Sono-Tek Corporation ($SOTK)

Earnings Call Transcript · May 28, 2026

NasdaqCM US Information Technology Electronic Equipment, Instruments and Components Earnings Calls 46 min

Highlights from the call

In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, Sono-Tek Corporation (SOTK:US) reported revenue of $5.6 million, a 10% increase year-over-year, contributing to a total annual revenue of $20.9 million, up 2% from the prior year. The company achieved a gross margin of 51% and operating income growth of 81%, indicating strong profitability expansion. Management anticipates continued revenue growth and profitability in the first half of fiscal 2027, driven by momentum in the medical sector, although guidance for the full year remains cautious with expectations of flat to modestly higher revenue compared to fiscal 2026.

Main topics

  • Revenue Growth and Profitability: Sono-Tek achieved annual revenue of $20.9 million, marking a 2% increase from $20.5 million in the prior year. The gross margin improved to 51%, and operating income surged 81% to $1.82 million, reflecting strong execution and a favorable product mix. Management stated, "Fiscal 2026 was a year of strong execution and very meaningful progress for Sono-Tek."
  • Medical Sector Performance: The medical segment saw a remarkable 54% year-over-year growth, driven by demand for advanced medical technologies such as balloon catheter coating systems. This sector is expected to continue driving revenue growth in fiscal 2027, as indicated by management's comments on sustained demand.
  • Clean Energy Market Challenges: The clean energy market experienced a 19% decline due to reduced electrolysis demand, attributed to policy shifts. Management noted, "We are now experiencing a decline in electrolysis related demand during the year due to policy shifts at the government level," indicating ongoing uncertainty in this sector.
  • Geographic Revenue Trends: The U.S. market grew 12%, representing approximately 67% of total revenue, benefiting from reduced international costs. Management highlighted that this geographic focus supports both revenue growth and margin expansion, stating, "We ended the year with a solid backlog and a strong balance sheet."
  • Backlog and Order Activity: Sono-Tek ended fiscal 2026 with a backlog of approximately $9.12 million, reflecting strong order activity. However, management acknowledged that the backlog is "lumpy" due to the nature of high ASP orders, which can create variability in revenue recognition.

Key metrics mentioned

  • Revenue: $20.9 million (up 2% from $20.5 million in the prior year)
  • Gross Margin: 51% (up from 48% in the prior year)
  • Operating Income: $1.82 million (up 81% from the prior year)
  • Net Income: $1.8 million (up 42% from $1.27 million in the prior year)
  • Cash Flow from Operations: $3.2 million (up from $525,000 in the prior fiscal year)
  • Backlog: $9.12 million (remains close to historically high levels)

Sono-Tek's strong performance in fiscal 2026, highlighted by revenue growth and margin expansion, positions it well for future growth, particularly in the medical sector. However, challenges in the clean energy market and the lumpiness of high ASP orders introduce risks to revenue visibility. Investors should monitor order activity and the company's ability to convert its backlog into revenue as key indicators of future performance.

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Operator

Operator
#1

Good day, and welcome to the Sono-Tek Corporation Fiscal Year and 2026 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please note today's event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Kirin Smith with Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Kirin Smith

Attendees
#2

Thank you, Rocco, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Senate released their fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2026 results this morning. If you don't have a copy of the release, please visit the company's website at www. sano-tech.com and navigate to the Investors section. The product market and geography sales tables on the last page of the release will be part of today's discussion. With me on the call today are Dr. Chris Coccio, Executive Chairman; Steve Harshbarger, CEO and President; and Steve Bagley, Chief Financial Officer. Before turning the call over to management, I would like to make the following remarks concerning forward-looking statements. Please note that various remarks that may be made on this conference call about future expectations, plans and prospects for the company constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may vary materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the company's filings with the SEC. The company assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this conference call. As a reminder, this is our full year fiscal 2026 call for the period ended February 28, 2026. Our next call will be our midyear fiscal 2027 update for the second quarter and first half ended August 31, 2026, and will be held in October. I would now like to turn the call over to Chris Coccio, Executive Chairman of Sono-Tek. Chris, please go ahead.

