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Technology - Hardware, Equipment & Parts - NASDAQ - US
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$ 66 M
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EARNINGS CALL TRANSCRIPT
EARNINGS CALL TRANSCRIPT 2022 - Q4
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Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Research Frontiers' Investor Conference Call to Discuss the Fourth Quarter of 2022 and Year-End Results of Operations and Recent Developments. [Operator Instructions] This conference is being recorded today.

A replay of this conference call will be available starting later today in the Investors section of Research Frontiers' website at www.smartglass.com and will be available for replay for the next 90 days. Please note that some of the comments made today may contain forward-looking information.

The words expect, anticipate, plans, forecasts, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions that are part of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

These statements reflect the company's current beliefs and a number of important factors could cause actual results for future periods to differ materially from those expressed. Significant factors that could cause results to differ from those anticipated are described in our filings with the SEC.

Research Frontiers undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new events or uncertainties. The company will be answering many of the questions that were e-mailed to it prior to this conference call, either in their presentation or as part of the Q&A session at the end.

In some cases, the company has responded directly to e-mail questions prior to this call or will do so afterwards in order to answer more questions of general interest to shareholders on this call. [Operator Instructions] Also, we ask that you keep your question brief in the interest of time.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Joe Harary, President and Chief Executive Officer of Research Frontiers. Please go ahead, sir..

Joe Harary

Thank you, Paul, and hello, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter of 2022 and year-end investor conference call. I'm going to keep things more informal than usual today because I want to open up the floor to questions and discussion. We built off a number of very positive developments in 2022 and started 2023 off quite strongly.

Gauzy had their largest booth ever at CES this past January and moved into the prestigious automotive west hall. Major worldwide customers such as Bosch, LG Display, OSG, Talgo, and Continental joined them with various products, mostly for automotive, aircraft, trains, and boats, but also showing architectural applications.

And that was just the first day of the show. That night, the CEO of BMW had his opening keynote speech at CES, aided by Arnold Schwarzenegger in person and David Hasselhoff remotely, showcased BMW's iVision. The car was equipped with its glass all around being SPD-SmartGlass.

Also, highlighted prominently in Oliver Zipse's keynote and BMW's press releases was a heads-up display that added vast functionality and readability because of the SPD component. You can read more details in the press releases about this, but I was there at CES from the beginning and some of our shareholders have even visited.

You could see SPD at the Gauzy booth as well as other places, and it was impressive and prevalent. Moving to another active licensee. AGP has visibly expanded its operations to now be headquartered in Belgium, close to many of its European customers. They have several SPD car models coming out this year.

They also expanded in Flanders, and they also have an amazing, highly automated smart glass factory in Ghent, Belgium. I visited it and it was really impressive. We also focused on positioning your r company well for the past several years.

I mentioned in one of the previous calls in response to questions about economic uncertainty how Research Frontiers has positioned itself to be somewhat recession-proof and certainly inflation-proof and that continues, and I guess, it's been well that we have done that. Because those things seem to now be happening in our economy. We are also patient.

And because of that, we ultimately win over the customer. Many of you that have followed this smart glass industry might be aware that both Mercedes and Ferrari both used another smart glass technology before switching to SPD. And this year, we expect another OEM that originally selected another switchable tint technology to switch over to SPD.

Usually, the OEM ultimately understands that not all smart glass technologies or the companies supplying them are created equal.

And we foster this by education, continuous improvement, data, having a high-performing technology, focusing on being a profitable business and constant refinement of our business model, as well as good partnerships and cooperation with our licensees, and a drive to reduce costs and to diversify the industries we're in.

We and our licensees are constantly tapping into and fulfilling the need of customers to offer solutions to their customers and enable them to deliver new and improved and innovative projects -- products..

A - Joe Harary

some OEMs are working with SPD to minimize driver distraction. And for now, the only thing I'm sure of is that SPD-SmartGlass will be standard on this Celestiq roof. But we certainly have had broad discussions with GM about the benefits of SPD. So nothing here would surprise me on that. Okay. I think we answered most of those questions.

