. Such actions expose us to significant additional risks which could result in a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

Recent Completion of our Third Manufacturing Facility in Penang, Malaysia Could Adversely Affect our Gross Margin, Results of Operations and Earnings if Anticipated Demand is Not Achieved. Construction of our manufacturing and warehousing facility in Penang, Malaysia was completed in the fourth quarter of 2012. We believe this new facility will support our long term manufacturing and warehousing capacity needs. We are currently in the process of ramping up production at our manufacturing site in Penang, Malaysia. In 2013, we expect this site will produce around 15% to 20% of our total production, focused primarily on making existing products transferred from our Hungarian production facility to support anticipated growth in our business. However, if demand for our products does not grow as expected or if it contracts in future periods, we will have excess warehousing and manufacturing capacity which will cause an increase in overhead that will likely negatively impact our gross margins and results of operations in future periods. In addition, we could experience other cost overruns with respect to our Malaysian facility including those associated with;

 

 

Increases in the Amount of Revenue Derived from Large Orders Could Adversely Affect our Gross Margin and Could Lead to Greater Variability in our Quarterly Results.  Our large order business, defined as orders with a value greater than $100,000, continues to grow as a percent of our overall business. As a percent of our overall business, orders over $100,000 reached a new high during 2012. Such orders represented 21%, 14% and 12% of our total orders during 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. These orders may be more sensitive to changes in the global industrial economy, may be subject to greater discount variability, lower gross margins, and may contract at a faster pace during an economic downturn. Historically, our gross margins have been stable from period to period. To the extent that the amount of our revenue derived from larger orders increases in future periods, both in absolute dollars and as a percent of our overall business, our gross margins could decline, could experience greater volatility and see a greater negative impact from future downturns in the global industrial economy. This dynamic may also have an adverse effect on the historical seasonal pattern of our revenues and our results of operations.

 

We Have Established a Budget and Variations From Our Budget Will Affect Our Financial Results.  We have established an operating budget for 2013. Our budget was established based on the estimated revenue from sales of our products which are based on economic conditions in the markets in which we do business as well as the timing and volume of our new products and the expected penetration of both new and existing products in the marketplace. In 2012, we increased our overall headcount by 634. During 2013, we will see the full year impact of these headcount additions on our operating expenses. If demand for our products in 2013 is less than the demand we anticipated in setting our 2013 budget, our operating results could be negatively impacted. If we exceed the level of expenses established in our 2013 operating budget or if we cannot reduce budgeted expenditures in response to a decrease in revenue, our operating results could be adversely affected. Our spending could exceed our budgets due to a number of factors, including:

 

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Our Quarterly Results are Subject to Fluctuations Due to Various Factors that May Adversely Affect Our Business and Result of Operations.  Our quarterly operating results have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate significantly in the future due to a number of factors, including:

 

 

We Operate in Intensely Competitive Markets.  The markets in which we operate are characterized by intense competition from numerous competitors, some of which are divisions of large corporations having far greater resources than we have, and we may face further competition from new market entrants in the future. A key competitor is Agilent Technologies Inc. (“Agilent”). Agilent offers hardware and software products that provide solutions that directly compete with our virtual instrumentation products and Agilent has released its own line of PXI based hardware. Agilent is aggressively advertising and marketing products that are competitive with our products. Because of Agilent’s strong position in the instrumentation business, changes in its marketing strategy or product offerings could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

We believe our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors both within and outside our control, including:

 

 

There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tax Law Changes in Hungary Could Have a Negative Impact on our Effective Tax Rate, Earnings and Results of Operations.  The profit from our Hungarian operation benefits from the fact that it is subject to an effective income tax rate that is lower than the U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 35%. Our earnings in Hungary are subject to a statutory tax rate of 19%. The difference between this rate and the statutory U.S. rate of 35% resulted in income tax benefits of $12 million, $16 million and $13 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. In addition, effective January 1, 2010, certain qualified research and development expenses became eligible for an enhanced tax deduction. The enhanced tax deduction for research and development expenses resulted in income tax benefits to us of $17 million, $17 million and $13 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. This tax benefit may not be available in future years due to changes in political conditions in Hungary or changes in tax laws in Hungary and in the U.S. The reduction or elimination of these benefits in Hungary or future changes in U.S. law pertaining to the taxation of foreign earnings could result in an increase in our future effective income tax rate which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. No countries other than Hungary had a significant impact on our effective tax rate. We have not entered into any advanced pricing or other agreements with the Internal Revenue Service with regard to any foreign jurisdictions.

 

Our Income tax Rate could be Affected by a Tax Holiday in Malaysia.  Potential future profits from our new manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia is expected to be free of tax under a tax holiday with effect from January 1, 2013.  If we fail to satisfy the conditions of the tax holiday, this tax benefit may not be available. The expiration of the holiday or future changes in U.S. law pertaining to the taxation of foreign earnings could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

A Substantial Majority of our Manufacturing, Warehousing and Distribution Capacity is Located Outside of the United States. Our Hungarian manufacturing and warehouse facility sourced a substantial majority of our sales in 2012. In 2013, we expect to transition some of this capacity to our newly completed manufacturing, warehouse and distribution facility in Penang, Malaysia.

 

In order to enable timely shipment of products to our customers we also maintain the vast majority of our inventory at these international locations. In addition to being subject to the risks of maintaining such a concentration of manufacturing capacity and global inventory, these facilities and their operations are also subject to risks associated with doing business internationally, including:

 

 

No assurance can be given that our efforts to mitigate these risks will be successful. Any failure to effectively deal with the risks above could result in an interruption in operations of our facilities in Hungary or Malaysia which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

Our centralization of inventory and distribution from a limited number of shipping points is subject to inherent risks, including:

 

 

Any difficulties with the centralization of our distribution or delays in the implementation of the systems or processes to support this centralized distribution could result in an interruption of our normal operations, including our ability to process orders and ship products to our customers. Any failure or delay in distribution from our facilities in Hungary and Malaysia could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

 

 

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Our Success Depends on New Product Introductions and Market Acceptance of Our Products.  The market for our products is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, changes in customer needs and frequent new product introductions, and is therefore highly dependent upon timely product innovation. Our success is dependent on our ability to successfully develop and introduce new and enhanced products on a timely basis to replace declining revenues from older products, and on increasing penetration in domestic and international markets. As has occurred in the past and as may be expected to occur in the future, we have experienced significant delays between the announcement and the commercial availability of new products. Any significant delay in releasing new products could have a material adverse effect on the ultimate success of a product and other related products and could impede continued sales of predecessor products, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. There can be no assurance that we will be able to introduce new products in accordance with announced release dates, that our new products will achieve market acceptance or that any such acceptance will be sustained for any significant period. Failure of our new products to achieve or sustain market acceptance could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Moreover, there can be no assurance that our international sales will continue at existing levels or grow in accordance with our efforts to increase foreign market penetration.

