Valmet Automotive design award for the Porsche
718 series is Aspen's sixth OEM
award
2024 Financial Outlook remains
unchanged
NORTHBOROUGH, Mass., June 13,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:
ASPN) ("Aspen" or the "Company"),
a technology leader in sustainability and electrification
solutions, today announced a PyroThin® design award from
Valmet Automotive to supply the next generation electric-only
Porsche 718 series.
Aspen is also reiterating its
2024 financial outlook.
Valmet Automotive / Porsche EV Thermal Barrier Commercial
Award
- Valmet Automotive is Porsche's manufacturing partner for the
next generation electric 718 lineup
- The Porsche 718 platform covers the Cayman and Boxster models
with an expected start of production in 2025
- Porsche, through Valmet, joins Audi and Scania as announced
PyroThin® awards linked to the Volkswagen Group
Commenting on today's announcement, Aspen's President and CEO, Donald R. Young, "We are excited to add Valmet
Automotive and Porsche to our growing list of customers as they
prepare to manufacture an all-electric 718 lineup." Mr. Young
added, "This award, and the depth of our quote and development
pipeline with additional OEM customers, further validates
PyroThin® as the go-to EV thermal barrier solution. We
believe that we will add more awards to our roster during 2024 to
drive further diversification in our PyroThin® customer
base for 2025 and beyond."
2024 Financial Outlook Unchanged
Aspen's 2024 full year outlook
remains as follows:
($ in millions, except per share amounts)
Metric
|
2024
Outlook
|
Implied YoY %
Improvement
|
Revenue
Thermal
Barrier
Energy
Industrial
|
>380
>230
>150
|
59%
109%
17%
|
Adjusted
EBITDA
|
>55
|
340 %
|
Net Income
(Loss)
|
>2
|
104 %
|
Earnings Per
Share
|
>0.03
|
105 %
|
Ricardo C. Rodriguez, Chief
Financial Officer and Treasurer, commented, "We developed a
pragmatic performance baseline when planning for 2024 and while
preparing the most recently communicated outlook increase as part
of our Q1 results." Mr. Rodriguez added, "Thinking more broadly and
long-term, our profitable Energy Industrial segment, in combination
with a broad set of blue-chip PyroThin® customers,
positions us to continue supporting the long-term EV demand ramp
with conviction. We look forward to discussing our Q2 results in
detail at our next earnings call on August
1st, 2024."
The Company's 2024 outlook assumes depreciation and amortization
of $30 million, stock-based
compensation expense of $14 million,
other (income) expense and income tax expense of $9 million, and weighted average shares
outstanding of 75.8 million for the full year.
A reconciliation of net loss to non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA for the
2024 financial outlook is provided in the financial schedules that
are part of this press release. An explanation of this non-GAAP
financial measure is also included below under the heading
"Non-GAAP Financial Measures."
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to
providing financial measurements based on generally accepted
accounting principles in the United
States of America ("GAAP"), Aspen provides an additional financial metric
that is not prepared in accordance with GAAP ("non-GAAP"). The
non-GAAP financial measure included in this press release is
Adjusted EBITDA. Management uses this non-GAAP financial measure,
in addition to GAAP financial measures, as a measure of operating
performance because the non-GAAP financial measure does not include
the impact of items that management does not consider indicative of
Aspen's core operating
performance. In addition, management uses Adjusted EBITDA
(i) for planning purposes, including the preparation
of Aspen's annual operating
budget, (ii) to allocate resources to enhance the financial
performance of its business, and (iii) as a performance measure
under its bonus plan.
Management believes that this non-GAAP financial measure
reflects Aspen's ongoing business
in a manner that allows for meaningful comparisons and analysis of
trends in its business, as it excludes expenses and gains not
reflective of Aspen's ongoing
operating results or that may be infrequent and/or unusual in
nature. Management also believes that this non-GAAP financial
measures provides useful information to investors in understanding
and evaluating Aspen's operating
results and future prospects in the same manner as management and
in comparing financial results across accounting periods and to
those of peer companies. This non-GAAP measure may not be
comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other
companies.
The non-GAAP financial measure does not replace the presentation
of Aspen's GAAP financial results
and should only be used as a supplement to, not as a substitute
for, Aspen's financial results
presented in accordance with GAAP. In this press release,
Aspen has provided a
reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net loss, the most directly
comparable GAAP financial measure. Management strongly encourages
investors to review Aspen's
financial statements and publicly filed reports in their entirety
and not rely on any single financial measure.
About Aspen Aerogels, Inc.
