Greetings, and welcome to the CVD Equipment 2021 Q4 and year-end results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question- and- answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. We will begin with some prepared remarks, followed by a question- and- answer session. Presenting on the call today will be Emmanuel Lakios, President and CEO and member of the CVD Board of Directors, and Thomas McNeill, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We have posted our earnings press release and call replay information to the investor relations section of our website at www.cvdequipment.com. Before I begin, I'd like to remind you that many of the comments made on today's call contain forward-looking statements, including those related to future financial performance, market growth, total available market, demand for our products, and general business conditions and outlook. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, expectations, and projections, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties described in our press release and our filings with the SEC, including, but not limited to, the Risk Factors section of our 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2021. Actual results may differ materially from those described during the call. In addition, all forward-looking statements are made as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements based on new circumstances or revised expectations. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Manny. Thank you, Kyle. Welcome to our CVD Equipment Corporation quarterly conference call. My name is Manny Lakios, CEO and President, and I am pleased to be presenting to you today regarding our 2021 performance and important company developments and pertinent information related to our business. As we will be providing substantive information, your thoughts are important to us. We look forward to your questions at the end of our conference call in the questions- and- answer session. 2021 was a year of transition, reorganization, and focus on providing a path to profitability and growth. We are pleased with the improvements in performance of the company and increased demand of our products during this difficult period. We spent the H1 of 2021 shoring up our balance sheet and optimizing our market focus and product offerings, all in the interest of maximizing the future profitability and viability of the company. In 2021, orders for the company as a whole were $21 million, up 75% from prior year 2020. The equipment group had an increase of 100% over 2020. 23 systems were booked in 2021 compared to nine systems in 2020. We obtained multiple strategic orders in our focused growth markets serving the electric vehicles. The first being battery anode material and the second silicon carbide growth systems for high power electronics. According to market research, both of these market segments are expected to grow in the coming quarters and years. The systems I mentioned are planned for delivery mid-2022. Recently, we announced two additional strategic orders in Q1 of 2022. One for battery nanomaterial research and development, and the other for carbon-based discrete devices for 5G cellular phone technology. Both systems will be completed the H2 of 2022. During the Q1 of 2022, we also received orders for consumables that serve our installed base in the aerospace market. This is a sign of continued recovery of the aerospace market, which we do not expect to recover fully until 2023. The recent orders over the last three quarters further validate our strategy of focus on growth end-use markets such as battery nanomaterial, silicon carbide growth systems, and advanced composite materials for aerospace and other markets. Our consolidation of the Tantaline product line operations into Denmark have yielded improved performance in 2021 over 2020. The division had its first profitable year and was cash flow positive. The MesoScribe product line, which was moved and consolidated from our 555 building into our 355 building, was also operational in Q3 and was cash flow positive, as was SDC division. In 2021, we right-sized our employee headcount, and there was a reduction in certain operating expenses associated with the consolidation of the 555 building into our 355 building, all located in Central Islip, New York, and into the Tantaline facility in Denmark. The sale of the 555 building was completed in July, with the outcome of providing approximately $14 million of additional cash on hand. The sale of the building provides both working capital as well as for future growth opportunities. Our revenue in 2021 was down from 2020 due to the lower equipment orders in 2020 attributed to the COVID pandemic. The impact of the reduction in revenue was partially mitigated by our right-sizing of our employee headcount and the consolidation of our facilities. We have experienced four quarters of sequential revenue increase in 2021, and we expect the trend to continue through 2022, yielding a break-even and profitability run rate by the end of 2022, hence achieving our profitability initiative. The COVID pandemic, and now more recently, the geopolitical instability in Russia and the Ukraine, have caused global issues in supply chains. The negative effect has been felt by all companies with increases in commodity and product material