 

Our Revenues are Subject to Seasonal Variations.  In previous years, our revenues have been characterized by seasonality, with revenues typically growing from the first quarter to the second quarter, being relatively constant from the second quarter to the third quarter, growing in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter and declining in the first quarter of the following year from the fourth quarter of the preceding year. This historical trend has been affected and may continue to be affected in the future by broad fluctuations in the global industrial economy as well as the timing of new product introductions or acquisitions. In addition, the increasing percentage of our revenue derived from very large orders could have a significant impact on our historical seasonal trends as these orders may be more sensitive to changes in the global industrial economy, may be subject to greater discount variability, lower gross margins, and may contract at a faster pace during an economic downturn. Our historical seasonal variation could also be significantly impacted if we cannot maintain or grow our business with our very large customers. The continuing economic contraction in the Euro zone could persist or worsen in 2013. If this instability in the Euro zone continues, worsens or negatively affects other economic regions in 2013, it may have a material adverse effect on the seasonal patterns described above as well as on our overall results of operations and profitability. Our total operating expenses have in the past tended to increase in each successive quarter and have fluctuated as a percentage of revenue based on the seasonality of our revenue.

 

Concentrations of Credit Risk and Uncertain Conditions in the Global Financial Markets May Adversely Affect Our Business and Result of Operations.  By virtue of our holdings of cash, investment securities and foreign currency derivatives, we have exposure to many different counterparties, and routinely execute transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including commercial banks and investment banks. Many of these transactions expose us to credit risk in the event of a default of our counterparties. We continue to monitor the stability of the financial markets, particularly those in the European region and have taken steps to limit our direct and indirect exposure to these markets; however, we can give no assurance that we will not be negatively impacted by any adverse outcomes in those markets. There can be no assurance that any losses or impairments to the carrying value of our financial assets as a result of defaults by our counterparties, would not materially and adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

 

Our Acquisitions are Subject to a Number of Costs and Challenges that Could Have a Material Adverse Effect on Our Business and Results of Operations. During the fourth quarter of 2012, we completed three acquisitions including Signalion. During 2011, we completed acquisitions of AWR Corporation (AWR) and Phase Matrix Inc. (PMI). We may in the future acquire additional complementary businesses, products or technologies. Achieving the anticipated benefits of an acquisition depends upon whether the integration of the acquired business, products or technology is accomplished efficiently and effectively. In addition, successful acquisitions generally require, among other things, integration of product offerings, manufacturing operations and coordination of sales and marketing and R&D efforts. These difficulties can become more challenging due to the need to coordinate geographically separated organizations, the complexities of the technologies being integrated, and the necessities of integrating personnel with disparate business backgrounds and combining different corporate cultures. The integration of operations following an acquisition also requires the dedication of management resources, which may distract attention from our day-to-day business and may disrupt key R&D, marketing or sales efforts. Our inability to successfully integrate Signalion or any other acquisition could harm our business. The existing products previously sold by entities we have acquired may be of a lesser quality than our products and/or could contain errors that produce incorrect results on which users rely or cause failure or interruption of systems or processes that could subject us to liability claims that could have a material adverse effect on our operating results or financial position. Furthermore, products acquired in connection with acquisitions may not gain acceptance in our markets, and we may not achieve the anticipated or desired benefits of such transactions.

 

 

 

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Our Business is Dependent on Key Suppliers and Distributors and Disruptions in these Businesses Could Adversely Affect our Business and Results of Operations.  Our manufacturing processes use large volumes of high-quality components and subassemblies supplied by outside sources. Several of these components are only available through limited sources. Limited source components purchased include custom application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), chassis and other components. We have in the past experienced delays and quality problems in connection with limited source components, and there can be no assurance that these problems will not recur in the future. Accordingly, our failure to receive components from limited suppliers could result in a material adverse effect on our revenues and operating results. In the event that any of our limited suppliers experience significant financial or operational difficulties due to adverse global economic conditions or otherwise, our business and operating results would likely be adversely impacted until we are able to secure another source for the required materials.

 

In some countries, we use distributors to support our sales channels. In the event that any of our distributors experience significant financial or operational difficulties due to adverse global economic conditions or we experience disruptions in the use of these distributors, our business and operating results would likely be adversely impacted until we are able to secure another distributor or establish direct sales capabilities in the affected market.

 

We May Experience Component Shortages that May Adversely Affect Our Business and Result of Operations.  As has occurred in the past and as may be expected to occur in the future, supply shortages of components used in our products, including limited source components, can result in significant additional costs and inefficiencies in manufacturing. If we are unsuccessful in resolving any such component shortages in a timely manner, we will experience a significant impact on the timing of revenue, a possible loss of revenue, and/or an increase in manufacturing costs, any of which would have a material adverse impact on our operating results.

 

We Rely on Management Information Systems and Interruptions in our Information Technology Systems Could Adversely Affect our Business.  We rely on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of complex information technology systems and networks to operate our business. We rely on a primary global center for our management information systems and on multiple systems in branches not covered by our global center. As with any information system, unforeseen issues may arise that could affect our ability to receive adequate, accurate and timely financial information, which in turn could inhibit effective and timely decisions. Furthermore, it is possible that our global center for information systems or our branch operations could experience a complete or partial shutdown. A significant system or network disruption could be the result of new system implementations, computer viruses, security breaches, facility issues or energy blackouts. If such a shutdown or disruption occurred, it would adversely impact our product shipments and revenues, as order processing and product distribution are heavily dependent on our management information systems. Such an interruption could also result in a loss of our intellectual property or the release of sensitive competitive information or partner, customer or employee personal data. Any loss of such information could harm our competitive position, result in a loss of customer confidence, and cause us to incur significant costs to remedy the damages caused by the disruptions or security breaches. Accordingly, our operating results in such periods would be adversely impacted.

 

We are continually working to maintain reliable systems to control costs and improve our ability to deliver our products in our markets worldwide. Our efforts include, but are not limited to following: firewalls, antivirus, patches, log monitors, routine backups with offsite retention of storage media, system audits, data partitioning and routine password modifications. No assurance can be given that our efforts will be successful.

