Edgar Filing: CUTERA INC

cutr20151231_10k.htm Table Of Contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For fiscal year ended December 31, 2015

Commission file number: 000-50644

Cutera, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	77-0492262
(State or other jurisdiction of	(I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)	Identification Number)

3240 Bayshore Blvd.

Brisbane, California 94005

(415) 657-5500

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class	Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, $0.001 par value per share	The NASDAQ Stock Market, LLC

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period than the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See the definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act (check one):

Large accelerated

filer ☐

Accelerated

filer ☒

Non-accelerated filer (Do not check if a smaller

reporting company) ☐

Smaller reporting

company ☐

Table Of Contents

Indicate by check mark whether registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock, held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2015 (which is the last business day of registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) based upon the closing price of such stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on June 30, 2015, was approximately $116 million. For purposes of this disclosure, shares of common stock held by entities and individuals who own 5% or more of the outstanding common stock and shares of common stock held by each officer and director have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be “affiliates” as that term is defined under the Rules and Regulations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily conclusive.

The number of shares of Registrant’s common stock issued and outstanding as of February 29, 2016 was 12,992,503.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III incorporates by reference certain information from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Table Of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

		Page
PART I

Item 1.	Business	3
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	17
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	29
Item 2.	Properties	29
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	29
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	29

PART II

Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	29
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	32
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	33
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	45
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	46
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	75
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	75
Item 9B.	Other Information	76

PART III

Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	76
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	77
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	77
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	77
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	77

PART IV

Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	78

Table Of Contents

PART I

ITEM 1.

BUSINESS

We are a global medical device company founded as a Delaware corporation in 1998, headquartered in Brisbane, California, specializing in the design, development, manufacture, marketing and servicing of laser and other energy based aesthetics systems for practitioners worldwide. We offer easy-to-use products based on the following key product platforms: enlighten^TM, excel HR^TM, truSculpt^TM , excel V^TM, and xeo^®— each of which enables physicians and other qualified practitioners to perform safe and effective aesthetic procedures for their customers. Each of our laser and other energy-based platforms consists of one or more hand pieces and a console that incorporates a universal graphical user interface, a laser or other energy-based module, control system software and high voltage electronics. However, depending on the application, the laser or other energy-based module is sometimes contained in the hand piece itself.

Our trademarks include: "Cutera," “CoolGlide,”“enlighten,” “excel HR,” “excel V,” “GenesisPlus,”“solera,” “titan,” “truSculpt,” and “xeo.” Our logo and our other trade names, trademarks and service marks appearing in this document are our property. Other trade names, trademarks and service marks appearing in this annual report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, our trademarks and trade names referred to in this annual report on Form 10-K appear without the ™ or ^®symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names.

A description of each of our hand pieces, and the aesthetic conditions they are designed to treat, is contained in the section below entitled “Products” and a summary of the features of our primary products is as follows:

●

enlighten- In December 2014, we introduced our enlighten platform, a dual wavelength (1064 nm + 532 nm) and dual pulse duration (750 picosecond, or “ps,” and 2 nanosecond, or “ns”) laser system for tattoo removal and the treatment of benign pigmented lesions. In June 2015 we added a low-energy 532 nm enhancement to this platform, which significantly extended the treatment settings, enabling more effective treatment of benign pigmented lesions.

●

excel HR- In June 2014, we introduced our excel HR platform, a premium hair removal solution for all skin types, combining Cutera’s proven long-pulse 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser and a high-power 755 nm Alexandrite laser with sapphire contact cooling.

●

truSculpt- In August 2012, we commenced shipments of our truSculpt platform with a 25cm² hand piece. truSculpt is a high-powered radio frequency (“RF”) platform designed for deep tissue heating. This system is designed to treat all body areas and with its unique electrode design is able to achieve comfortable, uniform heating of subcutaneous tissue. In the fourth quarter of 2012, we commenced shipping a larger 40cm² hand piece that enables faster treatments of larger areas. In the third quarter of 2013, we commenced shipping a smaller 16 cm²hand piece.

●

excel V- In February 2011, we introduced our excel V platform, a high-performance, vascular and benign pigmented lesion treatment platform designed specifically for the core-market of Dermatologists and Plastic Surgeons. This platform provides a combination of the 532 nanometer, or “nm” green laser with Cutera’s^® award-winning 1064 nm Nd:YAG technology, to provide a single, compact and efficient system that treats the entire range of cosmetic vascular and benign pigmented lesion conditions, without the need for costly consumables.

●

xeo- In 2003, we introduced the xeo platform, which can combine pulsed light and laser applications in a single system. The xeo is a multi-application platform on which a customer can purchase hand piece applications for the removal of unwanted hair, treatment of vascular lesions, and skin revitalization by treating discoloration, and treating fine lines and laxity.

Other than the above mentioned five primary systems, we continue to generate revenue from our legacy products such as GenesisPlus^TM, CoolGlide^®, solera^®, and a third-party sourced system called myQ^TM for the Japanese market.

We offer our customers the ability to select the systems and applications that best fit their practice and to subsequently upgrade their systems to add new applications. This upgrade path allows our customers to cost-effectively build their aesthetic practices and provides us with a source of incremental revenue.

In addition to systems and upgrades, we generate revenue from the sale of post warranty services, Titan hand piece refills, and skincare products (Japanese market only).

The Structure of Skin and Conditions that Affect Appearance

The skin is the body’s largest organ and is comprised of two layers called the epidermis and dermis. The epidermis is the outer layer, and serves as a protective barrier for the body. It contains cells that determine pigmentation, or skin color. The underlying layer of skin, the dermis, contains hair follicles and large and small blood vessels that are found at various depths below the epidermis. Collagen, also found within the dermis, provides strength and flexibility to the skin.

Table Of Contents

Many factors, including advancing age, smoking, and sun damage, can result in aesthetically unpleasant changes in the appearance of the skin. These changes can include:

●

Undesirable hair growth;

●

Enlargement or swelling of blood vessels due to circulatory changes that become visible at the skin’s surface in the form of unsightly veins;

●

Deterioration of collagen, leading to uneven texture, wrinkles and skin laxity; and

●

Uneven pigmentation or sun spots due to long-term sun exposure.

In addition to these skin conditions, people seek removal of unwanted tattoos as well as removal of fat in certain body areas in order to improve their appearance and confidence.

The Market for Non-Surgical Aesthetic Procedures

The market for non-surgical aesthetic procedures has grown significantly over the past several years. Medical Insight, an independent industry research and analysis firm, estimated that in 2015 total sales of products in the global aesthetic market exceeded $7 billion and indicates that total sales should increase 11.8% annually through 2019. For North America, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimates that in 2014 there were over 13.9 million minimally-invasive aesthetic procedures performed, a 4% increase over 2013 and a 154% increase over 2000.

We believe there are several factors contributing to the global growth of aesthetic treatment procedures and aesthetic laser equipment sales, including:

●

Improved Economic Environment and Expanded Physician Base- The improvements in overall global economic conditions since the last recession has created increased demand for aesthetic procedures, which in turn has resulted in an expanding physician base to satisfy the demand.

●

Aging Demographics of Industrialized Countries- The aging population of industrialized countries, the amount of discretionary income available to the “baby boomer” demographic segment ─ ages 51 to 69 in 2015 ─ and their desire to retain a youthful appearance, has increased the demand for aesthetic procedures. In 2015, there were approximately 75 million people in the baby boomer category, which is nearly 25%, of the U.S. population.

●

Broader Range of Safe and Effective Treatments- Technical developments, as well as advances in treatable conditions with new product introductions, have led to safe, effective, easy-to-use and low-cost treatments with fewer side effects, resulting in broader adoption of aesthetic procedures by practitioners. In addition, technical developments have enabled practitioners to offer a broader range of treatments. These technical developments have reduced the required treatment and recovery times, which in turn have led to greater patient demand.

●

Broader Base of Customers- Managed care and government payer reimbursement restrictions on physicians, has motivated them to establish or seek to expand their elective aesthetic practices with procedures that are paid for directly by patients. As a result, in addition to the core users such as dermatologists and plastic surgeons, many other non-core practitioners, such as gynecologists, family practitioners, primary care physicians, physicians offering aesthetic treatments in non-medical offices, and other qualified practitioners have expanded their practices and are offering aesthetic procedures.

●

Reductions in Cost per Procedure: Due in part to increased competition in the aesthetic market, the cost per procedure has been reduced in the past few years. This has attracted a broader base of clients and patients for aesthetic procedures.

●

Wide Acceptance of Aesthetic Procedures and Increased Focus on Body Image and Appearance- According to an ASAPS survey in 2010, 51% of Americans (including 53% of women and 49% of men) approved of cosmetic surgery, and 67% of Americans responded that they would not be embarrassed if their friends or family knew they had undergone a cosmetic procedure. Broader social acceptance of aesthetic treatments, has also driven the growth in aesthetic procedures.

Non-Surgical Aesthetic Procedures for Improving the Skin’s Appearance and Their Limitations

Many alternative therapies are available for improving a person’s appearance by treating specific structures within the skin. These procedures utilize injections or abrasive agents to reach different depths of the dermis and the epidermis. In addition, non-invasive and minimally-invasive treatments have been developed that employ laser and other energy-based technologies to achieve similar therapeutic results. Some of these more common therapies and their limitations are described below.

Hair Removal- Techniques for hair removal include waxing, depilatories, tweezing, shaving, electrolysis and laser and other energy-based hair removal. The only techniques that provide a long-lasting solution are electrolysis and other energy-based hair removal. Electrolysis is usually painful, time-consuming and expensive for large areas, but is the most common method for removing light-colored hair. During electrolysis, an electrologist inserts a needle directly into a hair follicle and activates an electric current in the needle. Since electrolysis only treats one hair follicle at a time, the treatment of an area as small as an upper lip may require numerous visits and many hours of treatment. In addition, electrolysis can cause blemishes and infection related to needle use.

Table Of Contents

Leg and Facial Veins- Current aesthetic treatment methods for leg and facial veins include sclerotherapy and laser and other energy-based treatments. With these treatments, patients seek to eliminate visible veins and improve overall skin appearance. Sclerotherapy requires a skilled practitioner to inject a saline or detergent-based solution into the target vein, which breaks down the vessel causing it to collapse and be absorbed into the body. The need to correctly position the needle on the inside of the vein makes it difficult to treat smaller veins, which limits the treatment of facial vessels and small leg veins. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimates that approximately 321,000 sclerotherapy procedures were performed in 2013.

Tattoo removal- The only effective way to remove tattoos on the body is to utilize laser systems that deliver very short pulse durations with high peak power intensity in order to break up the ink particles that tattoos are comprised of. According to a Tattoo Incidence Study published in ORC International in June 2015, up to 27% of Americans have one or more tattoos, and that 1 in 4 tattoo bearing American adults have “tattoo regret”. Despite the effectiveness of lasers for tattoo removal, common complaints concerning laser tattoo removal center upon a low rate of complete clearance (sometimes no better than 50% after several treatments) as well as the high number of treatments for satisfactory clearance (often 10 or more treatments spaced 4-8 weeks apart). The latest generation of picosecond pulse duration lasers, pulses in the trillionths of a second, meaningfully improve clearance as well as a reduction in total number of treatments.

Skin Rejuvenation- Skin rejuvenation treatments include a broad range of popular alternatives, including Botox and collagen injections, chemical peels, microdermabrasions, radio frequency treatments and lasers and other energy-based treatments. With these treatments, patients hope to improve overall skin tone and texture, reduce pore size, tighten skin and remove other signs of aging, including mottled pigmentation, diffuse redness and wrinkles. All of these procedures are temporary solutions and must be repeated within several weeks or months to sustain their effect, thereby increasing the cost and inconvenience to patients. For example, the body absorbs Botox and collagen and patients require supplemental injections every three to six months to maintain the benefits of these treatments.

Some skin rejuvenation treatments, such as chemical peels and microdermabrasion, can have undesirable side effects. Chemical peels use acidic or caustic solutions to peel away the epidermis, and microdermabrasion generally utilizes sand crystals to resurface the skin. These techniques can lead to stinging, redness, irritation and scabbing. In addition, more serious complications, such as changes in skin color, can result from deeper chemical peels. Patients that undergo these deep chemical peels are also advised to avoid exposure to the sun for several months following the procedure. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimates that in 2014, approximately 6.7 million injections of Botulinum Toxin and 2.3 million injections of collagen and other soft-tissue fillers were administered; and 1.25 million chemical peels and 882,000 microdermabrasion procedures were performed.

In radio frequency tissue tightening, energy is applied to heat the dermis of the skin with the goal of shrinking and tightening collagen fibers. This approach may result in a more subtle and incremental change to the skin than a surgical facelift. Drawbacks to this approach may include surface irregularities that may however resolve over time, and the risk of burning the treatment area.

Laser and other energy-based non-surgical treatments for hair removal, veins, skin rejuvenation and body contouring are discussed in the following section and in the section entitled “Our Applications and Procedures” below.

Laser and Other Energy-Based Aesthetic Treatments

Laser and other energy-based aesthetic treatments can achieve therapeutic results by affecting structures within the skin. The development of safe and effective aesthetic treatments has created a well-established market for these procedures.

Ablative skin resurfacing is a method of improving the appearance of the skin by removing the outer layers of the skin. Ablative skin resurfacing procedures are considered invasive or minimally invasive, depending on how much of the epidermis is removed during a treatment. Non-ablative skin resurfacing is a method of improving the appearance of the skin by treating the underlying structure of the skin without damaging the outer layers of the skin. Practitioners can use laser and other energy-based technologies to selectively target hair follicles, veins or collagen in the dermis, as well as cells responsible for pigmentation in the epidermis, without damaging surrounding tissue. Practitioners can also use these technologies to safely remove portions of the epidermis and deliver heat to the dermis as a means of generating new collagen growth.

Safe and effective laser and energy-based treatments require an appropriate combination of the following four parameters:

●

Energy Level- the amount of light or radio frequency emitted to heat a target;

●

Pulse Duration- the time interval over which the energy is delivered;

●

Spot Size or Electrode Size- the diameter of the energy beam, which affects treatment depth and area; and

●

Wavelength or Frequency- the position in the electromagnetic spectrum which impacts the absorption and therefore the effective depth of the energy delivered.

Table Of Contents

For example, in the case of hair removal, by utilizing the correct combination of these parameters, a practitioner can use a laser or other light source to selectively target melanin within the hair follicle to absorb the laser energy and destroy the follicle, without damaging other delicate structures in the surrounding tissue. Wavelength and spot size permit the practitioner to target melanin in the base of the hair follicle, which is found in the dermis. The combination of pulse duration and energy level may vary, depending upon the thickness of the targeted hair follicle. A shorter pulse length with a high energy level is optimal to destroy fine hair, whereas coarse hair is best treated with a longer pulse length with lower energy levels. If treatment parameters are improperly set, non-targeted structures within the skin may absorb the energy thereby eliminating or reducing the therapeutic effect. In addition, improper setting of the treatment parameters or failure to protect the surface of the skin may cause burns, which can result in blistering, scabbing and skin discoloration.

Technology and Design of Our Systems

Our unique xeo, GenesisPlus, excel V, truSculpt, excel HR and enlighten platforms provide the long-lasting benefits of laser and other energy-based aesthetic treatments. Our technology allows for a combination of a wide variety of applications available in a single system. Key features of our solutions include:

●

Multiple Applications Available in a Single System- Our platforms feature multiple-applications that enable practitioners to perform a variety of aesthetic procedures using a single device. These procedures include hair removal, vascular treatments and skin rejuvenation ─ including the treatment of discoloration, fine lines, and uneven texture. Because practitioners can use our systems for multiple indications, the cost of a unit may be spread across a potentially greater number of patients and procedures and therefore may be more rapidly recovered.

●

Technology and Design Leadership- We offer innovative laser and other energy-based solutions for the aesthetic market. Our laser technology combines long wavelength, adjustable energy levels, variable spot sizes and a wide range of pulse durations, allowing practitioners to customize treatments for each patient and condition. Our proprietary pulsed light hand pieces for the treatment of discoloration, hair removal and vascular treatments optimize the wavelength used for treatments and incorporate a monitoring system to increase safety. Our Titan hand pieces utilize a novel light source that had not been previously used for aesthetic treatments. Our Pearl and Pearl Fractional hand pieces, with proprietary YSGG technology, represent the first application of the 2790 nm wavelength for minimally-invasive cosmetic dermatology. excel V is a stand-alone laser device that combines a new high power green laser with Cutera's award winning Nd:YAG technology, to provide a system that treats the entire range of cosmetic vascular conditions, without the need for costly consumables. truSculpt is a mono-polar radio frequency platform and has a unique electrode design that delivers high-powered energy at 1 MHz for the deep and uniform heating of the subcutaneous tissues at sustained therapeutic temperatures. This system includes real-time skin temperature sensing and a large 40cm²surface area for faster treatments over large areas of the body.

