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Section 1: 10-K (10-K)

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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549 
 
FORM 10-K
 
(Mark One)
ý
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017
OR
¨
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
Commission File Number: 001-36040
 

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Fox Factory Holding Corp.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
 
Delaware
26-1647258
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
 
 
915 Disc Drive
Scotts Valley, CA
95066
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(Zip Code)
(831) 274-6500
(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
 
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
 
 
 
Title of Each Class
      
Name of each exchange on which registered
 
 
 
Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share
 
The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
(NASDAQ Global Select Market)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes  ¨    No  ý
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  ý
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 that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes  ý    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  ý    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 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. ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer
ý
Accelerated filer
¨
Non-accelerated filer
¨ (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
Smaller reporting company
¨
Emerging growth company
¨

 
 
If any emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes  ¨    No  ý
Based upon the closing price of the registrant's common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on June 30, 2017 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), the approximate aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $1,245,969,518. As of February 21, 2018, there were 37,608,532 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement for the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K are incorporated by reference in Part III, Items 10-14 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 


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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). We may make forward-looking statements in our U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings, press releases, news articles, earnings presentations and when we are speaking on behalf of the Company. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance which involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “likely,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to risks related to:
•
our ability to develop new and innovative products in our current end-markets;
•
our ability to leverage our technologies and brand to expand into new categories and end-markets;
•
our ability to increase our aftermarket penetration;
•
our ability to accelerate international growth;
•
our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations;
•
the loss of key customers;
•
our ability to improve operating and supply chain efficiencies;
•
our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights;
•
our future financial performance, including our sales, cost of sales, gross profit or gross margins, operating expenses, ability to generate positive cash flow and ability to maintain our profitability;
•
our ability to maintain our premium brand image and high-performance products;
•
our ability to maintain relationships with the professional athletes and race teams we sponsor;
•
our ability to selectively add additional dealers and distributors in certain geographic markets;
•
the growth of the markets in which we compete, our expectations regarding consumer preferences and our ability to respond to changes in consumer preferences;
•
changes in demand for high-end suspension and ride dynamics products;
•
the loss of key personnel, management and skilled engineers;
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our ability to successfully identify, evaluate and manage potential or completed acquisitions and to benefit from such acquisitions;
•
the outcome of pending litigation;
•
future disruptions in the operations of our manufacturing facilities;
•
our ability to adapt our business model to mitigate the impact of certain changes in tax laws including those enacted in the US in December 2017;
•
changes in the relative proportion of profit earned in the numerous jurisdictions in which we do business and in tax legislation, case law and other authoritative guidance in those jurisdictions;
•
products recalls and product liability claims; and
•
future economic or market conditions.
You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects and the outcomes of any of the events described in any forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors. In addition to the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed above and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the risks, uncertainties and other factors expressed or implied discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K could cause or contribute to actual results differing materially from those set forth in any forward-looking statement. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and challenging environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We cannot assure you that the results, events, and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Actual results, events, or circumstances could differ materially from those contemplated by, set forth in, or underlying any forward-looking statements.

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For all of these forward-looking statements we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act.
The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.



Fox Factory Holding Corp.
FORM 10-K
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Page 
 
 
 
PART I.
 
 
Item 1
Business
Item 1A
Risk Factors
Item 1B
Unresolved Staff Comments
Item 2
Properties
Item 3
Legal Proceedings
Item 4
Mine Safety Disclosures
 
 
 
PART II.
 
 
Item 5
Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Item 6
Selected Financial Data
Item 7
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Item 7A
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 8
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Item 9
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
Item 9A
Controls and Procedures
Item 9B
Other Information
 
 
 
PART III. 
 
 
Item 10
Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Item 11
Executive Compensation
Item 12
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
Item 13
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Item 14
Principal Accounting Fees and Services
 
 
 
PART IV.
 
 
Item 15
Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
 
 
 
Signatures
 
 
Financial Statements
 
 
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
 
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
 
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 29, 2017 and December 30, 2016
 
Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
 
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
 
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
 
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
 
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Our company, Fox Factory Holding Corp., designs, engineers, manufactures and markets performance ride dynamics products for customers worldwide. Fox Factory Holding Corp. is the holding company of Fox Factory, Inc. As used herein, "Fox Factory," "FOX," the "Company," "we," "our," and similar terms refer to Fox Factory Holding Corp. and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise. Our premium brand ride dynamics products, are used primarily on bicycles ("bikes"), side-by-side vehicles ("Side-by-Sides"), on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities, off-road vehicles and trucks, all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, snowmobiles, specialty vehicles and applications, and motorcycles. We define ride dynamics as the interplay between the rider, the vehicle and the terrain, and we offer unique solutions to improve performance and control. Some of our products are specifically designed and marketed to some of the leading action sports original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs"), while others are distributed directly to consumers through a global network of dealers and distributors.
Fox Factory, Inc., our operating subsidiary, was incorporated in California in 1978. Fox Factory Holding Corp. was incorporated in Delaware on December 28, 2007.
In August 2013, we completed an initial public offering ("IPO") of our common stock. Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (the "NASDAQ") under the symbol "FOXF."
Description of our business
We are a designer, manufacturer and marketer of performance ride dynamics products used primarily on bikes, Side-by-Sides, on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities, off-road vehicles and trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, specialty vehicles and applications, and motorcycles. We believe our products offer innovative design, performance, durability and reliability. Our brand is associated with high-performance and technologically advanced products, by which we generally mean products that provide users with improved control and a smoother ride while riding over rough terrain in varied environments. We believe that the performance of our products has been demonstrated by, and our brand benefits from, the success of professional athletes who use our products in elite competitive events, such as the Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike World Cup and the X Games. We believe the exposure our products receive when used by successful professional athletes positively influences the purchasing habits of enthusiasts and other consumers seeking high-performance products. We believe that our strategic focus on the performance and racing segments in our markets influences many aspiring and enthusiast consumers who we believe seek to emulate the performance of professional and other elite athletes. We believe our products are generally sold at premium prices, which to us means manufacturer suggested retail sale prices that are generally in the upper quartile of their respective product categories.
We design our products for, and market our products to, some of the world’s leading action sports OEMs and to consumers through the aftermarket channel. Many of our OEM customers, including Giant, Santa Cruz Bicycles and Yeti Cycles in bikes and BRP, Ford, Toyota, Yamaha and Polaris in powered vehicles, are among the market leaders in their respective product categories, and help shape, as well as respond to, consumer trends in their respective categories. We believe that OEMs often prominently display and incorporate our products to improve the marketability and consumer demand for their performance models, which reinforces our brand image. In addition, consumers select our products in the aftermarket channel where we market through a global network of dealers and distributors.
Industry
We participate in large global markets for bikes and powered vehicles used by recreational and professional users. Today, our products for powered vehicles are used primarily on Side-by-Sides, on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities, off-road vehicles and trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, specialty vehicles and applications, and motorcycles.
We focus on premium-priced products within each of these categories, which we consider to be the high-end segment because of their higher retail sale prices, where we believe consumers prefer well-designed, performance-oriented equipment. We believe that ride dynamics products, which include suspension systems, as well as wheels, cranks, and other components, are critical to the performance of the bikes and powered vehicles in the product categories in which we focus and that technical features, component performance, product design, durability, reliability and brand recognition strongly influence the purchasing decisions of consumers. Over the past decade, there have been significant technological advances in materials and features that have increased product functionality and performance, allowing high-end suspension products to be adapted for use in additional end-markets and bike and powered vehicle categories.
We believe the high-end segments in which we participate are well positioned for growth due to several factors, including:
•
increasing average retail sales prices, which we believe are driven by differentiated and feature-rich products with advanced technologies;
•
continuing product cycle innovation, which we have observed often motivates consumers to upgrade and purchase new products for enhanced performance; and

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•
increased sales opportunities for high-end bikes and powered vehicles in international markets.
As vehicles in our end-markets evolve and grow more capable, ride dynamics products and components have become, and we believe will continue to become, increasingly more important for improved performance and control. Additionally, we believe there are opportunities to continue to leverage our technical know-how in suspension products to provide solutions beyond our current end-markets.
Our competitive strengths
Broad offering of performance products across multiple consumer markets
Our ride dynamics products enhance vehicle performance across multiple consumer markets. Through the use of adjustable suspension, position sensitive damping, multiple air spring technologies, lightweight and rigid materials, and other technologies and methods, our products improve the performance and control of the vehicles used by our consumers. We believe our reputation for performance products is reinforced by the successful finishes in world class competitive events by athletes incorporating our products in their vehicles.
Premium brand with strong consumer loyalty
We believe that we have developed a reputation for performance products and that we own and license established trademarks, such as FOX®, FOX RACING SHOX®, and RACE FACE® which are perceived as premium brands. As such, our ride dynamics products are generally sold at premium prices. We take great effort to maintain our brands in the eyes of consumers. For instance, our FOX® logo is prominently displayed on our FOX® branded products used on bikes and powered vehicles sold by our OEM customers, which helps further reinforce our brand image. We believe that our brands have achieved strong loyalty from our consumers. To support our brands, we introduce new products that we believe feature innovative technologies designed to improve vehicle performance and enhance our brand loyalty with consumers.
Track record of innovation and new product introductions
Innovation, including new product development, is a key component of our growth strategy. Due to our experience in suspension engineering and design in multiple markets and with a variety of vehicles, solutions we develop for use in one market can ultimately be deployed across multiple markets. For example, we believe that our success in the high-end ATV category led to the widespread adoption of our suspension technology in the Side-by-Side market. Our innovative product development and speed to market are supported by:
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our racing culture, including on-site technical race support of professional athletes, which provides us with unique real-time insights as to the evolving ride dynamic needs of those participating in world-class events;
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ongoing research and development through a team of full-time engineers and numerous other technicians and employees who spend at least part of their time testing and using our products and helping develop engineering-based solutions to enhance our product offerings;
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feedback from professional athletes, race teams, enthusiasts and other consumers who use our products;
•
strategic and collaborative relationships with OEM customers, which furthers our ability to extend technologies and applications across end-markets; and
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our integrated manufacturing facilities and performance testing center, which allow us to quickly move from concept to product.
 Over the last several years, we have developed multiple new products, such as the:
•
32, 34 and 36 Factory Series FLOAT FIT4, which reduces overall fork weight, provides external adjustability with our fourth-generation FOX Isolated Technology, closed-cartridge damper, and includes the self-adjusting negative chamber air spring for quieter operation and ease of adjustment; 
•
The Grip fork damper, which focuses on all mountain and downhill performance, reduced friction and longer service intervals;
•
X2 technology utilized in our Factory Series FLOAT and DH rear shocks, which allows the rider to tune high and low speed compression and high and low speed rebound independently;
•
DPX2 rear shock technology that combines the character of our DPS damping and X2 damping circuits to provide a lightweight trail tuned adjustable shock;
•
Rhythm series fork products developed to address a lower price point offering without compromising proven FOX performance;
•
PODIUM Internal Bypass, introduced into the side-by-side market, which through its internal bypass technology, allows the vehicle to be plush on small bumps and deliver excellent chassis control while providing progressive bottoming resistance with each increment of travel used;

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•
X2 technology utilized in our 2.5 PODIUM shocks for side-by-sides that feature high and low speed rebound adjustment, high and low speed compression adjustment, and a dual-rate spring for the rear shocks to allow drivers to tune for many different terrain types and driving styles; and
•
Semi-active and modal electronic controls for a variety of damper applications previously configured with manual adjustment knobs.
Strategic brand for OEMs, dealers and distributors
Through our strategic relationships, we are often sought out by our OEM customers and work closely with them to develop and design new products and product enhancements. We believe our collaborative approach and product development processes strengthen our relationships with our OEM customers. We believe consumers value our branded products when selecting performance bikes and powered vehicles, and as a result, OEMs purchase and incorporate our products in their bikes and powered vehicles in order to increase the sales of their premium-priced products. In addition, we believe the inclusion of our products on high-end bikes and powered vehicles reinforces our premium brand image which helps to drive our sales in the aftermarket channel where dealers and distributors sell our products to consumers.
Experienced management team
We have an experienced senior management team led by Larry L. Enterline, our Chief Executive Officer. Many members of our management team and many of our employees are avid users of our products, which further extends their knowledge of, and expertise in, our products and end-markets. We are able to attract and retain highly trained and specialized employees who enhance our Company culture and serve as strong brand advocates.
Our strategy
Our goal is to expand our leadership position as a designer, manufacturer and marketer of performance products designed to enhance ride dynamics. We intend to focus on the following key strategies in pursuit of this goal:
Continue to develop new and innovative products in current end-markets
We intend to continue to develop and introduce new and innovative products in our current end-markets to improve ride dynamics for our consumers. For example, our patented position-sensitive damping systems provide terrain optimized ride characteristics across many of our product lines. We believe that performance and control are important to our consumer base, and that our frequent introduction of products with innovative and improved technologies increases both OEM and aftermarket demand as consumers seek out products for their vehicles that can deliver these characteristics. We also believe evolving market trends, such as changing bike wheel sizes and increasing adoption rates of Side-by-Side vehicles, should increase demand for vehicles in our end-markets, which, in turn, should increase demand for our suspension products.
Leverage technology and brand to expand into new categories and end-markets
We believe that we have developed a reputation as a leader in ride dynamics, and that our reputation combined with our ability to improve the performance of vehicles by incorporating performance suspension products and other components, results in us frequently being approached by OEM product development teams, athletes and others looking to improve the performance of their vehicles, including in end-markets in which we have not previously offered products. We believe that our ride dynamics technologies have applications in end-markets in which we do not currently participate in a meaningful way, and we intend to selectively develop products for and forge relationships with customers in additional markets. These markets may include military, recreational vehicles (RVs), on-road motorcycles, commercial trucks and "performance street" cars.
Opportunistically expand our ride dynamics platform through acquisitions
Over the past several years, we have completed acquisitions which we believe enhance our business and strategically expand our product offerings. In 2014, we acquired the business of Sport Truck, a full-service distributor of aftermarket suspension solutions. Sport Truck designs, markets, and distributes lift kit solutions primarily through its brands, BDS Suspension and Zone Offroad Products. In 2014, we also acquired the businesses of Race Face/Easton. Known for its unique carbon technology, Race Face/Easton designs, manufactures, and distributes performance bike wheels and other performance cycling components including cranks, bars, stems, and seat posts, globally to OEMs and the aftermarket. In 2015, we continued to expand our opportunities through the acquisition of certain assets of Marzocchi’s bike product lines. In November 2017, through our subsidiary FF U.S. Holding Corp. d/b/a ("Tuscany") we acquired the majority interest in the business of Flagship, Inc., a designer, manufacturer and distributor of premium aftermarket powered vehicle performance packages and personal-use specialty vehicles based on OEM vehicle chassis. The Company believes that this acquisition will accelerate the growth of its off-road and on-road truck products.
Our business development group is responsible for identifying and assessing inorganic and organic potential growth opportunities of our ride dynamics platform. Specifically, our business development group: (i) identifies and assesses potential acquisition opportunities; (ii) aids the business in analyzing growth alternatives; and (iii) manages critical projects and programs as determined by senior management.