From John Roberts, is Resonac, previously known as Showa Denko and Hitachi Chemical, an active licensee producing and selling SPD film? Also, with the passing of the IRA, has REFR architectural glass licensees experienced a material increase in inquiries and sales? Bob, thank you for the questions.

Yes, the Inflation Reduction Act, as it was titled when it was introduced, the Dynamic Glass Act certainly changes the economics of buying smart glass or putting it into small and large office buildings and residential buildings and also homes.

As far as your question about Hitachi Chemical, as we noted in our 10-K, Hitachi Chemical had sold their division that was doing the SPD film to Showa Denko and has now been rebranded as Resonac Corporation. And they continue to sell film into late 2022.

But we think that because this division is part of something that just kind of move from company to company to company, there's the possibility that they may reduce or wind down that business because of this. However, that shouldn't affect us because of Gauzy.

This film is comparable in performance and in many cases better than the original film, and it's certainly less expensive, which expands the market. But thank you for that question, Bob. Okay. This is from Claire.

I recently saw an ad for an electric BMW that had a sunroof that appeared to be using SPD technology, although the technology was not mentioned in the ad.

Do you know if this was SPD technology? Originally, they were using something else, but more often than you could imagine, and I kind of alluded to this before, the OEMs soon realized that other switchable glass technologies like PDLC or electrochromic has problems and, as I mentioned, were selling a new OEM this year for this very reason.

So I think that's -- it's good that they're experimenting with things. I think ultimately, when they do the high-volume production and they want the real stuff, they'll use SPD. And I also just want to thank Matt for his kind words about a dear friend who we lost, Ron Rizzato. Ron was a long-time shareholder and broker and really was an amazing person.

And I've spoken to Ron many, many times, and I wish his family well and that he rest in peace. I think at this point, we've answered most of the questions or are all the questions that were e-mailed to us. So what I'd like to do now is have Paul open up the floor to any live Q&A that people might have that we haven't touched on already.

And then after which I'm going to make some closing remarks here..

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Leonard Leetzow, Wealth Planning and Design..

Leonard Leetzow

A question, I think I was reading that Gauzy was going to be going public with an IPO probably in the first quarter.

Number one is that true, and will it happen?.

Joe Harary

I read the same article you did, Len, and I think ultimately Gauzy's goal is to go public. I think it has many benefits, one being it gives visibility into their strength as a company and provides expansion capital.

And a lot of large OEMs like to know who they're dealing with, and Gauzy has some very well-heeled investors such as Hyundai and others that I think would welcome a strong supplier like that. I can't comment on the timing of that.

I think that for a long time, I think we all realize that the IPO market has dried up, but -- and we're also seeing that it's beginning to thaw out. And good companies like Gauzy I think will do very, very well when they do go public. So I'm going to limit my comments to that.

I probably know more about this than anyone outside of Gauzy and maybe even more than some people within Gauzy, so let me just limit my comments to that at this point..

Leonard Leetzow

A second question then. I know that they have increased the amount of emulsion that they have been making that was announced almost a year ago..

Joe Harary

Right. The 5x increase. Yes, the 5x increase in their capacity..

Leonard Leetzow

That has to be going someplace, so isn't that going to push us towards positive earnings per share relatively soon?.

Joe Harary

Yes. I'm delighted that they're making that investment that's going to benefit not only their investors but our investors as well. And I can't say enough nice things about Gauzy. They really are an amazing company that really is doing smart glass the right way.

And that's what originally attracted us to them is that we both share the same vision as to where this market can go if it was done right..

Leonard Leetzow

And are you content with where it's going and the speed with which it's getting there?.

Joe Harary

I'm never content with that. I was born in six months, Len, so for me, waiting is not top of my list of virtues. But on the other hand, I think it was very important that we and Gauzy do things the right way. You don't want to have either bad start or false starts with a new technology. And I think that has proven to be a good approach for us.