Christopher Coccio

Executives
#3

Thank you, Kirin, and good morning, everyone. I will start with some opening remarks, and then Steve Harshbarger, our CEO and President, will go through a deeper business and operational review. This will be followed by Steve Bagley, our Chief Financial Officer, and he will provide the financial review. Following their comments, we'll open the call for questions, as Kirin mentioned. Fiscal 2026 was a year of strong execution and very meaningful progress for Sono-Tek, we delivered our second consecutive year of revenue above $20 million, and we reached million while maintaining consistent quarterly performance with 8 consecutive quarters above $5 million each. We're also proud to report that fiscal year 2026 marks our third consecutive year of annual revenue growth and 16th year in a row of profitability. Most importantly, we achieved significant profitability expansion. The gross margin increased to 51%. The operating income grew 81% and we delivered strong bottom line performance, which was supported by operating leverage and favorable product mix. Our results reflect the continued success of our strategic shift towards higher value, high ASP production systems. These are driving both revenue quality and margin expansion. From a market perspective, Medical was a standout performer. It increased 54% year-over-year and was driven by strong demand for balloon catheter coating systems, stent applications and other advanced medical technologies. We also saw continued growth in electronics, particularly in electrically active coatings, which support diagnostic-related applications. So clean energy remains a key long-term opportunity. We are now experiencing a decline in electrolysis related demand during the year due to policy shifts at the government level. However, this was partially offset by solely related system shipments earlier in the fiscal year. Geographically, we saw strong performance in the U.S. market, which grew 12% and represented approximately 67% of total revenue. that benefits both revenue growth and margins due to reduced international related costs. We ended the year with a solid backlog and a strong balance sheet, providing a stable foundation for our future growth. Now looking ahead, we anticipate continued revenue growth and profitability in the first half of fiscal 2027, and that would be driven by momentum in the medical sector and sustained demand for high ASP systems. For the full year of fiscal 2027, we're currently expecting relatively flat to modestly higher revenue compared to fiscal 2026. Visibility beyond the first half, however, remains limited due to continued uncertainty in certain clean energy sectors and the timing of these high ASP the customer orders, which can create significant shifts in quarterly revenues -- this is particularly true as we continue to see a higher frequency of larger, more complex system orders that typically involve longer lead times and have less predictable shipment timing. And with that, I'll turn it over to Steve Harshberger, our CEO and President. Steve?

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#4

Thanks, Dr. Coccio, and good morning, everybody. We are very encouraged by our fiscal 2026 performance, which reflects both consistency in revenue and meaningful improvement in profitability. For the fourth quarter, revenue increased 10% to $5.6 million. Gross profit increased 15% to $2.79 million. Gross margin reached 50%, and net income increased 70% to approximately $557,000. This performance reflects strong execution and continued demand for our high-value systems. For the full fiscal year, revenue increased to $20.9 million. Gross profit increased 8% to $10.56 million. Gross margin expanded to 51% and driven, of course, by product mix and increased percentage of U.S. sales and operating income increased 81% to $1.82 million. These results clearly demonstrate the operating leverage in our business as we scale with these high ASP systems. Now I'll provide a few other key highlights of the year in regards to our end markets for FY 2026. Medical increased 54%, and that was driven by production scale systems and the growing adoption across multiple medical device coating applications. The electronics market increased by 16%, and that was supported by electronically active layers being deposited on diagnostic-related devices. The clean energy market declined 19%, reflecting reduced electrolysis demand. And the industrial basket declined, which commonly would show variability in demand on our large glass coating orders. As for our products category for FY 2026, integrated coating systems, which we have renamed in-line coating systems increased 91%, and that was driven by our solar-related systems. Multi-access systems declined due to our lower clean energy demand and flexing systems increased 53%, and that was supported by strong Asia demand. Regarding our geographic trends for FY 2026, the U.S. and Canada increased 12%, and that was driven by shipments of 5 high ASP that's at high average selling price systems totaling $3.85 million. The international markets were mixed with some softness in Asia and Latin America. We closed fiscal 2026 with a solid backlog which showcases the strength of our overall business and order activity. We contributed to increased sales and a strong backlog as a direct result of our investments in R&D with a strong focus on product expansion and our balance sheet remains strong with still no outstanding debt. So overall, our results highlight the strength of our diversification strategy and the continued shift towards high margin and higher ASP, high-volume production system sales. We remain confident in our long-term growth prospects and we're looking ahead. And as Chris mentioned, we expect continued revenue growth and profitability for the first half of FY 2027, driven by the medical and microelectronics market and expanding adoption of our product production scale systems. And now I'll turn it over to our CFO, Steve Bagley for a deeper financial review, and then we'll open it up after that for questions. Over to you, Steve.

