Benzinga | Nov 5, 2020 04:15PM EST

Axon Sees Q4 2020 Revenue Between $175M And $185M

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

Dear Shareholders,

As 2020 enters the final stretch, Axon is on track to exit the year strong. We are pleased to report a surge in momentum in our business in the third quarter. We drove bookings[1] growth of 62% sequentially and 56% year over year, aided by robust North American demand for body cameras and cloud software, and a rebound in TASER demand driven by the US federal and corrections markets. High-margin annual recurring revenue topped $200 million, doubling in two years' time. And we are on track to exceed our original 2020 financial targets -- which is a testament to the mental toughness and dedication of our teams and the market's reception to our products that solve real problems.

In February, we told investors that our strategic priorities in 2020 included continuing to execute in our core market, while expanding to new customer segments and accelerating our path-to-market in new product categories. We are pleased to be executing to plan, even amid the economic and logistical challenges presented by the pandemic.

The following two areas of strength are the direct result of accelerated investments in the US federal law enforcement channel and the development of real-time command-and-control software for public safety.

[1] Bookings represents the total expected revenue contribution of contracts signed in the quarter that have a five-year length or shorter. We further define this metric under "Statistical Definitions."

U.S. federal customers generate $38 million in quarterly bookings

We are thrilled to report rapid progress in the federal market. As a result of targeted investments in building direct relationships with federal customers, we achieved a record $38 million in bookings from federal customers in the third quarter, up 400% year over year. Our successes include the following new programs and contracts, many of which are firsts for Axon:

* We established our first two programs of record with the federal government, including a $13 million U.S. Customs and Border Protection order for body cameras and digital evidence management. A program of record is a key milestone because it specifies an appropriated line item in the US discretionary budget. Previously, Axon mainly leveraged distributors for sales into the federal government.

* We signed our first indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with a federal agency. This type of contract establishes product pricing along with a contract ceiling.

* We signed our first Officer Safety Plan contract with a federal agency. Officer Safety Plan is our integrated subscription bundle that includes TASER 7, Axon Body 3, and a host of cloud software features to empower an agency. This early achievement gives us confidence that the integrated subscription bundle that has proven popular with municipal law enforcement may also be valuable to the federal adjacency.

* We sold body cameras and digital evidence management for the first time to the Department of Defense. We have primarily communicated our bullishness regarding Axon's ability to sell to federal civilian law enforcement. Selling to the DoD further expands Axon's federal total addressable market.

* We signed our largest TASER contract in company history, valued at $15.5 million, within the Department of Homeland Security.

We announced Axon Respond, our end-to-end platform to power real-time operations

We introduced Axon Respond to the industry at our August user conference. Although we have talked generally with the investment community about our growing suite of dispatch and communications products, the launch of Respond represented our first formal communication to customers about the availability of "real-time operations" -- a broader vision for the category. We are now building a book of business for the platform, which comprises a modern cloud-based dispatch system, communications capabilities, real-time situational awareness through GPS-and-LTE-enabled body cameras, in-car cameras and drones, and integrated light bar and weapon deployment signals, giving everyone a real-time map of what is happening. It is accessible from any device, and is built to evolve, unlike legacy on-premises systems.

The Respond platform is made up of several products that work together and are integrated with Axon's software suite, which includes digital evidence management and Axon Records. Our teams built this platform after conducting more than 1,000 hours of customer research, which uncovered several consistent problems with legacy 911 dispatching operations: Basic usability falls short of modern software design standards that most consumers take for granted, on-premise legacy systems are inherently less reliable than the modern cloud, and upgrades and performance improvements are complex and infrequent rather than seamless and ongoing. Delayed responses in 911 can be caused by delayed situational awareness -- a gap between an event occurring and the system of responders being able to react to the development. Also, officers often have to juggle a rat's nest of tools -- cobbled together from consumer applications, dispatching applications, texting and radio.

We have a growing number of customers using components of Respond. And many agencies are using it regularly as part of their routine police work. In a recent survey of more than 200 users by TechValidate, 90% said that Respond has had a "positive" or "extremely" positive impact on officer safety. Respond is also driving situational awareness, efficiency of daily command operations, and improving relationships with communities.

In the past month, more than 200 agencies have used Respond for Devices (previously referred to as Axon Aware), which is the GPS-enabled service that pairs with the Axon Body 3 camera. Customers include the Atlanta and Cincinnati police departments and Toronto Police Service. In addition, over the past six months, we have seen a 6x increase in usage of live-streaming with Respond for Devices.

In April, Arizona's City of Maricopa Police Department moved over from a competitor and went live on Axon's cloud-based computer aided dispatch (CAD) solution to power their 911 incident response -- representing our first Dispatch customer. We are encouraged by the pipeline of additional Dispatch customers, as we aim to be first in the category in the coming years.

International expansion continues:

Recent milestones in our international expansion include the Toronto Police Service's deployment of Axon body cameras, the London Metropolitan Police's upgrade to Axon Body 3 cameras, government approval to sell TASER 7 in the UK, and the first major agency in Ukraine purchasing TASER devices.

International revenue of $23 million in the quarter represented 15% year-over-year growth and reflected typical third quarter seasonality. Year-to-date international revenue is up 43%.