 

We are Subject to Risks Associated with Our Website.  We devote significant resources to maintain our Website, ni.com, as a key marketing, sales and support tool and expect to continue to do so in the future. However, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in our attempt to leverage the Web to increase sales. Failure to properly maintain our website may interrupt normal operations, including our ability to provide quotes, process orders, ship products, provide services and support to our customers, bill and track our customers, fulfill contractual obligations and otherwise run our business which would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. We host our Website internally. Any failure to successfully maintain our Website or any significant downtime or outages affecting our Website could have a material adverse impact on our operating results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Adoption of Complex Health Care Legislation and Related Regulations and Financial Reform Could Increase our Operating Costs and Adversely Affect Our Result of Operations. The adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the related reconciliation measure, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and the regulations resulting from such legislation could increase the costs of providing health care to our employees. Due to the complexity of the legislation and the uncertain timing and content of the related regulations, we are unable to predict the amount and timing of any such increased costs. In addition, it is likely that we will incur additional administrative costs to comply with certain provisions of this legislation. Due to the fact that many of the rules and regulations have not yet been defined, we are unable to predict the amount of these costs or to what extent we may need to divert other resources to comply with various provisions of this legislation. Additionally, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act could result in increased costs to us either as a result of our efforts to comply with the corporate governance provisions which may be applicable to us or due to the impact of such legislation on the derivative contracts or other financial instruments or financial markets that we utilize in the normal course of our business.

 

Our Product Revenues are Dependent on Certain Industries.  Sales of our products are dependent on customers in certain industries, particularly the telecommunications, semiconductor, consumer electronics, automotive, automated test equipment, defense and aerospace industries. As we have experienced in the past, and as we may continue to experience in the future, downturns characterized by diminished product demand in any one or more of these industries may result in decreased sales, and a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

Our Products are Complex and May Contain Bugs or Errors.  As has occurred in the past and as may be expected to occur in the future, our new software products or new operating systems of third parties on which our products are based often contain bugs or errors that can result in reduced sales or cause our support costs to increase, either of which could have a material adverse impact on our operating results.

 

We are Subject to Various Risks Associated with International Operations and Foreign Economies.  Our international sales are subject to inherent risks, including:

 

 

In many foreign countries, particularly in those with developing economies, it is common to engage in business practices that are prohibited by U.S. regulations applicable to us such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Although we have policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, contractors and agents, including those based in or from countries where practices which violate such U.S. laws may be customary, will not take actions in violation of our policies. Any violation of foreign or U.S. laws by our employees, contractors or agents, even if such violation is prohibited by our policies, could have a material adverse effect on our business. We must also comply with various import and export regulations. The application of these various regulations depends on the classification of our products which can change over time as such regulations are modified or interpreted. As a result, even if we are currently in compliance with applicable regulations, there can be no assurance that we will not have to incur additional costs or take additional compliance actions in the future. Failure to comply with these regulations could result in fines or termination of import and export privileges, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Additionally, the regulatory environment in some countries is very restrictive as their governments try to protect their local economy and value of their local currency against the U.S. dollar.

 

The vast majority of our sales outside of North America are denominated in local currencies, and accordingly, the U.S. dollar equivalent of these sales is affected by changes in the foreign currency exchange rates. The change in exchange rates had the effect of decreasing our consolidated sales by $20 million or 2% in 2012, and increasing our consolidated sales by $27 million or 3% in 2011. Since most of our international operating expenses are also incurred in local currencies, the change in exchange rates had the effect of decreasing our consolidated operating expenses by $5.8 million or 1% in 2012, and increasing our consolidated operating expenses by $19 million or 3% in 2011.

 

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During 2012, we saw an overall appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the major currencies in the markets we do business in and a high level of volatility in the broader foreign currency exchange markets. During 2011, the U.S. dollar generally declined against most of the major currencies in the markets in which we do business.  We cannot predict to what degree or how long this volatility in the foreign currency exchange markets will continue. In the past, we have noted that significant volatility in foreign currency exchange rates in the markets in which we do business has had a significant impact on the revaluation of our foreign currency denominated firm commitments, on our ability to forecast our U.S. dollar equivalent revenues and expenses and on the effectiveness of our hedging programs. In the past, these dynamics have also adversely affected our revenue growth in international markets and may pose similar challenges in the future. We recognize the local currency as the functional currency in virtually all of our international subsidiaries.

 

Our Business Depends on Our Proprietary Rights and We Have Been Subject to Intellectual Property Litigation.  Our success depends on our ability to obtain and maintain patents and other proprietary rights relative to the technologies used in our principal products. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may have in the past infringed or violated certain of our intellectual property rights. We from time to time engage in litigation to protect our intellectual property rights. In monitoring and policing our intellectual property rights, we have been and may be required to spend significant resources. We from time to time may be notified that we are infringing certain patent or intellectual property rights of others. There can be no assurance that any future intellectual property dispute or litigation will not result in significant expense, liability, injunction against the sale of some of our products, and a diversion of management’s attention, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

Our Reported Financial Results May be Adversely Affected by Changes in Accounting Principles Generally Accepted in the United States.  We prepare our financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. These accounting principles are subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission. A change in these policies or interpretations could have a significant effect on our reported financial results, and could affect the reporting of transactions completed before the announcement of a change.

 

Our Business Depends on the Continued Service of Key Management and Technical Personnel.  Our success depends upon the continued contributions of our key management, sales, marketing, research and development and operational personnel, including Dr. Truchard, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and other members of our senior management and key technical personnel. We have no agreements providing for the employment of any of our key employees for any fixed term and our key employees may voluntarily terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of the services of one or more of our key employees in the future could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. We also believe our future success will depend upon our ability to attract and retain additional highly skilled management, technical, marketing, research and development, and operational personnel with experience in managing large and rapidly changing companies, as well as training, motivating and supervising employees. Our failure to attract or retain key technical or managerial talent could have an adverse effect on our operating results. We also recruit and employ foreign nationals to achieve our hiring goals primarily for engineering and software positions. There can be no guarantee that we will continue to be able to recruit foreign nationals at the current rate. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in retaining our existing key personnel or attracting and retaining additional key personnel. Failure to attract and retain a sufficient number of our key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

 