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Increase our aftermarket penetration
We currently have a broad aftermarket distribution network of thousands of retail dealers and distributors worldwide. We intend to further penetrate the aftermarket channel by selectively adding dealers and distributors in certain geographic markets, increasing our internal sales force and strategically expanding aftermarket-specific products and services to existing vehicle platforms.
Accelerate international growth
While a significant percentage of our current sales are to OEMs and dealers and distributors located outside the United States, we believe international expansion represents a significant opportunity for us and we have, and intend to continue to, selectively increase infrastructure investments and focus on identified geographic regions. We believe that rising consumer discretionary income in a number of developing markets and increasing consumer preferences for premium, performance bikes and powered vehicles, should contribute to increasing demand for our products. In addition, we believe increasing international viewership of racing and extreme sports and other outdoor events, such as the X Games, is contributing to the growth of international participation in activities in which our products are used. We intend to leverage the recognition of our brands to capitalize on these trends by increasing our sales to both OEMs and dealers and distributors globally, particularly in markets where we perceive significant opportunities.
Improve operating and supply chain efficiencies
During 2017, we completed the process of moving all of the manufacturing of our bike suspension component products to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan. In connection with this move, we are utilizing, and expect to continue to utilize, suppliers who are located closer to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan for a number of materials and components. This transition has shortened production lead times to our bike OEM customers, improved supply chain efficiencies, and reduced manufacturing costs. With the transition of all of our bike suspension component manufacturing to Taichung, Taiwan, we have converted the Watsonville manufacturing facility to be a powered vehicle suspension products manufacturing location exclusively. We are currently pursuing a number of initiatives to improve efficiencies and achieve cost savings across our North American manufacturing locations.
Seasonality
Certain portions of our business are seasonal; we believe this seasonality is due to the delivery of new products. In each of the last three fiscal years, our quarterly sales have been the lowest in the first quarter and higher in the third or fourth quarter of the year. For example, our sales in our first and third quarters of 2017 represented 22% and 27% of our total sales for the year, respectively. In addition, acquisitions such as Tuscany will affect the seasonality of our business and product mix by quarter, therefore our 2017 sales are not necessarily reflective of the future.
Competition
The markets for ride dynamics products, including suspension components, wheels, and cranks, are highly competitive. We compete with other companies that produce products for sale to OEMs, dealers and distributors, as well as with OEMs which produce their own line of products for their own use. Some of our competitors may have greater financial, research and development or marketing resources than we do. Competition in the high-end segment of the ride dynamics market revolves around technical features, performance, product design, innovation, reliability and durability, brand, time to market, customer service and reliable order execution. While the pricing of competing products is always a factor, we believe the performance of our products helps justify our premium pricing. Within our markets, we compete with several large companies and numerous small manufacturers that provide branded and unbranded products across all our product lines. These competitors can be divided into the following categories:
Bikes
Within the market for bike suspension components, we compete with several companies that manufacture front and rear suspension products, including RockShox (a subsidiary of SRAM Corporation), X-Fusion Shox (a wholly-owned subsidiary of A-Pro), Manitou (a subsidiary of HB Performance Systems), SR Suntour, DT Swiss (a subsidiary of Vereinigte Drahtwerke AG), Cane Creek Cycling, DVO Suspension, Bos-Mountain Bike Suspensions and Öhlins Racing AB. In the market for other bike ride dynamics components, we compete with SRAM, Truvativ and Zipp (all subsidiaries of SRAM Corporation), DT Swiss (a subsidiary of Vereinigte Drahtwerke AG), Mavic (a subsidiary of Amer Sports Corporation) and Shimano.
Powered vehicles
Within the market for powered vehicle suspension components, we compete with several companies in different submarkets. We believe a significant competitor for suspension components in the snowmobile market is KYB (Kayaba Industry Co., Ltd.). Other suppliers of suspension components for snowmobiles include Öhlins Racing AB, Walker Evans Racing, Works Performance Products, Inc. and Penske Racing Shocks / Custom Axis, Inc. In the ATV and Side-by-Side markets, outside of captive OEM suppliers, we compete with ZF Sachs (ZF Friedrichshafen AG), Polaris and Walker Evans Racing for OEM business and Elka Suspension Inc., Öhlins Racing AB, Works Performance Products and Penske Racing Shocks / Custom Axis, Inc. for aftermarket business.

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In the market for off-road and specialty vehicle suspension components, we believe our two biggest competitors are ThyssenKrupp Bilstein Suspension GmbH (commonly known as Bilstein) and King Shock Technology, Inc. (commonly known as King Shock). Other competitors include Icon Vehicle Dynamics, Sway-A-Way, Pro Comp USA Suspension and Rancho (Tenneco). In the market for suspension systems, or lift kits, we compete with TransAmerican Wholesale/Pro Comp USA, Rough Country Suspension Systems, TeraFlex, ReadyLIFT Suspension, Tuff Country EZ-Ride Suspension, and Rusty’s Off-Road. In the market for up-fitted vehicles, we compete with SCA Performance, Rocky Ridge Trucks, and DSI Custom Vehicles.
Our products
We design and manufacture ride dynamics products, of which a significant portion is suspension products. These products dissipate the energy and force generated by bikes and powered vehicles while they are in motion. Suspension products allow wheels or skis (in the case of snowmobiles) to move up and down to absorb bumps and shocks while maintaining contact with the ground for better control. Our products use adjustable suspension, position sensitive damping, electronically controllable damping, multiple air spring technologies, low weight and structural rigidity, all of which improve user control for greater performance.
We use high-grade materials in our products and have developed a number of sophisticated assembly processes to maintain quality across all product lines. Our suspension products are assembled according to precise specifications throughout the assembly process to create consistently high performance levels and customer satisfaction.
Bikes
As a result of our acquisitions in recent years, our bike product offerings have expanded and are used on a wide range of performance mountain bikes and road bikes. In each of the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, approximately 52%, 56% and 58%, respectively, of our sales were attributable to sales of bike-related products. Primarily for the mountain bike market, we offer mid-end and high-end front fork and rear suspension products designed for cross-country, trail, all-mountain, free-ride and downhill riding. Our mountain bike products are sold in three series: (i) our Performance series, designed for demanding, yet value-minded, enthusiasts; (ii) our Performance Elite series, designed for experienced enthusiasts and expert riders; and (iii) our Factory series, designed for maximum performance at a professional level.
We also offer mountain and road bike wheels and other performance cycling components including cranks, bars, stems, and seat posts, utilizing our carbon technology.
Powered vehicles
In our powered vehicle product category, we offer premium products for Side-by-Sides, on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities, off-road vehicles and trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, specialty vehicles and applications, and motorcycles. In each of the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, approximately 48%, 44% and 42%, respectively, of our sales were attributable to sales of products for powered vehicles.
Products for these vehicles are designed for trail riding, racing and performance. Our products have also been used on limited quantities of off-road military vehicles and other small-scale select military applications. Our suspension component products in the powered vehicle category range from two-inch aluminum bolt-on shocks to our patented position sensitive internal bypass shocks. We also offer lift kits and aftermarket accessory packages, containing our suspension components, for use in trucks.
Research and development
Research and development is at the core of our product innovation and market leadership strategy. We have a growing team of engineers and technicians focused on designing innovative products and developing engineering-based solutions to enhance our product offerings. In addition, a large number of our other employees, many of whom use our products in their recreational activities, contribute to our research and development and product innovation initiatives. Their involvement in the development of new products ranges from participating in initial brainstorming sessions to test riding products in development. Product development also includes collaborating with OEM customers across end-markets, field testing by professional athletes and sponsored race teams and working with enthusiasts and other users of our products. This feedback helps us to develop innovative products which meet our demanding standards as well as the evolving needs of professional and recreational end users and to quickly commercialize these products.
Our research and development activities are supported by state-of-the-art engineering software design tools, integrated manufacturing facilities and a performance testing center equipped to enhance product safety, durability and performance. Our testing center collects data and tests products prior to and after commercial introduction. Suspension products undergo a variety of rigorous performance and accelerated life tests before they are introduced into the market. Research and development expense totaled approximately $20.2 million, $18.5 million and $17.0 million in fiscal years 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

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Intellectual property
Intellectual property is an important aspect of our business. We rely upon a combination of patents, trademarks, trade names, licensing arrangements, trade secrets, know-how and proprietary technology and we secure and protect our intellectual property rights.
Our intellectual property counsel diligently protects our new technologies with patents and trademarks and defends against patent infringement allegations. We patent our proprietary technologies related to vehicle suspension and other products in the U.S. and various foreign patent offices. Our principal intellectual property also includes our registered trademarks in the U.S. and a number of international jurisdictions, including the marks FOX®, FOX RACING SHOX® and REDEFINE YOUR LIMITS®. Although our intellectual property is important to our business operations and constitutes a valuable asset in the aggregate, we do not believe that any single patent, trademark or trade secret is critical to the success of our business as a whole. We cannot be certain that our patent applications will be issued or that any issued patents will provide us with any competitive advantages or will not be challenged by third parties.
In addition to the foregoing protections, we generally control access to and use of our proprietary and other confidential information using internal and external controls, including contractual protections with employees, OEMs, distributors and others.
Customers
Our OEM customers include market leaders in their respective categories, and help define, as well as respond to, consumer trends in their respective industries. These OEM customers include our products on a number of their performance models. We believe OEMs often use our products to improve the marketability and demand of their own products, which, in turn, strengthens our brand image. In addition, consumers select our performance products in the aftermarket channel, where we market through a global network of dealers and distributors. We currently sell to more than 200 OEMs and distribute our products to more than 5,000 retail dealers and distributors worldwide. In 2017, 56% of our sales resulted from sales to OEM customers and 44% resulted from sales to dealers and distributors for resale in the aftermarket channel. No material portion of our business is subject to renegotiation of profits or termination of contracts or subcontracts at the election of the U.S. government.
Sales attributable to our 10 largest OEM customers, which can vary from year-to-year, collectively accounted for approximately 42% of our sales in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Although we refer to the branded bike OEMs that use our products throughout this document as "our customers," "our OEM customers" or "our bike OEM customers," branded bike OEMs often use contract manufacturers to manufacture and assemble their bikes. As a result, even though we typically negotiate price and volume requirements directly with our bike OEM customers, it is the contract manufacturer that may place the purchase order and therefore assumes the responsible for paying us. Our sales to Giant Bicycles, or Giant, a branded bike OEM and a contract manufacturer used by certain of our bike OEM customers, accounted for approximately 10%, 14% and 12% of our sales in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Our North American sales totaled $280.9 million, $221.3 million and $193.7 million, or 59%, 55% and 53% of our total sales in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Our international sales totaled $194.8 million, $181.8 million and $173.1 million or 41%, 45% and 47% of our total sales in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Sales was attributable to countries outside the United States are based on shipment location. Our international sales, however, do not necessarily reflect the location of the end users of our products, as many of our products are incorporated into bikes that are assembled at international locations and then shipped back to the United States. Additional information about our product revenues and certain geographical information is available in Note 14 - Segments and Geographic Areas, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Additional information regarding our sales, income, and total assets is available in Item 6. "Selected Financial Information."
Bikes
We sell our bike suspension products and other components to a broad network of domestic and international bike OEMs, including Giant, Santa Cruz Bicycles and Yeti Cycles. We have long-standing relationships with many of the top bike OEMs. After incorporating our products on their bikes, OEMs typically sell their bikes to independent dealers, which then sell directly to consumers.
In the aftermarket, we typically sell to dealers in the U.S. and through distributors internationally. Our dealers sell directly to aftermarket consumers. Our overseas distributors sell to independent dealers, which then sell directly to consumers.