Stephen Bagley

Executives
#5

Very good. Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. And now a review of our full fiscal year 2026 year-over-year results. Net sales were $20.9 million, and that's up 2% from $20.5 million in the prior year. Gross profit increased 8% and to $10.56 million with margin expanding to 51% from 48%, and that was driven by favorable product mix and increased U.S.-based system sales. Operating income increased 81% to $1.2 million, with operating margins improving to 9% from 5%. I Total operating expenses were $8.7 million, relatively flat year-over-year. Our research and development costs decreased 6% to $2.55 million, and that's primarily due to lower personnel and material costs. Sales and marketing decreased 4% to $3.5 million and that reflects lower commission and personnel costs. Our G&A costs increased 14% to $2.66 million, and that's driven by higher salaries, insurance and stock-based compensation expense. Our interest and dividend income totaled approximately $443,000, that's slightly lower than last year, and that's due to reduced interest rates. Our tax expense increased, and that's due to the current year's increase in income before income taxes and net income for the year was approximately $1.8 million, and that's up 42% on from $1.27 million in the prior year, and that is reflecting strong operating performance and margin expansion. Regarding our balance sheet, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $14.8 million, and that's an increase from $11.9 million in the prior year. We continue to have 0 outstanding debt and our working capital increased to $16.2 million. I'm also pleased to state that our cash flows from operating activities generated $3.2 million and that is a significant increase when compared to $525,000 in the prior fiscal year. The current year's cash flow was supported by profitability and favorable working capital dynamics including higher customer deposits and inventory management. We ended fiscal year 2026 with a backlog of approximately $9.12 million, and that's remaining pretty close to historically high levels, and that is supporting our visibility into fiscal 2027. Overall, we are very pleased with our financial performance for the year and believe we are well positioned moving forward. And now we will open the call for any questions from the audience and Racco, please go ahead.

Operator

Operator
#6

[Operator Instructions]. It looks like our first question today comes from Dick Ryan at Colliers.

Richard Ryan

Analysts
#7

Solid end to the year. We're 1 quarter into fiscal '27. Can you talk on the the order activity, what you're seeing kind of the segments? I mean you -- I think you indicated in the past that the backlog had had shipped all the alternative energy or clean energy. So the backlog was pretty much medical and other. Can you kind of give us a sense of your order pipeline to date here with the like I said, with first quarter already in the bag essentially?

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#8

Yes, yes, for sure, good question, Dick. As you indicated, our backlog historically for the last few years, has been very heavily clean energy related. I can tell you this current fiscal year, it's very light clean energy related. It's really transitioned and shifted drastically over towards the medical sectors and the microelectronic sectors. So that's most definitely where we're seeing our fastest growth coming from -- but I should note that it's really a result of a lot of the machine integration development we did for the clean energy sector prior that was directly transferable those capabilities over to these other marketplaces. So our diversification really worked to our advantage here. But that's where it's really coming from. And that also goes is how it's looking going forward. If I look at our quotes and for cash going out, it continues to be the high ASP, high average selling price, larger production systems that are being quoted presented. So it's customers that maybe were buying machines that were $400,000, $500,000, $600,000 a piece, but now they are making these transitions over to machines that are maybe $1 million, $2 million or $3 million as part of the transition to our capabilities to provide these high ASP complex platforms.

Richard Ryan

Analysts
#9

Okay. Okay. Then the last call, midyear, you talked about coming out of the major semiconductor show, showing a lot of interest and kind of renewed confidence in entering that market longer term as they move from 200 to 300 fab photoresist business. Can you give us an update on the progress you've seen over the last 6 months, Steve?