"Deciding to go with an Axon body camera program was the best decision for Toronto Police Service because the cameras are just part of the bigger picture. The real value is within the digital evidence management solution, which will allow us to manage and share evidence with ease, speed and less costs." --Toronto Police Service Superintendent Michael Barsky

"The National Police of Ukraine will start using TASER (devices) for its operations, which is a completely new tool for law enforcement agencies in our country. We have carefully studied the usage of these devices globally and believe that equipping our units with this innovative device will make them more effective in protecting the rule of law and civil order. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Axon and to truly harnessing the power of their network." --Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Mr. Anton Gerashchenko

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) update

Axon is a mission-driven company whose overarching goal is to protect life. Our vision is a world where bullets are obsolete, where social conflict is dramatically reduced, and where everyone has access to a fair and effective justice system. We continue to strengthen our focus on ESG.

We see 100% of our revenues as generated by products and solutions that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goals 5, 9, 11 and 16. These goals seek to achieve gender equality, build resilient infrastructure and foster innovation, promote safe living conditions in urban areas, reduce violence and death rates, promote the rule of law to ensure everyone equal access to justice, and develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions.

Following the death of George Floyd and this summer's social unrest, Axon became one of the first companies to announce an action plan, including a commitment to help public safety agencies in their work to address systemic inequity, racism, and injustice. As part of this commitment, Axon added a new strategic goal to our mission -- to center racial equity, diversity, and inclusion.

On October 28, we unveiled our first eight product features developed in direct support of this goal, which we built through a company-wide initiative called Sprint for Justice. The features focus on transparency, truth and officer development, and aim to reduce violence and social conflict. Importantly, they increase officer accountability with features such as automatically prioritizing body camera videos selected for random audits based on events such as unholstering a TASER device or spoken keywords from the AI-powered transcription of the audio, a use of force dashboard, virtual reality training to assist in handling high-stakes situations like peer intervention, and replay coaching to revisit body camera footage and promote ongoing learning and development.

Summary of Q3 2020 results:

* Revenue of $166 million grew 27% year over year, with broad-based strength driven by demand for almost all product lines.

* Gross margin of 59.0% reflected a favorable product mix relative to our expectations. Shipments of low-to-no margin body camera hardware, which we previously communicated, had about 400 basis points of negative gross margin impact in the quarter.

* Operating expenses of $104 million included $26 million in stock-based compensation expense and $8.6 million in costs related to FTC litigation. (An update on the FTC litigation is below, under "Update on Legal Matters.") SG&A of $74 million included $19 million in stock-based compensation expense. R&D included $6 million in stock-based compensation expense. Although Axon recognized $17 million in expenses that were particularly related to our innovative stock-based compensation plans in the third quarter, no employees or executives have received shares, because no operational milestones have been achieved. Costs are recognized under these plans when future milestones are considered probable of achievement. For more details about these innovative stock-based compensation plans, which were approved by shareholders and align the interests of management and employees with shareholders, please see our online FAQ at investor.axon.com.

* GAAP EPS was ($0.01) based on a net loss of $1 million; and Non-GAAP EPS was $0.40.

* Quarterly Adjusted EBITDA grew 40% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA of $34 million represented a 20% margin on revenue.

* Cash and cash equivalents and investments totaled $628 million at September 30, 2020. Uses of cash in the third quarter included: $54 million to purchase a parcel of land in Scottsdale from the Arizona State Land Department at auction, on which we intend to construct our new manufacturing and office facility. We aim to consolidate five locations and bring more automation to future generations of product hardware. We require physical facilities for not only manufacturing, but also hardware R&D, testing laboratories, wireless calibration, quality testing, and a variety of other functions that require physical collaboration. This land investment provides long-term flexibility, optionality and stability for our physical plant operations, and supports Axon's growth and expansion plans for the next several decades. The acquired land is walking distance from Axon's current headquarters and manufacturing operations, giving us flexibility to migrate key manufacturing infrastructure over time, with the benefits of minimal business disruption and operational redundancy. $16 million tied to building up inventory, which helped us respond to strong product demand while preparing us to stagger factory work schedules due to COVID-19, and prepares us for large shipments in the coming weeks. As we first indicated in May, our elevated inventory build over the course of 2020 is a proactive approach to building safety stock in an effort to minimize shipping disruptions. We are committed to working through COVID-19 supply chain challenges as they arise to support our customers and deliver mission critical equipment. Finished goods inventory totaled $55 million at third quarter end, including TASER devices due for customer shipments in Q4 2020. $15 million increase in contract assets tied to selling long-term hardware subscriptions, which results in recognizing revenue when we deliver hardware to our customers ahead of invoicing for the full value of that hardware.

* Axon has zero debt.

Financial commentary by segment:

TASER

THREE MONTHS ENDED CHANGE

30 SEP 2020 30 JUN 2020 30 SEP 2019 QoQ YoY

(in thousands)

Net sales $84,406 $70,490 $71,743 19.7% 17.7%

Gross margin 62.9 % 61.4 % 63.1 % 150 bp (20)bp

* TASER segment revenue of $84 million reflected robust demand for devices, cartridges, and officer training.