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Powered vehicles
We sell our suspension products for the powered vehicles industry to OEMs, including BRP, Ford, Toyota, Yamaha, and Polaris. We are also currently developing relationships with new OEMs, as the powered vehicles market continues to grow. After incorporating our products on their powered vehicles, OEMs typically sell their powered vehicles to independent dealers, which then sell directly to consumers.
In the aftermarket, we typically sell to dealers and distributors, both in the U.S. and internationally. Our dealers sell directly to aftermarket consumers. When we sell to our distributors, they sell to independent dealers, which then sell directly to consumers.
Our product offerings currently target performance suspension products for Side-by-Sides, on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities, off-road vehicles and trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, specialty vehicles and applications, and motorcycles. Our products have also been used on limited quantities of off-road military vehicles and other select small-scale military applications. We also offer suspension systems, or lift kits, for trucks.
Sales and marketing
We employ specialized and dedicated sales professionals. Each sales professional is fully committed to servicing either OEM or aftermarket customers within our product categories, which ensures that our customers are in contact with capable and knowledgeable sales professionals to address their specific needs. We strongly believe that providing a high level of service to our end customers is essential to maintaining our reputational excellence in the marketplace. Our sales professionals receive training on the brands' latest products and technologies and attend trade shows to increase their market knowledge.
Our marketing strategy focuses on strengthening and promoting our brands in the marketplace. We strategically focus our marketing efforts on enthusiasts seeking high-end ride dynamics systems through promotions at destination riding locations and individual and team sponsorships. We believe that the performance of our products has been demonstrated by, and our brand benefits from, the success of professional athletes who use our products in elite competitive events, such as the Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike World Cup and the X Games. We also believe these successes positively influence the purchasing habits of enthusiasts and other consumers seeking performance products. We believe that our strategic focus on the performance and racing segments in our markets, including our sponsorships of a number of professional athletes and race teams, influences many aspiring and enthusiast consumers and enables our products to be sold at premium price points. In order to continue to enhance our brand image, we will need to maintain our position in the suspension products industry and to continue to provide high quality products and services. We have also been able to develop long-term strategic relationships with leading OEMs. Our reputation for performance suspension products plays a critical role in our aftermarket sales to consumers.
In addition to our website and traditional marketing channels, such as print advertising and tradeshows, we maintain an active social media presence, including an Instagram feed, Facebook page, YouTube channel, Vimeo channel and Twitter feed to increase brand awareness, foster loyalty and build a community of users. As strategies and marketing plans are developed for our products, our internal marketing and communications group work to ensure brand cohesion and consistency.
Manufacturing and backlog
We manufacture and complete final assembly on most of our products. By controlling the manufacturing process of our products, we can maintain our strict quality standards, customize our machines and processes for the specific requirements of our products, and quickly respond to feedback we receive on our products in development and otherwise. Furthermore, manufacturing our own products enables us to adjust our labor and production inputs to meet seasonal demands and the customized requirements of some of our customers.
During 2017, we completed the process of moving all of the manufacturing of our bike suspension component products to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan. In connection with this move, we are utilizing, and expect to continue to utilize, suppliers who are located closer to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan for a number of materials and components. With the transition of all of our bike suspension component manufacturing to Taichung, Taiwan, we have converted the Watsonville manufacturing facility to be a powered vehicle suspension products manufacturing location exclusively.
We have expanded our El Cajon, California facility to create an Automotive Ride Dynamics Center of Excellence.  We are in the process of completing our IATF 16949 certification for this location to support our current military, automotive Original Equipment business and direct bolt-on suspension upgrades for on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities.  We expect that the expanded El Cajon facility will enable us to efficiently support future growth and demand.
We had approximately $45.6 million and $36.0 million in firm backlog orders at December 29, 2017 and December 30, 2016, respectively. The increase in 2017 backlog, as compared to 2016, was due to normal growth in the business, changes in the seasonality of order placement and our acquisition of Tuscany.

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Suppliers and raw materials
The primary raw materials used in the production of our products are aluminum, magnesium, carbon and steel. We generally use multiple suppliers for our raw materials and believe that our raw materials are in adequate supply and available from many suppliers at competitive prices. Prices for our raw materials fluctuate from time to time, but historically, price fluctuations have not had a material impact on our business.
We work closely with our supply base, and depend upon certain suppliers to provide raw inputs, such as forgings, castings and molded polymers that have been optimized for weight, structural integrity, wear and cost. In certain circumstances, we depend upon a limited number of suppliers for such raw inputs. We typically have no firm contractual sourcing agreements with our suppliers other than purchase orders.
Miyaki is the exclusive producer of the Kashima coating for our suspension component tubes. As part of our agreement with Miyaki, which we entered into in 2009, or the Kashima Agreement, we have been granted the exclusive right to use the trademark "KASHIMACOAT" on products comprising the aluminum finished parts for suspension components (e.g., tubes) and on related sales and marketing material worldwide, subject to a minimum model year order and certain other exclusions. The Kashima Agreement does not contain minimum purchase obligations.
Employees
As of December 29, 2017, we had approximately 1,800 full-time employees in the United States, Canada, Europe and Taiwan. We also use part-time employees at our manufacturing facilities to help us meet seasonal demands. None of our employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements.
Practices related to working capital items
The Company does not believe that it or the industry in general, has any special practices or special conditions affecting working capital items that are material to understanding our business. Information about the Company’s working capital is incorporated herein by reference to Item 7. "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition" and "Results of Operations," and to the "Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows" within Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Government regulation
Environmental
Our manufacturing operations, facilities and properties in the United States, Canada and Taiwan are subject to evolving foreign, international, federal, state and local environmental and occupational health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing air emissions, wastewater discharge and the storage and handling of chemicals and hazardous substances. If we fail to comply with such laws and regulations, we could be subject to significant fines, penalties, costs, liabilities or restrictions on operations, which could negatively affect our financial condition.
We believe that our operations are in compliance, in all material respects, with applicable environmental and occupational health and safety laws and regulations, and our compliance with such laws and regulations has not had, nor is it expected to have, a material impact on our earnings or competitive position. However, new requirements, more stringent application of existing requirements or the discovery of previously unknown environmental conditions could result in material environmental related expenditures in the future.
Employment
We are subject to numerous foreign, federal, state and local government laws and regulations governing our relationships with our employees, including those relating to minimum wage, overtime, working conditions, hiring and firing, non-discrimination, work permits and employee benefits. We believe that our operations are conducted in compliance, in all material respects, with such laws and regulations. We have never experienced a material work stoppage or disruption to our business relating to employee matters. We believe that our relationship with our employees is good.
Consumer safety
We are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, or the CPSC, and other federal, state and foreign regulatory bodies including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which enforces the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Under CPSC regulations, a manufacturer of consumer goods is obligated to notify the CPSC, if, among other things, the manufacturer becomes aware that one of its products has a defect that could create a substantial risk of injury. If the manufacturer has not already undertaken to do so, the CPSC may require a manufacturer to recall a product, which may involve product repair, replacement or refund. During the past three years, we initiated two voluntary product recalls. For additional information, see Item 1A."Risk Factors" below.

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Legal proceedings
From time to time we are involved in legal proceedings incidental to our business, in particular intellectual property related disputes, product liability claims, as well as other litigation of a non-material nature in the ordinary course of business. In connection with the Financial Accounting Standard Board ("FASB") Accounting Standard Codification ("ASC") 450, Contingencies, we have not accrued for material loss contingencies relating to any legal proceedings because we believe that, although unfavorable outcomes in proceedings may be possible, they are not considered by our management to be probable and reasonably estimable. We believe that the outcome of any such pending matters, either individually or in the aggregate, will not have a material impact on our business or financial condition. Additional information regarding our legal proceedings is available in Item 3. "Legal Proceedings."
Government contracts
No material portion of our business is subject to renegotiation of profits or termination of contracts or subcontracts at the election of the U.S. government.
Financial information about segments and geographic Areas
We operate in one reportable segment: manufacturing, sale and service of ride dynamics products. Additional information about our product segment and certain geographic information is available in Note 14 - Segments and Geographic Areas of the "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Corporate and available information
Our principal executive offices are located at 915 Disc Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, and our telephone number is (831) 274-6500. Our website address is www.ridefox.com.
We file reports with the SEC, including Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and any other filings required by the SEC. We make available through the Investor Relations section of our website, free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC.
The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects could be materially and adversely affected by various risks and uncertainties that are described herein. In addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our common stock could decline.
Risks related to our business
If we are unable to continue to enhance existing products and develop, manufacture and market new products that respond to consumer needs and preferences and achieve market acceptance, we may experience a decrease in demand for our products, and our business and financial results could suffer.
Our growth strategy involves the continuous development of innovative performance products. We may not be able to compete as effectively with our competitors, and ultimately satisfy the needs and preferences of our customers and the end users of our products, unless we can continue to enhance existing products and develop new, innovative products in the global markets in which we compete. In addition, we must continuously compete not only for end users who purchase our products through the dealers and distributors who are our customers, but also for the OEMs, which incorporate our products into their bikes and powered vehicles. These OEMs regularly evaluate our products against those of our competitors to determine if they are allowing the OEMs to achieve higher sales and market share on a cost-effective basis. Should one or more of our OEM customers determine that they could achieve overall better financial results by incorporating a competitor’s new or existing product, they would likely do so, which could harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Product development requires significant financial, technological and other resources. While we expended approximately $20.2 million, $18.5 million and $17.0 million for our research and development efforts in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, there can be no assurance that this level of investment in research and development will be sufficient in the future to maintain our competitive advantage in product innovation, which could cause our business, financial condition or results of operations to suffer.

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Product improvements and new product introductions require significant planning, design, development and testing at the technological, product and manufacturing process levels, and we may experience unanticipated delays in our introduction of product improvements or new products. Our competitors’ new products may beat our products to market, be more effective and/or less expensive than our products, obtain better market acceptance or render our products obsolete. Any new products that we develop may not receive market acceptance or otherwise generate any meaningful sales or profits for us relative to our expectations. In addition, one of our competitors could develop an unforeseen and entirely new product or technology that renders our products less desirable or obsolete, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We face intense competition in all product lines, including from some competitors that may have greater financial and marketing resources. Failure to compete effectively against competitors would negatively impact our business and operating results.
The ride dynamics industry is highly competitive. We compete with a number of other manufacturers that produce and sell ride dynamics products to OEMs and aftermarket dealers and distributors, including OEMs that produce their own lines of products for their own use. Our continued success depends on our ability to continue to compete effectively against our competitors, some of which have significantly greater financial, marketing and other resources than we have. Also, several of our competitors offer broader product lines to OEMs, which they may sell in connection with suspension products as part of a package offering. In the future, our competitors may be able to maintain and grow brand strength and market share more effectively or quickly than we do by anticipating the course of market developments more accurately than we do, developing products that are superior to our products, creating manufacturing or distribution capabilities that are superior to ours, producing similar products at a lower cost than we can or adapting more quickly than we do to new technologies or evolving regulatory, industry or customer requirements, among other possibilities. In addition, we may encounter increased competition if our current competitors broaden their product offerings by beginning to produce additional types of ride dynamics products or through competitor consolidations. We could also face competition from well-capitalized entrants into the performance suspension and ride dynamics product market, as well as aggressive pricing tactics by other manufacturers trying to gain market share. As a result, our products may not be able to compete successfully with our competitors’ products, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our business is sensitive to economic conditions that impact consumer spending. Our suspension and ride dynamics products, and the bike and powered vehicles into which they are incorporated, are discretionary purchases and may be adversely impacted by changes in the economy.
Our business depends substantially on global economic and market conditions. In particular, we believe that currently a significant majority of the end users of our products live in the United States and countries in Europe. These areas are either in the process of recovering from recession or, in some cases, are still struggling with recession, disruption in banking and/or financial systems, economic weakness and uncertainty. In addition, our products are recreational in nature and are generally discretionary purchases by consumers. Consumers are usually more willing to make discretionary purchases during periods of favorable general economic conditions and high consumer confidence. Discretionary spending may also be affected by many other factors, including interest rates, the availability of consumer credit, taxes and consumer confidence in future economic conditions. During periods of unfavorable economic conditions, or periods when other negative market factors exist, consumer discretionary spending is typically reduced, which in turn could reduce our product sales and have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
There could also be a number of secondary effects resulting from an economic downturn, such as insolvency of our suppliers resulting in product delays, an inability of our OEM and distributor and dealer customers to obtain credit to finance purchases of our products, customers delaying payment to us for the purchase of our products due to financial hardship or an increase in bad debt expense. Any of these effects could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
If we are unable to maintain our premium brand image, our business may suffer.
Our products are selected by both OEMs and dealers and distributors in part because of the premium brand reputation we hold with them and our end users. Therefore, our success depends on our ability to maintain and build the image of our brands. We have focused on building our brands through producing products or acquiring businesses that produce products that we believe are innovative, high in performance and highly reliable. In addition, our brands benefit from our strong relationships with our OEM customers and dealers and distributors and through marketing programs aimed at bike and powered vehicle enthusiasts in various media and other channels. For example, we sponsor a number of professional athletes and professional race teams. In order to continue to enhance our brand image, we will need to maintain our position in the suspension and ride dynamics products industry and continue to provide high quality products and services. Also, we will need to continue to invest in sponsorships, marketing and public relations.
There can be no assurance, however, that we will be able to maintain or enhance the strength of our brands in the future. Our brands could be adversely impacted by, among other things:
•
failure to develop new products that are innovative, performance and reliable;
•
internal product quality control issues;

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•
product quality issues on the bikes and powered vehicles on which our products are installed;
•
product recalls;
•
high profile component failures (such as a component failure during a race on a mountain bike ridden by an athlete that we sponsor);
•
negative publicity regarding our sponsored athletes;
•
high profile injury or death to one of our sponsored athletes;
•
inconsistent uses of our brand and our other intellectual property assets, as well as failure to protect our intellectual property; and
•
changes in consumer trends and perceptions.
Any adverse impact on our brand could in turn negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
A significant portion of our sales are highly dependent on the demand for high-end bikes and a material decline in the demand for these bikes or their suspension components could have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations.
During 2017, approximately 52% of our sales were generated from the sale of bike products. Part of our success has been attributable to the growth in the high-end bike industry, including increases in average retail sales prices, as better-performing product designs and technologies have been incorporated into these products. If the popularity of high-end or premium-priced bikes does not increase or declines, the number of bike enthusiasts seeking such bikes or premium priced suspension products, wheels, cranks and other specialty components for their bikes does not increase or declines, or the average price point of these bikes declines, we may fail to achieve future growth or our sales could decrease, and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected. In addition, if current bike enthusiasts stop purchasing our products due to changes in preferences, we may fail to achieve future growth or our sales could be decreased, and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected.
Our growth in the powered vehicle category is dependent upon our continued ability to expand our product sales into powered vehicles that require performance suspension and the continued expansion of the market for these powered vehicles.
Our growth in the powered vehicle category is in part attributable to the expansion of the market for powered vehicles that require performance suspension products. Such market growth includes the creation of new classes of vehicles that need our products, such as Side-by-Sides, and our ability to create products for these vehicles. In the event these markets stopped expanding or contracted, or we are unsuccessful in creating new products for these markets or other competitors successfully enter into these markets, we may fail to achieve future growth or our sales could decrease, and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected.
Changes in our customer, channel and product mix could place more rigorous demands on our infrastructure and cause our profitability percentages to fluctuate.
From time to time, we may experience changes in our customer, channel and product mix from changes in demands from existing customers due to shifts in their products and markets.  Additionally, the Company may pursue new customers and markets.  Such changes in customers, channel and product mix could place more rigorous demands on our infrastructure and supply chain and could result in changes to our profitability and profitability percentages.  If customers begin to require more lower-margin products from us and fewer higher-margin products, or place demands on our performance that increase our costs, our business, results of operations and financial condition may suffer.
A disruption in the operations of our manufacturing facilities could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
During 2017, we completed the process of moving all of the manufacturing of our bike suspension component products to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan. In connection with this move, we are utilizing, and expect to continue to utilize, suppliers who are located closer to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan for a number of materials and components. With the transition of all of our bike suspension component manufacturing to Taichung, Taiwan, we have converted the Watsonville manufacturing facility to be a powered vehicle suspension products manufacturing location exclusively. In the future, we may move additional manufacturing operations as we re-balance existing facilities or expand to new manufacturing locations. As a result, we have incurred, and may continue to incur, costs associated with some duplication of facilities, equipment and personnel, the amount of which could vary materially from our projections. In addition, we could encounter unforeseen difficulties resulting from the distance and time zone differences between our various facilities.