And When companies haven't done this, we've seen companies like View that really ran into tremendous problems, and some of them could end up killing the company. So I think it's -- you want to do it right. And Gauzy and Vision Systems are doing it right, and they're making the investment to do it right. And they're hiring people to do it right.

And if you look at kind of their hiring patterns, I think you'll get a real good feel as to not only what they're doing, but where they're planning to do it..

Leonard Leetzow

With the Glass Act having passed, I think the credits start hitting in January of '24. Is that still accurate or if they order now, do they get the benefit of the --.

Joe Harary

I think you have to put it in service by then, so you won't miss out if you do it in 2023..

Leonard Leetzow

But that would be very good for us..

Joe Harary

Yes, very much so, very much so..

Leonard Leetzow

Okay. Thank you, Joe. Thanks Len.

Operator

Thank you. John Nelson, private investor..

Unidentified Analyst

Hi Joe..

Joe Harary

Hi John.

How are you doing today?.

Unidentified Analyst

I’m great. Thank you very much.

I've got a couple of questions, but the first one is kind of a broken record question as far as any updates on the visor, the windshield visor?.

Joe Harary

Right. So that actually has started to incorporate itself into some vehicles already in a built-in sun visor, and a lot of the test vehicles that we do, the concept vehicles that we do, have that kind of concept already built into it. And in McLaren's case, they actually put it into the windshield itself.

As far as the fold down sun visor, that's moving forward, but mostly targeting the aftermarket. And until that gets introduced, there's not much I could say about it other than it's being worked on by several licensees, and I think it's a good application..

Unidentified Analyst

Okay. Great. And then this next one, you may or may not be able to comment on, but it looks like we're set up at REFR for a significant jump in revenues in 2023.

Is that a reasonable assessment?.

Joe Harary

I think if you look at the -- and this is -- by the way, I don't know if anyone noticed, but in prior conference calls, I used the F word without mentioning the name of the car company. But for the first time in our 10-K and in our press release today, I mentioned Ferrari.

And I was really pleased that earlier this week, Ferrari started saying their cars are being delivered to customers. And actually, one of the Purosangue customers reached out to me indirectly to say how excited he was to get this smart glass on his car.

It's between what we have with McLaren and what we have with Cadillac and what we have with Ferrari and what is coming out in Asia. And as I mentioned, it's not just one carmaker now, it's two over there that are unrelated to each other. I think a lot of people have assumed that Hyundai and Kia.

I view those kind of is joined at the hip even though they're separate companies, but I'm talking about yet another company in a different part of Asia that also looks like it's coming out with an SPD product as well. So, yes, I think we're going to have a good year.

The jump in revenues, because a lot of these cars don't come out until towards the end of the year, may happen in the third or fourth quarter..

Unidentified Analyst

Okay. Great..

Joe Harary

But, yes, I think we're on a positive trajectory here..

Unidentified Analyst

Excellent, thanks very much.

Joe Harary

Thank’s John.

Operator

Michael Kay, Kay Associates..

Michael Kay

Hello, Joe. I tell you, I've been a shareholder for over -- well over 20 years and a very -- proselytizing the SPD and the company.

But it's getting a little tired and old because it seems that even though you indicated you've reached a sweet spot regarding the cost of SPD film and we have Gauzy, but it seems quarter after quarter, the fee income really is pathetic and given the fact that SPD is the best light control technology on the market, and that the costhas been down to the extent that as the sweet spot, using your words, I still can't understand why there aren't architectural firms, other car manufacturers.

Many of these car manufacturers -- many of them is just like concept cars.

What about getting SPD into the lower priced cars that you indicate that could be the case like [indiscernible] in the volume?.

Joe Harary

Yes. Well, every carmaker I mentioned is not a concept car this year. These are actual serial production cars, and I think people that are following the industry will look at a mid-level car manufacturer like Hyundai as being the potential to vastly increase the volumes.

Now if you're a farmer and you plant crops, you could stare at the ground for a long time, but each crop takes a certain amount of time to grow. And we've planted a lot of seeds, and this year, three or four of them have already started to grow, and one or two unexpected ones also came in that I think you'll hear about, so all good stuff.