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#10

Sure. That's been a very serious focus for us over the last year. As we've talked about in prior discussions, we had what I would describe a very solid and product that was well received for the 200-millimeter lab market. Well, we've put a lot of effort into the development of 300-millimeter wafers with the goal of ultimately directly goes more towards the fab marketplace. And that's coming along quite nicely. But I said maybe a little bit longer than we expected it to be, but it is coming along nicely. We're going to be participating and bringing that $300 million, so of machine is planned for the end of this calendar year to be doing a semiconductor show Semicon in Europe, which is actually the first time we've ever participated in that show for Sono-Tek. We think it's a significant enough introduction that we want to make the world aware of this availability and capability at these upcoming shows. So I think we'll start to see that begin to contribute to the revenue stream more so in the coming fiscal year. Maybe we'll find in FY 2027, maybe we'll see some orders, but actual deliveries will likely be more likely to fall in the following fiscal year in FY 2028, I should say, would be in FY 2028 would be actual deliveries of machines that are focused on that. But we're anxious to get it out there for that market to see it and to really gauge the acceptance of it. But I think it will go fairly well. It's a product that we feel like we're being pulled into versus us trying to push our way into the marketplace. I believe we have customers that see need for us with that product.

Richard Ryan

Analysts
#11

Okay. Then one last one for me. You have a nice buildup of cash. I don't think you've done any stock repurchases down here. What's the status of the repurchase program? And I think your investments have been kind of for organic growth. What's your thoughts on potential M&A.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#12

Yes. You're correct in the fact that we do have a stock repurchase program, which we've exercised some, but it's been very minimal amount that we've purchased back so far, maybe several hundred thousand dollars or something along those lines. So it's not a significant amount at this time. We certainly do continue to have active, both inbound and outbound discussions as part of our normal daily routine in practice at Sono-Tek. We -- like everybody, we're out there looking for the correct valuations and the correct synergies. And we most certainly -- we're highly selective. There's no doubt about that, that we're very highly selective. But I think we're fortunate that we have the ability to be highly selective because if something doesn't happen immediately for us, we feel like we have a long runway of growth for organically within the company, but we continue to be relatively active considering both inbound and outbound activity.

Richard Ryan

Analysts
#13

Okay. Great. Congratulations on another strong performance here.

Operator

Operator
#14

Our next question today comes from Ted Jackson at Northland Securities.

Edward Jackson

Analysts
#15

So Steve, I'll start with, I mean, a little bit on backlog and bookings and things like that. So the backlog at 9.1%. I mean, it's down sequentially, but up year-over-year. It's a solid number. But if I kind of back through it, the book-to-bill is 0.44, and your bookings number is around $2.5 million. Correct me if I'm wrong on that. My data only goes back through 2022, but that's actually the lowest kind of bookings number, I have in terms of the step I've been following and tracking and I guess the question with that is, has there been like beyond like the halt energy, has there been somewhat of a a slowdown in terms of business coming in the door? And then could you -- or is there just opportunity out there that hasn't manifested itself and any kind of bookings growth and if there is maybe a discussion about what are the opportunities that are out there that would -- that could come into play to strengthen up your view with regards to the second half, I mean it's a whole bunch of stuff around there, but you get kind of were on for -- that's my first question.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#16

Yes. Yes, yes, 100%. And it's been a common question over the past 1 year, 1.5 years now since the new administration has come into play. I think because we participate in that clean energy sector, I think our investor base may have thought, "Oh, Sono-Tek is going to get punished for that." And there is no doubt in the electrolyzer area, our business did slow down, but I think what a lot of our investors did recognize is our ability to switch to other marketplaces very quickly with the same technology, but just refocus our front end of the organization to other markets that we're thriving. And right now, it is more lumpy our backlog than what it's been historically and that's just because of these high ASP platforms that come in. We get more frequently these $3 million, $4 million, $5 million orders that come and drop in and it makes our backlog go up and then it works through it and disappears. We certainly have to work towards making sure those are coming in not just once a quarter, but our goal here is to make sure those sort of orders will be coming in once a month and ultimately, a couple of times a month going forward, in addition to our normal flow business. So although we'll see it's lumpy as I think right now, year-over-year, I think we're either flat or just slightly up maybe backlog. And I think it's right near our year-end high backlog number that we've ever had. But when you compare to the prior quarter, it did dip back down. But I think, again, you're going to start to see it go back up again and continue to see that kind of lumpiness going through it. Most definitely, though, the big shift, which is going to drive the backlog moving forward, is the ability to drive higher ASP, more complex platforms into the portfolio. And I should say that every time we get an order, we almost kind of think, "Oh, wow, it couldn't get any bigger than this." And then all of a sudden, you go back and ask just 2 simple -- 2 simple words to your customer base. We typically now will just say, what next? What else do you need from us? What would make your process, your life, your manufacturing realm easier if Sono-Tek provided for you. And that's much different than saying, here's what we have to offer. Here's what we have to offer is just the beginning of the conversation that we have with our customers now. The bigger question is -- all right, here's what you have to offer, but what else would you like us to provide you. And that's really driving our growth significantly. And I look at some of these more recent quoting activity, product projects that we have. It's not uncommon for us to quote a customer, say, a $1 million machine, but by the end of the discussion 6 months later, that $1 million machine might be $6 million or $5 million or $4 million, but several times larger than what it started out. And that's all because of our ability both to provide and ask the question of what else -- what next would you like us to provide to you. And the customer now they have the confidence to give us those sort of additional add-ons because they worked with us for so long. And they know that the quality of the products we're delivering to them are good. So it's worked out really well for us with that strategy, and that's something we're going to be continuing to doing. And to be honest, I don't really know how high it could go. -- that every time we hit another milestone, where we'll say, wow, that's a $3 million, $4 million or $5 million order it seems like the next order becomes an larger. So we're just going to keep on pushing that as far as the [indiscernible] will let us take it and drive these high ASP production systems larger and larger.