* Gross margin increased to 62.9% due to lower discounting and higher-margin training revenue. As higher percentages of our TASER units are sold in integrated bundles, we realize a lower gross margin on the TASER units upon shipment than selling stand-alone, but higher gross profit over the life of the subscription. As we note in the next section, the percentage of TASER units sold on a subscription bundle surged to 75% in the quarter, reflecting the value that customers see in our subscription bundles, and our efforts to evolve TASER from a book-and-ship hardware product to a subscription-based de-escalation platform that includes cloud software and training.

Software & Sensors

THREE MONTHS ENDED CHANGE

30 SEP 30 JUN 30 SEP QoQ YoY 2020 2020 2019

(in thousands)

Axon Cloud net $45,462 $41,891 $34,021 8.5 % 33.6 % sales

Axon Cloud 77.1 % 77.9 % 75.8 % (80) bp 130 bpgross margin



Sensors and Other net $36,574 $28,878 $25,073 26.7 % 45.9 % sales

Sensors and Other gross 27.5 % 42.6 % 36.4 % (1,510)bp (890)bpmargin

* Axon Cloud revenue grew 34% year over year and reflected strong domestic demand for our growing software suite.

* Axon Cloud gross margin of 77% includes some low-to-no margin professional services that support new installations for SaaS customers. The software-only revenue in this segment, which includes cloud storage and compute costs, has consistently carried a gross margin above 80%.

* Sensors & Other revenue grew 46% year over year on strong demand for Axon Body 3 cameras.

* Sensors & Other gross margin was 27.5%. As a reminder, we manage toward a 25% gross margin for camera and sensors hardware, and the gross margin will fluctuate quarter to quarter depending on the customer mix. In the third quarter, we shipped Axon Body 3 cameras at low-to-no margin to our largest customers. We expect Sensors & Other gross margin in Q4 2020 to be about flat with Q3 as we complete shipments to our largest customers.

Forward-looking performance indicators:

30 SEP 2020 30 JUN 2020 31 MAR 2020 31 DEC 2019 30 SEP 2019 ($ in thousands) Annual recurring revenue $ 203,815 $ 183,498 $ 173,919 $ 161,277 $ 141,540(1)

Net revenue retention (2) 120 % 119 % 119 % 121 % * Total company future $ 1,510,000 $ 1,340,000 $ 1,274,000 $ 1,230,000 $ 1,130,000contracted revenue (2)

Percentage of TASER

devices sold on a 75 % 46 % 43 % 58 % 55 %recurring

payment plan

_____________________ (1) Monthly recurring license, integration, warranty, and storage revenueannualized.

(2) Refer to "Statistical Definitions" below.

* Not disclosed.

* Annual Recurring Revenue ("ARR") grew 44% year over year to $204 million -- and we've doubled our ARR in two years from $102 million in Q3 2018. The record sequential ARR increase of $20 million reflects customer demand for our growing suite of software tools.

* Net revenue retention was 120% in the quarter, reflecting our ability to walk customers up the value chain over time and our de minimis annual churn rates. We drive adoption of our cloud software solutions through integrated bundling. We are seeing major cities upgrading their subscriptions at individual net dollar retention rates of 150% to 300% to take advantage of our growing suite of productivity and digital evidence management tools. Our agency customers often sign up for five to ten-year subscriptions. This SaaS metric purposely excludes the hardware portion of customer subscriptions. We further define this metric under "Statistical Definitions."

* Total company future contracted revenue grew to $1.51 billion. See definition of this metric under "Statistical Definitions."

* The percentage of TASER devices sold on a subscription rose to a record 75% in the quarter, reflecting the value that customers see in our integrated subscription bundles and our efforts to evolve TASER from a book-and-ship hardware product to a subscription-based de-escalation platform that includes cloud software and training.

Outlook:

The following forward-looking statements reflect Axon's expectations as of November 5, 2020, and are subject to uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

* We are tracking to Q4 2020 revenue of $175 million to $185 million, which implies full-year revenue of $630 million to $640 million. The outperformance versus our original 2020 revenue expectation of $615 million to $625 million reflects strength across the business, as well as growing customer diversification, particularly in the US federal and international markets.

* We expect to see fourth quarter gross margins in line with the third quarter.

* We expect to achieve Adjusted EBITDA in Q4 2020 of $30 million to $35 million, which implies full year Adjusted EBITDA of about $122 million to $127 million. This outlook exceeds our original expectation of $100 million to $105 million and reflects revenue outperformance and related expense leverage, and travel and event cost savings of approximately $12 million. We provide Adjusted EBITDA guidance, rather than net income guidance, due to the inherent difficulty of forecasting certain types of expenses such as stock-based compensation and income tax expenses, which affect net income but do not affect Adjusted EBITDA. We are unable to reasonably estimate the impact of such expenses, if any, on net income. Accordingly, we do not provide a reconciliation of projected net income to projected Adjusted EBITDA. We expect stock-based compensation expense to be at least $107 million for the full year. However, as our stock-based compensation expense may increase significantly based on increases in the probability of attaining certain operational metrics and with acceleration in the expected timing of such attainment, it is inherently difficult to forecast future stock-based compensation expense.