●

Upgradeable Platform- We have designed some of our products to allow our customers to cost-effectively upgrade to our multi-application systems (solera and xeo), which provide our customers with the option to add additional applications to their existing systems and provides us with a source of incremental revenue. We believe that product upgradeability allows our customers to take advantage of our latest product offerings and provide additional treatment options to their patients, thereby expanding the opportunities for their aesthetic practices.

●

Treatments for Broad Range of Skin Types and Conditions- Our products remove hair safely and effectively on patients of all skin types, including harder-to-treat patients with dark or tanned skin. In addition, the wide parameter range of our systems allows practitioners to effectively treat patients with both fine and coarse hair. Practitioners may use our products to treat spider and reticular veins (unsightly small veins in the leg); facial veins; and perform skin rejuvenation procedures for discoloration, texture, fine lines, and wrinkles on any type of skin. The ability to customize treatment parameters enables practitioners to offer safe and effective therapies to a broad base of their patients.

●

Ease of Use- We design our products to be easy to use. Our proprietary hand pieces are lightweight and ergonomic, minimizing user fatigue, and allow for clear views of the treatment area, reducing the possibility of unintended damage and increasing the speed of application. Our control console contains a universal graphical user interface with three simple, independently adjustable controls from which to select a wide range of treatment parameters to suit each patient’s profile. The clinical navigation user interface on the xeo platform provides recommended clinical treatment parameter ranges based on patient criteria entered. And our Pearl and Pearl Fractional hand pieces include a scanner with multiple scan patterns to allow simple and fast treatments of the face. Risks involved in the use of our products include risks common to other laser and other energy-based aesthetic procedures, including the risk of burns, blistering and skin discoloration.

Strategy

Our goal is to maintain and expand our position as a leading, worldwide, provider of energy-based aesthetic devices and complementary aesthetic products by executing the following strategies:

●

Continue to Expand our Product Offering- Though we believe that our current portfolio of products is comprehensive, our research and development group has a pipeline of potential products under development that we expect to commercialize in the future. We launched GenesisPlus in 2010, excel V in 2011, truSculpt in 2012, the ProWave LX and truSculpt 16 cm² hand pieces in 2013 and excel HR and enlighten in 2014. Such products will allow us to leverage our existing customer call points and provide us with new customer call points which will enhance the productivity of our distribution channels.

●

Increasing Revenue and Improving Productivity- We believe that the market for aesthetic systems will continue to offer growth opportunities. We continue to build brand recognition, add additional products to our international distribution channel, and are focused on enhancing our global distribution network, all of which we expect will increase our revenue.

●

Increasing Focus on Practitioners with Established Medical Offices- We believe there is growth opportunity in targeting our products to a broad customer base. We believe that our customers’ success is largely dependent upon having an existing medical practice, in which our systems provide incremental revenue sources to augment their practice revenue. The success of our excel V platform has resulted from strong adoption by core customers in dermatology and plastic and reconstructive surgery.

●

Leveraging our Installed Base - With the introduction of excel V, truSculpt, and now excel HR and enlighten, we are able to effectively offer additional platforms into our existing installed base. In addition, each of these platforms allows for potential future upgrades to offer additional indications or capabilities. We believe this program aligns our interest in generating revenue with our customers’ interest in improving the return on their investment by expanding the range of applications that can be performed in their practice.

●

Generating Revenue from Services and Refillable Hand Pieces- Our Titan and pulsed-light hand pieces are refillable products, which provide us with a source of recurring revenue from our existing customers. We offer post-warranty services to our customers either through extended service contracts to cover preventive maintenance or through direct billing for parts and labor. These post-warranty services serve as additional sources of recurring revenue.

Table Of Contents

Products

Our CoolGlide, xeo, solera, GenesisPlus, excel V, truSculpt, myQ, excel HR and enlighten platforms allow for the delivery of multiple laser and energy-based aesthetic applications from a single system. With our xeo and solera platforms, practitioners can purchase customized systems with a variety of our multi-technology applications.

The following table lists our currently offered products and each checked box represents the applications that were included in the product in the years noted. In the fourth quarter of 2014, we discontinued the manufacture and sale of the VariLite product, but continue to provide services for this product to our existing installed base of customers.

Applications:

Hair

Removal:

Vascular Lesions:

Skin Rejuvenation

Non

Invasive

Body

Contouring*:

System

Platforms:

Products:

Year:

Energy

Source:

Dyschromia:

Texture,

Lines and

Wrinkles:

Skin

Laxity:

Melasma

&Tattoo

Removal:

CoolGlide

2000

Excel

2001

Vantage

2002

xeo

Nd:YAG

2003

OPS600

2003

LP560

2004

Titan S

2004

ProWave 770

2005

AcuTip 500

2005

Titan V/XL

2006

LimeLight

2006

Pearl

2007

Pearl Fractional

2008

ProWave LX

2013

solera

Titan S

2004

ProWave 770

2005

OPS 600

2005

LP560

2005

AcuTip 500

2005

Titan V/XL

2006

LimeLight

2006

GenesisPlus

2010

excel V

2011

myQ

2011

truSculpt

2012

excel HR

2014

enlighten

2014

* Our CE Mark allows us to market the truSculpt in the European Union, Australia and certain other countries outside the U.S. for fat reduction, body shaping and body contouring. In the U.S. we have 510(k) clearance for the purpose of elevating tissue temperature for the treatment of selected medical conditions such as relief of pain, muscle spasms, increase in local circulation, and the temporary improvement in the appearance of cellulite.

Table Of Contents

Energy Source: a. 1064nm Nd:YAG laser; b. flashlamp; c. Infrared laser; d. 2790 nm YSGG laser; e. combined frequency-doubled 532 nm and 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser; f. combined frequency-doubled 532 nm and 940 nm diode laser; g. radio frequency at 1 MHz; h. combined frequency 755 nm Alexandrite laser and 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser

Each of our products consists of a control console and one or more hand pieces, depending on the model.

Control Console

Our control console includes a universal graphical user interface, control system software and high voltage electronics. All CoolGlide systems, GenesisPlus, excel V and some models of the xeo platform, include our laser module which consists of electronics, a visible aiming beam, a focusing lens, and an Nd:YAG and/or flashlamp laser that functions at wavelengths that permit penetration over a wide range of depths and is effective across all skin types. The interface allows the practitioner to set the appropriate laser or flashlamp parameters for each procedure through a user-friendly format. The control system software ensures that the operator’s instructions are properly communicated from the graphic user interface to the other components within the system. Our high voltage electronics produce over 10,000 watts of peak laser energy, which permits therapeutic effects at short pulse durations. Our solera console platform comes in two configurations—Opus and Titan—both of which include a universal graphical user interface, control system software and high voltage electronics. The solera Opus console is designed specifically to drive our flashlamp hand pieces while the solera Titan console is designed specifically to drive the Titan hand pieces. The control system software is designed to ensure that the operator’s instructions are properly communicated from the graphical user interface to the other components within the system and includes real-time calibration to control the output energy as the pulse is delivered during the treatment. Our truSculpt control console includes a high-powered, mono-polar RF generator at 1MHz capable of delivering up to 300 watts of energy. The truSculpt system dynamically adjusts current, voltage and power during treatment as needed to reach and maintain the appropriate treatment levels.

Hand Pieces

1064 nm Nd:YAG Hand Piece- Our 1064nm Nd:YAG hand piece delivers laser energy to the treatment area for hair removal, leg and facial vein treatment, and skin rejuvenation procedures to treat skin texture and fine lines. The 1064nm Nd:YAG hand piece consists of an energy-delivery component, consisting of an optical fiber and lens, and a copper cooling plate with imbedded temperature monitoring. The hand piece weighs approximately 14 ounces, which is light enough to be held with one hand. The lightweight nature and ergonomic design of the hand piece allows the operation of the device without user fatigue. Its design allows the practitioner an unobstructed view of the treatment area, which reduces the possibility of unintended damage to the skin and can increase the speed of treatment. The 1064nm Nd:YAG hand piece also incorporates our cooling system, providing integrated pre- and post-cooling of the treatment area through a temperature-controlled copper plate to protect the outer layer of the skin. The hand piece is available in either a fixed 10 millimeter spot size for our CoolGlide CV system, or a user-controlled variable 3, 5, 7 or 10 millimeter spot size for our CoolGlide Excel and CoolGlide Vantage systems.

excel V Hand Piece- The excel V system introduced in February 2011 delivers 1064 nm and 532 nm laser energy to the skin for the treatment of vascular and benign pigmented lesion. The excel V system supports two hand pieces, both consisting of an energy-delivery component housing an optical fiber and lens. One hand piece includes a sapphire window cooling plate with temperature monitoring. This hand piece offer a spot size range from 1.5 to 12 mm in 0.1 mm increments, and is capable of delivering either the 1064 nm or 532 nm laser energy. The second hand piece does not have a cooling plate and includes a non-contact temperature sensor to monitor the treatment area temperature. In addition, this second hand piece includes dual aiming beams that facilitate consistent treatments by maintaining the correct distance of the hand piece to the skin to ensure that the fixed 8 mm spot size is maintained.

GenesisPlus Hand Piece- Our GenesisPlus system launched in 2010 delivers 1064 nm laser energy to the treatment area for the temporary increase of clear nail in patients with onychomycosis and for the treatment of fine wrinkles, diffuse redness and rosacea. This lightweight 1064nm Nd:YAG hand piece consists of an energy-delivery component, housing an optical fiber and lens. The hand piece includes a non-contact temperature sensor to monitor the treatment area temperature. In addition, the hand piece includes dual, coaxial aiming beams that facilitate consistent treatments by maintaining the correct distance of the hand piece to the skin. This hand piece offers a single 5 mm spot size.

Pulsed Light Hand Piece- The LP560, ProWave 770, ProWave LX, AcuTip 500, and LimeLight hand pieces are designed to produce a pulse of light over a wavelength spectrum to treat discoloration such as age and sun spots and other dyschromia, hair removal, and superficial facial vessels. The hand pieces each consist of a custom flashlamp, proprietary wavelength filter, closed-loop power control and embedded temperature monitor, and weigh approximately 13 ounces. The filter in the AcuTip 500 eliminates long and short wavelengths, transmitting only the therapeutic range required for safe and effective treatment. The filter in the LP560, ProWave 770, ProWave LX, and LimeLight eliminates short wavelengths, allowing longer wavelengths to be transmitted to the treatment area. In addition, the wavelength spectrum of the ProWave 770 and the LimeLight can be shifted based on the setting of the control console. Our power control includes a monitoring system to ensure that the desired energy level is delivered. The hand pieces protect the epidermis by regulating the temperature of the hand piece window through the embedded temperature monitor. These hand pieces are available on the xeo and solera platforms.

Table Of Contents

Titan Hand Piece- The Titan hand pieces are designed to produce a sustained pulse of light over a wavelength spectrum tailored to induce heating in the dermis. We are aware that some practitioners use the Titan hand piece to treat skin laxity (although the hand piece is cleared in the U.S. by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, only for deep dermal heating). The hand piece consists of a custom light source, proprietary wavelength filter, closed-loop power control, sapphire cooling window and embedded temperature monitor, and weighs approximately three pounds. The temperature of the epidermis is controlled by using a sapphire window to provide cooling before, during and after the delivery of energy to the treatment site. We offer two different Titan hand pieces—Titan V and Titan XL.

●

Titan V- Titan V has a treatment tip that extends beyond the hand piece housing to provide enhanced visibility of the skin’s surface to effectively treat delicate areas such as the skin around the eyes and nose.

●

Titan XL- Titan XL, like the Titan V, has a treatment tip that extends beyond the housing for improved visibility. It also has a larger treatment spot size to treat larger body areas faster, such as the arms, abdomen and legs.

The Titan hand pieces can be used on the xeo and solera platforms. The Titan hand piece requires a periodic “refilling” process, which includes the replacement of the optical source, after a set number of pulses have been used. This provides us with a source of recurring revenue.

Pearl Hand Piece- The Pearl hand piece, introduced in 2007, is designed to treat fine lines, uneven texture and dyschromia through the application of proprietary YSGG laser technology. This hand piece can safely remove a small portion of the epidermis, while coagulating the remaining epidermis, leading to new collagen growth. The Pearl hand piece consists of a custom monolithic laser source, scanner and power monitoring electronics. The scanner includes multiple scan patterns to allow simple and fast treatments of the face. The hand piece includes an attachment for a smoke evacuator, allowing the practitioner to use one hand during treatment.

Pearl Fractional Hand Piece- The Pearl Fractional hand piece, introduced in 2008, also uses proprietary YSGG technology and is designed to treat wrinkles and deep dermal imperfections (although it is cleared in the U.S. by the FDA only for skin resurfacing and coagulation). This hand piece penetrates the deep dermis producing a series of micro-columns across the skin, which can result in the removal of damaged tissue and the production of new collagen. The Pearl Fractional hand piece consists of a custom monolithic laser source, scanner and power monitoring electronics. The scanner includes multiple scan patterns to allow simple and fast treatments of the face. The hand piece includes an attachment for a smoke evacuator, allowing the practitioner to use one hand during treatment.

truSculpt Hand Pieces- The truSculpt product introduced in August 2012 is used for the non-invasive heating of subcutaneous tissue. We sold three different truSculpt hand pieces in 2013. The original 25cm² hand piece (now discontinued), 40 cm²for larger body parts and the 16cm²for smaller parts of the body. Each of the truSculpt hand pieces is light weight and ergonomically designed for operator comfort, which allows for the uniform heat distribution delivered by the hand pieces. In addition, the hand pieces have a built-in, real time, temperature sensing system to monitor the temperature during the treatment.

excel HR Hand Piece- The dual wavelength excel HR system introduced in June 2014 delivers 1064 nm and 755 nm laser energy to the treatment area for hair removal. excel HR’s single hand piece consists of an energy-delivery component housing an optical fiber and lens. The hand piece features a sapphire window and peripheral cooling plate with temperature monitoring. The sapphire window allows for 30 watts of temperature regulation with user selectable settings ranging from 4 to 20 degrees centigrade and provides cooling of the skin before, during, and immediately after each laser pulse. This “pre, parallel, and post” cooling provides an anesthetic benefit that makes treatments more comfortable than systems without contact cooling, and also increases the safety profile of treatments by reducing the chances of burning skin. The hand piece has a wide spot-size range between 3 to 18 mm (5 to 18 mm, alexandrite mode).

enlighten Hand Piece- The dual wavelength and dual pulse mode enlighten system introduced in December 2014 delivers 532 nm and 1064 nm laser energy to treat benign pigmented lesions as well as the removal of multi-color tattoos. enlighten’s single hand piece consists of an energy-delivery component housing a motorized focus lens assembly connected to an articulated arm. The hand piece features spot size adjustability from 2 to 8mm, adjustable in 1 mm increments. As with all Cutera laser and light-based systems, the hand piece does not require manual power calibration through a separate calibration port. The power calibration is automatic and built into the laser system.

Upgrades

Our excel V, xeo and solera platforms are multi-application products that are designed to allow our customers to cost-effectively upgrade to our newest technologies, which provide our customers the option to add applications to their system and provides us with a source of additional revenue, which we treat as Product revenue.

Service

We offer post-warranty services to our customers through extended service contracts (that cover preventive maintenance and/or replacement parts and labor), or by direct billing for detachable hand piece replacements, parts and labor. These post-warranty services serve as additional sources of recurring revenue from our installed base.

Table Of Contents

Hand Piece Refills

We treat our customer’s purchase of replacement Titan or truSculpt hand pieces as “refill” revenue, which provides us with a source of recurring revenue from existing customers. Following the launch of truSculpt product in 2012, we charged customers for hand piece refills, however, beginning in the third quarter of 2013 we now include truSculpt refills as part of our standard warranty and service contract product offerings.

Skincare

We distribute ZO Skin Health, Inc.’s (“ZO”) physician-dispensed, topical skincare products and through the second quarter of 2014, we also distributed Merz’s Radiesse^® dermal filler product to physicians in the Japanese market.