But I think you'll hear in my comment, my closing comments, some things that you might find also useful with respect to all of the markets, but also architectural..

Michael Kay

Don't most companies want there to be more than one source of film? And as you said that Hitachi basically -- most of the film production would be from Gauzy, which is fine. Previously you said you were looking for a US-based company that could manufacture the film. So is that still --.

Joe Harary

I never said US-based. What I said in the past is that you're looking for a second source, and it's probably going to be co-located near their major customers. So that may be in Asia, may be in South Korea, may be in Europe, may be in the United States, depending on where the volumes are.

But the licensees make those kinds of decisions about where to put their production facilities.

And I think that part of this also is that if you have competition among the glass laminators, which we do, we have pretty much the who's who of the glass industry, then you'll satisfy the diversity requirement that a lot of people in the automotive industry feel comfortable with..

Michael Kay

What about Panasonic?] is there any progress regarding displays and their use of SPD?.

Joe Harary

Yes, I think when you look at Panasonic, you should really look at who's supplying Panasonic, and that's LG Display. And we've spoken about that. They've had a very strong presence with SPD and their transparent OLED which is a remarkable technology. I mean, if you see this in action, it's mind-boggling how good it is.

And it certainly is an attention getter. And typically, LG makes the displays for Panasonic and a number of other display manufacturers as well. So being there is very helpful for us..

Michael Kay

Going with the market in planes and trains that seem to be on the upbeat, but there hasn't been --.

Joe Harary

All going well. All going very well. I mean, if you look at CES, for example, Talgo, the Spanish train operator, had SPD. We're in the Deutsche Bahn train. We're in a number of things. We're in Japanese trains. So pretty much around the world, you're seeing SPD adopted for trains and other transit.

And I must say that having Vision Systems as a licensee in that area has been extremely helpful because they're focused -- from day one has been on trains and transit and buses and all of their other ancillary businesses, whether it's the safety tech business or their electronics business, they all focus on providing high-end solutions to those industries.

So it's really good to have someone that is that knowledgeable about trains and mass transit vehicles involved..

Michael Kay

Okay. I hope that we wouldn't have to wait another 20 years before the stock performs in a way that correlates with people's confidence in the technology and your management..

Joe Harary

Okay. Thank you. And I -- it could be worse. You could be involved with either View or Crown and lose 95% of your value in the last year. But we're holding steady in a market that's very difficult. And we're in an industry that we seem to be the dominant player in now.

So whether we have competition or not, we're going to continue to do things the right way..

Michael Kay

Okay. thank you, Joe. Thanks.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Jarrod Sherman, Strategic Planning Group..

Jarrod Sherman

Hey, Joe. Thanks for taking my call. The question for you is just surrounding the revenues.

I was hoping you could kind of help me understand, not necessarily from a guidance standpoint, but what it's going to look like going forward being that -- if we're in some planes and trains and yachts and a few high-end cars that are produced by very low numbers and reported $130,000 in revenue, what does it look like if we get somebody that moves 50,000 cars a year, 100,000 cars a year from like a price point? What does that look like from revenue wise for us?.

Joe Harary

Okay, great. So first of all, let me just kind of back into the question a little bit. So revenue this year when you exclude one-time and special events and things like that was roughly the same as the prior year. And all of the cars that are coming out haven't been reflected yet in our revenue for 2023 yet so because they're all coming out in 2023.

They weren't in series production in 2022. If we took the original kind of estimates that we had when Mercedes was doing this, we were getting between $150 and $225 per car in revenue and royalties for that. Since then, fortunately, the price of the technology has come down quite a bit.

And I'm thinking that probably a good estimate to use for your back-of-the-envelope calculations would be anywhere from $75 to $150 per car now in terms of royalty per car. So if you multiply that by someone putting in 50,000 cars, you'll see that that can make us profitable, clearly very profitable..

Jarrod Sherman

Now, isn't the size of glass -- I mean, the original ones, we're just looking at a standard sunroof. Now if the entire roof is glass.