* Earlier this year we shared our plans to invest in our channel, product and support infrastructure as we look to scale the business to $1 billion in revenue and beyond. These investments yielded results ahead of our expectations, as evidenced by our strengthened outlook for 2020. We intend to continue these types of investments in 2021. Our initial view of the business in 2021 includes $720 million to $750 million in revenue with $120 million to $130 million in Adjusted EBITDA. We are extremely proud of the high level of execution from our teams that has set us up for continued strength on the top-line and margin performance consistent with a COVID-normalized expense profile.

The impact of COVID-19 remains fluid, although we believe we sell products that meet a critical need. Reductions in economic activity could bring renewed caution from police departments on budgeting. Similar to our communication in our August update, we are not seeing changes in buying activity due to police defunding concerns. We have seen some anecdotal acceleration of body camera buying decisions due to agencies wishing to provide transparency to their communities.

Thank you for your engagement and investment in Axon.

Signed,

Rick Smith, CEO

Luke Larson, President

Jawad Ahsan, CFO

Quarterly conference call and webcast

We will host our Q3 2020 earnings conference call on Thursday, November 5 at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET.

The webcast will be available via a link on Axon's investor relations website at https://investor.axon.com ( https://investor.axon.com/), or can be accessed directly via https://axon.zoom.us/j/93010191090.

Statistical Definitions

Bookings: We consider bookings to be a statistical measure defined as the sales price of orders (not invoiced sales), including contractual optional periods we expect to be exercised, net of cancellations, inclusive of renewals, placed in the relevant fiscal period, regardless of when the products or services ultimately will be provided, so long as they are expected to occur within five years. Most bookings will be invoiced in subsequent periods. Due to municipal government funding rules, in some cases certain of the future period amounts included in bookings are subject to budget appropriation or other contract cancellation clauses. Although we have entered into contracts for the delivery of products and services in the future and anticipate the contracts will be fulfilled, if agencies do not exercise contractual options, do not appropriate funds in future year budgets, or do enact a cancellation clause, revenue associated with these bookings may not ultimately be recognized, resulting in a future reduction to bookings. Bookings, as presented here, represent total company bookings inclusive of all products, and should not be confused with our historical reported measure of Software & Sensors bookings, which excluded TASER-related bookings. Certain customers sign contracts for time periods longer than five-years, which generates a larger-sized booking -- but the expected exercise amounts after the five-year period is not included in bookings, as described here, in order to facilitate comparisons between periods.

Net revenue retention: Dollar-based net revenue retention is an important metric to measure our ability to retain and expand our relationships with existing customers. We calculate it as the software and camera warranty subscription and support revenue from a base set of agency customers from which we generated Axon Cloud subscription revenue in the last month of a quarter divided by the software and camera warranty subscription and support revenue from the year-ago month of that same customer base. This calculation includes high-margin warranty but purposely excludes the lower-margin hardware subscription contingent of the customer contracts, as it is meant to be a SaaS metric that we use to monitor the health of the recurring revenue business we are building. This calculation also excludes the implied monthly revenue contribution of customers that were added since the year-ago quarter, and therefore excludes the benefit of new customer acquisition. The metric includes customers, if any, that terminated during the annual period, and therefore, this metric is inclusive of customer churn. This metric is downwardly adjusted to account for the effect of phased deployments -- meaning that for the year-ago period, we consider the total contractually obligated implied monthly revenue amount, rather than monthly revenue amounts that might have been in actuality smaller on a GAAP basis due to the customer not having yet fully deployed their Axon solution. For more information relative to our revenue recognition policies, please reference our SEC filings.

Total company future contracted revenue: Total company future contracted revenue includes both recognized contract liabilities as well as amounts that will be invoiced and recognized in future periods. The remaining performance obligations are limited only to arrangements that meet the definition of a contract under Topic 606 as of September 30, 2020. We expect to recognize between 20% - 25% of this balance over the next twelve months, and generally expect the remainder to be recognized over the following five to seven years, subject to risks related to delayed deployments, budget appropriation or other contract cancellation clauses.

Non-GAAP Measures

To supplement the Company's financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, we present the non-GAAP financial measures of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Non-GAAP Net Income, Non-GAAP Diluted Earnings Per Share and Free Cash Flow. The Company's management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in evaluating the Company's performance in comparison to prior periods. We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance, and when planning and forecasting our future periods. A reconciliation of GAAP to the non-GAAP financial measures is presented herein.

* EBITDA (Most comparable GAAP Measure: Net income) - Earnings before interest expense, investment interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization.

* Adjusted EBITDA (Most comparable GAAP Measure: Net income) - Earnings before interest expense, investment interest income, income taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash stock-based compensation expense and pre-tax certain other items (described below).

* Non-GAAP Net Income (Most comparable GAAP Measure: Net income) - Net income excluding the costs of non-cash stock-based compensation and excluding pre-tax certain other items, including, but not limited to, net gain/loss/write-down/disposal/abandonment of property, equipment and intangible assets; loss on impairment; costs related to business acquisitions and investments in unconsolidated affiliates; and costs related to the FTC litigation. The Company tax-effects non-GAAP adjustments using the blended statutory federal and state tax rates for each period presented.

* Non-GAAP Diluted Earnings Per Share (Most comparable GAAP Measure: Earnings Per share) - Measure of Company's Non-GAAP Net Income divided by the weighted average number of diluted common shares outstanding during the period presented.