Our Applications and Procedures

Our products are designed to allow the practitioner to select an appropriate combination of energy level, spot size and pulse duration for each treatment. The ability to manipulate the combinations of these parameters allows our customers to treat the broadest range of conditions available with a single energy-based system.

Hair Removal- Our laser technology allows our customers to treat all skin types and hair thicknesses. Our 1064 nm Nd:YAG and 755 nm Alexandrite lasers permits energy to safely penetrate through the epidermis of any skin type and into the dermis where the hair follicle is located. Using the universal graphic user interface on our control console, the practitioner sets parameters to deliver therapeutic energy with a large spot size and variable pulse durations, allowing the practitioner to treat fine or coarse hair. Our 1064nm Nd:YAG and 755 nm Alexandrite hand pieces allows our customers to treat all skin types, while our ProWave 770 and ProWave LX hand pieces, with pulsed light technology, treat the majority of skin types quickly and effectively.

For hair removal treatments, the treatment site on the skin is first cleaned and shaved. The practitioner then applies a thin layer of gel to improve contact and aid gliding of the hand piece across the skin. If using the CoolGlide 1064nm Nd:YAG hand piece, the hand piece is applied directly to the skin to cool the area to be treated, then moved and a laser pulse is delivered to the pre-cooled area. To remove hair using the excel HR, excel V, ProWave 770 and ProWave LX hand pieces, cooling is provided by a sapphire window placed directly on the skin, allowing the pulse of light to be applied while the treatment area is being cooled. In the case of both hand pieces, delivery of light which is converted to heat destroys the hair follicles and prevents hair re-growth. This procedure is then repeated at the next treatment site on the body, and can be done in a gliding motion to increase treatment speed. Patients receive on average three to six treatments. Each treatment can take between five minutes to one hour depending on the size of the area and the condition being treated. On average, there are six to eight weeks between treatments.

Vascular Lesions- Our laser technology allows our customers to treat the widest range of aesthetic vein conditions, including spider and reticular veins and small facial veins. Our CoolGlide and xeo 1064nm Nd:YAG hand piece’s adjustable spot size of 3, 5, 7 or 10 millimeters; the excel V 1064 nm and 532 nm hand piece with adjustable spot sizes from 1.5 to 12 mm; and the excel HR 1064 nm and 755 nm hand pieces with adjustable spot sizes from 3 mm to 18 mm, allows the practitioner to control treatment depth to target different sized veins. Selection of the appropriate energy level and pulse duration ensures effective treatment of the intended target. Our AcuTip 500 hand piece, with its 6 millimeter spot size, uses pulsed-light technology and is designed for the treatment of facial vessels.

The vein treatment procedure when using the 1064nm Nd:YAG hand piece is performed in a substantially similar manner to the laser hair removal procedure. The laser hand piece is used to cool the treatment area both before and after the laser pulse has been applied. With the excel V and excel HR hand pieces the cooling can be performed pre, during and post-delivery of the laser pulse. With the AcuTip 500 hand piece, the pulse of light is delivered while the treatment area is being cooled with the sapphire tip. The delivered energy damages the vein and, over time, it is absorbed by the body. Patients receive on average between one and six treatments, with six weeks or longer between treatments.

Skin Rejuvenation- Our Nd:YAG laser and other energy based technologies allow our customers to perform non-invasive and minimally-invasive treatments that reduce redness, fine lines and wrinkles, improve skin texture, and treat other aesthetic conditions.

Tattoo Removal- Our enlighten dual wavelength, dual pulse duration system featuring picosecond technology and our myQ Q-switched laser can be used for tattoo removal, for the treatment of benign pigmented lesions, and for laser skin toning.

Texture, Lines and Wrinkles- When using a 1064nm Nd:YAG laser to improve skin texture and treat fine lines, cooling is not applied and the hand piece is held directly above the skin. A large number of pulses are directed at the treatment site, repeatedly covering an area, such as the cheek. By delivering many pulses of laser light to a treatment area, a gentle heating of the dermis occurs and collagen growth is stimulated to rejuvenate the skin and reduce wrinkles. Patients typically receive four to six treatments for this procedure. The treatment typically takes less than a half hour and there are typically two to four weeks between treatments.

When treating texture and fine lines with a Pearl hand piece, the hand piece is held at a controlled distance from the skin and the scanner delivers a preset pattern of spots to the treatment area. Cooling is not applied to the epidermis during the treatment. The energy delivered by the hand piece ablates a portion of the epidermis while leaving a coagulated portion that will gently peel off over the course of a few days. Heat is also delivered into the dermis which can result in the production of new collagen. Treatment of the full face can usually be performed in 15 to 30 minutes. Patients receive on average between one and three treatments at monthly intervals.

Table Of Contents

When treating wrinkles and deep dermal imperfections with a Pearl Fractional hand piece, the hand piece is held at a controlled distance from the skin and the scanner delivers a preset pattern of spots to the treatment area. Cooling is not applied to the epidermis during the treatment. The energy delivered by the hand piece penetrates the deep dermis producing a series of micro-columns across the skin, which can result in the removal of damaged tissue and the production of new collagen. Treatment of the full face can usually be performed in less than an hour. Patients receive on average between one and three treatments at monthly intervals.

Our CE Mark allows us to market Pearl Fractional in the European Union, Australia and certain other countries outside the U.S. for the treatment of wrinkles and deep dermal imperfections. However, in the U.S. we have a 510(k) clearance only for skin resurfacing and coagulation.

Toenail Fungus- In addition to performing skin rejuvenation, our CE Mark allows us to market GenesisPlus in the European Union, Australia and certain other countries outside the U.S. for the treatment of onychomycosis (“toenail fungus”). Tiny pulses of light from an Nd:YAG laser pass through the toenail to the fungus underneath, which is irradiated without any damage to the surrounding nail or skin. The GenesisPlus has dual aiming beams that facilitate consistent treatments by maintaining the correct distance of the hand piece to the skin. In addition, during the treatment an integrated sensor is used to actively monitor the temperature of the treatment area. In the U.S. we have 510(k) clearance to market GenesisPlus for the temporary increase of clear nail in patients with onychomycosis.

Dyschromia- Our pulsed-light technologies allow our customers to safely and effectively treat red and brown dyschromia, which is skin discoloration, benign pigmented lesions, and rosacea. The practitioner delivers a narrow spectrum of light to the surface of the skin through our LP560 or LimeLight hand pieces. These hand pieces include one of our proprietary wavelength filters, which reduce the energy level required for therapeutic effect and minimize the risk of skin injury.

In treating benign pigmented lesions with a pulsed-light technology, the hand piece is placed directly on the skin and then the light pulse is triggered. The cells forming the pigmented lesion absorb the light energy, darken and then flake off over the course of two to three weeks. Several treatments may be required to completely remove the lesion. The treatment takes a few minutes per area treated and there are typically three to four weeks between treatments.

The 532 nm wavelength green laser option of the excel V and enlighten systems, as well as the 755 nm infrared wavelength of the excel HR, can be used to treat benign pigmented lesions in substantially the same way as described above with the pulsed light devices.

Practitioners can also treat dyschromia and other skin conditions with our Pearl hand piece. During these treatments, the heat delivered by the Pearl hand piece will remove the outer layer of the epidermis while coagulating a portion of the epidermis. That coagulated portion will gently peel off over the course of a few days, revealing a new layer of skin underneath. Treatment of the full face can usually be performed in 15 to 30 minutes. Patients receive on average between one and three treatments at monthly intervals.

Skin Laxity- Our Titan technology allows our customers to use deep dermal heating to tighten lax skin. The practitioner delivers a spectrum of light to the skin through our Titan hand piece. This hand piece includes our proprietary light source and wavelength filter which tailors the delivered spectrum of light to provide heating at the desired depth in the skin.

In treating skin laxity, the hand piece is placed directly on the skin and then the light pulse is triggered. A sustained pulse causes significant heating in the dermis. This heating can cause immediate collagen contraction while also stimulating long-term collagen re-growth. Several treatments may be required to obtain the desired degree of tightening of the skin. The treatment of a full face can take over an hour and there are typically four weeks between treatments.

Our CE Mark allows us to market the Titan in the European Union, Australia and certain other countries outside the U.S. for the treatment of wrinkles through skin tightening. However, in the U.S. we have a 510(k) clearance for only deep dermal heating.

Non-Invasive Body Contouring- our truSculpt technology allows physicians to apply a hand piece directly to the skin and deliver high-powered RF energy that results in the deep and uniform heating of the subcutaneous fat tissue at sustained therapeutic temperatures. This heating can cause selective destruction of fat cells, which are eliminated from the treatment area through the body’s natural wound healing processes. The treatment takes approximately 45 minutes and two or more treatments may be required to obtain the desired aesthetic results.

Our CE Mark allows us to market the truSculpt in the European Union, Australia and certain other countries outside the U.S. for fat reduction, body shaping and body contouring. In the U.S. we have 510(k) clearance for the purpose of elevating tissue temperature for the treatment of selected medical conditions such as relief of pain, muscle spasms, increase in local circulation, and the temporary improvement in the appearance of cellulite.

Table Of Contents

Sales and Marketing

In the U.S. we market and sell our products primarily through a direct sales organization. Generally, each direct sales employee is assigned a specific territory. As of December 31, 2015, we had a U.S. direct sales force of 34 employees. We internally manage our U.S. and Canadian sales organization as one North American sales region with 40 territories as of December 31, 2015.

International sales are generally made through a worldwide distributor network in over 40 countries, as well as a direct international sales force of 32 employees, as of December 31, 2015. As of December 31, 2015, we had direct sales offices in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Japan and Switzerland. Our international revenue as a percentage of total revenue represented 48% in 2015, 55% in 2014 and 58% in 2013.

We also sell certain items like Titan hand piece refills and marketing brochures through the internet.

Although specific customer requirements can vary depending on applications, customers generally demand quality, performance, ease of use, and high productivity in relation to the cost of ownership. We have responded to these customer demands by introducing new products focused on these requirements in the markets we serve. Specifically, we believe that we introduce new products and applications that are innovative, address the specific aesthetic procedures in demand, and are upgradeable on our customers’ existing systems. In addition, we provide attractive upgrade pricing to new product families. To increase market penetration, in addition to marketing to the core specialties of plastic surgeons and dermatologists, we also market to the non-core aesthetic practices consisting of gynecologists, primary care physicians, family practitioners, physicians offering aesthetic treatments in non-medical offices, podiatrists and other qualified practitioners.

We seek to establish strong ongoing relationships with our customers through the upgradeability of our products, sales of extended service contracts, the refilling of Titan hand pieces, ongoing training and support, and distributing (in Japan only) skincare products. We primarily target our marketing efforts to practitioners through office visits, workshops, trade shows, webinars and trade journals. We also market to potential patients through brochures, workshops and our website. In addition, we offer clinical forums with recognized expert panelists to promote advanced treatment techniques using our products to further enhance customer loyalty and uncover new sales opportunities.

Competition

Our industry is subject to intense competition. Our products compete against conventional non-energy-based treatments, such as electrolysis, Botox and collagen injections, chemical peels, microdermabrasion and sclerotherapy. Our products also compete against laser and other energy-based products offered by public companies, such as Cynosure, Elen (in Italy), Lumenis (acquired by XIO Group in September 2015), Syneron and Zeltiq, as well as private companies, including, Alma, Sciton, and several others.

Competition among providers of laser and other energy-based devices for the aesthetic market is characterized by extensive research efforts and innovative technology. While we attempt to protect our products through patents and other intellectual property rights, there are few barriers to entry that would prevent new entrants or existing competitors from developing products that would compete directly with ours. There are many companies, both public and private, that are developing innovative devices that use both energy-based and alternative technologies. Some of these competitors have greater resources than we do or product applications for certain sub-markets in which we do not participate. Additional competitors may enter the market, and we are likely to compete with new companies in the future. To compete effectively, we have to demonstrate that our products are attractive alternatives to other devices and treatments by differentiating our products on the basis of performance, brand name, service and price. We have encountered, and expect to continue to encounter, potential customers who, due to existing relationships with our competitors, are committed to, or prefer, the products offered by these competitors. Competitive pressures may result in price reductions and reduced margins for our products.

Research and Development

Our research and development group develops new products and applications and builds clinical support to address unmet or underserved market needs. As of December 31, 2015, our research and development activities were conducted by a staff of 34 employees with a broad base of experience in lasers, optoelectronics, software and other fields. We have developed relationships with outside contract engineering and design consultants, giving our team additional technical and creative breadth. We work closely with thought leaders and customers, to understand unmet needs and emerging applications in aesthetic medicine. Research and development expenses were approximately $10.7 million in 2015, $10.7 million in 2014 and $9.2 million in 2013.

Service and Support

Our products are engineered to enable quick and efficient service and support. There are several separate components of our products, each of which can easily be removed and replaced. We believe that quick and effective delivery of service is important to our customers. As of December 31, 2015, we had a 45-person global service department. Internationally, we provide direct service support through our Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain and Switzerland offices, and also through the network of distributors and third-party service providers in over 40 countries.

Table Of Contents

We provide a standard one-year warranty coverage for all of our systems. We provide initial warranties on our products to cover parts and service and offer extended service plans that vary by the type of product and the level of service desired. Our standard warranty on system consoles covers parts and service for a standard period of one year. From time to time, we also have promotions whereby we include a post-warranty service contract with the sale of our products. Customers are notified before their initial warranty expires and are able to purchase extended service plans covering replacement parts and labor.

In countries where we are represented by distributor partners, our customers are serviced through the distributor network. Distributors are generally provided 14 months warranty coverage for parts only, with labor being provided to the end customer by the distributor.

In the event a customer does not purchase an extended service plan, we will offer to service the customer’s system and charge the customer for time and materials. With respect to the truSculpt and other hand pieces, if a customer’s system is out of warranty, and they have not purchased an extended service contract that covers hand piece replacements, then the customer is charged for their replacement hand piece.

Our Titan hand pieces generally include a warranty for a set number of shots, instead of for a period of time.

Manufacturing

We manufacture our products with components and subassemblies supplied by vendors. We assemble and test each of our products at our Brisbane, California facility. Quality control, cost reduction and inventory management are top priorities of our manufacturing operations.

We purchase certain components and subassemblies from a limited number of suppliers. We have flexibility with our suppliers to adjust the number of components and subassemblies as well as the delivery schedules. The forecasts we use are based on historical demands and sales projections. Lead times for components and subassemblies may vary significantly depending on the size of the order, time required to fabricate and test the components or subassemblies, specific supplier requirements and current market demand for the components and subassemblies. We reduce the potential for disruption of supply by maintaining sufficient inventories and identifying additional suppliers. The time required to qualify new suppliers for some components, or to redesign them, could cause delays in our manufacturing. To date, we have not experienced significant delays in obtaining any of our components or subassemblies.

We use small quantities of common cleaning products in our manufacturing operations, which are lawfully disposed of through a normal waste management program. We do not forecast any material costs due to compliance with environmental laws or regulations.

We are required to manufacture our products in compliance with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation, or QSR. The QSR covers the methods and documentation of the design, testing, control, manufacturing, labeling, quality assurance, packaging, storage and shipping of our products. The FDA enforces the QSR through periodic unannounced inspections. We had an FDA full quality system audit for three weeks during March 2014. There were no significant findings as a result of this audit and our responses have been accepted by the FDA. Our failure to maintain compliance with the QSR requirements could result in the shutdown of our manufacturing operations and the recall of our products, which would have a material adverse effect on business. In the event that one of our suppliers fails to maintain compliance with our quality requirements, we may have to qualify a new supplier and could experience manufacturing delays as a result. We have opted to maintain quality assurance and quality management certifications to enable us to market our products in the U.S., the member states of the European Union, the European Free Trade Association and countries which have entered into Mutual Recognition Agreements with the European Union. In January 2016, we passed our surveillance recertification audit establishing compliance with the most current requirements of EN ISO 13485:2012, CAN/CSA ISO 13485:2003, and MDD 93/42/EEC. Our manufacturing facility is ISO 13485 certified.

Patents and Proprietary Technology

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, and non-disclosure, confidentiality and invention assignment agreements to protect our intellectual property rights. As of December 31, 2015, we had 34 issued U.S. patents and 4 pending U.S. patent applications. In the U.S. and several foreign countries, we have registered our Company name and several of our product names as trademarks, including Cutera, Acutip 500, CoolGlide, CoolGlide Excel, enlighten, Limelight, myQ, Pearl, ProWave 770, ProWave LX, solera, Titan, xeo and truSculpt. We may have common law rights in other product names, including excel V, Pearl Fractional, solera Titan and excel HR. We intend to file for additional patents and trademarks to continue to strengthen our intellectual property rights.