Our Manufacturing Operations are Subject to a Variety of Environmental Regulations and Costs that May Have a Material Adverse Effect on our Business and Results of our Operations.  We must comply with many different governmental regulations related to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of toxic, volatile or otherwise hazardous chemicals used in our manufacturing operations in the U.S., Hungary, and Malaysia. Although we believe that our activities conform to presently applicable environmental regulations, our failure to comply with present or future regulations could result in the imposition of fines, suspension of production or a cessation of operations. Any such environmental regulations could require us to acquire costly equipment or to incur other significant expenses to comply with such regulations. Any failure by us to control the use of or adequately restrict the discharge of hazardous substances could subject us to future liabilities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We Are Subject to the Risk of Product Liability Claims.  Our products are designed to provide information upon which users may rely. Our products are also used in “real time” applications requiring extremely rapid and continuous processing and constant feedback. Such applications give rise to the risk that a failure or interruption of the system or application could result in economic damage or bodily harm. We attempt to assure the quality and accuracy of the processes contained in our products, and to limit our product liability exposure through contractual limitations on liability, limited warranties, express disclaimers and warnings as well as disclaimers contained in our “shrink wrap” license agreements with end-users. If our products contain errors that produce incorrect results on which users rely or cause failure or interruption of systems or processes, customer acceptance of our products could be adversely affected. Further, we could be subject to liability claims that could have a material adverse effect on our operating results or financial position. Although we maintain liability insurance for product liability matters, there can be no assurance that such insurance or the contractual limitations used by us to limit our liability will be sufficient to cover or limit any claims which may occur.

 

Provisions in Our Charter Documents and Delaware Law and Our Stockholder Rights Plan May Delay or Prevent an Acquisition of Us.  Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us without the consent of our Board of Directors. These provisions include a classified Board of Directors, prohibition of stockholder action by written consent, prohibition of stockholders to call special meetings and the requirement that the holders of at least 80% of our shares approve any business combination not otherwise approved by two-thirds of the Board of Directors. Delaware law also imposes some restrictions on mergers and other business combinations between us and any holder of 15% or more of our outstanding common stock. In addition, our Board of Directors has the right to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer. Our Board of Directors adopted a stockholders rights plan on January 21, 2004, pursuant to which we declared a dividend of one right for each share of our common stock outstanding as of May 10, 2004. This rights plan replaced a similar rights plan that had been in effect since our initial public offering in 1995. Unless redeemed by us prior to the time the rights are exercised, upon the occurrence of certain events, the rights will entitle the holders to receive upon exercise thereof shares of our preferred stock, or shares of an acquiring entity, having a value equal to twice the then-current exercise price of the right. The issuance of the rights could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us.

 

Compliance With Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is Costly and Challenging.  As required by Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, this Form 10-K contains our management’s certification of adequate disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2012. This report on Form 10-K also contains a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting including an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012. This Form 10-K also contains an attestation and report by our external auditors with respect to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404. While these assessments and reports did not reveal any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, compliance with Sections 302 and 404 is required for each future fiscal year end. We expect that the ongoing compliance with Sections 302 and 404 will continue to be both very costly and very challenging and there can be no assurance that material weaknesses will not be identified in future periods. Any adverse results from such ongoing compliance efforts could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and have an adverse effect on our stock price.

 

ITEM 1B.            UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

 

None.

 

ITEM 2.            PROPERTIES

 

We own approximately 139 acres of land in the Austin, Texas area. Our principal corporate and research and development activities are conducted in three buildings we own in Austin, Texas; a 232,000 square foot office facility, a 140,000 square foot manufacturing and office facility, and a 380,000 square foot research and development facility. We also own a 136,000 square foot office building in Austin, Texas which is being leased to third parties.

 

Our principle manufacturing activities are conducted in Debrecen, Hungary and Penang, Malaysia. We own a 239,000 square foot manufacturing and distribution facility in Debrecen, Hungary and a new 314,000 square foot manufacturing, research and development, and general and administrative facility in Penang, Malaysia. We also own approximately 23 acres of land comprised of two tracts in an industrial park in Penang, Malaysia.

 

Our German subsidiary, National Instruments Engineering GmbH & Co. KG, owns a 25,500 square foot office building in Aachen, Germany in which a majority of its activities are conducted. National Instruments Engineering owns another 19,375 square foot office building in Aachen, Germany, which is partially leased to third-parties. National Instruments Corporation (UK) Limited, United Kingdom, owns a 29,270 square foot office building in Newbury, UK. 

 

As of December 31, 2012, we also leased a number of sales and support offices in the U.S. and various countries throughout the world. Our sales and support facilities are currently being utilized below maximum capacity to allow for future headcount growth and design/construction cycles, as needed. We believe our existing facilities are adequate to meet our current requirements.

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ITEM 3.            LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

We are not currently a party to any material litigation. However, in the ordinary course of our business, we are involved in legal actions, both as plaintiff and defendant, and could incur uninsured liability in any one or more of them. We also periodically receive notifications from various third parties related to alleged infringement of patents or intellectual property rights, commercial disputes or other matters. No assurances can be given with respect to the extent or outcome of any future litigation or dispute.

 

ITEM 4.            MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

 

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PART II

 

 

ITEM 5.            MARKET FOR THE REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

 

Our common stock, $0.01 par value, began trading on The NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol NATI effective March 13, 1995. Prior to that date, there was no public market for our common stock. The high and low closing prices for our common stock, as reported by Nasdaq for the two most recent fiscal years, are as indicated in the following table:

 

 

At the close of business on February 4, 2013, there were approximately 404 holders of record of our common stock and approximately 25,502 beneficial holders of our common stock.

 

We believe factors such as quarterly fluctuations in our results of operations, announcements by us or our competitors, technological innovations, new product introductions, governmental regulations, litigation, changes in earnings estimates by analysts or changes in our financial guidance may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate, perhaps substantially. In addition, stock prices for many technology companies fluctuate widely for reasons that may be unrelated to their operating results. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

 

Our cash dividend payments for the two most recent fiscal years, on a per share basis, are indicated in the following table. The dividends were paid on the dates set forth below:

 

 

Our policy as to future dividends will be based on, among other considerations, our balance of domestic cash, our ability to obtain external financing through a line of credit, or by selling equity or debt securities to the public or to selected investors, our views on changes in tax rates applied to dividend income, potential future capital requirements related to research and development, expansion into new market areas, strategic investments and business acquisitions, share dilution management, legal risks, and challenges to our business model.

 

On January 31, 2013, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.14 per common share, payable on March 11, 2013, to stockholders of record on February 19, 2013.

 

See Item 12 for information regarding securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans.