Edward Jackson

Analysts
#17

Do you have a pipeline of opportunity that will enable you to feel more confident in the second half of the year. And if so, at what point does where is kind of like the cliff to where you need to have that those opportunities become orders and then maybe some discussion about the markets that they're in.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#18

Yes. Yes. We most definitely have a pipeline, and that's driven by the forecast and we keep track, although we don't give guidance or publicly announce it, but we had forecast and marketplaces where they're coming from that most of the most recent activity is microelectronics in the medical sector. Then as far as guidance. I think the biggest challenge for us now is that with these high ASP complex production systems, it's the lead time because if we say, for example, get an order in the next month and keep in mind, we're just finishing our fiscal year Q1 and in another couple of days from now. So we've got very good guidance on Q1 and pretty good guidance on Q2. But if we get any significantly high ASP orders, probably in the next month, there's a very good chance they'll ship within this fiscal year. If by chance those same orders come in, in 2 months from now, that will very likely push them into the next fiscal year, which is still good, but it just kind of is pushing on the current fiscal year. So that's why you'll see us be a little bit more cautious on second half numbers, and we should be able to give much clearer guidance in our next conference call. and that will be dependent upon did we get orders over this next month or that allow us to ship these big production platforms in the current fiscal year? Or will they be pushing into next fiscal year? And again, it makes a visibility, a little bit tough longer term because of that. But either way, there's definitely a nice upward trend in the activity and these quotes that are going out in the level of seriousness with these quotes.

Edward Jackson

Analysts
#19

And then on taking up too much time. But my next question is just if you look at your geographic mix and you kind of look at it for the past few years, you have had exceptionally solid growth out of North America. I mean you had $4.5 million of revenue in 2020. You did almost $14 million of revenue for Vestm26. It's been up every year over that time frame. And what dragged down the aggregate growth has been. Is there a case to be made just ignoring kind of the end markets that the decline in APAC has become such a small portion of revenue for Sono-Tek that the growth metrics on the top line might improve just because you don't have that drag.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#20

Most definitely. I mean there's a lot of areas where things could -- because we're, in my opinion, just at the beginning phases. I mean opinion, we're still small. And there's so much potential upside here. And with our high ASP platforms, it only takes 1 or 2 significant orders to make a big impact on the revenue upside. And of course, we're never going to say, oh, we're anticipating to get this $10 million order until it's really locked in there. But orders like that are the kind of thing where all of a sudden, you could be up by 50%, 80% on 1 significant order. And that's a big change in the company's overall trajectory. And we always plan kind of conservatively because we like to stay profitable. We like to make money. Well, don't get me wrong. We continue to invest very heavily in our R&D to grow the company, but when we give guidance, we like to give relatively conservative guidance to make sure we achieve what we're saying we're going to do and leave some upside potential.

Operator

Operator
#21

And our next question comes from Bill Nicklin at Bill Will Insights.