We licensed certain patents from Palomar (acquired by Cynosure in 2013) and paid ongoing royalties based on sales of applicable hair-removal products. The royalty rate on these products ranged from 3.75% to 7.50% of revenue. The remaining U.S. patents expired in February 2015 and the remaining international patents expired in February 2016. As a result, all our revenue from February 2016 onwards will not be subject to royalties. Our revenue from systems that do not include hair-removal capabilities (such as our solera Titan, xeo SA, GenesisPlus, myQ, excel V and enlighten), and other revenue from service contracts, Titan, skincare products, were not subject to these royalties. In addition, in 2006 we capitalized $1.2 million as an intangible asset representing the ongoing license for these patents, which was being amortized on a straight-line basis over their expected useful life of 9-10 years.

Table Of Contents

Our employees and technical consultants are required to execute confidentiality agreements in connection with their employment and consulting relationships with us. We also require them to agree to disclose and assign to us all inventions conceived in connection with the relationship. We cannot provide any assurance that employees and consultants will abide by the confidentiality or assignability terms of their agreements. Despite measures taken to protect our intellectual property, unauthorized parties may copy aspects of our products or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary.

Government Regulation

Our products are medical devices subject to extensive and rigorous regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as other regulatory bodies. FDA regulations govern the following activities that we perform and will continue to perform to ensure that medical products distributed domestically or exported internationally are safe and effective for their intended uses:

●

Product design and development;

●

Product testing;

●

Product manufacturing;

●

Product safety;

●

Product labeling;

●

Product storage;

●

Recordkeeping;

●

Pre-market clearance or approval;

●

Advertising and promotion;

●

Production;

●

Product sales and distribution; and

●

Complaint Handling.

FDA’s Pre-market Clearance and Approval Requirements

Unless an exemption applies, each medical device we wish to commercially distribute in the U.S. will require either prior 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval from the FDA. The FDA classifies medical devices into one of three classes. Devices deemed to pose lower risks are placed in either class I or II, which requires the manufacturer to submit to the FDA a pre-market notification requesting permission to commercially distribute the device. This process is generally known as 510(k) clearance. Some low risk devices are exempted from this requirement. Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, or devices deemed not substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device, are placed in class III, requiring pre-market approval. All of our current products are class II devices.

510(k) Clearance Pathway

When a 510(k) clearance is required, we must submit a pre-market notification demonstrating that our proposed device is substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device or a device that was in commercial distribution before May 28, 1976 for which the FDA has not yet called for the submission of Pre-Market Approval, or PMA, applications. By regulation, the FDA is required to clear or deny a 510(k), pre-market notification within 90 days of submission of the application. As a practical matter, clearance often takes significantly longer. The FDA may require further information, including clinical data, to make a determination regarding substantial equivalence. Laser devices used for aesthetic procedures, such as hair removal, have generally qualified for clearance under 510(k) procedures.

Table Of Contents

The following table details the indications for which we received a 510(k) clearance for our products and when these clearances were received.

FDA Marketing Clearances:		Date Received:
Laser-based products:
- treatment of vascular lesions		June 1999
- hair removal		March 2000
- permanent hair reduction		January 2001
- treatment of benign pigmented lesions and pseudo folliculitis barbae, commonly referred to as razor bumps, and for the reduction of red pigmentation in scars		June 2002
- treatment of wrinkles		October 2002
- treatment to increase clear nail in patients with onychomycosis		April 2011
- expanded spot size to 5 mm for clear nail in patients with onychomycosis		May 2013
- addition of Alexandrite 755 nm laser wavelength for hair removal, permanent hair reduction and the treatment of vascular and benign pigmented lesions		December 2013
- enlighten picosecond and nanosecond 532/1064 nm for the treatment of benign pigmented lesions		August 2014
- enlighten picosecond and nanosecond 532/1064 nm for tattoo removal		November 2014

Pulsed-light technologies:
- treatment of pigmented lesions		March 2003
- hair removal and vascular treatments		March 2005

Infrared Titan technology for deep dermal heating for the temporary relief of minor muscle and joint pain and for the temporary increase in local circulation where applied		February 2004

Solera tabletop console:
- for use with the Titan hand piece		October 2004
- for use with our pulsed-light hand pieces		January 2005

Pearl product for the treatment of wrinkles		March 2007

Pearl Fractional product for skin resurfacing and coagulation		August 2008

truSculpt radio frequency (“RF”) product for deep tissue heating for the temporary relief of minor muscle and joint pain and for a temporary improvement in the appearance of cellulite
- 16cm²to25cm² hand pieces for smaller body parts		April 2008
- 16cm²to 40cm² hand pieces for larger body parts		November 2012
- Product labeling and technology updates for existing clearances		September 2014

Pre-Market Approval (“PMA”) Pathway

A PMA must be submitted to the FDA if the device cannot be cleared through the 510(k) process. A PMA must be supported by extensive data, including but not limited to, technical, preclinical, clinical trials, manufacturing and labeling to demonstrate to the FDA’s satisfaction the safety and effectiveness of the device. No device that we have developed to date has required pre-market approval, although development of future devices or indications may require pre-market approval.

Product Modifications

We have modified aspects of our products since receiving regulatory clearance, but we believe that new 510(k) clearances are not required for these modifications. After a device receives 510(k) clearance or a PMA, any modification that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change in its intended use, will require a new clearance or approval. The FDA requires each manufacturer to make this determination initially, but the FDA can review any such decision and can disagree with a manufacturer’s determination. If the FDA disagrees with our determination not to seek a new 510(k) clearance or PMA, the FDA may retroactively require us to seek 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval. The FDA could also require us to cease marketing and distribution and/or recall the modified device until 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval is obtained. Also, in these circumstances, we may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties.

Clinical Trials

When FDA approval of a class I, class II or class III device requires human clinical trials, and if the device presents a “significant risk,” as defined by the FDA, to human health, the device sponsor is required to file an Investigational Device Exemption, or IDE, application with the FDA and obtain IDE approval prior to commencing the human clinical trial. If the device is considered a “non-significant” risk, IDE submission to the FDA is not required. Instead, only approval from the Institutional Review Board, or IRB, overseeing the clinical trial is required. Human clinical studies are generally required in connection with approval of class III devices and may be required for class I and II devices. The IDE application must be supported by appropriate data, such as animal and laboratory testing results, showing that it is safe to test the device in humans and that the testing protocol is scientifically sound. The IDE must be approved in advance by the FDA for a specified number of patients. Clinical trials for a significant risk device may begin once the application is reviewed and cleared by the FDA and the appropriate institutional review boards at the clinical trial sites. Future clinical trials of our products may require that we submit and obtain clearance of an IDE from the FDA prior to commencing clinical trials. The FDA, and the IRB at each institution at which a clinical trial is being performed, may suspend a clinical trial at any time for various reasons, including a belief that the subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk.

Table Of Contents

Pervasive and Continuing Regulation

After a device is placed on the market, numerous regulatory requirements apply. These include:

●

Quality system regulations, which require manufacturers, including third-party manufacturers, to follow stringent design, testing, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures during all aspects of the manufacturing process;

●

Labeling regulations and FDA prohibitions against the promotion of products for un-cleared, unapproved or “off-label” uses;

●

Medical device reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers report to the FDA if their device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunctioned in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur; and

●

Post-market surveillance regulations, which apply when necessary to protect the public health or to provide additional safety and effectiveness data for the device.

The FDA has broad post-market and regulatory enforcement powers. We are subject to unannounced inspections by the FDA and the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Health Services, or CDHS, to determine our compliance with the QSR and other regulations, and these inspections may include the manufacturing facilities of our subcontractors. In the past, our prior facility has been inspected, and observations were noted. There were no findings that involved a material violation of regulatory requirements. Our responses to these observations have been accepted by the FDA and CDHS, and we believe that we are in substantial compliance with the QSR. Our current manufacturing facility has been inspected by the FDA and the CDHS. The FDA and the CDHS noted observations, but there were no findings that involved a material violation of regulatory requirements. Our responses to those observations have been accepted by the FDA and CDHS.

We are also regulated under the Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act, which requires laser products to comply with performance standards, including design and operation requirements, and manufacturers to certify in product labeling and in reports to the FDA that their products comply with all such standards. The law also requires laser manufacturers to file new product and annual reports, maintain manufacturing, testing and sales records, and report product defects. Various warning labels must be affixed and certain protective devices installed, depending on the class of the product.

Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements can result in enforcement action by the FDA, which may include any of the following sanctions:

●

Warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;

●

Repair, replacement, recall or seizure of our products;

●

Operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;

●

Refusing our requests for 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval of new products, new intended uses, or modifications to existing products;

●

Withdrawing 510(k) clearance or pre-market approvals that have already been granted; and

●

Criminal prosecution.

The FDA also has the authority to require us to repair, replace or refund the cost of any medical device that we have manufactured or distributed. If any of these events were to occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are also subject to a wide range of federal, state and local laws and regulations, including those related to the environment, health and safety, land use and quality assurance. We believe that compliance with these laws and regulations as currently in effect will not have a material adverse effect on our capital expenditures, earnings and competitive and financial position.

International

International sales of medical devices are subject to foreign governmental regulations, which vary substantially from country to country. The time required to obtain clearance or approval by a foreign country may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA clearance or approval, and the requirements may be different.

Table Of Contents

The primary regulatory environment in Europe is that of the European Union, which consists of a 28 countries encompassing most of the major countries in Europe. The member states of the European Free Trade Association have voluntarily adopted laws and regulations that mirror those of the European Union with respect to medical devices. Other countries, such as Switzerland, have entered into Mutual Recognition Agreements and allow the marketing of medical devices that meet European Union requirements. The European Union has adopted numerous directives and European Standardization Committees have promulgated voluntary standards regulating the design, manufacture, clinical trials, labeling and adverse event reporting for medical devices. Devices that comply with the requirements of a relevant directive will be entitled to bear CE conformity marking, indicating that the device conforms with the essential requirements of the applicable directives and, accordingly, can be commercially distributed throughout the member states of the European Union, the member states of the European Free Trade Association and countries which have entered into a Mutual Recognition Agreement. The method of assessing conformity varies depending on the type and class of the product, but normally involves a combination of self-assessment by the manufacturer and a third-party assessment by a Notified Body, an independent and neutral institution appointed by a country to conduct the conformity assessment. This third-party assessment may consist of an audit of the manufacturer’s quality system and specific testing of the manufacturer’s device. An assessment by a Notified Body in one member state of the European Union, the European Free Trade Association or one country which has entered into a Mutual Recognition Agreement is required in order for a manufacturer to commercially distribute the product throughout these countries. ISO 9001 and ISO 13845 certification are voluntary harmonized standards. Compliance establishes the presumption of conformity with the essential requirements for a CE Marking. In February 2000, our facility was awarded the ISO 9001 and EN 46001 certification. In March 2003, we received our ISO 9001 updated certification (ISO 9001:2000) as well as our certification for ISO 13485:1996 which replaced our EN 46001 certification. In March 2004, we received our ISO 13485:2003 certification and in March 2006, March 2010, February 2011 and January 2012 we passed ISO 13485 recertification audits. Our most recent recertification audit occurred in January 2015. We passed the audit establishing compliance with the most current requirements of EN ISO 13485:2012, CAN/CSA ISO 13485:2003, and MDD 93/42/EEC.

Employees

As of December 31, 2015, we had 262 employees, compared to 266 employees as of December 31, 2014. Of the 262 employees at December 31, 2015, 103 were in sales and marketing, 56 in manufacturing operations, 45 in technical service, 34 in research and development and 24 in general and administrative. We believe that our future success will depend in part on our continued ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel. None of our employees are represented by a labor union, and we believe our employee relations are good.

Available Information

We are subject to the reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Consequently, we are required to file reports and information with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including reports on the following forms: annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These reports and other information concerning the company may be accessed through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Such filings, as well as our charters for our Audit and Compensation Committees and our Code of Ethics are available on our website at www.cutera.com. In the event that we grant a waiver under our Code of Ethics to any of our officers and directors, we will publish it on our website.

ITEM 1A.

RISK FACTORS

We operate in a rapidly changing economic and technological environment that presents numerous risks, many of which are driven by factors that we cannot control or predict. Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be impacted by a number of factors. In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this report, the following risks and uncertainties could materially harm our business, financial condition or results of operations, including causing our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. The following list of significant risk factors is not all-inclusive or necessarily in order of importance. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently deem immaterial, also may materially adversely affect us in future periods. You should carefully consider these risks and uncertainties before investing in our securities.

Revenue from the U.S. represents a significant part of our total revenue. In 2015, our U.S. revenue increased by 38%, compared to 2014. Unless our U.S. revenue continues to improve, we could experience a material adverse effect on our total revenue, profitability, employee retention and stock price.

Revenue from the U.S. represented 52% of our total revenue in 2015 compared to 45% in 2014. U.S revenue increased by 38% in 2015, compared to 2014, due to several factors, including:

●

In 2014 and in 2015, we continued to expand our North American direct sales force, restructured their compensation arrangements, and hired new sales management experienced in the medical equipment industry.

●

Historically, following a new product introduction, we experience revenue growth, compared to the same period in the prior year. We experienced revenue growth from our new enlighten and excel HR products launched in the fourth and second quarter of 2014, respectively.

There can be no assurance that we will continue to introduce new products each year, or that the new product introductions will translate into increased revenue in the long term in the U.S., or that the new direct sales employees and management hired to replace the departed sales employees will continue to be effective and result in improved sales productivity. Further, if the current economic recovery does not continue, or there is another recession in the U.S., our future revenue would be adversely impacted and we could experience a material adverse effect on total revenue, profitability, employee retention and stock price.

Table Of Contents

In over seven years we have only had three profitable quarters and we are unable to predict whether we will return to sustained quarterly profits in the future.

Although we had a profitable fourth quarter in 2009, 2012 and 2015, we have otherwise had net quarterly losses in each quarter since the third quarter of 2008. There is no guarantee that we will be profitable in the future and you should not rely on our operating results for any prior quarterly or annual periods as an indication of our future operating performance. Any predictions about the performance of our operations in the future may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer history of profitability.

Revenue growth in our business is driven by several factors and one such factor is new product introductions. While our recently released products in 2014 — enlighten- Q4’14 and excel HR- Q2’14 — have resulted in the growth of our revenue over the last seven quarters ended December 31, 2015, sales of our truSculpt product introduced in 2012 have not penetrated the market to the degree we had expected.

In an effort to improve our revenue, we have invested in the restructuring and expansion of our global sales force, re-evaluated and changed the structure of their compensation arrangements, hired new senior sales management with prior experience in the aesthetic medical device industry, and increased our marketing and promotional activities. We have also invested heavily in training our new sales employees to sell our products and in marketing efforts to generate additional revenue.

For the full-year 2015, compared to 2014, our revenue increased by $16.6 million but our combined cost of revenue and operating expenses increased by $10.5 million. Our ability to return to sustained profitability depends on the extent to which we can increase revenue and control our costs to be able to leverage our expenses. In addition, we need to be able to counter any unforeseen difficulties, complications, product delays or other unknown factors that may require additional expenditures. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with our growth prospects, product development, sales and marketing and other efforts, unforeseen litigation expenses, etc., we are unable to predict the extent of our future profitability or losses.

If our revenue does not continue to improve, or we do not achieve adequate growth in the future, or if we are not able to control our costs to leverage our expenses, like we had in the four quarters of 2015, then we may not be able to sustain quarterly profitability or be able to continue to generate cash in our operations in the future.

We rely heavily on our sales professionals to market and sell our products worldwide. If we are unable to hire, effectively train, manage, improve the productivity of, and retain the sales professionals, our business will be harmed, which would impair our future revenue and profitability.

Our success largely depends on our ability to hire, train, manage and improve the productivity levels of our sales professionals worldwide. Because of our focus on the non-core market in the past, several of our sales professionals do not have established relationships with the core market, consisting of dermatologists and plastic surgeons, or where those relationships exist, they are not very strong.

We have experienced direct sales employee and sales management turnover in North America for several reasons. One such reason was a change in sales leadership in 2014. Further, competition for sales professionals who are familiar and trained to sell in the aesthetic equipment market continues to be strong. As a result, we have lost some of our sales people to our competitors. However, we have also hired a record number of new sales people, including several from our competitors. Several of our sales employees and sales management have been recently hired or recently transferred into different roles, and it will take time for them to be fully trained to improve their productivity. In addition, due to the competition for sales professionals in our industry, we have recruited sales professionals from outside the industry. Sales professionals from outside the industry take longer to train and to become familiar with our products and the procedures in which they are used. As a result of a lack of industry knowledge, these sales professionals may take longer to become productive members of our sales force.