 

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Performance Graph

 

The following graph compares the cumulative total return to holders of NI’s common stock from December 31, 2007 to December 31, 2012 to the cumulative return over such period of the (i) Nasdaq Composite Index and (ii) Russell 2000 Index. We use the Russell 2000 Index due to the fact that we have not been able to identify a published industry or line of business index that we believe appropriately reflects our industry or line of business. We considered that our primary competitors are divisions of large corporations that have other significant business operations such that any index comprised of such competitors would not be reflective of our industry or line of business. We have also considered using a peer group index but do not believe such index is appropriate as we have not been able to identify other public companies that we believe are principally in the same line of business as we are.

 

The graph assumes that $100 was invested on December 31, 2007 in NI’s common stock and in each of the other two indices and the reinvestment of all dividends, if any. Stockholders are cautioned against drawing any conclusions from the data contained therein, as past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance.

 

 

 

The information contained in the Performance Graph shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that NI specifically incorporates it by reference into any such filing. The graph is presented in accordance with SEC requirements.

 

Issuer Purchase of Equity Securities

 

 

(1) For the past several years, we have maintained various stock repurchase programs. At December 31, 2012, there were 3,932,245 shares available for repurchase under the plan approved on April 21, 2010. This repurchase plan does not have an expiration date.

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ITEM 6.            SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

 

The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, including the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Form 10-K. The information set forth below is not necessarily indicative of the results of our future operations. The information should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

 

 

 

 

 

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ITEM 7.            MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

The following “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Any statements contained herein regarding our future financial performance,  operations, or other activities (including, without limitation, statements to the effect that we “believe,” “expect,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “project,” “continue,” or “estimate” or other variations thereof or comparable terminology or the negative thereof) should be considered forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of important factors including those set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” beginning on page 11, and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We disclaim any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.

 

Overview

 

National Instruments Corporation (“we”, “us” or “our”) designs, manufactures and sells tools to engineers and scientists that accelerate productivity, innovation and discovery. Our graphical system design approach to engineering provides an integrated software and hardware platform that speeds the development of systems needing measurement and control. We believe our long-term vision and focus on technology supports the success of our customers, employees, suppliers and stockholders. We sell to a large number of customers in a wide variety of industries. We have been profitable in every year since 1990. No single customer accounted for more than 7%, 4%, or 4% of our sales in 2012, 2011, or 2010, respectively.

 

The key strategies that management focuses on in running our business are the following:

 

Expanding our broad customer base

 

We strive to increase our already broad customer base by serving a large market on many computer platforms, through a global marketing and distribution network. We also seek to acquire new technologies and expertise from time to time to open new opportunities for our existing product portfolio.

 

Maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction

 

To maintain a high level of customer satisfaction we strive to offer innovative, modular and integrated products through a global sales and support network. We strive to maintain a high degree of backwards compatibility across different platforms to preserve the customer’s investment in our products. In this time of intense global competition, we believe it is crucial that we continue to offer products with quality and reliability, and that our products provide cost-effective solutions for our customers.

 

Leveraging external and internal technology

 

Our product strategy is to provide superior products by leveraging generally available technology, supporting open architectures on multiple platforms and by leveraging our core technologies such as custom application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”) across multiple products.

 

We sell into test and measurement (“T&M”) and industrial/embedded applications in a broad range of industries and as such are subject to the economic and industry forces which drive those markets. It has been our experience that the performance of these industries and our performance is impacted by general trends in industrial production for the global economy and by the specific performance of certain vertical markets that are intensive consumers of measurement technologies. Examples of these markets are semiconductor capital equipment, telecom and mobile devices, consumer electronics, defense, aerospace and automotive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In assessing our business, we consider the trends in the Global Purchasing Managers Index (“PMI”) published by JP Morgan, global industrial production as well as industry reports on the specific vertical industries that we target. A PMI reading above 50 is indicative of expansion in the global industrial economy. Our business is sensitive to fluctuations in general economic conditions, both in the U.S. and globally. Historically, our business cycles have generally followed the expansion and contraction cycles in the global industrial economy as measured by the PMI. The most recent reading for January 2013 showed the PMI had increased to 51.5 up from a reading of 48.8 for September 2012. This marks the second month since May 2012 that the PMI has had a reading above 50. For January 2013, the new order element of the PMI was 51.8 up from 48.0 in September 2012. This is the first time in six months that the new order element of the PMI has had a reading above 50. We are unable to predict whether the industrial economy, as measured by the PMI, will strengthen or contract during 2013. If the industrial economy, as measured by the PMI contracts or remains at a neutral reading at or around 50, indicating general weakness, it could have an adverse effect on the spending patterns of businesses including our current and potential customers which could adversely affect our revenues and result of operations.

 

We distribute our software and hardware products primarily through a direct sales organization. We also use independent distributors, OEMs, VARs, system integrators and consultants to market our products. Sales through these alternative channels account for less than 7% of our total sales in 2012. We have sales offices in the U.S. and sales offices and distributors in key international markets. Sales outside of the Americas accounted for approximately 60% of our revenues in 2012, 60% of our revenues in 2011 and 59% of our revenues in 2010. The vast majority of our foreign sales are denominated in the customers’ local currency, which exposes us to the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We expect that a significant portion of our total revenues will continue to be derived from international sales. (See Note 13 - Segment information of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details concerning the geographic breakdown of our net sales, operating income, interest income and long-lived assets).

 

We manufacture a substantial majority of our products at our facilities in Debrecen, Hungary. Additional production primarily of low volume or newly introduced products is done in Austin, Texas. We are currently in the process of ramping up our third manufacturing site in Penang, Malaysia. It is expected that in 2013 our site in Malaysia will produce around 15% to 20% of our total production and will focus primarily on making existing products transferred from our Hungarian production facility to support anticipated growth in our business. Our product manufacturing operations can be divided into four areas: electronic circuit card and module assembly; chassis and cable assembly; technical manuals and product support documentation; and software duplication. We manufacture most of the electronic circuit card assemblies, modules and chassis in-house, although subcontractors are used from time to time. We manufacture some of our electronic cable assemblies in-house, but many assemblies are produced by subcontractors. We primarily subcontract our software duplication, our technical manuals and product support documentation.

 

We believe that our long-term growth and success depend on delivering high quality software and hardware products on a timely basis. Accordingly, we focus significant efforts on research and development. We focus our research and development efforts on enhancing existing products and developing new products that incorporate appropriate features and functionality to be competitive with respect to technology, price and performance. Our success also is dependent on our ability to obtain and maintain patents and other proprietary rights related to technologies used in our products. We have engaged in litigation and where necessary, will likely engage in future litigation to protect our intellectual property rights. In monitoring and policing our intellectual property rights, we have been and may be required to spend significant resources.