Aspen is a technology leader in
sustainability and electrification solutions. The Company's aerogel
technology enables its customers and partners to achieve their own
objectives around the global megatrends of resource efficiency,
e-mobility, and clean energy. Aspen's PyroThin® products enable solutions to
thermal runaway challenges within the EV market. Aspen Battery
Materials, the Company's carbon aerogel initiative, seeks to
increase the performance of lithium-ion battery cells to enable EV
manufacturers to extend the driving range and reduce the cost of
EVs. The Company's Cryogel® and Pyrogel® products are valued by the
world's largest energy infrastructure companies. Aspen's strategy is to partner with
world-class industry leaders to leverage its Aerogel Technology
Platform® into additional high-value markets. Aspen is headquartered in Northborough, Mass. For more information,
please visit www.aerogel.com.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking and Cautionary
Statements
This press release and any related discussion
contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially
different from historical results or from any future results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including
statements relating to the thermal barrier award from Valmet
Automotive and Aspen's 2024
financial outlook. These statements are not historical facts but
rather are based on Aspen's
current expectations, estimates and projections regarding
Aspen's business, operations and
other factors relating thereto, including with respect to
Aspen's 2024 financial outlook.
Words such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should,"
"anticipate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "expects,"
"intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates," "outlook,"
"assumes," "targets," "opportunity," and similar expressions are
used to identify these forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements include statements regarding, among
other things, Aspen's expectations
about capacity, revenue, revenue capacity, backlog, costs,
expenses, profitability, cash flow, gross profit, gross margin,
operating margin, net loss, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin
and related decreases, improvements, timing, variability or trends;
beliefs about higher than expected demand from the EV market and
how it may enable a path to profitability, expectations about
improvement in ability to absorb fixed costs and reduction of
conversion costs as a percentage of sales and the same leading to
target revenue capacity and gross margins and Adjusted EBITDA
margins; Aspen's expectations
regarding the planned second manufacturing plant in Georgia ("Plant II"), the extended
construction and commissioning timeframe for Plant II, Aspen's efforts to manage the construction of
Plant II to align with our expectations of demand from EV
customers, and the use of contract manufacturers to meet demand
from Energy Industrial customers; beliefs about the general
strength, weakness or health of Aspen's business; acceleration in demand;
beliefs about current or future trends in the energy, energy
infrastructure, chemical and refinery, LNG, sustainable building
materials, EV thermal barrier, EV battery materials or other
markets and the impact of these trends on Aspen's business; beliefs about the strength,
effectiveness, productivity, costs, profitability or other
fundamentals of Aspen's business;
beliefs about the role of Aspen's
technology and opportunities in the electric vehicle market;
beliefs about Aspen's ability to
provide and deliver products and services to electric vehicle
customers; beliefs about content per vehicle, revenue, costs,
expenses, profitability, investments or cash flow associated with
Aspen's electric vehicle
opportunities, including the EV thermal barrier business; beliefs
about revenue growth and profitability; beliefs about the
performance of PyroThin® including its ability to mitigate the
propagation of thermal runaway in electric vehicles; beliefs about
Aspen's ability to expand the
market for PyroThin®, to achieve design wins, to commence shipments
of production parts, and to become an industry standard solution
for thermal runaway management; beliefs about Aspen's thermal barrier design, prototype,
quoting and assembly activities; and expectations about the cost of
the capital projects, including Plant II; and beliefs about the
Company's pending application with the DOE seeking a loan pursuant
to the DOE LPO's ATVM. All such forward-looking statements are
based on management's present expectations and are subject to
certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual
results, outcome of events, timing and performance to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the
following: inability to execute the growth plan, inability to
continue construction of Plant II and to do so at a cost consistent
with Aspen's estimates and aligned
with Aspen's expectations of
demand from our EV customers; the right of EV thermal barrier
customers to cancel contracts with Aspen at any time and without penalty; any
costs, expenses, or investments incurred by Aspen in excess of projections used to develop
pricing under the contracts with EV thermal barrier customers;
Aspen's inability to create
customer or market opportunities for, including PyroThin®; any
other battery performance and safety products, battery materials or
for other new products developed from Aspen's aerogel technology; any disruption or
inability to achieve expected capacity levels in any of the three
existing production lines in East
Providence, RI or the Mexico assembly facility or at any contract
manufacturer; any failure to enforce any of Aspen's patents; the general economic
conditions and cyclical demands in the markets that Aspen serves; and the other risk factors
discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Aspen's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2023 and
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on
March 7, 2024, as well as any updates
to those risk factors filed from time to time in Aspen's subsequent periodic and current
reports filed with the SEC. All statements contained in this press
release are made only as of the date of this press release.
Aspen does not intend to update
this information unless required by law.
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The
following tables present a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial
measure included in this press release to the most directly
comparable GAAP measure:
Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Loss
We
define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest
expense, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based
compensation expense and other items, which occur from time to time
and which we do not believe are indicative of our core operating
performance.
For the 2024 full year financial outlook:
|
|
Year
Ending
|
|
|
|
December 31,
2024
|
|
|
|
(In
thousands)
|
|
Net income
|
|
$
|
2,000
|
|
Depreciation and
amortization
|
|
|
30,000
|
|
Stock-based
compensation
|
|
|
14,000
|
|
Other expense, net and
income tax expense
|
|
|
9,000
|
|
Adjusted
EBITDA
|
|
$
|
55,000
|
|
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aspen-aerogels-announces-thermal-barrier-award-from-valmet-automotive-for-electric-porsche-718-series-and-reiterates-2024-financial-outlook-302171630.html
SOURCE Aspen Aerogels, Inc.