Over the past approximately fifteen months, we restructured and have been expanding our North American direct sales force and sales management. We have increased our efforts to hire industry experienced sales professionals but there can be no guarantee that we will be able to retain all of the hired sales professionals or that they will all become productive in a short period of time. Our industry is characterized by a few established companies that compete vigorously for talented sales professionals. Further, as the economy in North America has rebounded from the recent recession, some of those sales professionals have left our company for jobs that they perceive to be better opportunities, both within and outside of the aesthetic industry. We believe that the sales employee turnover, restructuring and expansion of the sales force had a negative impact on our North American productivity in 2014.

We train our existing and recently recruited sales professionals to better understand our existing and new product technologies and how they can be positioned against our competitors’ products. These initiatives are intended to improve the productivity of our sales professionals and our revenue and profitability. It takes time for the sales professionals to become productive following their training and there can be no assurance that the recently recruited sales professionals will be adequately trained in a timely manner, or that our direct sales productivity will improve, or that we will not experience significant levels of attrition in the future.

Measures we implement in an effort to recruit, retain, train and manage our sales professionals, strengthen their relationships with core market physicians, and improve their productivity may not be successful and may instead contribute to instability in our operations, additional departures from our sales organization, or further reduce our revenue and harm our business. If we are not able to improve the productivity and retention of our North American and international sales professionals, then our total revenue, profitability and stock price may be adversely impacted.

Table Of Contents

If our revenue does not improve, or if our cost of revenue and/or operating expenses increase by a greater percentage than our revenue, our gross margins and operating margins may be adversely impacted, our loss from operations will increase, and our cash used in operating activities will increase, which could reduce our assets and have a material adverse effect on our stock price.

Our gross margin (revenue less cost of revenue) was 57% in 2015, compared to 56% in 2014. Our gross margin is impacted by the revenue that we generate and the costs incurred to generate the revenue. To the extent that our revenue declines, it is difficult to improve our gross margins as our fixed costs must be spread over a lower revenue base. Our future revenue may be adversely affected by a number of factors including the competitive market environment in which we operate, which may result in a decrease in the number of units sold, a decrease in the number of applications per system purchased by customers, a decrease in the average selling prices achieved for our product sales, a shift in our product mix towards products with lower average selling prices, or a shift in our product mix towards products with lower margins.

Our cost of revenue may also be adversely impacted by various factors such as obsolescence of our inventory, impairment of our intangibles, increased expenses associated with the repair of defective products covered by our warranty program, utilization of our relatively fixed manufacturing costs, and a shift in our product mix towards products that have a higher cost of manufacturing.

We have also been investing significant resources in our research and development and sales and marketing activities. We have expanded our global direct sales force, and while the increase in revenue exceeded the increase in sales and marketing expenses in 2015, the productivity of our new sales professionals may not continue to improve and be accretive to our operating income. We plan to continue making such investments in order to bring new products to market and to distribute them effectively. If these investments do not yield increased revenue, our profitability may not improve in the future.

If our revenue does not improve, or if our cost of revenue increases by a greater percentage than our revenue, or if we are not able to reduce expenses in the event of a decline in revenue, we may continue to generate losses from operations and use cash, which could reduce our assets and have a material adverse effect on our operations and stock price.

In February 2016, a lawsuit was filed against us by Kendall Jenner and Kendall Jenner Inc. (“Plaintiffs”), alleging trademark infringement, false endorsement and violation of Jenner’s right of publicity. There can be no assurance regarding the potential outcome of this litigation, or its impact upon us, at this time. The expense of defending and resolving this lawsuit may adversely impact our future earnings, cash flows and stock price.

On February 11, 2016, Kendall Jenner and Kendall Jenner Inc. (“Plaintiffs”), filed a lawsuit against the Company in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, alleging trademark infringement, false endorsement and violation of Jenner’s right of publicity. The claims arise out of alleged advertising referring to news articles describing Jenner’s blog posting regarding her use of our Laser Genesis treatment for her acne. In their complaint, the Plaintiffs state that they are seeking “at least $10 million” in compensatory damages and reasonable costs and attorney’s fees. We are presently investigating the matter and intend to defend the matter vigorously.

While we believe we have meritorious defenses to the claims made, there can be no assurance regarding the potential outcome of this litigation, or its impact upon us, at this time. The expense of defending and resolving this lawsuit may adversely impact our future earnings, cash flows and stock price.

The aesthetic equipment market is characterized by rapid innovation. To compete effectively, we must develop and/or acquire new products, market them successfully, and identify new markets for our technology.

We have created products to apply our technology to body contouring, hair removal, treatment of veins, tattoo removal, and skin rejuvenation, including the treatment of diffuse redness, skin laxity, fine lines, wrinkles, skin texture, pore size and benign pigmented lesions, etc. In the fourth quarter of 2014, we launched enlighten, a dual wavelength, dual pulse duration tattoo removal and benign pigmented lesions treatment system featuring picosecond technology. Additionally, in the second quarter of 2014 we launched excel HR, a premium hair removal platform for all skin types. To grow in the future, we must continue to develop and/or acquire new and innovative aesthetic products and applications, identify new markets, and successfully launch the newly acquired or developed product offerings.

To successfully expand our product offerings, we must, among other things:

	●	Develop and acquire new products that either add to or significantly improve our current product offerings;
	●	Convince our existing and prospective customers that our product offerings are an attractive revenue-generating addition to their practice;

●

Sell our product offerings to a broad customer base;

●

Identify new markets and alternative applications for our technology;

●

Protect our existing and future products with defensible intellectual property; and

●

Satisfy and maintain all regulatory requirements for commercialization.

Table Of Contents

Historically, product introductions have been a significant component of our financial performance. To be successful in the aesthetics industry, we need to continue to innovate. Our business strategy has therefore been based, in part, on our expectation that we will continue to increase our product offerings. We need to continue to devote substantial research and development resources to make new product introductions, which can be costly and time consuming to our organization.

We also believe that, to increase revenue from sales of new products, we need to continue to develop our clinical support, further expand and nurture relationships with industry thought leaders and increase market awareness of the benefits of our new products. However, even with a significant investment in research and development, we may be unable to continue to develop, acquire or effectively launch and market new products and technologies regularly, or at all. If we fail to successfully commercialize new products, our business may be harmed.

While we attempt to protect our products through patents and other intellectual property, there are few barriers to entry that would prevent new entrants or existing competitors from developing products that compete directly with ours. We expect that any competitive advantage we may enjoy from current and future innovations may diminish over time as companies successfully respond to our, or create their own, innovations. Consequently, we believe that we will have to continuously innovate and improve our products and technology to compete successfully. If we are unable to innovate successfully, our products could become obsolete and our revenue could decline as our customers and prospects purchase our competitors’ products.

Demand for our products in any of our markets could be weakened by several factors, including:

●

Our ability to develop and market our products to the core market specialties of dermatologists and plastic surgeons;

●

Poor financial performance of market segments that try introducing aesthetic procedures to their businesses;

●

The inability to differentiate our products from those of our competitors;

●

Reduced patient demand for elective aesthetic procedures;

●

Failure to build and maintain relationships with opinion leaders within the various market segments;

●

An increase in malpractice lawsuits that result in higher insurance costs; and

●

The lack of credit financing for some of our potential customers.

If we do not achieve anticipated demand for our products, there could be a material adverse effect on our total revenue, profitability, employee retention and stock price.

Macroeconomic political and market conditions, and catastrophic events may adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and stock price.

Our business is influenced by a range of factors that are beyond our control, including:

●

General economic and business conditions;

●

The overall demand for our products by the core market specialties of dermatologists and plastic surgeons;

●

Governmental budgetary constraints or shifts in government spending priorities;

●

General political developments;

●

Natural disasters; and

●

Currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Macroeconomic developments, like the global recession and the financial crisis in the U.S. and certain countries in the European Union during 2007 to 2009, could negatively affect our business, operating results or financial condition which, in turn, could adversely affect our stock price. A general weakening of, and related declining corporate confidence in, the global economy or the curtailment in government or corporate spending could cause current or potential customers to reduce their budgets or be unable to fund product or upgrade application purchases, which could cause customers to delay, decrease or cancel purchases of our products and services or cause customers not to pay us or to delay paying us for previously purchased products and services.

In addition, political unrest in regions like the Middle East, terrorist attacks around the globe and the potential for other hostilities in various parts of the world, potential public health crises and natural disasters continue to contribute to a climate of economic and political uncertainty that could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition, including our revenue growth and profitability.

Macroeconomic declines, negative political developments, adverse market conditions and catastrophic events may cause a decline in our revenue, negatively affect our operating results, adversely affect our cash flow and could result in a decline in our stock price.

Table Of Contents

To successfully market and sell our products internationally, we must address many issues that are unique to our international business.

While our international revenue in 2015 increased by 8%, compared to 2014, it was negatively impacted by the appreciation of the U.S. Dollar versus the major currencies in which we transact. International revenue is a material component of our business strategy, and represented 48% of our total revenue in 2015, compared to 55% in 2014. We depend on third-party distributors and a direct sales force to sell our products internationally, and if they underperform, we may be unable to increase or maintain our level of international revenue. For example, our direct business in Japan declined in 2015, negatively impacting our revenue from international operations.

We have experienced significant turnover of our European sales team in the past. While we continue to have a direct sales and service organization in France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, a significant portion of our European revenue is generated through our network of distributors. Though we continue to evaluate and replace non-performing distributors, and have recently brought greater focus on collaborating with our distributor partners, there can be no assurance given that these initiatives will result in improved European-sourced revenue or profitability in the future.

To grow our business, we will need to improve productivity in current sales territories and expand into new territories. However, direct sales productivity may not improve and distributors may not accept our business or commit the necessary resources to market and sell our products to the level of our expectations. If we are not able to increase or maintain international revenue growth, our total revenue, profitability and stock price may be adversely impacted.

We believe, as we continue to manage our international operations and develop opportunities in additional international territories, our international revenue will be subject to a number of risks, including:

●

Fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates;

●

Difficulties in staffing and managing our foreign operations;

●

Political and economic instability;

●

Foreign certification and regulatory requirements;

●

Lengthy payment cycles and difficulty in collecting accounts receivable;

●

Export restrictions, trade regulations and foreign tax laws;

●

Customs clearance and shipping delays;

●

Lack of awareness of our brand in international markets;

●

Preference for locally-produced products; and

●

Reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries.

If one or more of these risks were realized, it could require us to dedicate significant resources to remedy the situation; and if we were unsuccessful at finding a solution, we may not be able to sell our products in a particular market and, as a result, our revenue may decline.

We are subject to fluctuations in the exchange rate of the U.S. Dollar and foreign currencies.

Foreign currency fluctuations could result in volatility of our revenue. We do not actively hedge our exposure to currency rate fluctuations. While we transact business primarily in U.S. Dollars, and a significant proportion of our revenue is denominated in U.S. Dollars, a portion of our costs and revenue is denominated in other currencies, such as the Euro, Japanese Yen, Australian Dollar and Canadian Dollar. As a result, changes in the exchange rates of these currencies to the U.S. Dollar will affect our results from operations. For example, as a result of the recent strengthening of the U.S. Dollar, relative to many other major currencies, our products priced in U.S. Dollars have become more expensive relative to products of our foreign competitors. In addition, our revenue earned in foreign currencies, such as our locally generated revenue in Japan, has been negatively impacted upon translation into U.S. Dollars. Both these factors had a negative impact on our international revenue in 2015, compared to 2014. Future foreign currency fluctuations could adversely impact and increase the volatility of our revenue, profitability and stock price.

Our ability to effectively compete and generate additional revenue from new and existing products depends upon our ability to distinguish our company and our products from our competitors and their products, and to develop and effectively market new and existing products. Our success is dependent on many factors, including the following:

●

Speed of new and innovative product development;

●

Effective strategy and execution of new product launches;

●

Identification and development of clinical support for new indications of our existing products;

●

Product performance;

●

Product pricing;

●

Quality of customer support;

●

Development of successful distribution channels, both domestically and internationally; and

●

Intellectual property protection.

Table Of Contents

To compete effectively, we have to demonstrate that our new and existing products are attractive alternatives to other devices and treatments, by differentiating our products on the basis of such factors as innovation, performance, brand name, service, and price. This is difficult to do, especially in a crowded aesthetic market. Some of our competitors have newer or different products and more established customer relationships than we do, which could inhibit our market penetration efforts. For example, we have encountered, and expect to continue to encounter, situations where, due to pre-existing relationships, potential customers decided to purchase additional products from our competitors. Potential customers also may need to recoup the cost of products that they have already purchased from our competitors and may decide not to purchase our products, or to delay such purchases. If we are unable to increase our market penetration or compete effectively, our revenue and profitability will be adversely impacted.

We compete against companies that offer alternative solutions to our products, or have greater resources, a larger installed base of customers and broader product offerings than ours. If we are not able to effectively compete with these companies, it may harm our business.

Our industry is subject to intense competition. Our products compete against similar products offered by public companies, such as Cynosure, Elen (in Italy), Lumenis (acquired by XIO Group in September 2015), Solta (acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. in January 2014), Syneron, as well as private companies such as Alma, Sciton and several other companies. Recently, there has been consolidation in the aesthetic industry leading to companies combining their resources. For example, XIO Group acquired Lumenis in September 2015, and Valeant acquired Solta in January 2014 and Cynosure acquired Palomar in June 2013. We are likely to compete with new companies in the future. Competition with these companies could result in reduced selling prices, reduced profit margins and loss of market share, any of which would harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The energy-based aesthetic market faces competition from non-energy-based medical products, such as Botox, an injectable compound used to reduce wrinkles, and collagen injections. Other alternatives to the use of our products include electrolysis, a procedure involving the application of electric current to eliminate hair follicles, and chemical peels. We may also face competition from manufacturers of pharmaceutical and other products that have not yet been developed.

If there is not sufficient consumer demand for the procedures performed with our products, practitioner demand for our products could be inhibited, resulting in unfavorable operating results and reduced growth potential.

Continued expansion of the global market for laser and other-energy-based aesthetic procedures is a material assumption of our business strategy. Most procedures performed using our products are elective procedures not reimbursable through government or private health insurance, with the costs borne by the patient. The decision to utilize our products may therefore be influenced by a number of factors, including:

●

Consumer disposable income and access to consumer credit, which as a result of the unstable economy, may have been significantly impacted;

●

The cost of procedures performed using our products;

●

The cost, safety and effectiveness of alternative treatments, including treatments which are not based upon laser or other energy-based technologies and treatments which use pharmaceutical products;

●

The success of our sales and marketing efforts; and

●

The education of our customers and patients on the benefits and uses of our products, compared to competitors’ products and technologies.

If, as a result of these factors, there is not sufficient demand for the procedures performed with our products, practitioner demand for our products could be reduced, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, revenue and result of operations.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), federal and state agencies and international regulatory bodies have broad enforcement powers. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, it could result in enforcement action by the FDA, federal and state agencies or international regulatory bodies.

The FDA, state authorities and international regulatory bodies have broad enforcement powers. If we fail to comply with any U.S. law or any of the applicable regulatory requirements of the FDA, or federal or state agencies, or one of the international regulatory bodies, it could result in enforcement action by the agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions:

●

Warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;

●

Repair, replacement, refund, recall or seizure of our products;

●

Operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;

●

Refusing our requests for 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval of new products, new intended uses, or modifications to existing products;

●

Withdrawing 510(k) clearance or pre-market approvals that have already been granted; and

●

Criminal prosecution.

Table Of Contents

If we fail to obtain or maintain necessary FDA clearances for our products and indications, if clearances for future products and indications are delayed or not issued, if there are federal or state level regulatory changes or if we are found to have violated applicable FDA marketing rules, our commercial operations would be harmed.

Our products are medical devices that are subject to extensive regulation in the U.S. by the FDA for manufacturing, labeling, sale, promotion, distribution and shipping. Before a new medical device, or a new use of or labeling claim for an existing product, can be marketed in the U.S., it must first receive either 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval from the FDA, unless an exemption applies. Either process can be expensive and lengthy. In the event that we do not obtain FDA clearances or approvals for our products, our ability to market and sell them in the U.S. and revenue derived from the U.S. market may be adversely affected.