That doesn't improve the numbers for us?.

Joe Harary

increased headroom, reducing the cabin temperature by 18 degrees Fahrenheit, and other things like that..

Jarrod Sherman

So the slow adoption of it, you don't think has anything to do with it being too costly of an item because of savings elsewhere. You see that’s[indiscernible] a good product and taken forever to be adopted, and Tesla -- how did Tesla not use it. It's stuck to these high-end cars. It's like, wow, I mean no one's going to touch it.

That's in the 50,000, 60,000 range?.

Joe Harary

If you look back at the transcript of this conference call, you'll see that I said earlier on that eventually everybody adopts SPD. It's just a matter of us having the determination to make sure. And I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla was one of those OEMs that also did that..

Jarrod Sherman

Thank you. I appreciate it Joe..

Joe Harary

Thanks Jarrod..

Operator

Art Brady, private investor..

Unidentified Analyst

Hi, Joe. Art Brady here..

Joe Harary

Hi, Art..

Unidentified Analyst

Can you comment on the AGP factorythat wasestablished-- was this built on exactly the same specs of the Dusseldorfthat was built by Gauzy or it's their own configuration?.

Joe Harary

It's a different type of factory, but it's a good question, Art. So they do share one thing. They're both highly automated factories so very low labor costs. The Ghent factory in Belgium that AGP has is highly automated.

I walked through this impressive factory, and we saw three engineers that were just looking at some monitors to make sure that everything was working okay.

It was -- and if you think through, what does that mean? It means that all of a sudden now you could approach Chinese labor cost because you don't have labor and also the consistency and the reliability of an automated system once you make the investment of automation is quite good payback because you're making a very expensive piece of glass, you want it to be good each time it comes out.

And if you look at some of the videos on AGPs website, you'll see some amazing things that they've been able to do with our technology in their glass. The Gauzy factory makes film which is a totally different process. It's a roll-to-roll web where you're coating an emulsion on a moving web of ITO-coated PET and then curing it with UV.

So it's a different process than what AGP is doing, which is taking that film that they would buy from Gauzy and putting it between two sheets of glass and using a hot melt adhesive like EVA or PVB or polyurethane to laminate that stack together into a laminated piece of glass..

Unidentified Analyst

About two years ago, you were in [contact] with some of the Gauzy people, and I'm wondering what the status is if there's any movement there, and when we might expect to see some revenue from that experience that you had in the Middle East?.

Joe Harary

I think you're going to see revenue from them from all over the world. They have a very strong presence in the Middle East. They have a very strong presence in Asia, all parts of Asia actually. They have a strong presence in North America, and they're expanding all of these. I mean, I'm privy to what their plans are.

And I don't think they're doing this because they like the climate. I think they're doing it because they like the customers where they are. So, yes, we all expect a very good payback from this investment that they're making all over the world..

Unidentified Analyst

When do you think we could actually start seeing some revenue in that regard --.

Joe Harary

Well, if you look at where -- they have the factory in Stuttgart that is making the film. It has the capacity to do 1 million square meters of film. And if they needed to replicate that elsewhere in the world, they can. And they've quintupled their emulsion production.

So those are probably the best leading indicators I could give you as to where I think their business is going. And if they are in fact going public, they're not doing it based on having a me-too PDLC product, they're doing it based on a SPD product, and that's the strategy for growth at Gauzy, too..

Unidentified Analyst

Joe, I wanted to ask you about these train accidents. Does Gauzy or any of your groups have any types of products that they could sell to enhance the safety of trains instead of them falling off the tracks as they've been occurring frequently..

Joe Harary

Well, both Gauzy and Vision Systems have very sophisticated sensor systems, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of those things could be deployed. But if you think about the tragedy that happened in East Palestine, it was ball bearings that heated up. It's not anything to do with heat coming into the cabin or anything like that.

But they do have electronic sensors that might have been helpful. But if you look at the tracks in the United States, they were a mess. So I think you have to fix the roads that these trains go on before you fix the trains..