 

Our operating results fluctuate from period to period due to changes in global economic conditions and a number of other factors. As a result, we believe our historical results of operations should not be relied upon as indications of future performance. There can be no assurance that our net sales will grow or that we will remain profitable in future periods.

 

Results of Operations

 

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the percentage of net sales represented by certain items reflected in our Consolidated Statements of Income:

 

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Results of Operations for years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010

 

Despite difficult economic conditions throughout 2012, we are pleased with our disciplined execution which allowed us to grow revenue 12% year over year and delivering record revenue of $1.14 billion. While we remain cautious in the short-term due to uncertain economic conditions, we are optimistic about our long-term position in the industry through the sustained differentiation we deliver to our customers through graphical system design.

 

Net Sales.  Our net sales were $1,144 million, $1,024 million and $873 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, an increase of 12% in 2012 following an increase of 17% in 2011. Product sales were $1,055 million, $956 million and $807 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, an increase of 10% in 2012 following an increase of 18% in 2011. Software maintenance sales were $87 million, $82 million and $66 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, an increase of 7% in 2012 following an increase of 24% in 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2012, our net sales were positively impacted by our Settlement Agreement with GSA which was $1.3 million less than the amount previously accrued. For the year ended December 31, 2011, net sales were negatively impacted by the $13 million accrual related to our GSA contract.  The revenue increase in 2012 compared to 2011 is attributed to increases in sales volume in the Americas, East Asia and Emerging Asia Rest of World (ROW). In 2011, the revenue increase is attributed to increases in sales volume across all regions of our business.

 

We did not take any significant action with regard to pricing during the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

 

Large orders, defined as orders with a value greater than $100,000, grew by 67%, during 2012 following growth of 38% during 2011. During 2012, 2011 and 2010, these large orders were 21%, 14% and 12%, respectively, of our total orders. During 2012, we received a series of orders totaling $59 million for a large graphical system design application from one customer of which $56 million was recognized in revenue during 2012. Including this order, we received a total of $76 million in orders from this customer in 2012, of which $72 million or 6% of our total net sales was recognized as revenue in 2012. Larger orders may be more sensitive to changes in the global industrial economy, may be subject to greater discount variability and may contract at a faster pace during an economic downturn.

 

For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, net sales in the Americas were $455 million, $411 million and $360 million, respectively, an increase of 11% in 2012 following an increase of 14% in 2011. Sales in the Americas, as a percentage of consolidated sales were 40%, 40% and 41%, respectively, over the three year period. In Europe, net sales were $298 million, $309 million and $261 million, respectively, a decrease of 4% in 2012 following an increase of 18% in 2011. The decrease in 2012 was mainly the result of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Sales in Europe, as a percentage of consolidated sales were 26%, 30% and 30%, respectively, over the three year period. In East Asia, sales were $283 million, $216 million and $181 million, respectively, an increase of 31% in 2012 following an increase of 19% in 2011. The increase in 2012 was impacted by the large graphical system design application discussed above. Net sales in East Asia, as a percentage of consolidated sales were 25%, 21% and 21%, respectively, over the three year period. We defined East Asia to include greater China, Japan and Korea. In Emerging Asia ROW, net sales were $109 million, $89 million and $71 million, respectively, an increase of 22% in 2012 following an increase of 25% in 2011. Sales in Emerging Asia ROW, as a percentage of consolidated sales were 10%, 9% and 8%, respectively, over the three year period. We define Emerging Asia ROW to include Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the former Russian Republics.

 

 

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We expect sales outside of the Americas to continue to represent a significant portion of our revenue. We intend to continue to expand our international operations by increasing our presence in existing markets, adding a presence in some new geographical markets and continuing the use of distributors to sell our products in some countries. We anticipate that sales growth in Asia may continue to be strong relative to the Americas and Europe and continue to grow as a percentage of our total net sales.

 

Almost all of the sales made by our direct sales offices in the Americas, outside of the U.S., Europe, East Asia, and Emerging Asia ROW are denominated in local currencies, and accordingly, the U.S. dollar equivalent of these sales is affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates. For 2012, in local currency terms, our total sales increased by $138 million or 13%, Americas sales increased by $45 million or 11%, European sales increased by $4.6 million or 1%, sales in East Asia increased by $63 million or 29%, and sales in Emerging Asia ROW increased by $25 million or 28%. During this same period, the change in exchange rates had the effect of decreasing our total sales by $20 million or 2%, decreasing Americas sales by $1.8 million or 0.4%, decreasing European sales by $18 million or 6%, increasing East Asia by $4.0 million or 2% and decreasing Emerging Asia ROW sales by $4.9 million or 6%.

 

For 2011, in local currency terms, our total sales increased by $128 million or 15%, Americas sales increased by $50 million or 14%, European sales increased by $37 million or 16%, and sales in East Asia increased by $27 million or 15%, and sales in Emerging Asia ROW increased by $14 million or 19%. During this same period, the change in exchange rates had the effect of increasing our total sales by $27 million or 3%, increasing Americas sales by $1 million or 0.4%, increasing European sales by $13 million or 5%, increasing East Asia by $7.4 million or 4% and  increasing Emerging Asia ROW sales by $5.7 million or 8%.

 

To help protect against a reduction in value caused by a fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates of forecasted foreign currency cash flows resulting from international sales, we have instituted a foreign currency cash flow hedging program. We hedge portions of our forecasted revenue denominated in foreign currencies with forward and purchased option contracts. During 2012, these hedges had the effect of increasing our consolidated sales by $2.9 million. During 2011, these hedges had the effect of decreasing our consolidated sales by $3.9 million. (See Note 4 - Derivative instruments and hedging activities of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion regarding our cash flow hedging program and its related impacted on our consolidated sales for 2012 and 2011).

 

Gross Profit. For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, gross profit was $863 million, $783 million and $673 million, respectively. As a percentage of sales, gross profit was 76%, 77% and 77% in 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2012, gross margin was negatively impacted by the decline in our European business as a result of the weakness of the European industrial economy and the weaker Euro as well as the lower than average gross margin on our largest order. We continued to focus on cost control and cost reduction measures throughout our manufacturing cycle. These cost control and cost reduction measures along with sales growth have helped us to maintain relative stability in our gross margin.

 

During 2012 and 2011, the change in exchange rates had the effect of decreasing our cost of sales by $1.2 million or 1% and increasing our cost of sales by $4.7 million or 2%, respectively. To help protect against changes in our cost of sales caused by a fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates of forecasted foreign currency cash flows, we have a foreign currency cash flow hedging program. We hedge portions of our forecasted costs of sales denominated in foreign currencies with forward contracts. During 2012 and 2011, these hedges had the effect of decreasing our cost of sales by $402,000 and decreasing our cost of sales by $1.4 million, respectively. (See Note 4 - Derivative instruments and hedging activities of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion regarding our cash flow hedging program and its related impacted on our consolidated sales for 2012 and 2011).