Medical devices may be marketed in the U.S. only for the indications for which they are approved or cleared by the FDA. If we fail to comply with these regulations, it could result in enforcement action by the FDA which could lead to such consequences as warning letters, adverse publicity, criminal enforcement action and/or third-party civil litigation, each of which could adversely affect us.

We have obtained 510(k) clearance for the indications for which we market our products. However, our clearances can be revoked if safety or effectiveness problems develop. We also are subject to Medical Device Reporting regulations, which require us to report to the FDA if our products cause or contribute to a death or serious injury, or malfunction in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury. Our products are also subject to state regulations, which are, in many instances, frequently changing. Changes in state regulations may impede sales. For example, federal regulations allow our products to be sold to, or on the order of, “licensed practitioners,” as determined on a state-by-state basis. As a result, in some states, non-physicians may legally purchase our products. However, a state could change its regulations at any time, thereby disallowing sales to particular types of end users. We cannot predict the impact or effect of future legislation or regulations at the federal or state levels.

Federal regulatory reforms and changes occurring at the FDA could adversely affect our ability to sell our products profitably and financial condition.

From time to time, legislation is drafted and introduced in Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the clearance or approval, manufacture and marketing of a device. It is impossible to predict whether legislative changes will be enacted or FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations changed, and what the impact of such changes, if any, may be.

In addition, FDA regulations and guidance are often revised or reinterpreted by the agency in ways that may significantly affect our business and our products. Changes in FDA regulations may lengthen the regulatory approval process for medical devices and require additional clinical data to support regulatory clearance for the sale and marketing of our new products. In addition, it may require additional safety monitoring, labeling changes, restrictions on product distribution or use, or other measures after the introduction of our products to market. Either of these changes lengthen the duration to market, increase our costs of doing business, adversely affect the future permitted uses of approved products, or otherwise adversely affect the market for our products.

If we fail to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation and laser performance standards, our manufacturing operations could be halted, and our business would suffer.

We are currently required to demonstrate and maintain compliance with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation (the “QSR”). The QSR is a complex regulatory scheme that covers the methods and documentation of the design, testing, control, manufacturing, labeling, quality assurance, packaging, storage and shipping of our products. Because our products involve the use of lasers, our products also are covered by a performance standard for lasers set forth in FDA regulations. The laser performance standard imposes specific record-keeping, reporting, product testing and product labeling requirements. These requirements include affixing warning labels to laser products, as well as incorporating certain safety features in the design of laser products.

The FDA enforces the QSR and laser performance standards through periodic unannounced inspections. We have had multiple quality system audits by the FDA, our Notified Body, and other foreign regulatory agencies, with the most recent inspection by the FDA occurring over three weeks in March 2014. There were no significant findings and only one observation as a result of this audit. Our response to this observation was accepted by the FDA. Failure to take satisfactory corrective action in response to an adverse QSR inspection or our failure to comply with applicable laser performance standards could result in enforcement actions, including a public warning letter, a shutdown of our manufacturing operations, a recall of our products, civil or criminal penalties, or other sanctions, such as those described in the preceding paragraph, which would cause our sales and business to suffer.

Table Of Contents

If we modify one of our FDA-approved devices, we may need to seek re-approval, which, if not granted, would prevent us from selling our modified products or cause us to redesign our products.

Any modifications to an FDA-cleared device that would significantly affect its safety or effectiveness or that would constitute a major change in its intended use would require a new 510(k) clearance or possibly a pre-market approval. We may not be able to obtain additional 510(k) clearance or pre-market approvals for new products or for modifications to, or additional indications for, our existing products in a timely fashion, or at all. Delays in obtaining future clearance would adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced products in a timely manner, which in turn would harm our revenue and future profitability.

We have made modifications to our devices in the past and may make additional modifications in the future that we believe do not or will not require additional clearance or approvals. If the FDA disagrees, and requires new clearances or approvals for the modifications, we may be required to recall and to stop marketing the modified devices, which could harm our operating results and require us to redesign our products.

We may be unable to obtain or maintain international regulatory qualifications or approvals for our current or future products and indications, which could harm our business.

Sales of our products outside the U.S. are subject to foreign regulatory requirements that vary widely from country to country. In addition, exports of medical devices from the U.S. are regulated by the FDA. Complying with international regulatory requirements can be an expensive and time-consuming process and approval is not certain. The time required for obtaining clearance or approvals, if required by other countries, may be longer than that required for FDA clearance or approvals, and requirements for such clearances or approvals may significantly differ from FDA requirements. We may be unable to obtain or maintain regulatory qualifications, clearances or approvals in other countries. We may also incur significant costs in attempting to obtain and in maintaining foreign regulatory approvals or qualifications. If we experience delays in receiving necessary qualifications, clearances or approvals to market our products outside the U.S., or if we fail to receive those qualifications, clearances or approvals, we may be unable to market our products or enhancements in international markets effectively, or at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and growth strategy.

Any defects in the design, material or workmanship of our products may not be discovered prior to shipment to customers, which could materially increase our expenses, adversely impact profitability and harm our business.

The design of our products is complex. To manufacture them successfully, we must procure quality components and employ individuals with a significant degree of technical expertise. If our designs are defective, or the material components used in our products are subject to wearing out, or if suppliers fail to deliver components to specification, or if our employees fail to properly assemble, test and package our products, the reliability and performance of our products will be adversely impacted.

If our products contain defects that cannot be repaired easily, inexpensively, or on a timely basis, we may experience:

●

Damage to our brand reputation;

●

Loss of customer orders and delay in order fulfillment;

●

Increased costs due to product repair or replacement;

●

Inability to attract new customers;

●

Diversion of resources from our manufacturing and research and development departments into our service department; and

●

Legal action.

The occurrence of any one or more of the foregoing could materially increase expenses, adversely impact profitability and harm our business.

We depend on skilled and experienced personnel to operate our business effectively. If we are unable to recruit, hire, train and retain these employees, our ability to manage and expand our business will be harmed, which would impair our future revenue and profitability.

Our success largely depends on the skills, experience and efforts of our officers and other key employees. Except for Change of Control and Severance Agreements for our executive officers and a few key employees, we do not have employment contracts with any of our officers or other key employees. Any of our officers and other key employees may terminate their employment at any time. We do not have a succession plan in place for each of our officers and key employees. In addition, we do not maintain “key person” life insurance policies covering any of our employees. The loss of any of our senior management team members could weaken our management expertise and harm our business.

Our ability to retain our skilled labor force and our success in attracting and hiring new skilled employees are critical factors in determining whether we will be successful in the future. We may not be able to meet our future hiring needs or retain existing personnel. The staff we hire to perform administrative functions may become stretched due to our increased growth and they may not be able to perform their jobs effectively or efficiently as a result.

Table Of Contents

We may face particularly significant challenges and risks in hiring, training, managing and retaining engineering and sales and marketing employees. Failure to attract, train and retain personnel, particularly technical and sales and marketing personnel, would materially harm our ability to compete effectively and grow our business.

Product liability suits could be brought against us due to a defective design, material or workmanship or misuse of our products and could result in expensive and time-consuming litigation, payment of substantial damages and an increase in our insurance rates.

If our products are defectively designed, manufactured or labeled, contain defective components or are misused, we may become subject to substantial and costly litigation by our customers or their patients. Misusing our products or failing to adhere to operating guidelines could cause significant eye and skin damage, and underlying tissue damage. In addition, if our operating guidelines are found to be inadequate, we may be subject to liability. We have been involved, and may in the future be involved, in litigation related to the use of our products. Product liability claims could divert management’s attention from our core business, be expensive to defend and result in sizable damage awards against us. We may not have sufficient insurance coverage for all future claims. We may not be able to obtain insurance in amounts or scope sufficient to provide us with adequate coverage against all potential liabilities. Any product liability claims brought against us, with or without merit, could increase our product liability insurance rates or prevent us from securing continuing coverage, could harm our reputation in the industry and could reduce product sales. In addition, we historically experienced steep increases in our product liability insurance premiums as a percentage of revenue. If our premiums continue to rise, we may no longer be able to afford adequate insurance coverage.

If customers are not trained and/or our products are used by non-physicians, it could result in product misuse and adverse treatment outcomes, which could harm our reputation, result in product liability litigation, distract management, result in additional costs, all of which could harm our business.

Because we do not require training for users of our products, and sell our products at times to non-physicians, there exists an increased potential for misuse of our products, which could harm our reputation and our business. U.S. federal regulations allow us to sell our products to or on the order of “licensed practitioners.” The definition of “licensed practitioners” varies from state to state. As a result, our products may be purchased or operated by physicians with varying levels of training, and in many states, by non-physicians, including nurse practitioners, chiropractors and technicians. Outside the U.S., many jurisdictions do not require specific qualifications or training for purchasers or operators of our products. We do not supervise the procedures performed with our products, nor do we require that direct medical supervision occur. We and our distributors generally offer but do not require product training to the purchasers or operators of our products. In addition, we sometimes sell our systems to companies that rent our systems to third parties and that provide a technician to perform the procedures. The lack of training and the purchase and use of our products by non-physicians may result in product misuse and adverse treatment outcomes, which could harm our reputation and our business, and, in the event these result in product liability litigation, distract management and subject us to liability, including legal expenses.

In the past we entered into strategic alliances to distribute third party products internationally. To successfully market and sell these products, we must address many issues that are unique to these businesses and could reduce our available cash reserves and negatively impact our profitability.

In the past we entered into distribution arrangements pursuant to which we utilize our sales force and distributors to sell products manufactured by other companies. In Japan, we have a non-exclusive right to distribute a Q-switched laser product manufactured by a third party OEM. We also have an exclusive agreement with ZO to distribute certain of their proprietary skincare products, in Japan. Each of these agreements requires us to purchase annual minimum dollar amounts of their product. If we do not make these minimum purchases, we could lose distribution rights of these products to physicians in Japan. Finally, we had an agreement with Merz Aesthetics to distribute its Radiesse dermal filler product in Japan, but terminated this agreement in the second quarter of 2014.

Each of these distribution agreements presents its own unique risks and challenges. For example, to sell skincare products we need to invest in creating a sales structure that is experienced in the sale of these products and not in capital equipment. We need to commit resources to training this sales force, obtaining regulatory licenses in Japan and developing new marketing materials to promote the sale of skincare products. In addition, the minimum commitments and other costs of distributing products manufactured by these companies may exceed the incremental revenue that we derive from the sale of their products thereby negatively impacting our profitability and reducing our available cash reserves.

Adverse conditions in the global banking industry and credit markets may adversely impact the value of our marketable investments or impair our liquidity.

We invest our excess cash primarily in money market funds and in highly liquid debt instruments of the U.S. government and its agencies and U.S. municipalities, in commercial paper and high grade corporate debt. As of December 31, 2015, our balance in marketable investments was $38 million. The longer the duration of a security, the more susceptible it is to changes in market interest rates and bond yields. As yields increase, those securities with a lower yield-at-cost show a mark-to-market unrealized loss. For example, assuming a hypothetical increase in interest rates of one percentage point, the fair value of our total investment portfolio as of December 31, 2015 would have potentially decreased by approximately $242,000, resulting in an unrealized loss that would subsequently adversely impact our earnings. As a result, changes in the market interest rates will affect our future net income (loss).

Table Of Contents

The price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially due to several factors, some of which are discussed below. Further, we have a limited number of shares of common stock outstanding, a large portion of which is held by a small number of investors, which could result in the increase in volatility of our stock price.

As of December 31, 2015, approximately 52% of our outstanding shares of common stock were held by 10 institutional investors. As a result of our relatively small public float, our common stock may be less liquid than the stock of companies with broader public ownership. Among other things, trading of a relatively small volume of our common stock may have a greater impact on the trading price for our shares than would be the case if our public float were larger. The public market price of our common stock has in the past fluctuated substantially and, due to the current concentration of stockholders, may continue to do so in the future. The market price for our common stock could also be affected by a number of other factors, including:

●

Litigation surrounding executive compensation has increased. If we are involved in a lawsuit related to compensation matters or any other matters not covered by our D&O insurance, there could be material expenses involved, fines, or remedial actions which could negatively affect our stock price;

●

The general market conditions unrelated to our operating performance;

●

Sales of large blocks of our common stock, including sales by our executive officers, directors and our large institutional investors;

●

Quarterly variations in our, or our competitors’, results of operations;

●

Changes in analysts’ estimates, investors’ perceptions, recommendations by securities analysts or our failure to achieve analysts’ estimates;

●

The announcement of new products or service enhancements by us or our competitors;

●

The announcement of the departure of a key employee or executive officer by us or our competitors;

●

Regulatory developments or delays concerning our, or our competitors’ products; and

●

The initiation of any other litigation by us or against us.

Actual or perceived instability and / or volatility in our stock price could reduce demand from potential buyers of our stock, thereby causing our stock price to either remain depressed or to decline further.

Our manufacturing operations are dependent upon third-party suppliers, making us vulnerable to supply shortages and price fluctuations, which could harm our business.

Many of the components and materials that comprise our products are currently manufactured by a limited number of suppliers. A supply interruption or an increase in demand beyond our current suppliers’ capabilities could harm our ability to manufacture our products until a new source of supply is identified and qualified. Our reliance on these suppliers subjects us to a number of risks that could harm our business, including:

●

Interruption of supply resulting from modifications to or discontinuation of a supplier’s operations;

●

Delays in product shipments resulting from uncorrected defects, reliability issues or a supplier’s variation in a component;

●

A lack of long-term supply arrangements for key components with our suppliers;

●

Inability to obtain adequate supply in a timely manner, or on reasonable terms;

●

Inability to redesign one or more components in our systems in the event that a supplier discontinues manufacturing such components and we are unable to source it from other suppliers on reasonable terms;

●

Difficulty locating and qualifying alternative suppliers for our components in a timely manner;

●

Production delays related to the evaluation and testing of products from alternative suppliers and corresponding regulatory qualifications; and

●

Delay in supplier deliveries.

Any interruption in the supply of components or materials, or our inability to obtain substitute components or materials from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could impair our ability to meet the demand of our customers, which would have an adverse effect on our business.

Table Of Contents

Intellectual property rights may not provide adequate protection for some or all of our products, which may permit third parties to compete against us more effectively.

We rely on patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark laws and confidentiality agreements to protect our technology and products. At December 31, 2015, we had 34 issued U.S. patents. Some of our components, such as our laser module, electronic control system and high-voltage electronics, are not, and in the future may not be, protected by patents. Additionally, our patent applications may not issue as patents or, if issued, may not issue in a form that will be advantageous to us. Any patents we obtain may be challenged, invalidated or legally circumvented by third parties. Consequently, competitors could market products and use manufacturing processes that are substantially similar to, or superior to, ours. We may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge or other trade secrets by consultants, vendors, former employees or current employees, despite the existence generally of confidentiality agreements and other contractual restrictions. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures of our intellectual property is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be effective. Moreover, the laws of many foreign countries will not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S.

The absence of complete intellectual property protection exposes us to a greater risk of direct competition. Competitors could purchase one of our products and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, design around our protected technology, or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. If our intellectual property is not adequately protected against competitors’ products and methods, our competitive position and our business could be adversely affected.

We may be involved in future costly intellectual property litigation, which could impact our future business and financial performance.

Our competitors or other patent holders may assert that our present or future products and the methods we employ are covered by their patents. In addition, we do not know whether our competitors own or will obtain patents that they may claim prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, sell or import our products. Although we may seek to resolve any potential future claims or actions, we may not be able to do so on reasonable terms, or at all. If, following a successful third-party action for infringement, we cannot obtain a license or redesign our products, we may have to stop manufacturing and selling the applicable products and our business would suffer as a result. In addition, a court could require us to pay substantial damages, and prohibit us from using technologies essential to our products, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may become involved in litigation not only as a result of alleged infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights but also to protect our own intellectual property. For example, we have been, and may hereafter become, involved in litigation to protect the trademark rights associated with our company name or the names of our products. Infringement and other intellectual property claims, with or without merit, can be expensive and time-consuming to litigate, and could divert management’s attention from our core business.

We offer credit terms to some qualified customers and also to leasing companies to finance the purchase of our products. In the event that any of these customers default on the amounts payable to us, our earnings may be adversely affected.

While we qualify customers to whom we offer credit terms (generally net 30 to 90 days), we cannot provide any assurance that the financial position of these customers will not change adversely before we receive payment. For example, as of December 31, 2015, one distributor partner accounted for 10% of our outstanding accounts receivable balance. Our general and administrative expenses and earnings are negatively impacted by customer defaults and cause an increase in the allowance for doubtful accounts. In the event that there is a default by any customers to whom we have provided credit terms in the future, we may recognize a bad debt charge in our general and administrative expenses and this could negatively affect our earnings and results of operations.