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Equipment failures, delays in deliveries or catastrophic loss at any of our facilities could lead to production or service disruptions, curtailments or shutdowns. In the event of a stoppage in production or a slowdown in production due to high employee turnover or a labor dispute at any of our facilities, even if only temporary, or if we experience delays as a result of events that are beyond our control, delivery times to our customers could be severely affected. If there was a manufacturing disruption in any of our manufacturing facilities, we might be unable to meet product delivery requirements and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected, even if the disruption was covered in whole or in part by our business interruption insurance. Any significant delay in deliveries to our customers could lead to increased returns or cancellations, expose us to damage claims from our customers or damage our brand and, in turn, negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Work stoppages or other disruptions at seaports could adversely affect our operating results.
A significant portion of our goods move through ports on the Western Coast of the United States. We have a global supply chain and we import products from our third-party vendors as well as our Fox Taiwan facility into the United States largely through ports on the West Coast. Freight arriving at West Coast ports must be offloaded from ships by longshoremen, none of whom are our employees. We do not control the activities of these employees or seaports and we could suffer supply chain disruptions due to any disputes, capacity shortages, slowdowns or shutdowns which may occur, as was experienced in February 2015, in relation to certain West Coast ports. While the West Coast ports labor dispute ended with a five-year agreement, it lasted longer than we forecasted, and any similar labor dispute in the future could potentially have a negative effect on both our financial condition and results of operations.
Our business depends substantially on the continuing efforts of our senior management, and our business may be severely disrupted if we lose their services.
We are heavily dependent upon the contributions, talent and leadership of our senior management team, particularly our Chief Executive Officer, Larry L. Enterline. We do not have a "key person" life insurance policy on Mr. Enterline or any other key employees. We believe that the top eleven members of our senior management team are key to establishing our focus and executing our corporate strategies as they have extensive knowledge of our systems and processes. Given our senior management team’s knowledge of the suspension products industry and the limited number of direct competitors in the industry, we believe that it could be difficult to find replacements should any of the members of our senior management team leave. Our inability to find suitable replacements for any of the members of our senior management team could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We depend on skilled engineers to develop and create our products, and the failure to attract and retain such individuals could adversely affect our business.
We rely on skilled and well-trained engineers for the design and production of our products, as well as in our research and development functions. Competition for such individuals is intense, particularly in Silicon Valley near where our headquarters are located. Our inability to attract or retain qualified employees in our design, production or research and development functions or elsewhere in our Company could result in diminished quality of our products and delinquent production schedules, impede our ability to develop new products and harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We may not be able to sustain our past growth or successfully implement our growth strategy, which may have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We grew our sales from approximately $403.1 million in 2016 to approximately $475.6 million in 2017. This growth rate may be unsustainable. Our future growth will depend upon various factors, including the strength of the image of our brands, our ability to continue to produce innovative suspension and ride dynamics products, consumer acceptance of our products, competitive conditions in the marketplace, our ability to make strategic acquisitions, the growth in emerging markets for products requiring high-end suspension products and, in general, the continued growth of the high-end bike and powered vehicle markets into which we sell our products. Our beliefs regarding the future growth of markets for high-end suspension products are based largely on qualitative judgments and limited sources and may not be reliable. If we are unable to sustain our past growth or successfully implement our growth strategy, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected.
The professional athletes and race teams who use our products are an important aspect of the image of our brands. The loss of the support of professional athletes for our products or the inability to attract new professional athletes may harm our business.
If our products are not used by current or future professional athletes and race teams, our brands could lose value and our sales could decline. While our sponsorship agreements typically restrict our sponsored athletes and race teams from promoting, endorsing or using competitors’ products that compete directly within our product categories during the term of the sponsorship agreements, we do not typically have long-term contracts with any of the athletes or race teams whom we sponsor.

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If we are unable to maintain our current relationships with these professional athletes and race teams, if these professional athletes and race teams are no longer popular, if our sponsored athletes and race teams fail to have success or if we are unable to continue to attract the endorsement of new professional athletes and race teams in the future, the value of our brands and our sales could decline.
We depend on our relationships with dealers and distributors and their ability to sell and service our products. Any disruption in these relationships could harm our sales.
We sell our aftermarket products to dealers and distributors, and we depend on their willingness and ability to market and sell our products to consumers and provide customer and product service as needed. We also rely on our dealers and distributors to be knowledgeable about our products and their features. If we are not able to educate our dealers and distributors so that they may effectively sell our products as part of a positive buying experience, or if they fail to implement effective retail sales initiatives, focus selling efforts on our competitors’ products, reduce the quantity of our products that they sell or reduce their operations due to financial difficulties or otherwise, our brand and business could suffer.
We do not control our dealers or distributors and many of our contracts allow these entities to offer our competitors’ products. Our competitors may incentivize our dealers and distributors to favor their products. In addition, we do not have long-term contracts with a majority of our dealers and distributors, and our dealers and distributors are not obligated to purchase specified amounts of our products. In fact, the majority of our dealers and distributors buy from us on a purchase order basis. Consequently, with little or no notice, many of these dealers and distributors may terminate their relationships with us or materially reduce their purchases of our products. If we were to lose one or more of our dealers or distributors, we would need to obtain a new dealer or distributor to cover the particular location or product line, which may not be possible on favorable terms or at all.
Alternatively, we could use our own sales force to replace such a dealer or distributor, but expanding our sales force into new locations takes a significant amount of time and resources and may not be successful. Further, many of our international distribution contracts contain exclusivity arrangements, which may prevent us from replacing or supplementing our current distributors under certain circumstances.
We are a supplier in the high-end bike and powered vehicles markets, and our business is dependent in large part on the orders we receive from our OEM customers and from their success.
As a supplier to OEM customers, we are dependent in large part on the success of the business of our OEM customers. Model year changes by our OEM customers may adversely impact our sales or cause our sales to vary from quarter to quarter. In addition, losses in market share individually or a decline in the overall market of our OEM customers or the discontinuance by our OEM customers of their products which incorporate our products could negatively impact our business, financial condition or results of operations. For example, if our bike producing OEM customers reduce production of their high-end bikes, their orders to us for our products would in turn be reduced, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
A relatively small number of customers account for a substantial portion of our sales. The loss of all or a substantial portion of our sales to any of these customers, whether through the temporary or permanent discontinuation of their products which incorporate our products or otherwise, or the loss of market share by these customers could have a material adverse impact on us and our results of operations.
Sales attributable to our five largest OEM customers, which can vary from year to year, collectively accounted for approximately 32%, 30% and 32% of our sales in fiscal years 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The loss of all or a substantial portion of our sales to any of these OEM customers, whether through the temporary or permanent discontinuation of their products which incorporate our products or otherwise, or the loss of market share by these customers could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
In particular, sales to Giant, an OEM and contract manufacturer used by certain of our bike OEM customers, accounted for approximately 10%, 14%, and 12% of our sales in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. In the event Giant were to experience manufacturing or other problems, or were to fail to pay us, it could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Currency exchange rate fluctuations could impact gross margins and expenses.
Foreign currency fluctuations could in the future have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We sell our products inside and outside of the United States primarily in U.S. Dollars and New Taiwan Dollars. However, some of the OEMs purchasing products from us sell their products in Europe and other foreign markets using the Euro and other foreign currencies. As a result, as the U.S. Dollar appreciates against these foreign currencies, our products will become relatively more expensive for these OEMs. Accordingly, competitive products that our OEM customers can purchase in other currencies may become more attractive and we could lose sales as these OEMs seek to replace our products with cheaper alternatives. In addition, should the U.S. Dollar depreciate significantly, this could have the effect of decreasing our gross margins and adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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With a majority of our manufacturing operations for our bike products occurring in Taiwan, a percentage of our sales and expenses are denominated in the New Taiwan Dollar. Should the New Taiwan Dollar appreciate against the U.S. Dollar, this could have the effect of decreasing our sales, increasing our expenses, and decreasing our profitability.
Additionally, with the acquisition of Race Face/Easton in 2014, certain of our operations take place in Canada and a percentage of our sales and expenses are denominated in Canadian Dollars. Our operating profitability could be negatively impacted as a result of changes in the exchange rate between the U.S. Dollar and the Canadian Dollar.
Our international operations are exposed to risks associated with conducting business globally.
As a result of our international presence, we are exposed to increased risks inherent in conducting business outside of the United States. In addition to foreign currency risks, these risks include:
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difficulty in transporting materials internationally, including labor disputes at West Coast ports, which handle a large amount of our products;
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increased difficulty in protecting our intellectual property rights and trade secrets;
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changes in tax laws and the interpretation of those laws;
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exposure to local economic conditions;
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unexpected government action or changes in legal or regulatory requirements;
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geopolitical regional conflicts, terrorist activity, political unrest, civil strife, acts of war and other political uncertainty;
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changes in tariffs, quotas, trade barriers and other similar restrictions on sales;
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the effects of any anti-American sentiments on our brands or sales of our products;
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increased difficulty in ensuring compliance by employees, agents and contractors with our policies as well as with the laws of multiple jurisdictions, including but not limited to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, local international environmental, health and safety laws, and increasingly complex regulations relating to the conduct of international commerce;
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increased difficulty in controlling and monitoring foreign operations from the United States, including increased difficulty in identifying and recruiting qualified personnel for our foreign operations; and
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increased difficulty in staffing and managing foreign operations or international sales.
An adverse change in any of these conditions could have a negative effect upon our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our sales could be adversely impacted by the disruption or cessation of sales by other bike component manufacturers or if other bike component manufacturers enter into the specialty bike component market.
Most of the bikes incorporating our suspension products also utilize products and components manufactured by other bike component manufacturers. If such component manufacturers were to cease selling their products and components on a standalone basis, their sales are disrupted, or their competitive market position or reputation is diminished, customers could migrate to competitors that sell complementary bike products which we do not sell. Moreover, such bike component manufacturers could begin manufacturing bike suspension products, wheels, or cranks, or bundle their bike components with suspension products, wheels or cranks manufactured by competitors. If any of the foregoing were to occur, our sales could decrease and our business, financial condition or results of operations could suffer.