Bill Nicklin

Analysts
#22

Nice margins, like margin improvement. Good job. Thanks I got a couple here. And you kind of touched on some of it. And basically, over the last 4 or 5 years or so, you've consistently delivered strong growth margins, and it looks like they're getting stronger and headed higher from here. With that -- but yet, your bottom line has not been stellar. Was that a specific strategy? And what do you think you've accomplished from that? And where do we -- are we a going forward based on what it looks like is the money that you spent building out the business.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#23

Yes, good question. I was to a significant extent it was deliberate. We very intentionally reinvested heavily in application engineering, things like process development and maybe broader integrated system capabilities, all with the goal is to position Sono-Tek for large, more sophisticated production opportunities. And I have to also say that importantly, our net margins certainly could have been higher during that period. And that's how we've chosen to prioritize near-term profitability over some of these growth initiatives in strategic investments. And at the same time, I would say that some of the market acceptance and pricing and resilience we've seen with these newer integrated system solutions definitely exceeded our original expectations. As we've evolved towards more complex and higher ASP production platforms, which commonly involved outsourcing subsystems and our integration partners. I for sure initially expected some downward pressure on margins. But in practicality, that really hasn't happened. We've been able to maintain consistently strong gross margins through that transition. And they stayed within -- and really, I would describe as an unusually tight range. They're generally in that upper 40s to low 50% area. And I think it's because our customers understand that they're not simply buying sophisticated coating equipment for Sono-Tek anymore. They're buying our process expertise our application knowledge and highly specialized integrated capabilities tailored to their specific manufacturing needs and processes. So while we're certainly a manufacturing company, our customers, they're increasingly viewing Sono-Tek as much more of a technology solutions and maybe a process expertise provider, I would say, rather than, say, a traditional equipment supplier, where margins typically fluctuate much more significantly. And the good news is our customers are willing to pay for integration expertise and the ability to work with a single source for a broader turnkey solution, which has again allowed us to maintain these healthy margins.

Bill Nicklin

Analysts
#24

Great. A couple of years ago, there was some discussion about building out what we call Building 6 on your campus -- and that appeared that we get put on hold probably because of the clean energy slowdown. I understand that's back under consideration and -- now -- and that would take your overall capacity up from somewhere $25 million to $29 million now up to the $40 million to $44 million range. Is that correct? And what is in your pipeline as you look out that could get the revenues up to that $40 million to $44 million range.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#25

Sure. Sorry, yes, good observation A couple of years ago, as you mentioned, we did discuss larger expansion initiatives but primarily anticipated with green energy growth sector -- and when portions of that market slowed, we took a more measured approach, I would describe it as rather than expanding too aggressively ahead of demand. However, more recently, we've been increasingly proactive with the next phase of our manufacturing expansion. And going along with that is some flow optimization strategy. And this first phase that we're looking at right now takes advantage of currently underutilized vertical space. And that's within our existing facility. And it's really by constructing a mezzanine structure in reconfiguring portions of our manufacturing store for improved workflow efficiency and space utilization. We expect to begin implementing that phase during the current calendar year. And the investment will likely be in the area and this is early, but $500,000 to $600,000 a and should increase our practical annual revenue capacities to roughly $35 million at this point, it's our latest guess, while also to very importantly, improving our operational efficiency throughout the facility. Now we're also actively working with New York State economic development programs, and we're hopeful that they'll participate in supporting this project. We believe internally here that our investment is very well aligned with the state's goals around advanced manufacturing and high-value domestic production jobs. So our goal is to continue expanding these capabilities here in New York rather than elsewhere. And we believe state partition can play an important role in helping support those objectives. So we're hopeful that confirmation of state participation will allow us to formally kick off this phase the project during the current calendar year. Beyond that, we do have an additional expansion phase under consideration that would involve taking over our adjacent space that we have that's currently in a least building on a short-term lease. And assuming that moves forward, we believe it could expand our overall capacity to approximately that $45 million area of revenue, as you mentioned. And I think what's really important is what's driving this renewed interest in the expansion is not just one end market, but it's the broader evolution of the business towards larger, more sophisticated production platforms, mostly across the medical devices and microelectronics and some very selected clean energy opportunities we're seeing these large system opportunities, these higher ASP programs and a pipeline that increasingly supports the need for additional scalable manufacturing capacity over time.

Bill Nicklin

Analysts
#26

Great. Let's say you get up to the $35 million, the $40 million to $45 million revenue run rate. what is your headcount going to look like?