Unidentified Analyst

Yes, I understand.

Have you heard of a company called SolarWindow Tech? Are you familiar with them?.

Joe Harary

Not very familiar. There's a lot of companies out there that are trying to do things in energy efficiency and generating power through transparent photovoltaics. We like them.

They're complementary technologies because if you look at what, for example, Vision Systems did years ago, they were partnering with a French company that had a transparent photovoltaic material that they were able to make a self-contained aircraft window where you would just pop it into the side of the window.

You didn't have to wire anything, and it would generate 20 times more power than it needed to operate the smart windows. You could charge your cell phone or other devices using solar energy. But there's a lot of companies like that are trying. Some are homegrown in the United States that we've spoken to, and they have promising technologies.

And we keep track of them because we don't need a lot of power to run a smart window, so any of these photovoltaics, especially the transparent ones that don't typically generate a lot of energy still can generate enough energy to power a smart window.

And then the real benefit there is you could pop this into a building or a home or a vehicle without having to wire it up. And that eliminates the need for electricians to be on site, et cetera..

Unidentified Analyst

Thank you..

Joe Harary

Thanks a lot Art, good talking to you.

Operator

Michael Forster, private investor..

Unidentified Analyst

Joe, thanks for answering all the other questions. And since I'm last in line, I think I've got enough information now..

Joe Harary

Okay, great. Thanks, Michael. I think we have one more in the queue at this time..

Operator

Tom D'Javo, private investor..

Unidentified Analyst

Yes. Hi, Joe. First of all, I'd like to thank you for your efforts. I think you are really working hard towards the right things. It's tough. It's a new product. It's got to get into the market. But anyway, the EV9 and the Grandeur, as you know, were mentioned with the magic roof.

It has not been mentioned lately, but it sounds like Hyundai Kia is a possibility. The EV9 has been noted that it's going to come up with some info on the 15 and perhaps more by the30. I know you mentioned Kia SUV stuff. Without getting too specific, Ifit's coming out soon, some info on it.

Do you see this as a car that looks like it could very well likely have SPD?.

Joe Harary

I think that it's a prime candidate for SPD, but I don't think it's going to be first, and I'll tell you why. I think that if I was Hyundai, I would probably reserve to myself first the good stuff before I gave it to my sister company, Kia. But you never know what the internal politics are between them, but they're basically joined at the hip.

And I think that the work that Hyundai is doing with SPD, and they're a direct investor in Gauzy, which I think is important to know, I think will benefit Kia as well..

Unidentified Analyst

Okay, that sounds --.

Joe Harary

I just don't think the EV9 will be first. Look, I could be wrong. I've been wrong about other vehicles that -- in trying to handicap which ones were going to come out first..

Unidentified Analyst

So something as soon as this month, you wouldn't be well aware of by this point?.

Joe Harary

I would think that if -- it would be -- I don't think it's going to come out this month..

Unidentified Analyst

Yes. No problem. Thanks for the answer. As far as the Grandeur, you know --.

Joe Harary

That doesn't mean -- by the way, Tom, that doesn't mean that it won't come out on EV9. It just may not be a -- it may be like a mid-model introduction or something like that..

Unidentified Analyst

Got you, got you. Are you able to say if BOS was working on the Grandeur sunroof in a roundabout way because they were working with Gauzy or not necessarily..

Joe Harary

You're talking about a different company that we're very familiar with that is working on that project with..

Unidentified Analyst

All right, thank you Joe..

Joe Harary

Thank you Tom..

Operator

[Operator Instructions].

Joe Harary

I think we have one more on the queue I see..

Operator

Yes, sir. Tom McCarthy, Raymond James Financial..

Tom McCarthy

Hi, Joe. My question has already been answered, so I'll pass it on..

Joe Harary

Okay. Thanks, Tom. Good talking anyway..

Tom McCarthy

Yeah, Same here.

Operator

Jeff Harvey, private investor..

Unidentified Analyst

I joined late, but my question is related to GM, Ford, and Stellantis? I mean, I know it takes a long time to get in their queue for their electric vehicles.