 

Operating Expenses. For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, operating expenses were $746 million, $670 million and $545 million, respectively, an increase of 11% in 2012, following an increase of 23% in 2011. During 2012, our operating expenses grew 16% during the first half of the year, compared to the first half of 2011 and grew by 8% during the second half of the year, compared to the second half of 2012. The 8% growth in the second half of the year includes an adjustment to the accrual related to our AWR acquisition of $6.8 million as a result of AWR’s performance exceeding our prior expectations. Overall, the increase in our operating expenses in 2012 was due to higher personnel related expenses of $51 million which included commissions, variable compensation and benefits, higher expenses for building, equipment and supplies of $9 million, higher expenses related to marketing and outside services of $8 million,  higher travel related expenses of $7.3 million and higher equity based compensation of $4.6  million. Over the same period, the net impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates decreased our operating expense by $5.8 million. The increase in personnel expenses is related to a net increase in our headcount of 634 employees during 2012.

 

 

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The increase in our operating expenses in 2011 was due to higher personnel related expenses of $48 million which included commissions, variable compensation and benefits as well as the fact that temporary cost cutting measures enacted in 2009 were still in place in January 2010, higher expenses related to marketing and outside services of $25 million, higher expenses for building, equipment and supplies of $12 million, higher travel related expenses of $11 million, higher equity based compensation of $4.2 million and higher software development costs of $3.7 million. Over the same period, the net impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates increased our operating expense by $19 million.

 

For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, operating expenses as a percentage of net sales were 65%, 66% and 62%, respectively. The year over year decrease in our operating expenses as a percentage of net sales in 2012 compared to 2011 is attributed to the fact that we grew our overall operating expenses by 11% while our net sales grew by 12%. For 2011, the increase in our operating expenses as a percent of sales was due to the fact that we grew our overall operating expense by 23% while our net sales grew by 17%.

 

We believe that our long-term growth and success depends on developing high quality software and hardware products and delivering those products to our customers on a timely basis. To that end, we made investments in research and development and our field sales force a priority. For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, our research and development expenses were $223 million and $199 million, respectively, an increase of 12% following an increase of 26% in 2011. From a regional perspective, the increase in research and development in 2012, had a larger impact on the operating income of the Americas as the Americas absorbed $21 million of the overall $24 million increase. The overall increase in research and development expense was due to an increase in our research and development headcount to 2,007 at December 31, 2012 from 1,868 at December 31, 2011. This increase in headcount is consistent with our stated plan to make investment in research and development a priority to support our long-term growth.

 

Operating Income.    For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, operating income was $117 million, $113 million and $128 million, respectively, an increase of 4% in 2012, following an decrease of 12% in 2011. As a percentage of net sales, operating income was 10%, 11% and 15%, respectively, over the three year period. Our operating income in 2012 includes the negative impact of the adjustment to the accrual related to our AWR acquisition of $6.8 million as a result of AWR’s performance exceeding our prior expectations and the positive impact of a $1.3 million favorable settlement from our GSA contract during the second quarter of 2012. The settlement of this matter was $1.3 million less than what we estimated in 2011. The decrease in our operating income as a percent of sales during 2011 can be attributed to our overall increase in operating expenses of 23% when compared to the overall net sales increase of 17%. Operating income for 2011 was negatively impacted by the $13 million accrual related to our GSA contract, which reduced our revenue in 2011.

 

Interest Income.    Interest income was $716,000, $1.3 million and $1.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, a decrease of 46% in 2012, following a decrease of 5% in 2011. We continue to see low yields for high quality investment alternatives that comply with our corporate investment policy. We do not expect yields in these types of investments to increase significantly in 2013.

 

Net Foreign Exchange Loss.  Net foreign exchange loss was $(2.2) million, $(2.8) million, and $(2.6) million for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. These results are attributable to movements in the foreign currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies in markets for which our functional currency is not the U.S. dollar. During 2012, we saw an overall appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the major currencies in the markets we do business in and a high level of volatility in the broader foreign currency exchange markets. During 2011, the U.S. dollar generally declined against most of the major currencies in the markets in which we do business. We cannot predict to what degree or how long this volatility in the foreign currency exchange markets will continue. In the past, we have noted that significant volatility in foreign currency exchange rates in the markets in which we do business has had a significant impact on the revaluation of our foreign currency denominated firm commitments, on our ability to forecast our U.S. dollar equivalent revenues and expenses and on the effectiveness of our hedging programs. In the past, these dynamics have also adversely affected our revenue growth in international markets and may pose similar challenges in the future. We recognize the local currency as the functional currency in virtually all of our international markets.

 

We utilize foreign currency forward contracts to hedge our foreign denominated net foreign currency balance sheet positions to help protect against the change in value caused by a fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates. We typically hedge up to 90% of our outstanding foreign denominated net receivable or payable positions and typically limit the duration of these foreign currency forward contracts to approximately 90 days. The gain or loss on these derivatives as well as the offsetting gain or loss on the hedged item attributable to the hedged risk is recognized in current earnings under the line item “Net foreign exchange loss”. Our hedging strategy increased our foreign exchange losses by $2.1 million in 2012, reduced our foreign exchange losses by $959,000 in 2011, and increased our foreign exchange gain by $1.6 million in 2010.

 

 

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Provision for Income Taxes.    For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, our provision for income taxes reflected an effective tax rate of 22%, 15% and 15%, respectively. The factors that caused our effective tax rate to change in 2012 compared to 2011 are detailed in the table below:

 

 

(See Note 9 – Income taxes of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion regarding changes in our effective tax rate and a reconciliation of income taxes at the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate of 35% to our effective tax rate).

 

Quarterly results of operations

 

The following quarterly results have been derived from unaudited consolidated financial statements that, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of such quarterly information. The operating results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period. You should read the following tables presenting our quarterly results of operations in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The unaudited quarterly financial data for each of the eight quarters in the two years ended December 31, 2012 are as follows: 

 

 

 

 

 

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Other operational metrics

 

We believe that the following additional unaudited operational metrics assists investors in assessing our operational performance relative to our peers and to our historical results.