* Free Cash Flow (Most comparable GAAP Measure: Cash flow from operating activities) - cash flows provided by operating activities minus purchases of property and equipment, intangible assets and cash flows related to business acquisitions and other equity investments.

Caution on Use of Non-GAAP Measures

Although these non-GAAP financial measures are not consistent with GAAP, management believes investors will benefit by referring to these non-GAAP financial measures when assessing the Company's operating results, as well as when forecasting and analyzing future periods. However, management recognizes that:

* these non-GAAP financial measures are limited in their usefulness and should be considered only as a supplement to the Company's GAAP financial measures;

* these non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, the Company's GAAP financial measures;

* these non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered to be superior to the Company's GAAP financial measures; and

* these non-GAAP financial measures were not prepared in accordance with GAAP or under a comprehensive set of rules or principles.

Further, these non-GAAP financial measures may be unique to the Company, as they may be different from similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. As such, this presentation of non-GAAP financial measures may not enhance the comparability of the Company's results to the results of other companies.

About Axon

Axon is the global leader in connected public safety technologies. We are a mission-driven company whose overarching goal is to protect life. Our vision is a world where bullets are obsolete, where social conflict is dramatically reduced, where everyone has access to a fair and effective justice system and where racial equity, diversity and inclusion is centered in all of our work. Axon is also a leading provider of body cameras for US law enforcement, providing more transparency and accountability to communities than ever before.

You may learn about our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts by reading our ESG disclosure at investor.axon.com.

We work hard for those who put themselves in harm's way for all of us. More than 236,000 lives and countless dollars have been saved with the Axon network of devices, apps and people. Learn more at www.axon.com or by calling (800) 978-2737. Axon is a global company with headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., and a global software engineering hub in Seattle, Wash., as well as additional offices in the US, Australia, Canada, Finland, Vietnam, the UK and the Netherlands.

Facebook is a trademark of Facebook, Inc.; LTE is a trademark of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute; TechValidate is a trademark of Surveymonkey, Inc.; Twitter is a trademark of Twitter, Inc. and Zoom is a trademark of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Axon, TASER, TASER 7, Protect Life and the Delta Logo are trademarks of Axon Enterprise, Inc., some of which are registered in the US and other countries. For more information, visit www.axon.com/legal. (c) 2020 Axon Enterprise, Inc. All rights reserved.

Follow Axon here:

* Axon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/axon_us

* Axon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Axon.ProtectLife/

Forward-looking statements

Forward-looking statements in this letter include, without limitation, statements regarding: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; proposed products and services and related development efforts and activities; expectations about the market for our current and future products and services; strategies and trends relating to subscription plan programs and revenues; strategies and trends, including the benefits of, research and development investments; the timing and realization of future contracted revenue; expectations about customer behavior; statements concerning projections, predictions, expectations, estimates or forecasts as to our business, financial and operational results and future economic performance, including our outlook for fourth quarter 2020 revenue, gross margin, adjusted EBITDA, and stock-based compensation expense, and full year 2021 revenue; statements of management's strategies, goals and objectives and other similar expressions; as well as the ultimate resolution of financial statement items requiring critical accounting estimates, including those set forth in our Form 10--K for the year ended December 31, 2019. Such statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future events; they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Words such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "would," "predict," "potential," "continue," "expect," "anticipate," "future," "intend," "plan," "believe," "estimate," and similar expressions, as well as statements in future tense, identify forward-looking statements. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.

We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be realized, although we believe we have been prudent in our plans and assumptions. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties and potentially inaccurate assumptions. The following important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: the potential global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; our exposure to cancellations of government contracts due to appropriation clauses, exercise of a cancellation clause, or non-exercise of contractually optional periods; our ability to design, introduce and sell new products or features; our ability to defend against litigation and protect our intellectual property, and the resulting costs of this activity; our ability to manage our supply chain and avoid production delays, shortages, and impacts to expected gross margins; the impact of stock compensation expense, impairment expense, and income tax expense on our financial results; customer purchase behavior, including adoption of our software as a service delivery model; negative media publicity regarding our products; the impact of product mix on projected gross margins; defects in our products; changes in the costs of product components and labor; loss of customer data, a breach of security, or an extended outage, including our reliance on third party cloud-based storage providers; exposure to international operational risks; delayed cash collections and possible credit losses due to our subscription model; changes in government regulations in the U.S. and in foreign markets, especially related to the classification of our products by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and to evolving regulations surrounding privacy and data protection; our ability to integrate acquired businesses; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; and counter-party risks relating to cash balances held in excess of FDIC insurance limits. Many events beyond our control may determine whether results we anticipate will be achieved. Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could differ materially from past results and those anticipated, estimated or projected. You should bear this in mind as you consider forward-looking statements. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q list various important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected and historical results. These factors are intended as cautionary statements for investors within the meaning of Section 21E of the Exchange Act and Section 27A of the Securities Act. Readers can find them under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and investors should refer to them. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.

Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our Form 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K reports to the SEC.

Update on Legal Matters:

Axon v. FTC

Axon continues to both vigorously prosecute its Federal court case against the FTC and defend the FTC's separate administrative action against the company.

The FTC's administrative hearing that was scheduled to begin on October 13, 2020 has been put on temporary hold by the Federal court of appeals.