costs, as well as in product delivery uncertainty. In our production group, we have seen and further have been addressing these global supply chain issues. This will be a challenge for most companies, including CVD. We have implemented rigorous supplier engagement, as well as expanded our network of suppliers. We also, in 2022, have initiated a program to expand our internal manufacturing capability with the objective to be self-reliant. We have ample capacity in our 355 Central Islip facility to accommodate a shift in our manufacturing strategy to assist in addressing any longer-term supply chain issues. With that, I would like to now introduce our CFO, Mr. Thomas McNeill, who will provide you our Q4 and year-end 2021 financial summary. Thank you, Manny, and good afternoon, all. CVD Q4 2021 revenue was $4.7 million as compared to $3.2 million in the Q4 of 2020, an increase of $1.5 million or 48.8%. CVD's operating loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $1.2 million and $5.4 million, respectively. Included in the operating loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 is an impairment charge of $3.6 million related to the company's Tantaline product line. Net loss for the Q4 of 2021 was $1.2 million or $0.18 per diluted share, as compared to a net loss of $5.3 million or $0.80 per diluted share in the Q4 of 2020. With respect to our year-end results, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVD's new orders substantially decreased commencing in the Q1 of 2020, which reduced revenues in subsequent quarters, resulting in revenue of $16.5 million for the year ended December 31st, 2021, as compared to $16.9 million in the year ended December 31st, 2020. A decrease of $400,000 or 2.8%. CVD's operating loss for the year ended December 31st, 2021 and 2020 was $4.8 million and $7.8 million, respectively. Included in other income for the year ended December 31st, 2021 was a gain on the sale of the 555 building in the amount of $6.9 million and a gain on debt extinguishment in the amount of $2.4 million, which was related to the PPP loan received due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Included in the operating loss for the year ended December 31st, 2020 is an impairment charge of $3.6 million related to the company's Tantaline product line. Net income for the year ended December 31st, 2021 was $4.7 million or $0.71 per diluted share, as compared to a net loss of $6.1 million or $0.91 per diluted share for the year ended December 31st, 2020. In the Q1 of 2020, CVD's net income was favorably impacted by the CARES Act, which allowed for the carryback of net operating losses and resulted in CVD recognizing an income tax benefit of $1.5 million in the year ended December 31st, 2020. Sequentially, CVD's revenue in the Q4 of 2021 was $4.7 million as compared to $4.3 million in the Q3 of 2021. An increase of $400,000, and the operating loss increased to $1.2 million in the Q4 of 2021 as compared to operating loss of $900,000 in the third quarter of 2021. During Q3 2021 and continuing to date, CVD has been impacted by increased costs on certain manufacturing material components, as well as delays in supply chain deliveries. This may also impact CVD's ability to recognize revenue and reduce gross profit margins in future quarters, as well as extend its manufacturing lead times and reduced manufacturing efficiencies. CVD has commenced placing orders with increased lead times to try and help mitigate the manufacturing delays, as well as assessing other material suppliers to mitigate the potential cost impacts. In addition, CVD is utilizing its in-house flexible manufacturing to mitigate both potential delivery, scheduled delivery delays, and material increases. The company's backlog at December 31st, 2021 improved by $4.7 million, or 82% to $10.4 million, and this compares to $5.7 million at December 31st, 2020. While the negative effect of the COVID-19 crisis continues to impact the aerospace industry due to reduced travel and reduction of industry gas turbine engine sales, we have achieved new orders during the quarters ended June, September, and December 2021 in the amounts of $6 million, $6.1 million, and $5.2 million. This compares favorably to $3.8 million in the quarter ended March 31st, 2021. With respect to the 555 building sale debt and our cash position, as previously announced, we are pleased to have closed on the sale of our facility located at 555 North Research Place. We did this in July 2021. With the sales price of $24.4 million, we satisfied our then mortgage debt of approximately $9.1 million and paid various transaction-related costs. The net proceeds of approximately $14 million improves our cash position, which at December 31st, 2021, is $16.7 million, and provides us with the balance sheet to bolster sustainable growth strategies. As a result of the gain on the sale of the 555 building, we improved CVD's overall shareholder equity and retained earnings by approximately $5.1 million, and our retained earnings is now a positive $1.8 million at December 31st, 2021. Finally, on March 1st, 2022, we paid off our remaining mortgage debt on the 355 building in the amount of $1.7 million. As such, we have no debt outstanding. With respect to our liquidity, primarily the result of the sale of the 555 building, cash, as I mentioned, increased to $16.7 