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#27

I think -- as Steve be exact, but I think we're currently operating with around 90 employees. And SP-5 Is that right, Steve?

Stephen Bagley

Executives
#28

Yes. That is about right right now, yes.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#29

Okay. And while we would certainly expect headcount to increases, revenues scale, we certainly wouldn't expect it to increase proportionately in revenue, of course. The majority of hiring of personnel would likely incur within probably the manufacturing operations as we expand production capability and throughput. But at the same time, we would expect continued growth in particular of our FTE group, which, as a reminder, is our Footfield deployed engineering team. that team works very closely with customers on application development, the process optimization and helping ensure successful implementation of our technology with the customer in their manufacturing environment. So we're also quite aggressive on increasing deployment, as I mentioned, AI and automation tools across their organization to help improve scalability over the time. And we are seeing opportunities to do more with less across many areas of the business, and that includes areas like programming, marketing, sales support contractor used purchasing and several other operational type of functions, I would describe. And I guess I really believe Sono-Tek that we're ahead of the curve organizationally in our adoption of AI tools -- but frankly, we're still in the relatively early stages of appointment with that said. So I think there's still some meaningful additional leverage potential over time as those systems mature internally. So overall, for as your question for a scenario where revenue output, let's say, approximately double from our current levels. I would estimate headcount to grow in the range roughly of maybe 30% to 40% which should reflect both operating leverage and scalability built into our general business model.

Operator

Operator
#30

And our next question comes from David McGinnis of Private Investor.

Unknown Attendee

Attendees
#31

Yes. It's great that every quarter, there's more terrific news on Sono-Tek. I am disappointed in the lack -- the Pinel use of the stock buyback program. that stocks go up on earnings per share beat. And when you're just trying to get $0.01 above expectations, 1 way to do that is reduce the number of shares. And for many months, the stock was down a value to it in the low $4 -- so this would have been a great investment. What are your thoughts?

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#32

Yes, it's a reasonable question, Dave, and it is something that we bring about the DoD level quite often about what is the right timing to do stock buybacks. I know we do have a relatively significant amount of cash on hand. And we bought back a relatively small amount of stock to date. It continues to be something we look at closely. Most of the potential acquisition opportunities we're looking at are not cheap. So we have had the ability to look at them quite aggressively and to make short-term moves if we needed to. And I can tell you having that cash on hand also gives us a lot of flexibility to make strategic moves aggressively when we see the right opportunity to arise. And the opportunities are more plentiful now and but higher cost, I should note than what they've been historically for us. And that's just because our overall model is becoming larger by scale. So we most certainly will continue to look at that. I wouldn't be surprised if that number for the buyback starts to change what the BOD is guidance for. But it's something we're going to continue to be looking at and evaluating what's great timing there for sure.

Kirin Smith

Attendees
#33

Okay. Interesting. And I'll throw in a different point is the world has had quite a few oil price stocks in the past. And my point is this 1 is different. We have the Ukraine war. We've now got countries with the Iran War problems that are seeing, they need energy independence. It's not just a matter of our alternative energy sources, good value, financially prudent. It's how do I make sure that I can still keep the electricity on. So -- it's interesting that in Sono-Tek business, that's prop, I'm very hopeful in that area as well.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#34

Yes. I appreciate that commenting because I also agree that long term, energy independence is going to ultimately have to be a major factor and criteria for almost all governments. So I've got to believe that this will, at some point here, become back to the prior level of activity it was, if not significantly higher in the future. But timing certainly will be an impact with the administrations and how they're being handled from that standpoint.

Operator

Operator
#35

Thank you. And that does conclude our question-and-answer session for today. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Steve Harshbarger for any closing remarks.

R. Harshbarger

Executives
#36

Excellent Well, thank you, and in closing, for fiscal 2026. I believe this was a strong year for SonoTek marked by consistent revenue, significant margin expansion and continued strategic execution. We believe our focus on high ASP production systems market diversification and operational discipline is driving sustained long-term value. We remain confident in our outlook for FY 2027, supported by strong momentum in the medical and microelectronic sectors, and this is supported with our strong backlog. And I thank you all for joining us this morning, and we look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming months. So thanks very much, everybody. Enjoy your rest of your day.

Operator

Operator
#37

Thank you, sir. That concludes today's conference call, and we thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

Christopher Coccio

Executives
#38

Thank you. Thank you all.

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