The expense and potential unavailability of insurance coverage for our customers could adversely affect our ability to sell our products, and therefore adversely affect our financial condition.

Some of our customers and prospective customers have had difficulty procuring or maintaining liability insurance to cover their operation and use of our products. Medical malpractice carriers are withdrawing coverage in certain states or substantially increasing premiums. If this trend continues or worsens, our customers may discontinue using our products and potential customers may opt against purchasing laser based products due to the cost or inability to procure insurance coverage. The unavailability of insurance coverage for our customers and prospects could adversely affect our ability to sell our products, and that could harm our financial condition.

Healthcare reform legislation may have an adverse effect on our profitability and financial condition.

In December 2009, the President and members of Congress passed legislation relating to healthcare reform. Procedures performed by our products are not reimbursed by insurance companies or federal or state governments and as a result this legislation had a limited impact on our business. Medical device manufacturers were required to pay an excise tax of 2.3% on certain U.S. medical device revenues on sales after January 1, 2013. Though there were some exceptions to the excise tax, this excise tax did apply to all or most of our products sold within the U.S. In December 2015, President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act (“Appropriations Act”). The Appropriations Act includes a two-year moratorium on the medical device excise tax such that medical device revenues in 2016 and 2017 will be exempt from the excise tax. Unless there is further legislative action during that two-year period, the tax will be automatically reinstated for sales of medical devices on or after January 1, 2018 and will have an adverse effect on our operating profitability and financial conditions in 2018 and beyond.

Table Of Contents

Our ability to use net operating losses and tax credit carryforwards to offset future tax liabilities may be limited.

As of December 31, 2015, we had cumulative net operating loss carry-forwards (“NOLs”) for federal and state income tax reporting purposes of approximately $41.8 million and $11.2 million, respectively, and research and development tax credits (“R&D tax credits”) for federal and state income tax purposes of approximately $4.7 million and $5.7 million, respectively. A lack of future taxable income would adversely affect our ability to utilize these NOLs and R&D tax credit carryforwards. In addition, under Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or the Code, a corporation that experiences a more-than 50% ownership change over a three-year testing period is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs and R&D tax credit carryforwards to offset future taxable income. We have not conducted a study to-date to assess whether a limitation would apply under Section 382 of the Code. In the event it is determined that we previously experienced an ownership change, or should we experience an ownership change in the future, the amount of NOLs and R&D tax credit carryovers available in any taxable year, could be limited and may expire unutilized, and any such adjustment is not reflected in the NOL and R&D tax credits balances reported.

From time to time we may become subject to income tax audits or similar proceedings, and as a result we may incur additional costs and expenses or owe additional taxes, interest and penalties that may negatively impact our operating results.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions where we operate through a subsidiary including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Our determination of our tax liability is subject to review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities.

In July 2015, our Japan subsidiary underwent an income tax audit for the years 2012 to 2014. Although this audit resulted in a minimal adjustment, the final timing and resolution of any tax examinations are subject to significant uncertainty and could result in our having to pay amounts to the applicable tax authority in order to resolve examination of our tax positions, which could result in an increase or decrease of our current estimate of unrecognized tax benefits and may negatively impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Any acquisitions that we make could result in operating difficulties, dilution, and other consequences that may adversely impact our business and results of operations.

While we from time to time evaluate potential acquisitions of businesses, products and technologies, and anticipate continuing to make these evaluations, we have no present understandings, commitments or agreements with respect to any material acquisitions or collaborative projects We may not be able to identify appropriate acquisition candidates or strategic partners, or successfully negotiate, finance or integrate any businesses, products or technologies that we acquire.

We have limited experience as a team with acquiring companies and products. Furthermore, the integration of any acquisition and management of any collaborative project may divert management’s time and resources from our core business and disrupt our operations and we may incur significant legal, accounting and banking fees in connection with such a transaction. Acquisitions could diminish our available cash balances for other uses, result in the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities, or amortization expenses, and restructuring charges. Also, the anticipated benefits or value of our acquisitions or investments may not materialize and could result in an impairment of goodwill and/or purchased long-lived assets, similar to the $650,000 charge we recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014 related to an acquisition completed in 2012.

Our failure to address these risks or other problems encountered in connection with our past or future acquisitions and investments could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions or investments, incur unanticipated liabilities, and harm our business and our financial condition or results.

Anti-takeover provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, and Delaware law, contain provisions that could discourage a takeover.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, and Delaware law, contain provisions that might enable our management to resist a takeover, and might make it more difficult for an investor to acquire a substantial block of our common stock. These provisions include:

●

A classified board of directors;

●

Advance notice requirements to stockholders for matters to be brought at stockholder meetings;

●

Limitations on stockholder actions by written consent; and

●

The right to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer.

These provisions, as well as Change of Control and Severance Agreements entered into with each of our executive officers and certain key employees, might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or a change in our management. The existence of these provisions could adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

Table Of Contents

ITEM 1B.

UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2.

PROPERTIES

Our corporate headquarters and U.S. operations are located in an approximately 66,000 square foot facility in Brisbane, California. We lease these premises under a non-cancelable operating lease which expires on December 31, 2017. In addition, we have leased office facilities in certain countries as follows:

Country	Square Footage	Lease termination or Expiration
Japan	Approximately 5,896	Two leases, one of which expires in March 2018 and one which expires in December 2017.
France	Approximately 2,239	One lease which expires in October 2021 but can be terminated with six months’ notice prior to October 2018.

We believe that these facilities are suitable and adequate for our current and future needs for at least the next twelve months.

ITEM 3.

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We were not a party to any pending litigation that we believe will have a material impact to our results of operations as of December 31, 2015.

ITEM 4.

MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5.

MARKET FOR THE REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Stock Exchange Listing

Our common stock trades on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “CUTR.” As of February 29, 2016, the closing sale price of our common stock was $11.83 per share.

Common Stockholders

We had 9 stockholders of record as of February 29, 2016. Since many stockholders choose to hold their shares under the name of their brokerage firm, we estimate that the actual number of stockholders was over 2,000 shareholders.

Stock Prices

The following table sets forth quarterly high and low closing sales prices of our common stock for the indicated fiscal periods:

	Common Stock
	2015				2014
	High		Low		High		Low
4th Quarter	$	14.52	$	11.99	$	11.04	$	9.66
3rd Quarter		15.60		13.07		10.75		9.27
2nd Quarter		15.98		12.87		11.73		9.25
1st Quarter		14.26		10.86		11.24		9.00

Table Of Contents

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table summarizes the activity related to stock repurchases for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 (in thousands except per share data):

Period	Total Number of Shares Purchased		Average Price Paid per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs		Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
January 1-December 31, 2014		—	$	—		—	$	10,000
As of December 31, 2014		—	$	—		—	$	10,000
Additional amount approved February 18, 1015		—	$	—		—	$	40,000
February18-28, 2015		56	$	12.85		56	$	39,276
March 1-31, 2015		330	$	13.55		330	$	34,806
April 1-30, 2015		284	$	13.57		284	$	30,946
May 1-31, 2015		296	$	14.38		296	$	26,693
June 1-30, 2015		298	$	14.75		298	$	22,294
July 1-31, 2015		95	$	14.94		95	$	20,878
August 1-31, 2015		1,040	$	14.41		1,040	$	5,898
September 1-30, 2015		210	$	14.44		210	$	2,860
October 1-31, 2015		209	$	13.70		209	$	—
As of December 31, 2015		2,818	$	14.19		2,818	$	—

As of January 1, 2014, there was $10.0 million authorized for the repurchase of our common stock under the Company’s Stock Repurchase Program. There were no repurchases of common stock in 2014. On February 18, 2015, our Board of Directors approved the expansion of our Stock Repurchase Program from $10 million to $40 million, under which we were authorized to repurchase shares of our common stock. In the year ended December 31, 2015, we repurchased 2,818,038 shares of our common stock for approximately $40.0 million.

On February 8, 2016, our Board of Directors approved the expansion of our Stock Repurchase Program by an additional $10 million. We plan to make the repurchases from time to time through open market transactions at prevailing prices and/ or through privately-negotiated transactions, and/ or through a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Sales of Unregistered Securities

We did not sell any unregistered securities during the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans

The information required by this Item regarding equity compensation plans is incorporated by reference to the information set forth in Part III Item 12 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Performance Graph

Below is a graph showing the cumulative total return to our stockholders during the period from December 31, 2010 through December 31, 2015 in comparison to the cumulative return on the NASDAQ Composite Index (U.S.) and the NASDAQ Medical Equipment Index during that same period.

Table Of Contents

The information under “Performance Graph” is not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not to be incorporated by reference in any of our filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date of this 10-K and irrespective of any general incorporation language in those filings.

Dividend Policy

We have never paid a cash dividend and have no present intention to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We intend to retain any future earnings for use in our business.

Table Of Contents

ITEM 6.

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The table set forth below contains certain consolidated financial data for each of our last five fiscal years. The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing in Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

	Year Ended December 31,
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data (in thousands, except per share data):	2015			2014			2013			2012			2011
Net revenue	$	94,761		$	78,138		$	74,594		$	77,277		$	60,290
Cost of revenue		40,478			34,765			32,712			35,737			25,978
Gross profit		54,283			43,373			41,882			41,540			34,312
Operating expenses:
Sales and marketing		35,942			32,246			27,984			28,664			25,499
Research and development		10,733			10,543			9,216			8,427			9,141
General and administrative		12,129			11,203			9,938			11,276			10,104
Total operating expenses		58,804			53,992			47,138			48,367			44,744
Loss from operations		(4,521	)		(10,619	)		(5,256	)		(6,827	)		(10,432	)
Interest and other income, net		293			226			455			497			614
Loss before income taxes		(4,228	)		(10,393	)		(4,801	)		(6,330	)		(9,818	)
Income tax (benefit) provision		212			219			(54	)		218			243
Net loss	$	(4,440	)	$	(10,612	)	$	(4,747	)	$	(6,548	)	$	(10,061	)
Net loss per share:
Basic and diluted	$	(0.32	)	$	(0.74	)	$	(0.33	)	$	(0.46	)	$	(0.73	)
Weighted-average number of shares used in per share calculations:
Basic and diluted		13,960			14,254			14,421			14,089			13,807

	As of December 31,
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data (in thousands):	2015			2014			2013			2012			2011
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable investments	$	48,407		$	81,146		$	83,073		$	85,572		$	88,686
Long-term investments		—			—			—			—			3,027
Working capital (current assets less current liabilities)		49,398			81,900			84,654			88,788			89,075
Total assets		77,518			108,913			108,669			112,794			111,353
Retained earnings (accumulated deficit)		(29,672	)		(25,232	)		(14,620	)		(9,873	)		(3,325	)
Total stockholders’ equity		50,034			80,508			84,265			90,774			91,567

Table Of Contents

ITEM 7.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and notes thereto for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. This Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the following sections, contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Throughout this Report, and particularly in this Item 7, the forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations, estimates and projections and that reflect our beliefs and assumptions based upon information available to us at the date of this Report. In some cases, you can identify these statements by words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue,” and other similar terms. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to our future financial performance, the ability to grow our business, increase our revenue, manage expenses, generate additional cash, achieve and maintain profitability, develop and commercialize existing and new products and applications, improve the performance of our worldwide sales and distribution network, and to the outlook regarding long term prospects. We caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management’s analysis only as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this Form 10-K.

Some of the important factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements, and a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, are discussed in Item 1A—Risk Factors commencing on page 17. We encourage you to read that section carefully as well as other risks detailed from time to time in our filings with the SEC.

Introduction

The Management’s Discussion and Analysis, or MD&A, is organized as follows:

●

Executive Summary. This section provides a general description and history of our business, a brief discussion of our product lines and the opportunities, trends, challenges and risks we focus on in the operation of our business.

●

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates. This section describes the key accounting policies that are affected by critical accounting estimates.

●

Recent Accounting Guidance. This section describes the issuance and effect of new accounting pronouncements that are or may be applicable to us.

●

Results of Operations. This section provides our analysis and outlook for the significant line items on our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

●

Liquidity and Capital Resources. This section provides an analysis of our liquidity and cash flows, as well as a discussion of our commitments that existed as of December 31, 2015.

Executive Summary

Company Description.

We are a leading medical device company specializing in the research, development, manufacture, marketing and servicing of laser and other energy-based aesthetics systems for practitioners worldwide. We offer easy-to-use products which enable physicians and other qualified practitioners to perform safe and effective aesthetic procedures, including treatment of vascular conditions and removal of benign pigmented lesions, hair-removal, skin rejuvenation, body contouring, skin resurfacing, tattoo removal and toenail fungus. Our platforms are designed to be easily upgraded to add additional applications and hand pieces, which provide flexibility for our customers as they expand their practices. In addition to systems and upgrade revenue, we generate revenue from the sale of post warranty service contracts, providing services for products that are out of warranty, hand piece refills, and third-party manufactured skincare products. In the second quarter of 2014, we terminated our agreement with Merz for the distribution of its Radiesse dermal filler product.

Our corporate headquarters and U.S. operations are located in Brisbane, California, from where we conduct our manufacturing, warehousing, research and development, regulatory, sales and marketing, service, and administrative activities. We market, sell and service our products through direct sales and service employees in the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain and Switzerland. Sales and Service outside of these direct markets are made through a worldwide distributor network in over 40 countries. As of December 31, 2015, we had a U.S. direct sales force of 34 employees and a direct international sales force of 32 employees.

Table Of Contents

Products Revenue.

Our Products revenue is derived from the sale of Products, Hand piece refills, and Skincare products. Product revenue represents the sale of a system. A system consists of a console that incorporates a universal graphic user interface, a laser and/or other energy based module, control system software and high voltage electronics; as well as one or more hand pieces. However, depending on the application, the laser or other energy based module is sometimes contained in the hand piece such as with our Pearl and Pearl Fractional applications instead of within the console.

We offer our customers the ability to select the system that best fits their practice at the time of purchase and then to cost-effectively add applications to their system as their practice grows. This provides customers the flexibility to upgrade their systems whenever they want and provides us with a source of additional revenue, which we treat as Product revenue.

For our Titan hand pieces, after a set number of treatments have been performed, the customer is required to send the hand piece back to the factory for refurbishment, which we refer to as ”refilling” the hand piece and is classified as Hand piece revenue.

Skincare revenue relates to the distribution of ZO’s skincare products in Japan, and through the second quarter of 2014, also included Merz Pharma GmbH’s (“Merz”) Radiesse dermal filler product.

Service Revenue.

Service revenue relates to amortization of prepaid service contracts, direct billings for detachable hand piece replacements and revenue for parts and labor on out-of-warranty products.

Significant Business Trends. We believe that our ability to grow revenue will be primarily dependent on the following:

●

Continuing to expand our product offerings ─ both through internal development and sourcing from other vendors.

●

Ongoing investment in our global sales and marketing infrastructure.

●

Use of clinical results to support new aesthetic products and applications.

●

Enhanced luminary development and reference selling efforts (to develop a location where our products can be displayed and used to assist in selling efforts).

●

Customer demand for our products.

●

Strengthening against the U.S, dollar of key international currencies in which we transact (Australian Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, and British Pound).

●

Consumer demand for the application of our products.

●

Marketing to physicians in the core dermatology and plastic surgeon specialties, as well as outside those specialties.

●

Generating ongoing revenue from our growing installed base of customers through the sale of Service, system upgrades, Hand piece refills, and Skincare products.

For a detailed discussion of the significant business trends impacting our business, please see “Results of Operations” below.

Factors that May Impact Future Performance

Our industry is impacted by numerous competitive, regulatory and other significant factors. Our industry is highly competitive and our future performance depends on our ability to compete successfully. Additionally, our future performance is dependent upon our ability to continue to expand our product offerings with innovative technologies, obtain regulatory clearances for our products, protect the proprietary technology of our products and our manufacturing processes, manufacture our products cost-effectively, and successfully market and distribute our products in a profitable manner. If we fail to execute on the aforementioned initiatives, our business would be adversely affected. A detailed discussion of these and other factors that could impact our future performance are provided in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors.”

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements and related disclosures in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. (“GAAP”) requires us to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. These estimates, judgments and assumptions are based on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. We periodically review our estimates and make adjustments when facts and circumstances dictate. To the extent that there are material differences between these estimates and actual results, our financial condition or results of operations will be affected.