million at December 31st, 2021, as compared to $7.7 million in the prior year period. Our working capital was $16.7 million at December 31st, 2021, as compared to $8.1 million in the prior year period. This is an increase of $8.6 million or 106%. In addition, during the year ended December 31st, 2021, we have substantially reduced our CapEx from $1.6 million in the year ended December 31st, 2020 to $236,000 during the year ended December 31st, 2021. This related to ceasing further USA spend on the tantalum product line. The longer term impacts from the COVID-19 outbreak are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, especially now with the impacts on our supply chain, as we previously discussed. While we have initiated actions to mitigate the potential negative impacts to our revenue and profitability, there can be no assurance of the ultimate impact and the length of time that the supply chain factors may impact our revenues and profitability. Our return to profitability is dependent, among other things, the continued receipt of new orders, the lessening of ongoing effects of COVID-19 on our business and the aerospace market, managing through the supply chain issues discussed and improvement in our operational efficiencies, as well as managing planned CapEx and operating expenses. Based upon all these factors, we believe that our cash and cash equivalent positions and projected cash flow from operations will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure requirements for the next 12-18 months of the filing of our Form 10-K that was filed today. Should the current environment continue longer or worsen, we will continue to assess our operations and take actions anticipated to maintain our operating cash to support the working capital needs. At this point, I'd like to turn the call back over to Manny, our CEO. Tom, thank you for the presentation. In summary, 2021 was, as we expected, a year of transition, reorganization, and focus on everything we do and those who we serve. Our focus remains consistent on our customers, employees, shareholders, and the pursuit of growth and return to profitability. We are looking forward to 2022 and are cautiously optimistic. Your comments and questions are important to us. With the close of our presentation, we'd like to open up the floor to your questions. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we pull for questions. Our first question is from Morton Howard, a private investor. Please proceed with your question. My question is this. I'm glad you have enough money and better conditions to stay alive, but I would love to have a reason to be excited. Is there anything happening on the, on the health thing, that thing with Stony Brook? Or is there some great interest in some new product where you can see maybe in a few years, five or 10, $20 million worth of sales? Something to give us a reason to love the stock instead of tolerate it. Okay. Morton, thank you very much. You know, thank you for at least up to now tolerating the stock and it's our job to work at having you love the stock. Let me- Stockholder of various amounts for over 15 years. Yes. Let me speak to some of the things that we've actually had public releases on. Last year, we received six orders for silicon carbide growth systems that are used, as you may know, in high power electronics. Those high power electronics are used in the charging and transmission for devices in charging and transmission of electric power for electric vehicles, which is one great application for us. We received six from one customer. As I stated earlier in my presentation, that is one of our growth focus areas and markets. The other is in the anode battery material itself. We announced last year that we had received an order from a customer that we actually announced that it was OneD in one of our releases, where they're revolutionizing the carbon nanomaterial used in electric vehicle batteries. Those are two areas that are large growth opportunities for us. That's substantiated by obviously, you know, we read the news, we can see that, and also by market research. In addition to that, Morton, we still have a large foothold. I mean, the company did a great job over the last several years in fiber tow code for the aerospace industry. As we know, that industry was impacted by the COVID pandemic and long-haul air travel to Europe, travel to Asia, and the Airbus, the Boeing were impacted, therefore the manufacturers were as well. Again, you know, our market research and the news indicate that that marketplace will come back at some point in time. You know, with that said, you know, we're excited we received those orders last year for products that will be used in electric vehicle battery and energy transmission and charging. You know, we are pleased with those. As far as you know, we are not a medical device company. We've mentioned that earlier, that that's not our big play. We look at, you know, those type of products as applications for our carbon and our carbon CVI, both our carbon nanotubes and our carbon CVI processes, and primarily for the sale of tools. You know, with that said, you know, I think I gave you a couple examples of areas that we do focus on. One last question, and I don't mean to take too much time. Graphene was sort of a touted material, like it was gonna be this, the material of the next 50 years. Well, is there some truth to that? Or what is your opinion on graphene for the company? You know, we see larger demands on CNT than we do for graphene. You know, without spending a lot of time on that, there are a lot of different ways to, you know, that you can harvest graphene. It's a good technology. We sell systems in that. I really can't speak more than that. It's, you know, I think it's still a technology looking for a solution. Thank you very much. I appreciate your answers. Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. Our next question is from Brett Rice with Janney Montgomery Scott. Please proceed with your question. Hi, Manny. Hi, Tom. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. We can hear you. Great. Good show on the increase in the backlog and the trends in orders and, you know, line of sight of, you know, profitability by year-end. I appreciate that. Can I ask you, like last quarter, you sold, you know, a nanomaterial system, you know, to OneD Battery Sciences, which you mentioned, and then you sold another system to a research and pilot, you know, production customer. You had the March twenty-ninth news release that you're selling an atomic layer deposition system, you know, to, you know, for the Georgia Institute. Could you, to this non-engineer, just explain to me the differences between, you know, these systems? You can talk to me like I'm, you know, six years old. As if you're 60 or 60? Or 6? Six. Six. Six years old. Okay. The one tool was for a production application, and it's a higher volume system, much higher volume system. The tool that we spoke about in the fourth quarter and then the Georgia Tech announcement are for real R&D applications. Georgia Tech, the ALD tool is just another deposition technology that is very similar to a CVD process, you know. It's really just as a six-year-old, you really don't need to know the difference. The equipment looks very much the same. It's to one of the best universities doing research in this field. We're very pleased to have been selected. You know, what I'm probing is the, you know, add-on and, you know, total addressable market in these areas. I mean, because I mean, everybody knows, you know, electric vehicles are just gonna increase, you know, market share. You take, for example, you know, the OneD Battery customer. Has there been greater acceptance of that SINANODE process, you know, that they're, you know, pushing so that we could look forward to, you know, perhaps, you know, repeat additional orders, you know, from that customer? Can you give us any color there? I can tell you that we're on schedule as we had committed to deliver it mid this year. I can't speak to my customers' adoption of their technology in the marketplace, you know. That's probably all I can really say on that. You know, we're doing our best to provide them the best technology. With that technology, it's really up to them to be able to get adoption and traction in the marketplace. Okay. Now, you know, another area that's just you know seems to be a growth prospect is this migration of the world to 5G. This plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system is that a one-off or are there other, you know, since the world's going to 5G, what is the potential for, you know, repeat orders in business in that area? Well, you know, again, that's emerging technology on using carbon-based products, which I can't really speak to beyond that, in discrete devices that would be used in a 5G application. The platform that we're developing, though, is different than our standard platform that we've shipped. It's a cluster tool platform. That platform would be available to us to sell into other applications. It has both capability within this specific use case of these discrete devices, potentially for multiple orders. We plan on marketing that technology to other applications as well. Right. First, is plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition kind of a, I mean, you guys were the go-to firm for chemical vapor deposition. Is this different? You know, is this almost like a new business that you're embarking on, or is it, you know, just very similar? No. The company has a history of providing plasma-enhanced CVD systems. This tool is a specific tool designed for low-temperature PECVD processing, but it is a true production system, wafer-level production system. The new cluster tool production platform, which, you know, you described, is there anything proprietary to the company with respect to that new product? Yes, there is, and therefore, I can't tell you about it. Okay. Well, that's good, 'cause if it works, we've got a protective moat. Yes? Yes. Okay, great. Great. Thank you, Brett. Manny, you mentioned you've gotten some orders for consumer materials in aerospace, which is a kind of green shoot. Could you just go into that a little bit more, you know, give us some more color on that? You know, there's a lot of capacity because of the pandemic and then the impact of the long-haul travel, therefore the gas turbine engine reduction, order reduction, and then therefore, you know, obviously then they don't need. There's excess capacity. As you start now getting consumable and spare parts orders, you know, that is a projection that they're using the tools. That is a good thing. There'll be some period of