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We have been and may become subject to intellectual property disputes that could cause us to incur significant costs or pay significant damages or that could prohibit us from selling our products.
As we develop new products or attempt to utilize our brands in connection with new products, we seek to avoid infringing the valid patents and other intellectual property rights of our competitors. However, from time to time, third parties have alleged, or may allege in the future, that our products and/or trademarks infringe upon their proprietary rights. We will evaluate any such claims and, where appropriate, may obtain or seek to obtain licenses or other business arrangements. To date, there have been no significant interruptions in our business as a result of any claims of infringement, and we do not hold patent infringement insurance. Any claim, regardless of its merit, could be expensive, time consuming to defend and distract management from our business. Moreover, if our products or brands are found to infringe third-party intellectual property rights, we may be unable to obtain a license to use such technology or associated intellectual property rights on acceptable terms. A court determination that our brands, products or manufacturing processes infringe the intellectual property rights of others could result in significant liability and/or require us to make material changes to our products and/or manufacturing processes or preclude our ability to use certain brands. In most circumstances, we are not indemnified for our use of a licensor’s intellectual property, if such intellectual property is found to be infringing. Any of the foregoing results could cause us to redesign our products or defend legal actions, which could cause us to incur substantial costs that could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
If we are unable to enforce our intellectual property rights, our reputation and sales could be adversely affected.
Intellectual property is an important component of our business. We patent our proprietary technologies related to vehicle suspension and other products in the U.S. and various foreign patent offices. Additionally, we have registered or have applied for trademarks and service marks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and a number of foreign countries, including the marks FOX®, FOX RACING SHOX®, RACE FACE® and REDEFINE YOUR LIMITS®, to be utilized with certain goods and services. When appropriate, we may from time to time assert our rights against those who infringe on our patents, trademarks, trade dress, or other intellectual property. We may not, however, be successful in enforcing our patents or asserting trademark, trade name or trade dress protection with respect to our brand names and our product designs, and third parties may seek to oppose or challenge our patents or trademark registrations. Further, these legal efforts may not be successful in reducing sales of suspension products by those infringing. In addition, our pending patent applications may not result in the issuance of patents, and even issued patents may be contested, circumvented or invalidated and may not provide us with proprietary protection or competitive advantages. If our efforts to develop and enforce our intellectual property are unsuccessful, or if a third party misappropriates our rights, this may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additionally, intellectual property protection may be unavailable or limited in some foreign countries where laws or law enforcement practices may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States, and it may be more difficult for us to successfully challenge the use of our proprietary rights by other parties in these countries. Furthermore, other competitors may be able to successfully produce products which imitate certain of our products without infringing upon any of our patents, trademarks or trade dress. The failure to prevent or limit infringements and imitations could have a permanent negative impact on the pricing of our products or reduce our product sales and product margins, even if we are ultimately successful in limiting the distribution of a product that infringes our rights, which in turn may affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Although we enter into non-disclosure agreements with employees, OEMs, distributors and others to protect our confidential information and trade secrets, we may be unable to prevent such parties from breaching these agreements with us and using our intellectual property in an unauthorized manner. If our efforts to protect our intellectual property are unsuccessful, or if a third party misappropriates our rights, our business may be adversely affected. Defending our intellectual property rights can be very expensive and time consuming, and there is no assurance that we will be successful.
If we inaccurately forecast demand for our products, we may manufacture insufficient or excess quantities or our manufacturing costs could increase, which could adversely affect our business.
We plan our manufacturing capacity based upon the forecasted demand for our products. In the OEM channel, our forecasts are based in large part on the number of our product specifications for new bikes and powered vehicles and on projections from our OEM customers. In the aftermarket channel, our forecasts are based partially on discussions with our dealers and distributors as well as our own assessment of markets. If we incorrectly forecast demand, we may incur capacity issues in our manufacturing plant and supply chain, increased material costs, increased freight costs, additional overtime, and costs associated with excess inventory, all of which in turn adversely impact our cost of sales and our gross margin. Economic weakness and uncertainty in the United States, Europe and other countries may make accurate forecasting particularly challenging.
In the future, if actual demand for our products exceeds forecasted demand, the margins on our incremental sales in excess of anticipated sales may be lower due to temporary higher costs, which could result in a decrease in our overall margins. While we generally manufacture our products upon receipt of customer orders, if actual demand is less than the forecasted demand for our products and we have already manufactured the products or committed to purchase materials in support of forecasted demand, we could be forced to hold excess inventories. In short, either excess or insufficient production due to inaccurate forecasting could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Product recalls, and significant product repair and/or replacement due to product warranty costs and claims have had, and in the future, could have, a material adverse impact on our business.
Unless otherwise required by law, we generally provide a limited warranty for our products for a one or two-year period beginning on: (i) in the case of OEM sales, the date the bike or powered vehicle is purchased from an authorized OEM where our product is incorporated as original equipment on the purchased bike or powered vehicle; or (ii) in the case of aftermarket sales, the date the product is originally purchased from an authorized dealer. From time to time, our customers may negotiate for longer or different warranty coverage. In the ordinary course of business, we incur warranty costs and reserve against such costs in our financial statements. However, there is a risk that we could become aware of an underperforming product and be forced to make adjustments to our warranty reserves or incur costs in excess of these reserves which could adversely affect our results of operations. Our products and items where our product is incorporated as original equipment on the purchased item are subject to regulation by various agencies, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the CPSC and similar state and international regulatory authorities. We have had in the past, and may have in the future, recalls (both voluntary and involuntary) of our products or of items that incorporate our products. For example, in October 2016, we initiated a voluntary recall of certain bicycle Float X2 shock absorber products. Most recently, in May 2017, we announced a voluntary recall of approximately 2,460 of Fox's Harley-Davidson specific aftermarket motorcycle shock absorbers. In addition to the direct costs related to these or other recalls, in the future, we may be forced to undertake such recalls which could adversely affect our aftermarket and OEM sales if we or our OEM customer do not have a replacement for such recalled product ready in a timely manner. Such recall events could also adversely affect our brand image and have a negative effect on our relationships with our OEMs, sponsored athletes and race teams, or otherwise have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
An adverse determination in any material product liability claim against us could adversely affect our operating results or financial condition.
The use of our products by consumers, often under extreme conditions, exposes us to risks associated with product liability claims. If our products are defective or used incorrectly by our customers, bodily injury, property damage or other injury, including death, may result in, and could give rise to product liability claims against us, which could adversely affect our brand image or reputation. We have encountered product liability claims in the past and carry product liability insurance to help protect us against the costs of such claims, although our insurance may not be sufficient to cover all losses. Any losses that we may suffer from any product liability claims, and the effect that any product liability litigation may have upon the reputation and marketability of our products, may have a negative impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility places operating restrictions on us and creates default risks.
The Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility contains covenants that place restrictions on our operating activities. These covenants, among other things, limit our ability to:
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pay dividends or make distributions to our stockholders or redeem our stock;
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incur additional indebtedness or permit additional encumbrances on our assets; and
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make acquisitions or complete mergers or sales of assets, or engage in new businesses.
These restrictions may interfere with our ability to obtain financing or to engage in other business activities, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
If we are unable to comply with the covenants contained in our Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility, it could constitute an event of default and our lenders could declare all borrowings outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest, to be immediately due and payable. If we are unable to repay or otherwise refinance these borrowings when due, our lenders could sell the collateral securing our credit facility, which constitutes substantially all of our assets.

We will continue to have the ability to incur debt and our levels of debt may affect our operations and our ability to pay the principal of and interest on our debt.

In the future, we and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional debt from further amendments to the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility, additional lending sources subject to the restrictions contained in the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility, or as a result of certain debt instruments described in our Shelf Registration Statement on Form S-3, which was filed with the SEC in March 2015.


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As of December 29, 2017, we had $98.6 million of indebtedness and $60.0 million in revolving credit available to borrow under the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility. Our ability to borrow under the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility fluctuates from time to time due to, among other factors, our borrowings under the facility.
Our indebtedness could be costly or have adverse consequences, such as:

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requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to payments on our debt;
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limiting our ability to obtain future financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt obligations and other general corporate requirements;
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making us more vulnerable to adverse conditions in the general economy or our industry and to fluctuations in our operating results, including affecting our ability to comply with and maintain any financial tests and ratios required under our indebtedness;
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limiting our flexibility to engage in certain transactions or to plan for, or react to, changes in our business and industry;
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putting us at a disadvantage compared to competitors that have less relative and/or less restrictive debt; and
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subjecting us to additional restrictive financial and other covenants.

If we incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, these higher levels of indebtedness may affect our ability to pay the principal of and interest on existing indebtedness and our creditworthiness generally.
Our outstanding indebtedness under the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility bears interest at a variable rate, which makes us more vulnerable to increases in interest rates and could cause our interest expense to increase and decrease cash available for operations and other purposes.
Borrowings under our Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility bear interest on a variable rate which increases and decreases based upon changes in the underlying interest rate and/or our leverage ratio. Any such increases in the interest rate or increases of our borrowings under the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility will increase our interest expense.
As of December 29, 2017, we had $98.6 million of indebtedness, bearing interest at a variable rate, outstanding under the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility. Recent interest rates in the United States have been at historically low levels, and any increase in these rates would increase our interest expense and reduce our funds available for operations and other purposes. Although from time to time we may enter into agreements to hedge a portion of our interest rate exposure, these agreements may be costly and may not protect against all interest rate fluctuations. Accordingly, we may experience material increases in our interest expense as a result of increases in interest rate levels generally. Based on the $98.6 million of variable interest rate indebtedness that was outstanding as of December 29, 2017, a hypothetical 100 basis point increase or decrease in the interest rate would have resulted in an approximately $1.0 million change to our interest expense for the year ended December 29, 2017.
Unanticipated changes in our tax provisions, the adoption of new tax legislation or exposure to additional tax liabilities could affect our financial performance.
Recently enacted U.S. tax legislation has significantly changed the U.S. federal income taxation of U.S. corporations by reducing the U.S. corporate income tax rate, adopting elements of a territorial tax system, imposing a one-time transition tax (or "deemed repatriation tax") on all undistributed earnings and profits of certain U.S. owned foreign corporations, revising the rules governing net operating losses and the rules governing foreign tax credits, repealing the performance-based compensation exception to the $1 million deduction limit on executive compensation and expanding the scope of employees to whom the limit applies, eliminating the deductibility of certain fringe benefits, permitting immediate expensing of certain capital expenditures, limiting interest deductions, modifying the tax treatment of like kind exchanges, and introducing new anti-base erosion provisions. Many of these changes were effective immediately upon the passage of the legislation, without any transition periods or grandfathering for existing transactions. The legislation is unclear in many respects and could be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, as well as interpretations and implementation of regulations by the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), any of which could lessen or increase certain adverse impacts of the legislation. In addition, it is unclear how these U.S. federal income tax changes will affect state and local taxation, which often uses federal taxable income as a starting point for computing state and local tax liabilities, or how the changes will be viewed by foreign governments.