As background, Axon's Federal court constitutional challenge against the FTC was dismissed in April, without prejudice, for lack of jurisdiction, holding that Axon must first bring its claims through the FTC's administrative process. Axon appealed that ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (No. 20-15662), which granted expedited consideration and held oral argument on July 17, 2020. On October 2, 2020, the Ninth Circuit stayed the FTC administrative hearing to preserve the status quo pending its ruling on Axon's appeal on the merits.

Copies of Axon's Federal court filings, including its most recent appellate brief, can be found on Axon's FTC Investor Briefing page at https://www.axon.com/ftc.

As a reminder, in parallel to these matters Axon is evaluating strategic alternatives to litigation, which Axon might pursue if determined to be in the best interests of shareholders and customers. This could include a divestiture of the Vievu entity and/or related assets. While Axon continues to believe the acquisition of Vievu in 2018 was lawful and a benefit to Vievu's customers, the cost, risk and distraction of protracted litigation merit consideration of settlement if achievable on terms agreeable to the FTC and Axon.

For investor relations information please contact Andrea James via email at IR@axon.com.

AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited)

(in thousands, except per share data)



THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 30 JUN 30 SEP 30 SEP 30 SEP 2020 2020 2019 2020 2019

Net sales from $120,091 $98,755 $96,497 $326,134 $264,977products

Net sales from 46,351 42,504 34,340 128,729 94,032 services

Net sales 166,442 141,259 130,837 454,863 359,009

Cost of product 57,798 43,825 42,445 150,507 120,265sales

Cost of service 10,404 9,257 8,223 29,331 24,098 sales

Cost of sales 68,202 53,082 50,668 179,838 144,363

Gross margin 98,240 88,177 80,169 275,025 214,646

Operating expenses:

Sales, general and 74,443 72,293 48,424 209,763 134,678administrative

Research and 29,246 29,560 25,129 85,187 71,976 development

Total operating 103,689 101,853 73,553 294,950 206,654expenses

Income (loss) (5,449) (13,676) 6,616 (19,925) 7,992 from operations

Interest and other income, 2,040 1,613 1,820 4,594 5,978 net

Income (loss) before (3,409) (12,063) 8,436 (15,331) 13,970 provision for income taxes

Provision for (benefit from) (2,536) 18,696 2,332 12,227 709 income taxes

Net income $(873) $(30,759) $6,104 $(27,558) $13,261 (loss)

Net income (loss) per common and common equivalent shares:

Basic $(0.01) $(0.51) $0.10 $(0.45) $0.22

Diluted $(0.01) $(0.51) $0.10 $(0.45) $0.22

Weighted average number of common and common equivalent shares outstanding:

Basic 63,496 60,346 59,278 61,159 59,128

Diluted 63,496 60,346 60,059 61,159 59,938



AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

SEGMENT REPORTING

(Unaudited)

(dollars in thousands)



THREE MONTHS ENDED THREE MONTHS ENDED THREE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 2020 30 JUN 2020 30 SEP 2019

Software Software Software

and and and

TASER Sensors Total TASER Sensors Total TASER Sensors Total

Net sales from $83,517 $36,574 $120,091 $69,877 $28,878 $98,755 $71,424 $25,073 $96,497 products (1)

Net sales from 889 45,462 46,351 613 41,891 42,504 319 34,021 34,340 services (2)

Net sales 84,406 82,036 166,442 70,490 70,769 141,259 71,743 59,094 130,837

Cost of product sales 31,297 26,501 57,798 27,242 16,583 43,825 26,504 15,941 42,445

Cost of service sales ? 10,404 10,404 ? 9,257 9,257 ? 8,223 8,223

Cost of sales 31,297 36,905 68,202 27,242 25,840 53,082 26,504 24,164 50,668

Gross margin 53,109 45,131 98,240 43,248 44,929 88,177 45,239 34,930 80,169

Gross margin % 62.9 % 55.0 % 59.0 % 61.4 % 63.5 % 62.4 % 63.1 % 59.1 % 61.3 %



Research and 3,355 25,891 29,246 3,762 25,798 29,560 3,485 21,644 25,129 development





NINE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 2020 30 SEP 2019

Software Software

and and

TASER Sensors Total TASER Sensors Total

Net sales from $228,569 $97,565 $326,134 $197,148 $67,829 $264,977 products (1)

Net sales from 2,222 126,507 128,729 558 93,474 94,032 services (2)

Net sales 230,791 224,072 454,863 197,706 161,303 359,009

Cost of product sales 88,787 61,720 150,507 74,044 46,221 120,265

Cost of service sales ? 29,331 29,331 ? 24,098 24,098

Cost of sales 88,787 91,051 179,838 74,044 70,319 144,363

Gross margin 142,004 133,021 275,025 123,662 90,984 214,646

Gross margin % 61.5 % 59.4 % 60.5 % 62.5 % 56.4 % 59.8 %



Research and 10,149 75,038 85,187 10,284 61,692 71,976 development

______________________

Software and Sensors "products" revenue consists of sensors, including on-officer body cameras, Axon Fleet (1)cameras, other hardware sensors, warranties on sensors, and other products, and is sometimes referred to as Sensors and Other revenue.



Software and Sensors "services" revenue comprises sales related to the Axon Cloud, which includes Axon (2)Evidence, cloud-based evidence management software revenue, other recurring cloud-hosted software revenue and related professional services, and is sometimes referred to as Axon Cloud revenue.



AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

UNIT SALES STATISTICS

(Unaudited)

Units in whole numbers



THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 30 SEP Unit Percent 30 SEP 30 SEP Unit Percent

2020 2019 Change Change 2020 2019 Change Change

TASER 7 15,908 17,674 (1,766) (10.0) % 36,352 34,644 1,708 4.9 %

TASER X26P 8,119 10,766 (2,647) (24.6) 26,780 35,244 (8,464) (24.0)

TASER X2 10,078 9,819 259 2.6 33,656 29,439 4,217 14.3

TASER 12,811 3,923 8,888 226.6 21,501 8,807 12,694 144.1 Pulse

Cartridges 852,980 566,347 286,633 50.6 2,441,612 1,789,084 652,528 36.5

Axon Body 62,873 22,037 40,836 185.3 137,803 68,231 69,572 102.0

Axon Flex 3,175 5,409 (2,234) (41.3) 8,213 12,508 (4,295) (34.3)

Axon Fleet 2,396 2,967 (571) (19.2) 7,399 7,143 256 3.6

Axon Dock 9,165 3,724 5,441 146.1 19,096 12,126 6,970 57.5





AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

(Unaudited)

Dollars in thousands



THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 30 JUN 30 SEP 30 SEP 30 SEP 2020 2020 2019 2020 2019

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA:

Net income $(873) $(30,759) $6,104 $(27,558) $13,261 (loss)

Depreciation and 3,133 2,930 2,709 8,944 8,196 amortization

Interest 32 5 4 44 27 expense

Investment interest (965) (1,499) (1,647) (3,157) (5,280) income

Provision for (benefit from) (2,536) 18,696 2,332 12,227 709 income taxes

EBITDA $(1,209) $(10,627) $9,502 $(9,500) $16,913



Adjustments:

Stock-based compensation $26,094 $33,835 $13,663 $80,124 $30,195 expense

Transaction costs related to investment in ? 90 ? 923 ? unconsolidated affiliate

Loss on disposal and abandonment of 139 100 33 252 51 intangible assets

Loss on disposal and impairment of 124 788 845 1,429 2,408 property and equipment, net

Costs related to FTC 8,573 3,834 ? 18,542 ? litigation

Adjusted $33,721 $28,020 $24,043 $91,770 $49,567 EBITDA

Net income (loss) as a percentage (0.5) % (21.8) % 4.7 % (6.1) % 3.7 %of net sales

Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage 20.3 % 19.8 % 18.4 % 20.2 % 13.8 %of net sales



Stock-based compensation expense:

Cost of product and $744 $836 $312 $2,170 $775 service sales

Sales, general and 19,117 26,766 9,508 60,853 19,130 administrative

Research and 6,233 6,233 3,843 17,101 10,290 development

Total $26,094 $33,835 $13,663 $80,124 $30,195



AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES - continued

(Unaudited)

Dollars in thousands



THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 30 JUN 30 SEP 30 SEP 30 SEP 2020 2020 2019 2020 2019

Non-GAAP net income:

GAAP net $(873) $(30,759) $6,104 $(27,558) $13,261 income (loss)

Non-GAAP adjustments:

Stock-based compensation 26,094 33,835 13,663 80,124 30,195 expense

Loss on disposal and abandonment of 139 100 33 252 51 intangible assets

Loss on disposal and impairment of 124 788 845 1,429 2,408 property and equipment, net

Transaction costs related to investment in ? 90 ? 923 ? unconsolidated affiliate

Costs related to FTC 8,573 3,834 ? 18,542 ? litigation

Income tax (8,618) (8,530) (3,654) (24,984) (8,205) effects

Non-GAAP net $25,439 $(642) $16,991 $48,728 $37,710 income (loss)





THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 30 JUN 30 SEP 30 SEP 30 SEP 2020 2020 2019 2020 2019

Non-GAAP diluted earnings (loss) per share:

GAAP diluted earnings $(0.01) $(0.51) $0.10 $(0.45) $0.22 (loss) per share

Non-GAAP adjustments:

Stock-based compensation 0.41 0.56 0.23 1.30 0.50 expense

Loss on disposal and abandonment of 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 intangible assets

Loss on disposal and impairment of 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.04 property and equipment, net

Transaction costs related to investment in - 0.00 - 0.01 - unconsolidated affiliate

Costs related to FTC 0.13 0.06 - 0.30 - litigation

Income tax (0.13) (0.14) (0.06) (0.40) (0.14) effects

Non-GAAP diluted earnings $0.40 $(0.01) $0.28 $0.79 $0.63 (loss) per share (1)



Weighted average number of diluted common and common 64,087 60,346 60,059 61,818 59,938 equivalent shares outstanding (in thousands)

________________

The per share calculations for GAAP net income, Non-GAAP adjustments and Non-GAAP diluted earnings per (1) share are each computed independently. Per share amounts may not sum due to rounding.



AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands)



30 SEP 2020 31 DEC 2019

(Unaudited)

ASSETS

Current Assets:

Cash and cash equivalents $176,000 $172,250

Short-term investments 330,914 178,534

Accounts and notes receivable, net 172,803 146,878

Contract assets, net 63,105 38,102

Inventory, net 97,610 38,845

Prepaid expenses and other current assets 35,421 34,866

Total current assets 875,853 609,475



Property and equipment, net 102,718 43,770

Deferred tax assets, net 39,773 27,688

Intangible assets, net 10,260 12,771

Goodwill 25,012 25,013

Long-term investments 120,615 45,499

Long-term notes receivable, net of current 22,611 31,598 portion

Long-term contract assets, net 15,019 9,644

Other assets 67,288 40,181

Total assets $1,279,149 $845,639



LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

Current Liabilities:

Accounts payable 22,441 25,874

Accrued liabilities 74,114 45,001

Current portion of deferred revenue 154,731 117,864

Customer deposits 2,132 2,974

Other current liabilities 5,137 3,853

Total current liabilities 258,555 195,566



Deferred revenue, net of current portion 87,733 87,936

Liability for unrecognized tax benefits 4,406 3,832

Long-term deferred compensation 4,150 3,936

Deferred tax liability 560 354

Other long-term liabilities 28,592 10,520

Total liabilities 383,996 302,144



Stockholders' Equity:

Preferred stock ? ?

Common stock 1 1

Additional paid-in capital 908,584 528,272

Treasury stock (155,947) (155,947)

Retained earnings 144,067 172,265

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (1,552) (1,096)

Total stockholders' equity 895,153 543,495

Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $1,279,149 $845,639



AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(in thousands)



THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 2020 30 JUN 2020 30 SEP 2019 30 SEP 2020 30 SEP 2019

Cash flows from operating activities:

Net income $(873) $(30,759) $6,104 $(27,558) $13,261 (loss)

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:

Depreciation and 3,133 2,930 2,709 8,944 8,196 amortization

Loss on disposal and abandonment of 139 100 33 252 51 intangible assets

Loss on disposal and impairment of property and 124 788 845 1,429 2,408 equipment, net

Stock-based 26,094 33,835 13,663 80,124 30,195 compensation

Deferred (5,518) (4,604) (2,635) (11,670) (3,946) income taxes

Unrecognized (39) 271 (19) 573 594 tax benefits

Other noncash, 1,977 1,440 1,101 4,573 2,923 net

Provision for expected 118 (244) ? 776 ? credit losses

Change in assets and liabilities:

Accounts and notes receivable and (39,176) 325 (19,491) (48,551) (30,497) contract assets

Inventory (16,100) (34,641) 1,213 (59,371) (6,302)

Prepaid expenses and 3,729 (10,828) (6,206) (4,822) (11,967) other assets

Accounts payable, accrued 8,657 20,270 3,224 25,365 (13,528) liabilities and other liabilities

Deferred 28,875 725 21,899 34,099 28,476 revenue

Net cash provided by (used in) 11,140 (20,392) 22,440 4,163 19,864 operating activities

Cash flows from investing activities:

Purchases of (224,090) (193,085) (100,701) (516,687) (242,693) investments

Proceeds from call / 128,529 74,355 66,888 287,199 92,207 maturity of investments

Purchases of property and (58,472) (5,342) (4,250) (66,023) (12,111) equipment

Purchases of intangible (66) (66) 16 (177) (328) assets

Proceeds of disposal from 16 ? ? 94 ? property and equipment

Investment in unconsolidated ? ? ? (4,700) ? affiliate

Net cash used in investing (154,083) (124,138) (38,047) (300,294) (162,925) activities

Cash flows from financing activities:

Net proceeds from equity ? 306,779 ? 306,779 ? offering

Proceeds from options ? 267 2 295 106 exercised

Income and payroll tax payments for (1,119) (577) (1,136) (6,886) (3,268) net-settled stock awards

Net cash provided by (used in) (1,119) 306,469 (1,134) 300,188 (3,162) financing activities

Effect of exchange rate changes on 812 775 (426) (303) (678) cash and cash equivalents

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (143,250) 162,714 (17,167) 3,754 (146,901) and restricted cash

Cash and cash equivalents, 319,359 156,645 221,293 172,355 351,027 beginning of period

Cash and cash equivalents, $176,109 $319,359 $204,126 $176,109 $204,126 end of period



AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

SELECTED CASH FLOW INFORMATION

(Unaudited)

(in thousands)



THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED

30 SEP 30 JUN 30 SEP 30 SEP 30 SEP 2020 2020 2019 2020 2019

Net cash provided by (used in) $11,140 $(20,392) $22,440 $4,163 $19,864 operating activities

Purchases of property and (58,472) (5,342) (4,250) (66,023) (12,111)equipment

Purchases of intangible (66) (66) 16 (177) (328) assets

Investment in unconsolidated ? ? ? (4,700) ? affiliate

Free cash flow, a $(47,398) $(25,800) $18,206 $(66,737) $7,425 non-GAAP measure



AXON ENTERPRISE, INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL TABLES

(in thousands)



30 SEP 2020 31 DEC 2019

(Unaudited)

Cash and cash equivalents $176,000 $172,250

Short-term investments 330,914 178,534

Long-term investments 120,615 45,499

Total cash and cash equivalents and investments, $627,529 $396,283 net



CONTACT:

Investor Relations

Axon Enterprise, Inc.

IR@axon.com

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SOURCE Axon