time that we would, you know, anticipate and hope that they get those fully, they use up all their free capacity. Beyond that, they would have to add some additional capacity. When that happens, we're not quite sure. We've offset the aviation portion of our business at this point with some of these other emerging technology and business segments, which are electric vehicle applications, both the silicon carbide and also the battery material. Okay. This is probably for Tom. What was your cash burn just from operations, you know, this quarter? This quarter on the cash burn. Just let me get back on that one, Brett. I can take that offline. Just the building you're in now, which you now own debt-free, free and clear. I'm not saying you're going to do it, but if you had to sell it tomorrow morning, what could you get for it? What's it worth? What's the fair market value right now? We would have to get an independent assessment of that. We think it's worth a lot. To give you a number, I think we'd be hard pressed to do that. Well, you just sold the other one right down the block for $24 million, and I think the one you're in is, you know, arguably maybe not worth as much, but pretty close in a pretty hot market, yes? Yes, I heard you, and yes, that sounds like a fair assessment, but again, I can't give you a number on what the value is. Okay, that's margin of safety for people, you know, you know, in terms of you know, monetizing that if you needed working capital for your business or if an acquisition comes along that intrigues you. You know, that goes through our minds as well. Yes. Everything is up for consideration. Yes. Just one last one. Yeah, you know, the morale, you know, of your sales force, you know. Can you describe it? They were 100% year-over-year. I think that having been in sales and run sales organizations, I think that's a morale booster for the entire organization, not just the sales force. Right. You know, it's possible aerospace could, you know, eventually come back and then, you know, you seem to be, you know, right in the thick of things with the EV batteries and 5G. You know, things seem to be humming along, you know, very nicely. Thank you, and keep it up. Thank you, Brett. Appreciate that. Brett, just to your question. Cash burn Q3 to Q4, cash decreased about $800,000. Okay. Your assertion that you've got enough cash to, you know, to last you to the next year to 18 months. I mean, you got a lot more runway than that, yes? Yeah. That's a good point, Brett. The 12-18 months is more of an SEC requirement that we are compelled to say that you have enough for that period of time. You know, we don't run out in 12-18 months based on our anticipated forecast. Yeah. We're well-positioned. Yeah. With the order flow and what our focus on the operating efficiencies and expenses. Brett, we appreciate you bringing that up. I think that's a good clarification. Thank you, Tom. Great. I'm gonna drop back. Thank you for answering all my questions as always. Of course, Brett. Thank you. We're gonna take one more question, Kyle? Yep. Our next question is from Dan Jones, a private investor. Please proceed with your question. Hey, good afternoon, guys. Thanks for the question. This is Dan, not Dan Jones. Anyway, I'd be interested if you could provide a little bit more color on the silicon carbide materials opportunity, you know, where your equipment plays in terms of the supply chain there. Sure. What you're seeing in terms of capacity build out, whether that, you know, where that looks in the United States and also abroad. Well, I mean, clearly, I think we all read the news. Thank you, Dan. We all read the news and there's a big shift to bring the ICs back to the United States, you know, China initiatives, et cetera. Part of that is high power electronics, battery material, semiconductor integrated circuits. Let's focus, as you said, for a moment on the silicon carbide. We build physical vapor transport systems, essentially used to grow the boules or the silicon carbide material itself. That is really, you know, our product offering today on this particular silicon carbide application. This is not a coating. This is the actual growth of those boules that are then cut and polished and made into actual silicon carbide wafers. Silicon carbide wafers have a higher current capacity and temperature capacity than silicon. Okay, great. Thanks. Are there many other merchant equipment suppliers for the silicon carbide crystal, the boule? There are other merchant suppliers. There aren't a lot of merchant suppliers of silicon carbide wafers. A lot of them have been gobbled up by the device manufacturers. In terms of the interest in your product, is it those vertically integrated device manufacturers or is it You can imagine that the up-and-coming merchants have some open space to run in, and those have been our primary focus. Okay, great. Thank you. You're welcome. We have reached the end of the question and answer session, and I will now turn the call over to Manny Lakios for closing remarks. Okay. Well, thank you all for being on the call today. CVD Equipment, I speak for all the employees and the board of directors. We appreciate the shareholders' loyalty. We look forward to 2022, as we said earlier. I wish you all the best. Stay safe, and thank you. This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.