Greetings, and welcome to the Laser Photonics Corporation second quarter call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief 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. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Brian Siegel, Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin. Thank you, Maria. With me today are Wayne Tupuola, Laser Photonics CEO, and Jade Barnwell, who just joined the company as CFO. Any forward-looking statements made during this conference call, whether general or specific in nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those which the company anticipates. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the specific risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports that we file periodically with the SEC. Laser Photonics assumes no obligation to either update any forward-looking statements that we have made or may make, or to update the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that they forecast. I will now turn the conference call over to Wayne. Take it away, Wayne. Thank you, Brian. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining Laser Photonics Corporation's quarterly earnings call. I'm Wayne Tupuola, CEO of Laser Photonics Corporation, and I'm thrilled to share some exciting updates with you today. We reported a soft quarter in Q2, reporting revenue of $1 million as compared to $1.35 million for the same period in 2022. The decrease was primarily related to delayed CapEx spending by customers. While this impacted our second quarter results, I'm encouraged by the progress in our sales and marketing efforts in expanding our pipeline, which are expected to drive long-term positive sales trends. Given that in our target markets of materials processing, automotive, aerospace, and semiconductor, laser cleaning products fall under CapEx spending. Sales cycles can take 6 to 12 months and often fluctuate quarter to quarter. In recent quarters, economic conditions, including interest rate increases, have been putting pressure on sales. With respect to interest rates, higher rates have caused customers to delay capital equipment spending, as many customers, large and small, use leasing companies to purchase our equipment. In Q1, we began increasing R&D investments to maintain our technological superiority. We equipped our application center with state-of-the-art robotic laser blasters and developed new complementary technologies. Moving forward, we intend to make further investments in R&D to innovate and guarantee the company's long-term future, and I will touch on one of these platforms in a minute. Before I go into some of our exciting product innovations that are coming from our R&D investments, I'd like to welcome Jade Barnwell to the team as our newly appointed CFO. Jade has proven success in managing financial growth at larger companies, and we look forward to leveraging the experience she brings. Now I'd like to introduce our latest product developments, the Titan FX platform for the aerospace industry. This new large platform was designed for laser cutting applications, but we also integrated it into our CleanTech product line to enhance that offering. The platform is designed to provide increased safety as it has fully enclosed frame that meets Class 1 product enclosure standards for the laser industry. This significance of this is twofold. First, we developed this new platform in response to conversations with an existing large aerospace customer. The aerospace industry has held off using laser cutting capabilities for decades due to safety concerns related to creating stress cracks caused by the heat generated from laser applications. To this day, laser cutting is limited to rough cutting and later defers to downstream CNC machining capabilities. The Titan FX platform revolutionizes laser cutting applications with our unique laser cold cutting feature that enables the platform to work with heat-sensitive materials without compromising quality or precision. This capability opens up new possibilities for various industries, including aerospace, automotive, and electronics, where materials such as composites and plastics require delicate treatments. Moreover, our Turbo Piercing technology enables rapid advanced perforations, enhancing production efficiencies and reducing cycle times for our customers. By streamlining their operations, we are helping customers achieve greater productivity that meets strict deadlines. Second, the newly developed Titan FX large format design can also be used for CleanTech Class 1 product enclosures, therefore integrating cutting-edge laser safety features with our renowned laser blasting capabilities. The Titan FX platform will combine two essential elements for our CleanTech products: unmatched laser blasting power and enhanced laser safety. With our advanced laser technology, we already offer precision and efficiency that sets us apart from the competition. Now, by incorporating laser safety into our product enclosure, we provide our customers with a comprehensive solution that addresses their needs for both performance and safety. In today's manufacturing work environment, most of our customers are safety conscious. Therefore, Laser Photonics is stepping up to the plate and providing solutions to modern-day problems for the modern-day workforce. Automation is also key to running a smooth and efficient manufacturing facility. Laser Photonics focuses on helping its customers achieve this. Looking ahead, we are confident that the Titan FX platform will further strengthen our position as a leader in laser technologies. We anticipate strong demand from industries seeking advanced laser solutions that combine performance, precision, and safety. By expanding our product offering to cater to the needs of CleanTech and other sectors, we are well positioned for growth and new market opportunities. In conclusion, Laser Photonics Corporation's Titan FX platform for CleanTech Class 1 product enclosures represents a groundbreaking development as we continue to push the boundaries of innovation in the industry. We are excited about the prospects and the positive impact this new development will have on our customers' operations and overall safety. Thank you for your continued support, and we remain committed to delivering cutting-edge solutions that will drive success and growth for Laser Photonics Corporation. I will now turn the call over to Jade for a detailed financial update. Thank you, Wayne, and welcome, everyone. As Wayne mentioned, our second quarter revenue decreased from the same period last year by 28% to $1 million. Our gross margin on those second quarter revenue increased by 600 basis points year-over-year to approximately 71%, as our mix was more heavily weighted towards our higher-margin CleanTech systems. Operating income was break-even this quarter, but benefited from a $700,000 mark-to-market from non-cash stock issuance costs related to our IPO, which as mentioned on last quarter's call, was settled in April and therefore needed to be mark-to-market upon delivery. Beyond this non-cash cost, the most significant change in our operating cost structure was the increase in sales and marketing resources, R&D investments, Nasdaq and SEC compliance costs, and rent for our new facility. GAAP net income and earnings per share were break-even, down from last year's $0.3 million and $0.07, respectively. Excluding the previous mark-to-market gains, net loss and loss per share would have been $0.7 million and $0.08, respectively. From balance sheet and cash flow perspectives, we finished the quarter with $9.9 million in cash and no debt. This balance represents $0.9 million decline during the second quarter, resulting from our operating activities. Now, I'd like to provide some commentary about the full year, 2023. Looking at our operating expenses and given our continued growth investments in R&D, sales and marketing and expanding our distribution channel, we expect these costs to rise further throughout the rest of the calendar year. That concludes my prepared remarks for today. We can now move to questions. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue. You may press Star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. We ask that you limit yourself to one question and a follow-up so that others may have an opportunity to ask questions. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from Chuck Lipson with CSL Associates. Please proceed with your question. Yes, good morning. Wayne, we have a pretty demoralized shareholder base. You know, there's been a lot of management changes, projections haven't been made, and we keep hearing about all the opportunities that we have. Why have sales declined when we've been going to the trade shows? We haven't heard... We keep hearing this remarkable amount of opportunities for the, for our lasers, and yet the sales aren't there at all. When and how are we going to turn this ship around? When do we start seeing some sales? We, we just got some projections that marketing costs are going to increase, but why have sales failed to materialize? Fortunately, we still have some cash, but, you know, it's, we used to hear about new customers, almost weekly, and now we haven't heard of a new customer in, in months. Could you give us why we should have a lot of hope going forward? Yeah, thank you for your question, Chuck. Sorry to be so pessimistic. Yeah, thanks for your question, Chuck. I think if we reviewed from the starting of the company back in 2020, you know, where we showed the initial start and a lot of R&D went into the products and aggressive move to try to gain confidence in adapting this particular technology, because that's the first phase of our gain and scale model, which is for the customers to adapt the technology and adopt. Many of these organizations have received the beta units, and they've formed protocols and procedures into the manufacturing process, which takes some time. Now, we've gained some tractions in initial start, with the first three years the company has been in business. We've put a lot of investments, from our parent, founder, ICT Investments, which put a lot of investments. Unfortunately, we could take the company as far as we could, then decided to, to take it to, to market. Once that happened, we spent quite some time doing so, and, and it sort of delayed, you know, the momentum that we had going. With this being said, most of the, the, the, the growth, that you've been seeing, from the end of, or mid stage of 2022 into the first quarter of 2023, was a result of prior to, investments into the company, moving forward. Now that we're fully funded, we, we need to continue the progress, continue getting the good news out through, you know, a strategic marketing plan, which we've incorporated. We've grown the marketing department, and we have a phenomenal group down there that's gonna basically get the news out. With this being said, you know, it takes about six months to get the message out, and then you have the sales cycle that will take another six months. You know, this is an investment year, obviously after the fund raising, and we expect to see good results in the near future. You know, I hope that this has answered your, your question as far as what we experienced, and, you know, we see a lot of positive traction. We have a very good sales group that's making monumental leaps and growth in acquiring the new interest in this disruptive technology. You know, we took it to market, addressing a $46 billion opportunity, and I think it's greater than that globally. You know, most people are trying to transition out of the hazardous abrasive sandblasting, and I think it takes time for them to exit that particular type of process and develop new protocols and procedures. You know, most of the characteristics of this technology has just been, sanctioned by, you know, most, you know, coating companies that, you know, were given, directions on how abrasive blasting, works, and now they need to develop laser blasting, criteria for, government agencies, and, and, and the, the private sector as well. So. Well. You know, my... Yeah, go ahead. It's all well and good, but last year we had, like, I think it was the Navy, we had the, Emerson, we had GE. I take it they all had beta platforms, you know, for, for our product. Have we heard back from them? Have we? Yes, yeah, absolutely. Are we making any progress in getting real orders? Yeah, absolutely. There again, the, the, the one unit is, is being infectious to, to the entire organization, but internal, you know, protocols and procedures take time, and this turns into multiple units, and that's our goal, is to try to get the first unit in the door, let them write the protocols and procedures, and from there, it just takes off. Again, you know, as I, as I'd mentioned earlier, in the call, you know, the, you know, some of these obstacles are derived from things that are out of our control, and every company has to face this in, in these turbulent times. We need to respect that and, and try to create, new opportunities, new verticals, that we're already familiar with, and, you know, try to address those types of situations that they're facing. Well, do, do your projections that you made on the last conference call, do they still hold any water or are they under re-review? Cause we've always lowered them once, and now, it seems after this quarter, we got probably were a little too optimistic last quarter. Well, I think from quarter to quarter, you know, again, you know, the Feds have been, you know, raising the interest rates, making it unbearable. Inflation has gone up. A lot of people, the customers are, are having difficult times trying to make decisions on CapEx, as I mentioned earlier in the calls, and these are some of the things that we need to deal with. You know, it's pretty straightforward, but, you know, I, I have hope in the economy turning around, and, and there's still a, a, a corrosion problem out there that needs to be resolved. Yeah ... you know, you know, as there is a shortage of wheat there worldwide, there's gonna be a, you know, turmoil and, you know, in these types of situation. All right, well, hopefully we can turn it around a little quicker. Absolutely, yeah. It's rather frustrating as a shareholder. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for your question. Okay. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Okay, we've, we've got some questions to the webcast. The first is, the company's made comments in its SEC filings regarding actions to improve control weaknesses. Can you provide updates on the control environment? Yeah, Jade, I think you can take that one. Can you repeat that question one more time, please? Yes. The company in its SEC filings has identified weaknesses in controls, and it says it's taking actions. Can you talk about the actions that the company has taken to improve its controls? Well, first of all, the obvious control we placed is having the CFO. I joined just 15 days ago, so that is my to-do list, on my to-do list. I can't provide you details at this moment, but I am reviewing the procedures and process that we have in place, and at the same time, we strengthened our board of directors to go over our procedures as well. Okay. Next question is, are your products truly 100% American-made as you advertise? Yeah, Brian, thanks for that question. I, I think, you know, what needs to be understood in America is that, you know, things have changed throughout the last four decades on who manufactures what in our society today. America is not capable of producing 100% of all the components known to man. Even our, our latest fighter jets, some of the components are not 100% made here in the United States, for, for defense of our country. As you know, the semiconductor chip alone is not made 100% in our country, and this is why we have a semiconductor chip shortage. We rely on outside sources. Certain components are required to be made by other countries. Nonetheless, we manufacture major components here in the United States, and we are responsible for the design and the functionality of our product, and it's 100% manufactured and assembled here once components are available in the open market. Now, if our third-tier vendors are supplying it from other countries, we have no control of that, but it's what's available with American customers, vendors selling to American customers. The availability of the supply chain is a trying task for any co-company that's manufacturing today. Nonetheless, 100% assembled here, components are received. We're not in the business to making major manufacturing products that is not our expertise, so we'll have to pull from, you know, United States companies or global companies to the degree that whatever is available for us to, to use, that's what we use. We've definitely pressed the the components threshold to what's ever available, the latest technology that's in our products, and we have this capability. I don't think anyone else competing with us does the same thing. Hopefully that answers your question? Okay, great. Next question. You've been issuing press releases at the rate of three per week, plus or minus, most of which are simply reviewing use cases for CleanTech. What is the annual cost of this program? Does management actually conclude these releases are meaningful and worthwhile? If so, why? Then how, how do you measure this? You know, what, what, what are the metrics you use? Yeah. So, you know, in creating a marketing strategy, it's important for us to penetrate certain verticals and reach a certain audience. At the cost of doing so, I think we've got a phenomenal deal from our avenues of helping us with the press release. It's quite cost-effective and quite affordable for us to release press releases on a daily basis. I think the bombardment of messaging is quite important so that they can see that a thriving company that has an awesome message to deliver, that just allows people to understand that there's a lot of exciting things going on in our company. We're just, you know, excited to share that. I think, the matrix on this, we've been getting some phenomenal feedback, on, on, on the open rates, and, and people are giving us great responses on this. On the other hand, some may view it as, you know, mundane and, and not effective. Again, we're the company that's running the marketing, strategy, and, I think it's working. It's doing its job, and, hopefully, you know, it'll gain traction, in, in, in the near term to come. Okay, great. Second is related to SEC filings. There's been no disclosure of executive comp since you've gone public. What are key insiders and directors being compensated right now? Yeah, I, I, I think that, you know, emerging growth company, you know, exercise that right, as, as, as mentioned, to, to, to, be transparent in that area. You know, we, we have mentioned, as executives are hired, through the 8-K, what the compensation is, so I think we're already doing that, Brian. Great. Yeah, thank you. couple business questions here. Are you seeing an increase in competition? In general, who are the competitors, and what is the competitive environment like currently? Yeah, I, I, I think, you know, that it's quite the opposite. We're not seeing a competition of relevance to the technology that we have, pressing the components threshold, exceeding the customer's expectation. you know, I, I think we've done enough to set ourselves apart from the competition that, that, it, it, exceeds, you know, you know, the, the marketing expectations of getting the message out there, making sure that, you know, there, there's, there's really a hands-down effort on our part to make sure that we're offering something that, that anyone that wants to occupy this space will, will not be able to achieve. That's our goal, is to, to, to try to provide a solution to our customers that, you know, no one else in the world can. I think we've pressed this technology to, to the, the, the height of, of expectation that our companies are starting to see. They're writing procedures around our product, and that says a lot about what we do. Okay. Then this question is more technical in nature. You know, what are the main items that make up the manufacturing process? Yeah. For your product. When you look at the, you know, some of our product lines, they're, they're quite strategic and customized to fit our customers' needs from the Class 4 open beam system that is strategic, you know, and also helps them to transition from the open process of sandblasting. It could mimic that, but eventually, we want to transition the customers from the open beam system to the Class 1 enclosures, which is why we took the Titan FX large format design to market, so that it can offer up the, those safety features. Nonetheless, you know, the Class 4 open beam system does have its space in some environments, such as nuclear decommissioning of nuclear facilities, because it does require open beam systems to decontaminate some of the materials that they're trying to clean out there. But the major manufacturing processes involve the assembly, the calibration of the optics on the delivery systems, placing the optics in assemblies, and also software implementation. We also have communications between hardware and software that needs to be dialed in as well. And a host of other processes that kind of help bring the CleanTech product line to fruition. Okay, great. Jade, can you help explain again exactly what the non-recurring items were in Q1 and Q2, related to the stock issuance, and explain what exactly happened there? Sure. During IPO process, we, we provided stock awards to one of the external party, the marketing firm. The name is TraDigital Marketing Group. We provide the stock awards to be exercised. At the end of 2022, so December 31st, we reevaluated them based on the market price. March 31st, we did it again because it was not issued, and actually it was issued on April 17th. When we reevaluated in March, the stock price was higher than what we had in, on, December 31st, as our accrued expense in balance sheet. When we actually issued on April, the price went down, so we had to reevaluate, and that gave us gain of $700,000. Does that answer your question? Yes, I think so. Then, what I believe is the last question. What are sales looking like for third quarter? You know, what should we be expecting, the company to report, you know, when it does, third quarter earnings? Yeah, we have a $4.7 million pipeline for third quarter. Again, you know, trying to lasso those, you know, purchase orders off the desk of the procurement department becomes challenging because they're prioritizing according to how they see, you know, global trends and economic conditions. That's the frustration right there, Brian, is, you know, we've taken it all the way as far as we can as a company, but again, it's stuck in the hands of the decision makers releasing the purchase orders. We do have a positive feedback from our customers saying that, you know, there's, there's, there's a possibility that these purchase orders will be released soon. Procedures are being written and completed. Other departments within these organizations are starting to inquire about new, new systems. All of these take time, you know? You know, I, I think, you know, third quarter looks bright for us. Hopefully we'll be able to surpass first and second quarter results. Okay. One more question just came in. How many people have you added to the company so far this year? We've added 21 employees. Okay. You know, last year, last year we had, we ended 2022 with 19 employees, so now we've added 21 and still, still looking to fill positions as well. Okay. It's quite challenging, you know, for us, at the executive level, to find people that are strategic and understand how to move the company forward. This, this, becomes a, a, a challenge for us, in, in, in finding, finding the executives, that can help us, grow the company as well. Okay. I think that's it. Okay. Thank you, Brian. Okay. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.