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Our analysis and interpretation of this legislation is preliminary and ongoing, and the financial statement impact of the elements of tax reform is incomplete. We have asserted permanent reinvestment of the earnings of certain of our foreign subsidiaries since 2016, and discontinued this assertion as a result of the changes in legislation. As a result, we have identified the deemed repatriation tax, the accrual of state income and foreign withholding taxes on unremitted earnings, and certain other changes to U.S. taxation of amounts earned abroad as having an impact on our financial statements. Additionally, the reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate, the revision of rules governing foreign tax credits, and changes in the rules regarding the sourcing of income are expected to have an impact on our ability to utilize our existing and future foreign tax credits, and as such, we have provided a partial valuation allowance on these tax assets. A full valuation allowance was avoided primarily due to the decision to implement a prudent and feasible tax planning strategy to restructure business functions such that both U.S. taxable income and foreign sourced income will increase in future years, allowing a portion of the foreign tax credits to be utilized. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to implement such a plan. Our potential inability to utilize the net book value of our foreign tax credits could have a material impact on our tax provision, net income and cash flows.
There may be other material adverse effects resulting from the legislation that we have not yet identified. While some of the changes made by the tax legislation may adversely affect the Company in one or more reporting periods and prospectively, other changes may be beneficial. We continue to work with our tax advisors to determine the full impact that the recent tax legislation as a whole will have on us.
We are subject to income and other taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Our tax liabilities in the United States and abroad are affected by the amounts we charge in intercompany transactions for inventory, services, licenses, funding and other items. We are subject to ongoing tax audits in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with our intercompany charges, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing or other matters, and may assess additional taxes as a result. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these audits in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision. However, there can be no assurance that we will accurately predict the outcomes of these audits, and the amounts ultimately paid upon resolution of audits could be materially different from the amounts previously included in our income tax expense and therefore could have a material impact on our tax provision, net income and cash flows.
We are subject to certain risks in our manufacturing and in the testing of our products.
As of December 29, 2017, we employed approximately 1,800 full-time employees worldwide, a large percentage of which work at our manufacturing facilities. Our business involves complex manufacturing processes that can be inherently dangerous. Although we employ safety procedures in the design and operation of our facilities, there is a risk that an accident or death could occur in one of our facilities. Also, prior to the introduction of new products, our employees test the products under rigorous conditions, which involve the risk of injury or death. Any accident could result in manufacturing or product delays, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. The outcome of litigation is difficult to assess or quantify and the cost to defend litigation can be significant. As a result, the costs to defend any action or the potential liability resulting from any such accident or death or arising out of any other litigation, and any negative publicity associated therewith, could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We are subject to extensive United States federal and state, foreign and international safety, environmental, employment practices and other government regulations that may require us to incur expenses or modify product offerings in order to maintain compliance with such regulation, which could have a negative effect on our business and results of operations.
We are subject to extensive laws and regulations relating to safety, environmental, and other laws and regulations promulgated by the United States federal and state governments, as well as foreign and international regulatory authorities. Although we believe that our products, policies and processes comply with applicable safety, environmental, and other standards and related regulations, future regulations may require additional safety standards that would require additional expenses and/or modification of product offerings in order to maintain such compliance. Failure to comply with applicable regulations could result in fines, increased expenses to modify our products and harm to our reputation, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Moreover, certain of our customer contracts require us to comply with the standards of voluntary standard-setting organizations, such as the CPSC, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the European Committee for Standardization ("CEN"). Failure to comply with the voluntary requirements of such organizations could result in the loss of certain customer contracts, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Unpredictability in the adoption, implementation and enforcement of increasingly stringent emission standards by multiple jurisdictions could adversely affect our business.
Certain of our products are subject to extensive statutory and regulatory requirements governing emission and noise, including standards imposed by the EPA, the EU, state regulatory agencies (such as the CARB) and other regulatory agencies around the world. We have made, and continue to make, capital and research expenditures to ensure our certain of our products comply with these emission standards. Developing products to meet numerous changing government regulatory requirements, with different implementation timelines and emission requirements, makes developing  products efficiently for multiple markets complicated and could result in additional costs that may be difficult to recover in certain markets. In some cases, we may be required to develop new products to comply with new regulations, particularly those relating to air emissions. The successful development and introduction of new and enhanced products in order to comply with new regulatory requirements are subject to other risks, such as delays in product development, cost over-runs and unanticipated technical and manufacturing difficulties.
In addition to these risks, the nature and timing of government implementation and enforcement of increasingly stringent emission standards is unpredictable. Any delays in implementation or enforcement could result in the products we developed or modified to comply with these standards becoming unnecessary or becoming necessary later than expected, which in turn could delay, diminish or eliminate the expected return and may adversely affect our business.
Increasing focus on environmental, social and governance responsibility, may impose additional costs on us and expose us to new risks
Regulators, stockholders and other interested constituencies have focused increasingly on the environmental, social and governance practices of companies.  Our customers may require us to implement environmental, social or governance responsibility procedures or standards before they will continue to do business with us. Additionally, we may face reputational challenges in the event our environmental, social or governance responsibility procedures or standards do not meet the standards set by certain constituencies. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on the price of our shares and our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to employment practice laws and regulations and as such are exposed to litigation risks.
We are subject to extensive laws and regulations relating employment practices, including wage and hour, wrongful termination and discrimination. Complying with such laws and regulations, and defending against allegations of our failure to comply (including meritless allegations), can be expensive and time consuming. We believe that our policies and processes comply with applicable employment standards and related regulations, however, we are subject to risks of litigation by employees and others which might involve allegations of illegal, unfair or inconsistent employment practices, including wage and hour violations and employment discrimination, misclassification of independent contractors as employees, wrongful termination and other concerns, which could require additional expenditures.
We are subject to environmental laws and regulation and potential exposure for environmental costs and liabilities.
Our operations, facilities and properties are subject to a variety of foreign, federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to health, safety and the protection of the environment. These environmental laws and regulations include those relating to the use, generation, storage, handling, transportation, treatment and disposal of solid and hazardous materials and wastes, emissions to air, discharges to waters and the investigation and remediation of contamination. Many of these laws impose strict, retroactive, joint and several liability upon owners and operators of properties, including with respect to environmental matters that occurred prior to the time the party became an owner or operator. In addition, we may have liability with respect to third party sites to which we send waste for disposal. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations can result in significant fines, penalties, costs, liabilities or restrictions on operations that could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. From time to time, we have been involved in administrative or legal proceedings relating to environmental, health or safety matters and have incurred expenditures relating to such matters in the past.
We believe that our operations are in substantial compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations. However, additional environmental issues relating to presently known or unknown matters could give rise to currently unanticipated investigation, assessment or expenditures. Compliance with more stringent laws or regulations, as well as different interpretations of existing laws, more vigorous enforcement by regulators or unanticipated events, could require additional expenditures that may materially affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Federal, state, local, foreign and international laws and regulations relating to land-use, and noise and air pollution may have a negative impact on our future sales and results of operations.
The products in our powered vehicles line are used in vehicles which are subject to numerous federal, state, local, foreign and international laws and regulations relating to noise and air-pollution. Powered vehicles, and even bikes, have become subject to laws and regulations prohibiting their use on certain lands and trails. For example, in San Mateo County, California, mountain bikes are not allowed on county trails, and ATV and Side-by-Side riding is not allowed in Zion National Park, among many other national and state parks. In addition, recreational snowmobiling has been restricted in some national parks and federal lands in Canada, the United States and other countries. If more of these laws and regulations are passed and the users of our products lose convenient locations to ride their mountain bikes and powered vehicles, our sales could decrease and our business, financial condition or results of operations could suffer.
Fuel shortages, or high prices for fuel, could have a negative effect on the use of powered vehicles that use our products.
Gasoline or diesel fuel is required for the operation of the powered vehicles that use our products. There can be no assurance that the supply of these fuels will continue uninterrupted, that rationing will not be imposed or that the price of or tax on these petroleum products will not significantly increase in the future. Future shortages of gasoline and diesel fuel and substantial increases in the price of fuel could have a material adverse effect on our powered vehicle product category, which could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We do not control our suppliers, OEMs, other customers or partners, or require them to comply with a formal code of conduct, and actions that they might take could harm our reputation and sales.
We do not control our suppliers, OEMs, other customers or partners, or their labor, environmental or other practices. A violation of labor, environmental, intellectual property or other laws by our suppliers, OEMs, other customers or partners, or a failure of these parties to follow generally accepted ethical business practices, could create negative publicity and harm our reputation. In addition, we may be required to seek alternative suppliers or partners if these violations or failures were to occur. We do not inspect or audit compliance of our suppliers, OEMs, customers or partners with these laws or practices, and we do not require our suppliers , OEMs, customers or partners such as licensees to comply with a formal code of conduct. Any conduct or actions that our suppliers could take could reduce demand for our products, harm our ability to meet demand or harm our reputation, brand image, business, financial condition or results of operations.
We depend on a limited number of suppliers for our materials and component parts for some of our products, and the loss of any of these suppliers or an increase in cost of raw materials could harm our business.
We depend on a limited number of suppliers for certain components. If our current suppliers, in particular the minority of those which are "single-source" suppliers, are unable to timely fulfill orders, or if we are required to transition to other suppliers, we could experience significant production delays or disruption to our business. We define a single-source supplier as a supplier from which we purchase all of a particular raw material or input used in our manufacturing operations, although other suppliers are available from which to purchase the same raw material or input or an equivalent substitute. We do not maintain long term supply contracts with any of our suppliers and instead purchase these components on a purchase order basis. As a result, we cannot force any supplier to sell us the necessary components we use in creating our products and we could face significant supply disruptions should they refuse to do so. As the majority of our bike component manufacturing occurs in Taiwan, we could experience difficulties locating qualified suppliers geographically located closer to these facilities. Furthermore, such suppliers could experience difficulties in providing us with some or all of the materials we require, which could result in disruptions in our manufacturing operations. If we experience difficulties with our suppliers or manufacturing delays caused by our suppliers, whether in connection with our manufacturing operations in the United States or in Taiwan, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely impacted.
We also purchase various raw materials in order to manufacture our products. The main commodity items purchased for production include aluminum, magnesium, steel and carbon. Historically, price fluctuations for these components and raw materials have not had a material impact on our business. In the future, however, if we experience material increases in the price of components or raw materials and are unable to pass on those increases to our customers, or there are shortages in the availability of such component parts or raw materials, it could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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In addition to our various single-source suppliers, we also rely on one "sole-source" supplier, Miyaki Corporation, or Miyaki. We define a sole-source supplier as a supplier of a raw material or input for which there is no other supplier of the same product or an equivalent substitute. Miyaki is the exclusive producer of the Kashima coating for our suspension component tubes. As part of our agreement with Miyaki, we have been granted the exclusive right to use the trademark "KASHIMACOAT" on products comprising the aluminum finished parts for suspension components (e.g., tubes) and on related sales and marketing material worldwide, subject to certain exclusions. Although we believe we could obtain other coatings of comparable utility from other sources if necessary, we could no longer obtain this specific Kashima coating or use the trademark "KASHIMACOAT" if Miyaki were to stop supplying us with this coating. The need to replace the Kashima coating could temporarily disrupt our business and harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Regulations related to conflict minerals may force us to continue to incur additional expenses and otherwise adversely impact our business.
The SEC rules regarding disclosure of the use of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold, known as conflict minerals, in products manufactured by public companies require ongoing due diligence to determine whether such minerals originated from the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC"), or an adjoining country and whether such minerals helped finance the armed conflict in the DRC. As a public company, we are required to comply with the reporting obligations annually. There are costs associated with complying with these disclosure requirements, including costs to determine the origin of conflict minerals in our products. The effect of such rules on customer, supplier and/or consumer behavior could adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of materials used in our products. As a result, we may also incur costs with respect to potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply. We may face disqualification as a supplier for customers and reputational challenges if our due diligence procedures do not enable us to verify the origins for all conflict minerals used in our products or to determine if such conflict minerals are conflict-free. Accordingly, these rules could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
The transition of a majority of the manufacturing of our bike suspension component products to our facility in Taiwan may negatively impact our brand image and consumer loyalty, which in turn could have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.
During 2017, we completed the process of moving all of the manufacturing of our bike suspension component products to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan. In connection with this move, we are utilizing, and expect to continue to utilize, suppliers who are located closer to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan for a number of materials and components. With the transition of all of our bike suspension component manufacturing to Taichung, Taiwan, we have converted the Watsonville manufacturing facility to be a powered vehicle suspension products manufacturing location exclusively. No assurances can be given that consumers will not be adversely influenced by the fact that such products will no longer be manufactured in the United States or that consumers and OEM customers may not otherwise perceive that the quality of our products is lowered as a result of the fact that the majority are manufactured overseas. Such perceptions could adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We may incur higher employee costs in the future.
We are subject to government mandated wage and benefit laws and regulations in many varying countries and jurisdictions. For example, the State of California, where a substantial number of our employees are located, has passed legislation designed to raise the statewide minimum wage gradually until it reaches $15.00 per hour in 2022. Under the new California law, signed on April 4, 2016, the minimum wage increased to $10.50 per hour effective January 1, 2017, and will gradually increase each calendar year through January 1, 2022, when it will reach $15.00 per hour. As we expand internationally, we are also subject to applicable laws in each such jurisdiction. Increases in the mandated wage in any or all of the jurisdictions in which we operate could subject us to increased costs, thereby impacting our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
 We maintain a self-insured healthcare plan for our employees based in the United States. We have insurance coverage in place for individual claims above a specified amount in any year. Inflation in healthcare costs, as well as additional costs we may incur as a result of current or future federal or state healthcare legislation and regulations, could significantly increase our employee healthcare costs in the future. Continued increases in our employee costs could adversely affect our earnings, financial condition and liquidity.
We rely on increasingly complex information systems for management of our manufacturing, distribution, sales and other functions. If our information systems fail to perform these functions adequately or if we experience an interruption in our operations, our business could suffer.
All of our major operations, including manufacturing, distribution, sales and accounting, are dependent upon our complex information systems. Our information systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from, among other things:
•
earthquake, fire, flood, hurricane and other natural disasters;
•
power loss, computer systems failure, internet and telecommunications or data network failure; and

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•
hackers, computer viruses, software bugs or glitches.
Any damage or significant disruption in the operation of such systems or the failure of our information systems to perform as expected could disrupt our operations, reduce our efficiency, delay our fulfillment of customer orders or require significant unanticipated expenditures to correct, and thereby have a negative effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
In May 2015, we began the process of implementing a global enterprise resource planning system ("ERP"). The pilot phase of the new ERP was completed in fiscal year 2016. Remaining operations will be phased in over the next few fiscal years. ERP implementations are complex and time consuming projects that involve substantial expenditures on system software and implementation activities. ERP implementations also require transformation of business and financial processes in order to reap the benefits of the ERP system. Any such transformation involves risks inherent in the conversion to a new computer system, including loss of information and potential disruption to our normal operations. Our business and results of operations may be adversely affected if we experience operating problems or cost overruns during the ERP implementation process, or if the ERP system and the associated process changes do not give rise to the benefits that we expect.
Additionally, if we do not effectively implement the ERP system as planned or the system does not operate as intended, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting could be adversely affected.
We could be negatively impacted by cybersecurity attacks.
We use a variety of information technology systems in the ordinary course of business, which are potentially vulnerable to unauthorized access, computer viruses and cyber-attacks, including cyber-attacks to our information technology infrastructure and attempts by others to gain access to our propriety or sensitive information, and ranging from individual attempts to advanced persistent threats. The procedures and controls we use to monitor these threats and mitigate our exposure may not be sufficient to prevent cybersecurity incidents. The results of these incidents could include misstated financial data, theft of trade secrets or other intellectual property, liability for disclosure of confidential customer, supplier or employee information, increased costs arising from the implementation of additional security protective measures, litigation and reputational damage, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition, business or results of operations. Any remedial costs or other liabilities related to cybersecurity incidents may not be fully insured or indemnified by other means.
Additionally, security breaches could result in a violation of applicable U.S. and international privacy and other laws, and subject us to governmental investigations and proceedings, which could result in our exposure to material civil or criminal liability. For example, the European Union adopted a new regulation that becomes effective in May 2018, called the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). GDPR requires companies to meet new requirements regarding the handling of personal data, including its use, protection and the ability of persons whose data is stored to correct or delete such data about themselves. Failure to meet GDPR requirements could result in financial penalties.
Our operations may be impaired if our information technology systems fail to perform adequately or if they are the subject of a data breach or cyber-attack.
Information technology systems are critically important to operating our business. We rely on information technology systems to manage business data, communications, supply chain, order entry and fulfillment, and other business processes. The failure of any of the information technology systems to perform as anticipated could disrupt our business and could result in transaction errors, processing inefficiencies and the loss of sales and customers, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
We have grown and may continue to grow in the future through acquisitions. Growth by acquisitions involves risks and we may not be able to effectively integrate businesses we acquire or we may not be able to identify or consummate any future acquisitions on favorable terms, or at all.
We intend to selectively evaluate additional acquisitions in the future. Any acquisitions that we might make are subject to various risks and uncertainties and could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. These risks include the inability to integrate effectively the operations, products, technologies and personnel of the acquired companies (some of which may be spread out in different geographic regions), the inability to achieve anticipated cost savings or operating synergies, the earn-outs we may contractually obligate ourselves to pay, and the risk we may not be able to effectively manage our operations at an increased scale of operations resulting from such acquisitions. In the event we do complete acquisitions in the future, such acquisitions could affect our cash flows and net income as we expend funds, increase indebtedness and incur additional expenses in connection with pursuing acquisitions. We may also issue shares of our common stock or other securities from time to time as consideration for future acquisitions and investments. We may not be able to identify or consummate any future acquisitions on favorable terms, or at all.

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Our operating results are subject to quarterly variations in our sales, which could make our operating results difficult to predict and could adversely affect the price of our common stock.
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, substantial quarterly variations in our sales and net income. Our quarterly results of operations fluctuate, in some cases significantly, as a result of a variety of other factors, including, among other things:
•
the timing of new product releases or other significant announcements by us or our competitors;
•
new advertising initiatives;
•
fluctuations in raw materials and component costs; and
•
changes in our practices with respect to building inventory.
As a result of these quarterly fluctuations, comparisons of our operating results between different quarters within a single year are not necessarily meaningful and may not be accurate indicators of our future performance. Any future quarterly fluctuations that we report may differ from the expectations of market analysts and investors, which could cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly. We also believe that the seasonal nature of our business may have been overshadowed throughout the past few years due to the rapid growth in sales we have experienced during those periods.
Our beliefs regarding the future growth of the performance suspension and ride dynamics product market are supported by qualitative data and limited sources and may not be reliable. A reduction or lack of continued growth in the popularity of high-end bikes, bikes or powered vehicles or in the number of consumers who are willing to pay premium prices for well-designed performance-oriented equipment in the markets in which we sell our products could adversely affect our product sales and profits, financial condition or results of operations.
We generate virtually all of our revenues from sales of performance suspension and ride dynamics products. Our beliefs regarding the outlook of the performance suspension product market come from qualitative data and limited sources, which may not be reliable. If our beliefs regarding the opportunities in the market for our products are incorrect or the number of consumers who we believe are willing to pay premium prices for well-designed performance-oriented equipment in the markets in which we sell our products does not increase, or declines, we may fail to achieve future growth and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected.
Failure of our internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect our business and financial results.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act"). Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that we would prevent or detect a misstatement of our financial statements or fraud. Any failure to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting could limit our ability to report our financial results accurately and timely or to detect and prevent fraud. The identification of a material weakness could indicate a lack of controls adequate to generate accurate financial statements that, in turn, could cause a loss of investor confidence and decline in the market price of our common stock. We cannot assure you that we will be able to timely remediate any material weaknesses that may be identified in future periods or maintain all of the controls necessary for continued compliance. Likewise, we cannot assure you that we will be able to retain sufficient skilled finance and accounting personnel, especially in light of the increased demand for such personnel among publicly traded companies.
Risks related to ownership of our common stock
The trading price of our common stock may be volatile, and you might not be able to sell your shares at or above the price you pay for the shares.
The trading price of our common stock could be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment in our common stock. Since our IPO in 2013, our stock price has fluctuated between $46.80 and $13.35 per share and such volatility may continue in the future. Factors affecting the trading price of our common stock could include:
•
variations in our operating results or those of our competitors;
•
new product or other significant announcements by us or our competitors;
•
changes in our product mix;
•
changes in consumer preferences;
•
fluctuations in currency exchange rates;

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•
the gain or loss of significant customers;
•
recruitment or departure of key personnel;
•
changes in the estimates of our operating results or changes in recommendations by any securities analysts that elect to follow our common stock;
•
changes in general economic conditions as well as conditions affecting our industry in particular; and
•
sales of our common stock by us, our significant stockholders or our directors or executive officers.
In addition, in recent years, the stock market has experienced significant price fluctuations. Fluctuations in the stock market generally or with respect to companies in our industry could cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate for reasons unrelated to our business, operating results or financial condition. Further, some companies that have had volatile market prices for their securities have had securities class actions filed against them. A lawsuit filed against us, regardless of its merits or outcome, could cause us to incur substantial costs and could divert management’s attention.
Future issuances and sales of our shares, or the perception that such sales may occur, could cause our stock price to decline.
The issuance of additional shares of our common stock could dilute the ownership interest of our common stockholders and could depress the market price of shares of our common stock.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation authorizes us to issue 90,000,000 shares of common stock, 37,606,977 of which shares were outstanding as of December 29, 2017. In the future, we may issue additional shares of common stock or other equity or debt securities convertible into common stock in connection with a financing, acquisitions or otherwise. In March 2015, we filed a Shelf Registration Statement on Form S-3 with the SEC to enable us, and certain of our stockholders, to quickly go to market should we, or certain of our stockholders, wish to sell our common stock, or additionally, in our case, certain other debt instruments.
After our IPO, we filed a registration statement under the Securities Act to register shares of our common stock that we may issue under our equity plans. As a result, all such shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to any vesting or contractual lock-up agreements.
We also have a number of institutional stockholders that own significant blocks of our common stock. If one or more of these stockholders were to sell large portions of their holdings in a relatively short time, for liquidity or other reasons, the prevailing price of shares of our common stock could be negatively affected.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock or publishes unfavorable research about our business or our industry, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our Company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our Company.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws (together, our "Charter Documents,"), as well as Delaware law, contain provisions that may discourage, delay or prevent a change in our management or control over us that stockholders may consider favorable. Among other things, these provisions:
•
authorize the issuance of "blank check" preferred stock that could be issued by our Board of Directors to discourage a takeover attempt;
•
establish a classified Board of Directors, as a result of which the successors to the directors whose terms have expired will be elected to serve from the time of election and qualification until the third annual meeting following their election;
•
require that directors be removed from office only for cause;
•
provide that vacancies on our Board of Directors, including newly created directorships, may be filled only by a majority vote of directors then in office;
•
provide that no action be taken by stockholders by written consent;

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•
provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by our Board of Directors, our Chairperson of the Board of Directors, our Lead Director (if we do not have a Chairperson or the Chairperson is disabled), our Chief Executive Officer or our President (in the absence of a Chief Executive Officer);
•
require supermajority stockholder voting for our stockholders to effect certain amendments to our Charter Documents; and
•
establish advance notice requirements for nominations for elections to our Board of Directors or for proposing other matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings.

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In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware ("DGCL"), which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any broad range of business combinations with a stockholder owning 15% or more of such corporation’s outstanding voting stock for a period of three years following the date on which such stockholder became an "interested" stockholder. In order for us to consummate a business combination with an interested stockholder within three years of the date on which the stockholder became interested, either: (i) the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming interested must be approved by our Board of Directors prior to the date the stockholder became interested; (ii) the interested stockholder must own at least 85% of our outstanding voting stock at the time the transaction commences (excluding voting stock owned by directors who are also officers and certain employee stock plans); or (iii) the business combination must be approved by our Board of Directors and authorized by at least two-thirds of our stockholders (excluding the interested stockholder) at a special or annual meeting (not by written consent). This provision could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control, whether or not it is desired by or beneficial to our stockholders. Any delay or prevention of a change in control transaction or changes in our Board of Directors and management could deter potential acquirers or prevent the completion of a transaction in which our stockholders could receive a substantial premium over the then-current market price for their shares of our common stock.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that, with certain limited exceptions, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of our Company owed to us or our stockholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Charter Documents; (iv) any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our Charter Documents; or (v) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have received notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find this choice of forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
At December 29, 2017, we occupy the following square footage by location:
 
United States
 
Other Countries
 
Total
Leased facilities
414,000

 
281,000

 
695,000

Owned facilities
160,000

 
—

 
160,000

Total
574,000

 
281,000

 
855,000

Our headquarters as well as certain research and development and manufacturing operations are located in California. We also manufacture in the U.S. State of Michigan and Indiana, and internationally in Taiwan and Canada, and maintain sales and service offices in the U.S. and Europe.
We believe that our properties are generally suitable to meet our needs for the foreseeable future. In addition, to the extent we require additional space in the future, we believe that it would be readily available on commercially reasonable terms.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
A lawsuit was filed on December 17, 2015 by SRAM Corporation (“SRAM”) in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, against the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, RFE Canada Holding Corp. (“RFE Canada”). The lawsuit alleges patent infringement of U.S. Patent number 9,182,027 ("027 Patent") and violation of the Lanham Act. SRAM filed a second lawsuit in the same court against RFE Canada on May 16, 2016. That lawsuit alleges patent infringement of U.S patent number 9,291,250 ("250 Patent").  The Company believes the lawsuits are without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself.  As such, the Company has filed, before the U. S. Patent and Trademark Appeals Board ("PTAB"), for Interparties Reviews ("IPR") of the '027 Patent and separately the same for the '250 Patent. The PTAB has instituted all of the Company's IPR Petitions and has stayed a third party ex-parte re-exam of SRAM's '027 Patent.
In a separate action the Company filed a lawsuit on January 29, 2016 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California against SRAM. That lawsuit alleges SRAM’s infringement of two separate Company owned patents, specifically U.S. Patent numbers 6,135,434 and 6,557,674.  A second lawsuit was filed by the Company on July 1, 2016 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California against SRAM alleging infringement of the Company’s U.S. Patent numbers 8,226,172 and 8,974,009. These lawsuits have been moved to U.S. District Count, District of Colorado but are otherwise proceeding.
The SRAM lawsuits against the Company have been stayed by the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois pending a PTAB determination in the Company filed SRAM patent reviews (IPRs).  Meanwhile the Company filed lawsuits have moved forward as scheduled by the courts. Due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation, the Company is not able to predict either the outcome or a range of reasonably possible losses, if any, at this time. Accordingly, no amounts have been recorded in the consolidated financial statements for the settlement of these matters.  Were an unfavorable ruling to occur, or if factors indicate that a loss is probable and reasonably estimable, the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
The Company is involved in other legal matters that arise in the ordinary course of business. Based on information currently available, management does not believe that the ultimate resolution of these matters will have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.


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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Market Information
Our common stock has been listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "FOXF" since August 8, 2013. Our IPO was priced at $15.00 per share on August 8, 2013. Prior to that date, there was no public trading market for our common stock.
The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales prices per share of our common stock as reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
 
High
  
Low
Year Ending December 30, 2016
 
 
 
Quarter ended April 1, 2016
$
17.67

  
$
14.14

Quarter ended July 1, 2016
18.37

 
15.46

Quarter ended September 30, 2016
22.97

 
17.26

Quarter ended December 30, 2016
27.75

 
20.20

Year Ending December 29, 2017
 
 
 
Quarter ended March 31, 2017
$
28.90

 
$
25.45

Quarter ended June 30, 2017
35.60

 
26.70

Quarter ended September 29, 2017
43.10

 
35.30

Quarter ended December 29, 2017
44.20

 
36.85

On February 21, 2018, the closing price per share of our common stock as reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market was $38.80 per share.
Stockholders
As of February 21, 2018, there were approximately 10 holders of record of our common stock. The actual number of stockholders is greater than this number of record holders, and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners, but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record also does not include stockholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.
Dividend Policy
We did not declare or pay any dividends in the years ended December 29, 2017 and December 30, 2016. In addition, our Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility contains covenants limiting our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders. See "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility" for additional information. While we currently intend to reinvest our earnings, any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on a number of factors, including our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, general business conditions and any other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
For equity compensation plan information refer to Item 12. "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Performance Graph
The following graph shows a comparison from August 8, 2013 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the NASDAQ) through December 29, 2017 of the total cumulative return of our common stock with the total cumulative return of the NASDAQ Composite Index (the "NASDAQ Composite") and S&P 500 Index ("S&P 500"). The figures represented below assume an investment of $100 in our common stock at the closing price of $18.61 on August 8, 2013 and in the NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500. Data for the NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 assume reinvestment of dividends. The comparisons in the graph are historical and are not intended to forecast or be indicative of possible future performance of our common stock.
392365512_performancegrapha03.jpg
This performance graph shall not be deemed to be "soliciting material" or "filed" or incorporated by reference in future filings with the SEC, or subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The table below sets forth information regarding repurchases of our common stock by us during the three months ended December 29, 2017.
Period
 
Total Number of Shares Purchased (1)
 
Average Price Paid per Share
 
Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (2)
 
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (2)
9/30 -11/3
 
1,057

 
$
41.79

 
—

 
$
32,052,500

11/4 - 12/1
 
—

 
$
—

 
—

 
$
32,052,500

12/2 - 12/29
 
45,948

 
$
39.65

 
—

 
$
32,052,500

Total
 
47,005

 
$
39.70

 
—

 
$
32,052,500

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(1) Includes shares acquired from holders of restricted stock unit awards and option exercises to satisfy tax withholding obligations.
(2) On February 25, 2016, the Company's Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program for up to $40 million of the Company’s common shares outstanding. The repurchase program expired December 31, 2017.




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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
The following selected consolidated financial and other data should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified by reference to, Item 7 "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and our audited consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The consolidated statements of income data for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 29, 2017 and December 30, 2016 are derived from the audited consolidated financial statements that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We have included, in our opinion, all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments that we consider necessary for a fair presentation of the financial information set forth in those statements. The consolidated statements of income data for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 as well as the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, are derived from audited consolidated financial statements that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in the future. 
Consolidated Statement of Income Data:
 
For the fiscal years ended
(in thousands, except per share data)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2017

2016

2015

2014

2013
Sales
$
475,633

 
$
403,077

 
$
366,798

 
$
306,734

 
$
272,746

Cost of sales (1)
321,143

 
276,689

 
254,756

 
212,314

 
192,617

Gross profit
154,490

 
126,388

 
112,042

 
94,420

 
80,129

Operating expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sales and marketing (1)
27,905

 
25,796

 
23,182

 
19,192

 
14,153

Research and development (1)
20,178

 
18,459

 
17,001

 
13,642

 
10,409

General and administrative (1)
34,933

 
27,693

 
21,053

 
17,683

 
11,408

Amortization of purchased intangibles
2,986

 
2,988

 
8,525

 
6,424

 
5,378

Fair value adjustment of contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation
1,447

 
5,911

 
6,937

 
2,856

 
—

Total operating expenses
87,449

 
80,847

 
76,698

 
59,797

 
41,348

Income from operations
67,041

 
45,541

 
35,344

 
34,623

 
38,781

Other expense, net:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Interest expense
2,396

 
2,088

 
1,549

 
999

 
4,125

Other (income) expense, net
360

 
363

 
(449
)
 
(693
)
 
(12
)
Total other expense, net
2,756

 
2,451

 
1,100

 
306

 
4,113

Income before income taxes
64,285

 
43,090

 
34,244

 
34,317

 
34,668

Provision for income taxes
21,102

 
7,415

 
9,290

 
6,631

 
10,566

Net income
43,183

 
35,675

 
24,954

 
27,686

 
24,102

Income attributable to non-controlling interest
(55
)
 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

Net Income after non-controlling interest
$
43,128

 
$
35,675

 
$
24,954

 
$
27,686

 
$
24,102

Earnings per share:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Basic
$
1.15

 
$
0.97

 
$
0.67

 
$
0.75

 
$
0.70

Diluted
$
1.11

 
$
0.94

 
$
0.66

 
$
0.73

 
$
0.68

Weighted average shares used to compute earnings per share:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Basic
37,373

 
36,799

 
36,989

 
36,756

 
34,571

Diluted
38,738

 
37,801

 
37,894

 
37,807

 
35,705


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(1) Includes stock-based compensation as follows:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For the fiscal years ended
 
(in thousands)
2017

2016

2015

2014

2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cost of sales
$
429

 
$
139

 
$
82

 
$
43

 
$
23

 
Sales and marketing
587

 
598

 
430

 
279

 
158

 
Research and development
442

 
357

 
178

 
88

 
53

 
General and administrative
7,269

 
5,129

 
4,217

 
3,634

 
2,266

 
Total
$
8,727

 
$
6,223

 
$
4,907

 
$
4,044

 
$
2,500


Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
 
 
For the fiscal years ended
(in thousands)
 
2017
 
2016
 
2015
 
2014
 
2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
 
$
35,947

 
$
35,280

 
$
6,944

 
$
4,212

 
$
1,683

Inventory
 
84,841

 
71,243

 
68,202

 
59,191

 
42,783

Working capital
 
116,702

 
95,876

 
57,971

 
48,056

 
39,884

Property, plant and equipment, net
 
43,636

 
32,262

 
26,094

 
19,759

 
13,418

Total assets
 
428,286

 
335,600

 
277,716

 
258,437

 
157,729

Total debt, including current portion (1)
 
