Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

Description of Business

Maxwell Technologies, Inc. is a Delaware corporation originally incorporated in 1965 under the name Maxwell Laboratories, Inc. In 1983, the Company completed an initial public offering, and in 1996, changed its name to Maxwell Technologies, Inc. The Company is headquartered in San Diego, California, and has three manufacturing facilities located in San Diego, California; Rossens, Switzerland; and Peoria, Arizona. In addition, the Company has two contract manufacturers located in China. Maxwell operates as one operating segment called High Reliability, which is comprised of three product lines:

•

Ultracapacitors: The Company’s primary focus, ultracapacitors, are energy storage devices that possess a unique combination of high power density, extremely long operational life and the ability to charge and discharge very rapidly. The Company’s ultracapacitor cells and multi-cell packs and modules provide highly reliable energy storage and power delivery solutions for applications in multiple industries, including transportation, automotive, information technology, renewable energy and industrial electronics.

•

High-Voltage Capacitors: The Company’s CONDIS^® high-voltage capacitors are designed and manufactured to perform reliably for decades in all climates. These products include grading and coupling capacitors and capacitive voltage dividers that are used to ensure the safety and reliability of electric utility infrastructure and other applications involving transport, distribution and measurement of high-voltage electrical energy.

•

Radiation-Hardened Microelectronic Products: The Company’s radiation-hardened microelectronic products for satellites and spacecraft include single board computers and components, such as high-density memory and power modules. Many of these products incorporate our proprietary RADPAK^® packaging and shielding technology and novel architectures that enable them to withstand the effects of environmental radiation and perform reliably in space.

The Company’s products are designed to perform reliably for the life of the products and systems into which they are integrated. The Company achieves high reliability through the application of proprietary technologies and rigorously controlled design, development, manufacturing and test processes.

Financial Statement Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Maxwell Technologies, Inc. and its subsidiaries and have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). All intercompany transactions and account balances have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company has prepared the accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and the standards of accounting measurement set forth in the Interim Reporting Topic of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”). Consequently, the Company has not necessarily included in this Form 10-Q all information and footnotes required for audited financial statements. In the opinion of the Company’s management, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-Q contain all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, except as otherwise indicated) necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows of Maxwell Technologies, Inc. for all periods presented. The results reported in these condensed consolidated financial statements should not be regarded as necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for any subsequent period or for the entire year. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Company’s latest Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in the annual financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted in the accompanying interim consolidated financial statements. The year-end condensed balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by U.S. GAAP.

Reclassifications

Certain prior period amounts in the consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2013 and consolidated statement of cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. These reclassifications do not impact reported net income (loss) and do not otherwise have a material impact on the presentation of the overall financial statements.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts and related disclosures. These estimates include, but are not limited to, assessing the collectability of accounts receivable, applied and unapplied production costs, production capacities, the usage and recoverability of inventories and long-lived assets, including deferred income taxes, the incurrence of warranty obligations, impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, estimation of the cost to complete certain projects, accruals for estimated losses from legal matters, and estimation of the value of stock-based compensation awards, including the probability that the performance criteria of restricted stock awards will be met.

Valuation Allowance on Deferred Tax Asset

At September 30, 2014, the Company has a cumulative valuation allowance recorded offsetting its worldwide net deferred tax assets of $59.5 million, of which the significant majority represents the valuation allowance on its U.S. net deferred tax asset. The Company has established a valuation allowance against its U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty surrounding the realization of such assets. Management periodically evaluates the recoverability of the deferred tax assets and at such time as it is determined that it is more likely than not that U.S. deferred tax assets are realizable, the valuation allowance will be reduced accordingly. Any such release would result in recording a tax benefit that would increase net income in the period the valuation is released.

Warranty Obligation

The Company provides warranties on all product sales. The majority of the Company’s warranties are for one to four years in the normal course of business. The Company accrues for the estimated warranty costs at the time of sale based on historical warranty experience plus any known or expected changes in warranty exposure.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is derived primarily from the sale of manufactured products directly to customers. Product revenue is recognized, according to the guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) Numbers 101, Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements, and 104, Revenue Recognition, when all of the following criteria are met: (1) persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists (upon contract signing or receipt of an authorized purchase order from a customer); (2) title passes to the customer at either shipment from the Company’s facilities or receipt at the customer facility, depending on shipping terms; (3) customer payment is deemed fixed or determinable and free of contingencies or significant uncertainties; and (4) collectability is reasonably assured. This policy has been consistently applied from period to period.

Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011, for three distributors of the Company's products, the Company offered extended payment terms which allowed these distributors to pay the Company after they received payment from their customer, with respect to certain sales transactions. Also beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011, for one other distributor of the Company's products, the Company offered return rights and profit margin protection with respect to certain sales transactions. Therefore, for these four distributors, the Company determined that the revenue recognition criteria of SAB 101 and 104 were not met at the time of shipment, as there was no fixed or determinable price, nor was collection reasonably assured, at least with respect to certain sales transactions. As a result, for the three distributors provided with extended payment terms, which did not provide for a fixed or determinable price, the Company deferred the recognition of revenue on all sales beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011 to the period in which cash is received. For the one distributor provided with return rights and profit margin protection, for which the Company could not estimate exposure, the Company deferred the recognition of revenue on all sales beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011 until the distributor confirmed to the Company that it was not entitled to any further returns or credits. During the third quarter of 2013, this distributor confirmed to the Company that it was not entitled to any further returns or credits, therefore, previously unrecognized revenue related to this distributor was recognized in the quarter ended September 30, 2013. Although the Company had deferred revenue recognition for a significant amount of sales to these four distributors through the quarter ended September 30, 2013, subsequent to this date the amount of deferred revenue related to these distributors has been insignificant.

In addition to the deferred revenue arrangements discussed in the preceding paragraph, revenue is not recognized for sales that do not meet the revenue recognition criteria at the time of sale. Revenue is recognized once all of the criteria for revenue recognition are determined to have been met. For example, if the Company does not believe that collection of the sales price is reasonably assured at the time of sale, it defers revenue recognition until cash is received.

As of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, cumulative sales totaling $3.3 million and $4.5 million, respectively, had not yet been recognized as revenue. The Company has recorded the cost basis of inventory shipped to customers prior to the achievement of the revenue recognition criteria of approximately $2.3 million and $2.5 million at September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively, in "inventory" in the consolidated balance sheets.

If the Company receives cash payment from the customer prior to the achievement of the revenue recognition criteria, the amount received from the customer is recorded as deferred revenue in the consolidated balance sheets. Total deferred revenue and customer deposits in the consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013 of $2.8 million and $1.0 million, respectively, relates to cash received from customers on sales for which the revenue recognition criteria had not been achieved, customer advances, as well as other less significant customer arrangements requiring the deferral of revenue.

Net Income (Loss) per Share

In accordance with the Earnings Per Share Topic of the FASB ASC, basic net income (loss) per share is calculated using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net income per share includes the impact of additional common shares that would have been outstanding if potentially dilutive common shares were issued. Potentially dilutive securities are not considered in the calculation of diluted net loss per share, as their inclusion would be anti-dilutive. The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted net income per share (in thousands, except per share data):



	Three Months Ended					Nine Months Ended
	September 30,					September 30,
	2014			2013		2014			2013
Numerator
Net income (loss)	$	(3,292	)	$	6,027	$	(4,154	)	$	9,154
Denominator
Weighted-average common shares outstanding	29,284			28,884		29,146			28,857
Effect of potentially dilutive securities:
Options to purchase common stock	—			35		—			17
Restricted stock awards	—			1		—			4
Restricted stock unit awards	—			20		—			5
Weighted-average common shares outstanding, assuming dilution	29,284			28,940		29,146			28,883
Net income (loss) per share
Basic	$	(0.11	)	$	0.21	$	(0.14	)	$	0.32
Diluted	$	(0.11	)	$	0.21	$	(0.14	)	$	0.32

The following table summarizes instruments that may be convertible into common shares that are not included in the denominator used in the diluted net income (loss) per share calculation because to do so would be anti-dilutive (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended		Nine Months Ended
	September 30,		September 30,
	2014	2013	2014	2013
Outstanding options to purchase common stock	701	543	701	743
Unvested restricted stock awards	543	455	543	455
Unvested restricted stock unit awards	168	—	168	13

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASU 2014-09”). The standard provides companies with a single model for accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers and supersedes current revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific revenue guidance. The core principle of the model is to recognize revenue when control of the goods or services transfers to the customer, as opposed to recognizing revenue when the risks and rewards transfer to the customer under the existing revenue guidance. ASU 2014-09 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016. Early adoption is not permitted. The guidance permits companies to either apply the requirements retrospectively to all prior periods presented, or apply the requirements in the year of adoption, through a cumulative adjustment. The Company is in the process of evaluating the impact of adoption on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-15, Disclosure of Uncertainties About an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. The standard requires management to perform interim and annual assessments of an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year of the date the financial statements are issued and provides guidance on determining when and how to disclose going concern uncertainties in the financial statements. Certain disclosures will be required if conditions give rise to substantial doubt about an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern. ASU 2014-15 applies to all entities and is effective for annual and interim reporting periods ending after December 15, 2016, with early adoption permitted. The Company does not expect that the adoption of this standard will have a material effect on its financial statements.