 

Acquisition Related Deferred Revenue excluded from Revenue and GSA Accrual Reduction to Revenue. For the three month periods and years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, the excluded acquisition related deferred revenue and the reduction of revenue resulting from our GSA accrual were as follows:

 

Charges Related to Stock-based Compensation, Amortization of Acquired Intangibles and Acquisition Related Transaction Costs. For the three month periods and years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, the gross charges related to stock-based compensation as a component of cost of sales, sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative expenses and the total charges were as follows:  

 

 

For the three month periods and years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, the gross charges related to the amortization of acquisition related intangibles as a component of cost of sales, sales and marketing, research and development, and other income, net and the total charges were as follows:

 

 

For the three month periods and years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, the gross charges related to acquisition related transaction costs as a component of cost of sales, sales and marketing, research and development, general and administrative expenses, acquisition related adjustment, and the total charges were as follows:

 

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

Working Capital, Cash and Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments.  The following table presents our working capital, cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities:

 

 

During 2012, our working capital increased by $16 million. Factors contributing to this increase in our working capital were an increase in accounts receivable of $30 million and an increase in inventory of $38 million, offset by a decrease in our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $31 million, an increase in accounts payable of $24 million, and an increase in current deferred revenue of $11 million. The increase in our working capital accounts can be attributed to our overall business growth during 2012. The change in our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments is discussed in more detail below under the heading Cash Provided and (Used) in the Years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011.

 

Our cash and cash equivalent balances are held in numerous financial institutions throughout the world, including substantial amounts held outside of the U.S., however, the majority of our cash and investments that are located outside of the U.S. are denominated in U.S. dollars with the exception of $25 million U.S. dollar equivalent of German government sovereign debt that is denominated in Euro. Our German government sovereign debt holdings have a maximum maturity of 24 months and carry Aaa/AAA ratings. At December 31, 2012, we had $335 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Approximately $28 million or 8% of these amounts were held in domestic accounts with various financial institutions and $307 million or 92% was held in accounts outside of the U.S. with various financial institutions. Of our short-term investments, $1.5 million or 1% is held in our investment accounts in the U.S. and $172 million or 99% is held in investment accounts of our foreign subsidiaries. Most of the amounts held outside of the U.S. could be repatriated to the U.S., but under current law, would be subject to U.S. federal income taxes, less applicable foreign tax credits. We have provided for the U.S. federal tax liability on these amounts for financial statement purposes, except for foreign earnings that are considered indefinitely reinvested outside of the U.S. Repatriation could result in additional U.S. federal income tax payments in future years. We utilize a variety of tax planning and financing strategies with the objective of having our worldwide cash available in the locations in which it is needed.

 

Cash Provided and (Used) in the Years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011.  Cash and cash equivalents increased to $162 million at December 31, 2012 from $143 million at December 31, 2011. The following table summarizes the proceeds and (uses) of cash:

 

For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, cash provided by operating activities was $133 million and $170 million, respectively. Year over year, we saw a decrease in net income of $3.9 million as well as a decrease in cash provided by operating assets and liabilities of $33 million.

 

Accounts receivable increased to $187 million at December 31, 2012 compared to $157 million at December 31, 2011. Days sales outstanding was 55 days at December 31, 2012, compared to 51 days at December 31, 2011. We typically bill customers on an open account basis subject to our standard net 30 day payment terms. If, in the longer term, our revenue increases, it is likely that our accounts receivable balance will also increase. Our accounts receivable balance could also increase if customers delay their payments or if we grant extended payment terms to customers, both of which are more likely to occur during challenging economic times when our customers may face issues gaining access to sufficient funding or credit.

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Consolidated inventory balances increased to $170 million at December 31, 2012 from $132 million at December 31, 2011. Inventory turns were 1.9 in each of the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011. Inventory increased by $38 million during the year ended December 31, 2012, as we took actions to support the expected growth in our overall business. Our inventory levels will continue to be determined based upon our anticipated demand for products and our need to keep sufficient inventory on hand to meet our customers’ demands. Such considerations are balanced against the risk of obsolescence or potentially excess inventory levels. Rapid changes in customer demand could have a significant impact on our inventory balances in future periods.

 

Investing activities used cash of $78 million during the year ended December 31, 2012, as the result of our acquisitions of $25 million, net of cash received, as well as the purchase of property and equipment and other intangibles of $91 million, the capitalization of internally developed software of $12 million, offset by the net sale of $50 million of short-term investments. For the year ended December 31, 2011, Investing activities used cash of $237 million, which was the result of our acquisitions of AWR Corporation (AWR) and Phase Matrix Inc. (PMI) for $45 million, net of cash received, and $28 million, net of cash received, respectively, as well as the purchase of property and equipment and other intangibles of $60 million, the capitalization of internally developed software of $12 million, and the net purchase of $91 million of short-term investments. (See Note 16 – Acquisitions of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion regarding the acquisition of AWR and PMI).

 

Financing activities used cash of $35 million during the year ended December 31, 2012, which was the result of $68 million used to pay dividends to our stockholders offset by $31 million received from the issuance of our common stock from the exercise of stock options and under our employee stock purchase plan as well as a tax benefit of $2.2 million. For the year ended December 31, 2011, financing activities used $10 million, which was the result of $48 million used to pay dividends to our stockholders offset by $33 million received from the issuance of our common stock from the exercise of stock options and under our employee stock purchase plan as well as a tax benefit of $5.2 million.

 

From time to time, our Board of Directors has authorized various programs to repurchase shares of our common stock depending on market conditions and other factors. Under such programs, we repurchased a total of 2,089,098 shares of our common stock at a weighted average price of $20.04 per share in the year ended December 31, 2010. On April 21, 2010, our Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program that increased the aggregate number of shares of common stock that we are authorized to repurchase from 1,011,147 to 4.5 million. At December 31, 2012, there were 3,932,245 shares remaining available for repurchase under this plan. This repurchase plan does not have an expiration date. We did not repurchase any shares of our common stock during the years ended during 2012 and 2011.

 

During the year ended December 31, 2012, we received less proceeds from the exercise of stock options compared to the year ended December 31, 2011. The timing and number of stock option exercises and the amount of cash proceeds we receive through those exercises are not within our control and in the future, we may not generate as much cash from the exercise of stock options as we have in the past. Moreover, since 2005, it has been our practice to issue restricted stock units and not stock options to eligible employees which will reduce the number of stock options available for exercise in the future. Unlike the exercise of stock options, the issuance of shares upon vesting of restricted stock units does not result in any cash proceeds to us.

 

Contractual Cash Obligations.  The following summarizes our contractual cash obligations as of December 31, 2012:

 

 

The following summarizes our other commercial commitments as of December 31, 2012: