Item 2.02 Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On May 15, 2023, Peraso Inc. (the “Company”) issued a press release announcing its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2023. A copy of this press release is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this report. The press release should be read in conjunction with the cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements, which are included in the text of the release.
In addition to disclosing financial results calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), management also presents information regarding the Company’s performance over comparable periods based on cost of goods sold, operating expenses (research and development and sales, general and administrative), operating income (loss), net income (loss) and net income (loss) per share, exclusive of stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets and the change in fair value of warrant liability. Because management discloses financial measures calculated without taking into account these items, these financial measures are characterized as “non-GAAP financial measures” under Securities and Exchange Commission rules.
Stock-based compensation charges represent non-cash charges related to equity awards granted by the Company. Although these are recurring charges to the Company’s operations, management believes the measurement of these amounts can vary considerably from period to period and depend substantially on factors that are not a direct consequence of operating performance that is within management’s control. Thus, management believes that excluding these charges facilitates comparisons of the Company’s operational performance in different periods, as well as with similarly determined non-GAAP financial measures of comparable companies.
The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures also exclude amortization of intangibles recorded from the Company’s acquisition of Peraso Technologies Inc. in December 2021. Management believes the amortization does not represent operating expenses ordinarily incurred by the Company with respect to its core business. Thus, these charges are excluded from the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures to provide another basis for evaluating and comparing the Company’s performance for the three months ended March 31, 2023.
The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures also exclude the change in fair value of warrant liability. In November 2022, the Company issued a common stock purchase warrant to an investor in connection with a registered direct offering of common stock. The warrant, which was classified as a liability, was initially recorded at fair value and is re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statements of operations.
Adjusted EBITDA is GAAP net income (loss), as reported on the Company’s consolidated statements of operations, excluding stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets, change in fair value of warrant liability, interest expense, depreciation, and the provision (benefit) for income taxes.
Management and the Company’s board of directors will continue to analyze the historical consolidated results of operations and comprehensive income (loss) (revenue, cost of goods sold, research and development expenses, selling, general and administrative expenses, operating income (loss), net income (loss) and net income (loss) per share) and adjusted EBITDA to assess the business and compare operating results to the Company’s performance objectives. For example, the Company’s budgeting and planning process utilizes these non-GAAP financial measures.
The Company discloses these non-GAAP financial measures to the public as an additional means by which investors can assess the Company’s performance and to identify the Company’s operating results for investors on the same basis applied by management. The non-GAAP financial measures disclosed by the Company should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, and the financial results calculated in accordance with GAAP and reconciliations to those financial statements should be carefully evaluated. The non-GAAP financial measures used by the Company may be calculated differently from, and, therefore, may not be comparable to, similarly titled measures used by other companies. The Company has furnished reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in the press release furnished as Exhibit 99.1.
Moreover, although these non-GAAP financial measures adjust expense, they should not be viewed as a pro-forma presentation reflecting the elimination of the underlying share-based compensation programs, which are an important element of the Company’s compensation structure. GAAP requires that all forms of share-based payments should be valued and included, as appropriate, in results of operations. Management believes these expenses are a material part of the Company’s operating results.
The information contained in this Current Report on Form 8-K and Exhibit 99.1 hereto shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference to any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.