I was just wondering if you can give us an update and progress with those big companies?.

Joe Harary

Sure, and I actually read your question earlier and answered it. But I will say this that, in a nutshell, because of the track record we have with Mercedes and McLaren, being in the other established automakers is actually a positive thing because they respect reliability more than anything else.

And that's certainly what we've had in our DNA since 2010 with the other auto --.

Unidentified Analyst

What about cost, though? I mean, is cost a factor for these s mid-range, inexpensive cars? Does that what's holding up –cost now?-.

Joe Harary

No, I wouldn't say that now because if you think about -- the expectation is that Hyundai is going to have this, and those are not very expensive cars. So I don't think cost is going to be the issue now.

I think you have the benefits that become cost effective when you don't have to -- when you can eliminate 56 components and reduce the weight in the roof to increase the stability and increase the headroom and things like that.

So there's a lot of things that go into cost, but also the basic cost of the smart glass is far lower now with the Gauzy film than it was with the Hitachi film. So that has also enabled a lot of things to happen. I will say this just because I gave some time to your question earlier..

Unidentified Analyst

Okay..

Joe Harary

Once you hear the replay, if you still have any questions, feel free to call me on my cellphone. I'm happy to go through those..

Unidentified Analyst

Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you..

Joe Harary

You're always. You're a long-term friend, so I appreciate it..

Operator

We have no further questions in queue. I'll turn the call back over to our host..

Joe Harary

heat control, light control, glare control, safety, security, privacy, comfort, enhancing product performance. These are the things that our technology has allowed these companies to do. And we invite you to check the box of things that we've thought about and taken care of already.

We have a strong and growing product pipeline, mostly automotive, but also trains, planes, boats, consumer electronics, and architectural. Expanding on the fact that, we've become known in the industry as the best performing technology in this area and the most reliable.

Our competitors have lost 95% or more of their market value, another reason to think about where you want to deploy your investment if you're investing in smart glass. So I think they're also helping us become known as the most financially viable player in the smart glass industry as well.

And we also have the who's who of the glass automotive, yachting, and aircraft industries involved with us as customers. So it's not just our competitors that make us look good, we worked hard over the years to build and maintain credibility and establish ourselves as the industry leader.

And as I mentioned, we did this by paying attention to a lot of things. And we've done this through financial stability. We have cash for at least the next five years and no debt. This gives us plenty of the necessary resources, but we're smart enough to know that we want to spend these resources efficiently.

We have diversification of industries, a proven reliability for 12 years in the automotive industry. And in our industry, that is quite a long time and very compelling data that everybody respects. Research Frontiers is well positioned for a recessionary and inflationary environment. And we talked about that, I think, two conference calls ago.

I was drawing upon my background as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. And having gone through both recession and high inflation when I was there, you saw what happens in the world and what you can do to navigate through that. And I think that has been helpful for our company to have that perspective.

We also have a healthy mix of business in government and commercial customers, and experience and respect and credibility and longevity as a company, which I think is good as far as how suppliers view us or as customers view us rather.

We have good partnerships at a good business model with high rewards, predictable expenses, and low CapEx requirements. And we're expanding our use into new applications like TVs, headlights, adaptive grills, heads up displays. You've seen all of these happen very tangibly in the past year by some very well-respected companies.

And this year, I think you'll see more of this but in different areas that can also address very large markets like architectural glass. Look forward later this year to talk about exciting developments in areas such as impact-resistant, hurricane-resistant windows for the architectural market.

And even the ability to retrofit existing buildings with SPD-SmartGlass. So that installation is quick with minimal disruption to building owners and tenants and with lower costs. So with that, I want to thank everybody for participating on today's call, and I look forward to sharing more good news this year with all of you..

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for attending and have a pleasant day..

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2024 Q-3 Q-2 Q-1
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2019 Q-4 Q-3 Q-2 Q-1
2018 Q-4 Q-3 Q-2 Q-1
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2014 Q-4 Q-3 Q-2 Q-1