Critical accounting estimates, as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), are those that are most important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results of operations and require our management’s most difficult and subjective judgments and estimates of matters that are inherently uncertain. Our critical accounting estimates are as follows:

Table Of Contents

Revenue Recognition

We earn revenue from the sale of Products, Hand piece refills, Skincare products and Service. We recognize revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, transfer of title to the customer has occurred, the sales price is fixed or determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured. We defer revenue in the event that any of these revenue recognition criteria is not met.

●

Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists: We use customer purchase agreements or contracts, or customer purchase orders to determine the existence of an arrangement;

●

Transfer of title: Our standard terms generally specify that title transfers upon shipment to the customer. We generally use third party shipping documents and/or signed customer acknowledgements to verify that title has transferred. For service revenue, we use the date that services have been rendered;

●

Sales price is fixed or determinable: We assess whether the sales price is fixed or determinable at the time of the transaction. Sales prices are documented in the customer purchase agreement or purchase order received prior to shipment. Our standard terms do not allow for trial or evaluation periods, rights of return or refund, payments contingent upon the customer obtaining financing or other terms that could impact the customer's obligation; and

●

Collectability is reasonably assured: We assess whether collection is reasonably assured based on a number of factors, including receipt of cash or credit card payment, customer's past transaction history, credit worthiness, or the receipt of an irrevocable letter of credit.

Multiple-Element Arrangements

For Product revenue, all of the tangible products, including the embedded software, are delivered to the customer at the time of sale. In some circumstances, in conjunction with the purchase of a system or upgrade, customers purchase service contracts for one or more years to cover their products. For these transactions, the following multiple-element arrangement exists: a tangible product delivered to the customer at the inception of the revenue arrangement; and a service contract for delivery of services to the customer over a contractually stated period of time defined in the service contract.

For multiple-element arrangements, judgments are required as to the allocation of the proceeds received from an arrangement to the multiple elements of the arrangement. For multiple element arrangements entered into on or after January 1, 2010, we allocate revenue to all deliverables based on their relative selling prices. Because we have neither vendor-specific objective evidence (“VSOE”) nor third-party evidence of selling price (“TPE”) for our systems, the allocation of revenue has been based on our best estimate of selling prices (“BESP”). The objective of BESP is to determine the price at which we would transact a sale if the product or service was sold on a stand-alone basis. We determine BESP for our deliverables by considering multiple factors including, but not limited to, features and functionality of the system, geographies, type of customer and market conditions.

Revenue under service contracts is recognized on a straight-line basis over the period of the applicable service contract. Service revenue, not under a service contract, is recognized as the services are provided.

Hand Piece Refills

When customers purchase a hand piece refill, we ship a previously refurbished unit and recognize revenue upon shipment. With respect to our truSculpt product, prior to the third quarter of 2013, we sold the system and hand piece and then charged the customer an incremental fee for any future refills and we treated the refills as a separate deliverable under FASB ASC 605-25. In addition, we also provided promotions that included an unlimited number of “free” hand piece replacements during a stated trial period of 3 months or 12 months. We determined that these free refills were an undelivered element under FASB ASC 605-25 in the original revenue transaction. As such, we deferred the relative fair value related to the estimated number of hand piece replacements to be delivered during the promotional period and recognized that deferred revenue over the free refills promotion period. Commencing with the third quarter of 2013, we included unlimited hand piece replacements in the truSculpt standard warranty contract and concluded that this no longer was a separate deliverable under the multiple-element arrangement revenue guidance. Following this change, we recognized the revenue under the warranty model, in which the revenue for the system sale was recognized up-front along with an estimate of the costs which will be incurred under the warranty obligation recorded in cost of revenue.

Shipping and Handling Costs

We expense shipping and handling costs as incurred and include them in cost of revenue. In those cases where we bill shipping and handling costs to customers, we classify the amounts billed as revenue.

Table Of Contents

Stock-based Compensation Expense

Stock Options

We account for stock-based compensation in accordance with the fair value recognition provisions of U.S. GAAP. To value options, we use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, which requires the input of highly subjective assumptions. These assumptions include:

●

Estimating the length of time employees will retain their vested stock options before exercising them (“expected term”);

●

Estimated volatility of our common stock price over the expected term;

●

Number of options that will ultimately not complete their vesting requirements (“forfeiture rate”); and

●

Expected risk-free interest rate and dividend rate over the expected term.

The assumptions for expected volatility and expected term are the two assumptions that significantly affect the grant date fair value.

The expected term represents the weighted-average period that our stock options are expected to be outstanding. The expected term is based on the observed and expected time to post-vesting exercise of options by employees. We use historical exercise patterns of previously granted options in relation to stock price movements to derive an employee behavioral pattern used to forecast expected exercise patterns.

We estimate volatility based on historical volatility and we also consider implied volatility when there is sufficient volume of freely traded options with comparable terms and exercise prices in the open market.

Changes in expected risk-free interest rate and dividend rate do not significantly impact the calculation of fair value, and determining this input is not highly subjective.

Changes in the subjective assumptions of expected term, volatility and forfeiture rate can materially affect the estimate of fair value of stock-based compensation and, consequently, the related amount recognized on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Restricted Stock Units

We grant restricted stock unit (“RSU”) awards to our management employees, officers and directors. RSUs are measured based on the fair market values of the underlying stock on the dates of grant and the stock-based compensation expense is recognized over the vesting period. Shares are issued on the vesting dates net of the minimum statutory tax withholding requirements to be paid by us on behalf of our employees. As a result, the actual number of shares issued will be fewer than the actual number of RSUs outstanding. Furthermore, we record the liability for withholding amounts to be paid by us as a reduction to additional paid-in capital.

Performance Stock Units

Performance stock unit (“PSU”) awards are granted to our officers and other members of management. The final number of shares of common stock issuable at the end of the performance measurement period, subject to the recipient’s continued service through that date, is determined based on the degree of achievement of the performance goals. The fair value of PSUs that have operational goals is measured based on the market price of our stock on the date of grant, whereas PSUs with market-based measurement goals are measured using a Monte-Carlo simulation option-pricing model. The Monte-Carlo simulation option-pricing model uses the same input assumptions as the Black-Scholes model; however, it also further incorporates into the fair-value determination, the possibility that the market condition may not be satisfied.

Stock-based compensation expense for PSUs with operational goals is recognized based on the expected degree of achievement of the performance goals over the vesting period. However, stock-based compensation expense for market-based PSU awards are recognized regardless of whether the market condition is satisfied, provided that the requisite service has been provided.

On the vesting date of PSU awards, we issue fully-paid up common stock, net of the minimum statutory tax withholding requirements to be paid by us and record the liability for withholding amounts as a reduction to additional paid-in capital.

Forfeiture Rates

In accounting for share-based compensation expenses, we are required to develop an estimate of the number of share-based awards that will be forfeited due to employee turnover. Adjustments in the estimated forfeiture rates can have a significant effect on our reported share-based compensation, as we recognize the cumulative effect of the rate adjustments for all expense amortization in the period the estimated forfeiture rates were adjusted. We estimate and adjust forfeiture rates based on a periodic review of recent forfeiture activity and expected future employee turnover. If a revised forfeiture rate is higher than previously estimated forfeiture rate, we may make an adjustment that will result in a decrease to the expense recognized in the financial statements during the period when the rate was changed. Adjustments in the estimated forfeiture rates could also cause changes in the amount of expense that we recognize in future periods.

Table Of Contents

Intangible Assets

Our intangible assets include identifiable intangibles and goodwill. Identifiable intangibles include sub-licenses, rights acquired from a former distributor and those acquired in conjunction with an acquisition in 2012. All of our identifiable intangibles have finite lives.

In February 2012, we acquired the global aesthetic business unit of IRIDEX Corporation, which included various laser systems (such as the VariLite and Gemini) and an installed base of customers, whose products are being serviced by us. This acquisition was considered a business combination for accounting purposes, and as such, in addition to valuing all the assets, we recorded goodwill associated with the expected synergies from leveraging the customer relationships and integrating new product offerings into our business. The fair values of the assets acquired were determined to be $4.8 million of net tangible and intangible assets and $1.3 million of goodwill.

Identifiable intangible assets with finite lives are subject to impairment testing and are reviewed for impairment when events or circumstances indicate that such assets may not be recoverable at their carrying value. We evaluate the recoverability of the carrying value of these identifiable intangibles based on estimated undiscounted cash flows to be generated from such assets. If the cash flow estimates or the significant operating assumptions upon which they are based change in the future, we may be required to record additional impairment charges. When events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of long-lived assets may not be recoverable, we recognize such impairment in the event the net book value of such assets exceeds the future undiscounted cash flows attributable to such assets.

The valuation and classification of intangible assets and goodwill and the assignment of useful amortization lives for the intangible assets involves judgments and the use of estimates. The evaluation of these intangibles and goodwill for impairment under established accounting guidelines is required on a recurring basis. Changes in business conditions could potentially require future adjustments to asset valuations. If we determine that the remaining useful lives of assets are shorter than we had originally estimated, we accelerate the rate of amortization over the assets’ new, shorter useful lives. A considerable amount of judgment is required in assessing impairment, which includes financial forecasts. Should conditions be different from management’s current estimates, material write-downs of long-lived assets may be required, which would adversely affect our operating results.

As of December 31, 2015 we determined that there was no impairment to our long-lived assets. As of December 31, 2014, we evaluated the recoverability of our long-lived assets. Relating to the purchased intangible assets associated with the Iridex acquisition in 2012, due to the discontinuation of the manufacture and sale of all products acquired, reduction in projected future service revenue, and reduction in projected revenue expected from the distributor relationships acquired, we determined based on an undiscounted cash flow model that the remaining carrying value of these assets was impaired. Based on a discounted cash flow model, we measured the impairment of the purchased intangible assets and recorded an impairment charge of $650,000 in cost of revenue in the year ended December 31, 2014. There were no impairment charges or accelerated amortization recorded in the year ended December 31, 2013. Our valuation model relied on unobservable inputs, referred to as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy, that are supported by little or no market activity and reflect the use of significant management judgment and included expected future cash flow streams as well as a market discount rate. Our valuation model is subject to uncertainties that are difficult to predict.

Valuation of Inventories

We state our inventories at the lower of cost or market, computed on a standard cost basis, which approximates actual cost on a first-in, first-out basis and market being determined as the lower of replacement cost or net realizable value. Standard costs are monitored and updated quarterly or as necessary, to reflect changes in raw material costs, labor to manufacture the product and overhead rates. We provide for excess and obsolete inventories when conditions indicate that the selling price could be less than cost due to physical deterioration, usage, obsolescence, reductions in estimated future demand and reductions in selling prices. Inventory provisions are measured as the difference between the cost of inventory and estimated market value and charged to cost of revenue to establish a lower cost basis for the inventories. We balance the need to maintain strategic inventory levels with the risk of obsolescence due to changing technology, timing of new product introductions and customer demand levels. Unfavorable changes in market conditions may result in a need for additional inventory provisions that could adversely impact our gross margins. Conversely, favorable changes in demand could result in higher gross margins when product that had previously been written down is sold.

Warranty Obligations

We provide a one-year standard warranty on all systems. For direct sales to end customers, warranty coverage provided is for labor and parts necessary to repair the systems during the warranty period. For sales to distributors, we provide a 14-month warranty for parts only. The distributor provides the labor to their end customer. Commencing with the third quarter of 2013, for sales of our truSculpt product, we included free hand piece refills during the warranty period.

Table Of Contents

We provide for the estimated future costs of warranty obligations in cost of revenue when the related revenue is recognized. The accrued warranty costs represent our best estimate at the time of sale, and as reviewed and updated quarterly, of the total costs that we expect to incur during the warranty period to repair or replace product parts that fail, including the refurbishment of any truSculpt refills included as part of the original sale. Accrued warranty costs include costs of material, technical support, labor and associated overhead. The amount of accrued estimated warranty costs obligation for established products is primarily based on historical experience as to product failures adjusted for current information on repair costs. Actual warranty costs could differ from the estimated amounts. On a quarterly basis, we review the accrued balances of our warranty obligations and update based on historical warranty cost trends. If we were required to accrue additional warranty cost in the future due to actual product failure rates, material usage, service delivery costs or overhead costs differing from our estimates, revisions to the estimated warranty liability would be required, which would negatively impact our operating results.

Provision for Income Taxes

We are subject to taxes on earnings in both the U.S. and various foreign jurisdictions. As a global taxpayer, significant judgments and estimates are required in evaluating our uncertain tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes on earnings. We perform a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain tax positions. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely of being realized upon settlement. Although we believe we have adequately reserved for our uncertain tax positions, no assurance can be given that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be different. We adjust these reserves in light of changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit or the refinement of an estimate. To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will impact the provision for income taxes in the period in which such determination is made. The provision for income taxes includes the impact of reserve provisions and changes to reserves that are considered appropriate, as well as the related net interest.

Our effective tax rates have differed from the statutory rate primarily due to changes in the valuation allowance, foreign operations, research and development tax credits, state taxes, and certain benefits realized related to stock option activity. Our current effective tax rate does not assume U.S. taxes on undistributed profits of foreign subsidiaries. These earnings could become subject to incremental foreign withholding or U.S. federal and state taxes, should they either be deemed or actually remitted to the U.S. The effective tax rate in 2015, 2014 and 2013 was approximately (5)%, (2)%, and 1%, respectively. Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower in countries where we have lower statutory rates and being higher in countries where we have higher statutory rates, or by changes in tax laws, accounting principles, interpretations thereof, net operating loss carryback, research and development tax credits, and due to changes in the valuation allowance of our U.S. deferred tax assets. In addition, we are subject to the examination of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes.

At December 31, 2015, we had an aggregate of approximately $2.8 million of unremitted earnings of foreign subsidiaries that have been, or are intended to be, indefinitely reinvested for continued use in foreign operations. Depending on the timing and nature of the distribution, if the total undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries were remitted while the Company is able to utilize its net operating losses, it is likely there would be no material additional tax resulting from the distribution.

Our deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, and for operating losses and tax credit carryforwards. A valuation allowance reduces deferred tax assets to estimated realizable value, which assumes that it is more likely than not that we will be able to generate sufficient future taxable income in certain tax jurisdictions to realize the net carrying value. We have fully reserved our U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets due to our history of operating losses.

Litigation

We have been, and may in the future become, subject to legal proceedings related to securities litigation, intellectual property, product liability claims, contractual disputes, trademark and copyright, and other matters. Based on all available information at the balance sheet dates, we assess the likelihood of any adverse judgments or outcomes for these matters, as well as potential ranges of probable loss. If losses are probable and reasonably estimable, we record an estimated liability.

Table Of Contents

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth selected consolidated financial data expressed as a percentage of net revenue.

	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013

Net revenue		100	%		100	%		100	%
Cost of revenue		43	%		44	%		44	%
Gross profit		57	%		56	%		56	%
Operating expenses:
Sales and marketing		38	%		41	%		38	%
Research and development		11	%		14	%		12	%
General and administrative		13	%		14	%		13	%
Total operating expenses		62	%		69	%		63	%
Loss from operations		(5	)%		(13	)%		(7	)%
Interest and other income, net		—	%		—	%		1	%
Loss before income taxes		(5	)%		(13	)%		(6	)%
Income tax (benefit) provision		—	%		—	%		—	%
Net loss		(5	)%		(13	)%		(6	)%

Table Of Contents

Net Revenue

The following table sets forth selected consolidated revenue by major geographic area and product category with changes thereof.

	Year Ended December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2015			% Change			2014			% Change			2013
Revenue mix by geography:
United States	$	48,916			38	%	$	35,494			13	%	$	31,487
Percent of total		52	%					45	%					42	%

Japan	$	11,504			(14	)%	$	13,328			(6	)%	$	14,205
Asia, excluding Japan		15,596			41	%		11,023			(2	)%		11,263
Europe		7,728			(1	)%		7,792			6	%		7,358
Rest of the world		11,017			5	%		10,501			2	%		10,281
Total international revenue		45,845			8	%		42,644			(1	)%		43,107
Percent of total		48	%					55	%					58	%
Total consolidated revenue	$	94,761			21	%	$	78,138			5	%	$	74,594

Revenue mix by product category:
Product – North America	$	40,528			49	%	$	27,122			16	%	$	23,414
Product – Rest of World		30,695			18	%		25,984			4	%		24,960
Total Product		71,223			34	%		53,106			10	%		48,374