98,643

 
66,683

 
47,881

 
50,000

 
8,000

Total stockholders’ equity
 
234,835

 
184,937

 
152,260

 
128,806

 
92,292

(1)
In June 2012, we completed a recapitalization (the "2012 Recapitalization"). In connection with the 2012 Recapitalization, we amended our debt. Concurrently with the closing of our IPO in August 2013, we used the net proceeds that we received from the IPO to repay our then outstanding indebtedness. In 2014, in connection with our acquisitions, we entered into amendments to our credit facility, borrowing $80.0 million under a secured term loan. In 2016, we entered into the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility, with a refinanced term loan principal balance of $75.0 million. The principal balance of the term loan was $63.1 million at December 29, 2017.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the section titled "Selected Financial Data" and the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report in Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. You should review the "Risk Factors" and "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.
Overview
We are a designer, manufacturer and marketer of ride dynamics component products used primarily on bikes, side-by-side vehicles, or Side-by-Sides, on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities, off-road vehicles and trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, specialty vehicles and applications, and motorcycles. We also offer suspension systems, or lift kits, as well as aftermarket accessory packages, used on trucks. Virtually all of our revenues were from our product sales; miscellaneous sources of revenue such as royalty income and service related repair work and the associated sale of components represented less than 1% of our sales in each of the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015.
We have determined that we operate in one reportable segment, which is the manufacturing, sale and service of ride dynamics products. Our products fall into the following two categories:
•
bikes; and
•
powered vehicles, including Side-by-Sides, on-road vehicles with off-road capabilities, off-road vehicles and trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, specialty vehicles and applications, and motorcycles.
A significant portion of our sales are dependent on the demand for high-end or premium-priced bikes and products. In each of the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, approximately 52%, 56% and 58%, respectively, of our sales were attributable to sales of bike-related products and approximately 48%, 44% and 42%, respectively, of our sales were attributable to sales of products for powered vehicles.
Our North American sales totaled $280.9 million, $221.3 million and $193.7 million, or 59%, 55% and 53% of our total sales in fiscal years 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Our international sales totaled $194.8 million, $181.8 million and $173.1 million, or 41%, 45% and 47% of our total sales in fiscal years 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Sales attributable to countries outside the United States are based on shipment location. Our international sales, however, do not necessarily reflect the location of the end users of our products as many of our products are incorporated into bikes that are assembled at international locations and then shipped back to the United States. We estimate, based on our internal projections, that approximately one-third of the end users of our products are located outside the United States.
Opportunities, challenges and risks
We intend to focus on generating sales of our performance ride dynamics products through OEMs and in the aftermarket channel. To do this, we intend to continue to develop and introduce new and innovative products in our current end-markets and we intend to selectively develop products for applications and end-markets in which we do not currently participate. Currently, the majority of our sales are dependent on the demand for performance suspension products.
Our aftermarket distribution network currently consists of more than 5,000 retail dealers and distributors worldwide. To further penetrate the aftermarket channel, we intend to selectively add additional dealers and distributors in certain geographic markets, expand our internal sales force and strategically increase the number of aftermarket specific products and services which we offer for existing vehicle platforms. In addition, we believe international expansion represents a significant opportunity for us and we intend to selectively increase infrastructure investments and focus on identified geographic regions.
As a supplier to OEM customers, we are largely dependent on the success of the business of our OEM customers. Model year changes by our OEM customers may adversely impact our sales or cause our sales to vary from quarter to quarter. Losses in market share or a decline in the overall market of our OEM customers or the discontinuance by our OEM customers of their products which incorporate our products could negatively impact our business and our results of operations.

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During 2017, we completed the process of moving all of the manufacturing of our bike suspension component products to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan. In connection with this move, we are utilizing, and expect to continue to utilize, suppliers who are located closer to our facility in Taichung, Taiwan for a number of materials and components. With the transition of all of our bike suspension component manufacturing to Taichung, Taiwan, we have converted the Watsonville manufacturing facility to be a powered vehicle suspension products manufacturing location exclusively. This transition has enabled us to shorten production lead times to our bike OEM customers, improve supply chain efficiencies and reduce our manufacturing costs. The transition has had a positive impact on our operating margins and we expect continued benefits from the transition over time.
From time to time we have experienced, and may continue to experience, warranty costs and claims relating to our products. In the ordinary course of business, we reserve for such costs and claims in our financial statements. There is a risk, however, that in the future we will experience higher than expected warranty costs and claims, as well as other related costs.
We intend to evaluate selective potential acquisition opportunities for performance products and technologies that we believe will help us extend our ride dynamics product platform. Any acquisitions that we might make are subject to various risks and uncertainties and could have a negative impact on our results of operations. In addition, we may contractually obligate ourselves to contingent consideration or acquisition related compensation payments in conjunction with such acquisitions, which could have a negative impact on our cash flow and results of operations. See Item 7. "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Contractual obligations and commitments" for additional information.
Basis of presentation
Sales are primarily comprised of:
Sales from:
•
Product sales: consists of sales of products sold primarily to our OEM and aftermarket customers. We recognize revenue when products are shipped, title has transferred, collection of the receivable is probable, persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, and the sales price to our customers is fixed or determinable;
•
Shipping and handling fees: consists of shipping and handling fees billed to customers in sales.
Net of:
•
Rebates: consists of incentives we provide to customers based on sales of eligible products; and
•
Sales returns allowances: consists of an estimate of our sales returns. This allowance is based upon estimates of the projected returns in future periods based on our experience with returns recorded in previous periods. Sales returns have not been significant to date.
We attribute our past growth in sales predominantly to continued higher demand for on and off-road suspension products and the success of our current bike product lines including new products within those lines.
Cost of sales
The cost of sales includes the cost of purchased parts and manufactured products (raw materials consumed, the cost to procure materials, labor costs, including wages, and employee benefits, and factory overhead to produce finished good products), including:
•
the costs to inspect and repair products;
•
shipping costs associated with inbound freight. These costs are capitalized as part of inventory and included in cost of sales as the inventory is sold;
•
royalty expenses, including payments to certain parties for our use of licensed technology incorporated into our products;
•
freight expenses incurred for certain shipments to customers, excluding customers who pay for their own freight;
•
warranty costs associated with the repair or replacement of products under warranty; and
•
reductions in the cost of inventory to its net realizable value, if required, for estimated excess, obsolescence or impaired balances.
Gross profit/gross margin
Our gross profit equals our sales minus cost of sales. Our gross margin measures our gross profit as a percentage of sales.
Our gross margins fluctuate based on production volumes, product, customer and channel mix and overall supply chain and manufacturing efficiencies. Generally, we earn higher gross margins on our products sold to the aftermarket channel. We are working on various efficiency initiatives designed to improve our gross margin, and we anticipate that our margins will continue to gradually improve in the future.

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Operating expenses
Our operating expenses consist of the following:
•
sales and marketing;
•
research and development;
•
general and administrative;
•
amortization of purchased intangibles; and
•
fair value adjustment of contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation.
Our sales and marketing expenses include costs related to our sales, customer service and marketing personnel, including their wages, employee benefits and related stock-based compensation, and occupancy related expenses. Other significant sales and marketing expenses include race support and sponsorships of events and athletes, advertising and promotions related to trade shows, travel and entertainment, promotional materials and products and our sales office costs.
Our research and development expenses consist primarily of salaries and personnel costs, including wages, employee benefits and related stock-based compensation for our engineering, research and development teams, occupancy related expenses, fees for third party consultants, service fees, and expenses for prototype tooling and materials, travel, and supplies. We expense research and development costs as incurred and such costs are included as research and development expenses on our consolidated statements of income.
Our general and administrative expenses include costs related to our executive, finance, information technology, business development, human resources and administrative personnel, including wages, employee benefits and related stock-based compensation expenses. We record professional and contract service expenses, occupancy related expenses associated with corporate locations and equipment, and legal expenses in general and administrative expenses.
Our amortization of purchased intangibles includes amortization over their respective useful lives of our purchased intangible assets, such as customer lists and our core technology. Our intangible assets are evaluated for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the assets may not be fully recoverable. No impairments of intangible assets were identified in the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015.
Our fair value adjustments of contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation related primarily to adjustments to our contingent consideration liability arising from the acquisition of Sport Truck as well as accruals for earn-outs related to our acquisition of Race Face/Easton. Our contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation for the Sport Truck and Race Face/Easton acquisitions have been fully recognized and paid off as of December 29, 2017.
Income from operations
We define income from operations as gross profit less our operating expenses. We use income from operations as an indicator of the profitability of our business and our ability to manage costs.
Other expense, net
Other expense, net consists of interest expense and other (income) expense, net. Interest expense consists of interest charged to us under our credit facility.
Other (income) expense, net consists of foreign currency transaction gains and losses, gains and losses on the disposal of fixed assets, and other miscellaneous items.
 Income taxes
We are subject to income taxes in the United States and various other foreign jurisdictions in which we do business. Until the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "TCJA") in December 2017, these foreign jurisdictions had statutory tax rates that differed significantly from those in the United States. Effective in 2016, we restructured the majority of our international operations to allow for deferral of taxes on indefinitely reinvested international earnings. The TCJA has significantly changed the U.S. federal income taxation of U.S. corporations by reducing the U.S. corporate income tax rate, adopting elements of a territorial tax system, imposing a one-time transition tax (or "deemed repatriation tax") on all undistributed earnings and profits of certain U.S. owned foreign corporations, and revising the rules governing foreign tax credits, among other changes. We asserted permanent reinvestment of the earnings of certain of our foreign subsidiaries since 2016, and discontinued this assertion as a result of the enactment of the TCJA. The deemed repatriation tax and the discontinuance of our assertion regarding permanent reinvestment resulted in an increase of $5.9 million in our income tax expense for the year ended December 29, 2017.

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Income taxes are computed using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. The reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate reduced our net deferred tax liability and our income tax expense for the year ended December 29, 2017 by $2.4 million. Additionally, tax assets arise from various credits for foreign taxes, research and development and other business activities. As of December 29, 2017, our deferred tax assets include foreign tax credits of approximately $9.4 million, which begin to expire in 2025 unless utilized. We also have federal and state research credits of approximately $1.4 million and $2.1 million, respectively. The federal research credits begin to expire in 2036 unless utilized; the state research credits do not expire.
Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized. As of December 29, 2017, we recorded a valuation allowance of $6.3 million, as we anticipate that the TCJA will partially limit our ability to utilize our foreign tax credits given our current legal structure, and considering the changes we expect to make to our operations and structure in response to the legislation. In the future, our effective tax rate could vary if we determine that there is a need to record additional valuation allowances for our deferred tax assets, including those associated with credit carryforwards.
Stock-based compensation gives rise to deferred tax assets to the extent of the compensation expense recognized on non-qualified stock options that have not been exercised or expired and restricted stock awards that have not vested. As of December 29, 2017, our deferred tax assets include $1.7 million associated with stock-based compensation expense. We adopted ASU 2016-09, Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting in 2016, and as a result, record the difference between the deferred tax asset and the actual tax deduction for stock-based compensation as a component of our income tax expense. Prior to adoption, such differences were recorded as a component of equity. In 2016 and 2017, and in future periods, our effective tax rate will vary based on such differences.
We are subject to examination of our income tax returns IRS and other tax authorities. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our income tax liabilities and expense. Should actual events or results differ from our current expectations, charges or credits to our income tax liabilities and income tax expense may become necessary. Any such adjustments could have a significant impact on our effective tax rate.
Under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, an uncertain income tax position will not be recognized unless it has a greater than 50% likelihood (i.e., more likely than not) of being sustained and then, measured only to the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement. We established liabilities for uncertain tax positions and deferred taxes associated with the deductibility of certain amortization and depreciation expenses which were incurred as a result of Compass Group Diversified Holdings LLC's acquisition of us in 2008 (the "Compass Acquisition"). The liability for uncertain income tax positions represents the amount of tax we would be required to pay if certain tax deductions previously claimed on tax returns were not allowed upon examination by the taxing authorities. The liability for deferred taxes represents additional taxes that would be payable in future periods because of the potential non-deductibility of future amortization and depreciation expenses.
As of December 29, 2017, our balance sheet reflected a liability for unrecognized tax benefits of $8.2 million, excluding approximately $4.1 million presented as deferred tax liabilities, primarily related to the Compass Acquisition. On January 30, 2018, we received a no change letter from the IRS related to the audit of our 2015 federal tax return. Specifically, the audit resolved the issues surrounding the Compass Acquisition. The conclusion of the audit will result in a decrease in the unrecognized tax benefits of $1.5 million, of which $1.3 million will favorably impact our effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2018. The IRS is considering entering into a closing agreement with the Company that will resolve the uncertainty about the Compass Acquisition for all open tax years and returns to be filed in the future. As a result, we believe that it is reasonably possible that unrecognized tax benefits at December 29, 2017 could be reduced by an additional $5.2 million. Including the reversal of amounts presented as contra to our deferred tax assets, the favorable impact of the closing agreement on our effective tax rate could amount to approximately $8.3 million in 2018.
For the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, we had effective tax rates of 32.8%, 17.2% and 27.1%, respectively. We anticipate that in the near to medium term our effective annual tax rates should be approximately 18% to 22%, subject to the inherent variability resulting from continued interpretation of the newly enacted TCJA, our ability to restructure our operations to reduce foreign withholding taxes, changes in the relative proportion of our profits earned in the jurisdictions in which we do business, tax reform in those jurisdictions, changes in our stock price that impact stock-based compensation tax deductions, and potential favorable or unfavorable outcomes on our uncertain tax positions.


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Results of operations
The table below summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015
 
 
For the years ended
 
 
December 29,

December 30,

December 31,
(in thousands)
 
2017

2016

2015
Sales
 
$
475,633

 
$
403,077

 
$
366,798

Cost of sales
 
321,143

 
276,689

 
254,756

Gross profit
 
154,490

 
126,388

 
112,042

Operating expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sales and marketing
 
27,905

 
25,796

 
23,182

Research and development
 
20,178

 
18,459

 
17,001

General and administrative
 
34,933

 
27,693

 
21,053

Amortization of purchased intangibles
 
2,986

 
2,988

 
8,525

Fair value adjustment of contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation
 
1,447

 
5,911

 
6,937

Total operating expenses
 
87,449

 
80,847

 
76,698

Income from operations
 
67,041

 
45,541

 
35,344

Other expense, net:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Interest expense
 
2,396

 
2,088

 
1,549

Other income (expense), net
 
360

 
363

 
(449
)
Total other expense, net
 
2,756

 
2,451

 
1,100

Income before income taxes
 
64,285

 
43,090

 
34,244

Provision for income taxes
 
21,102

 
7,415

 
9,290

Net income
 
43,183

 
35,675

 
24,954

Income attributable to non-controlling interest
 
(55
)
 
—

 
—

Net income attributable to Fox stockholders
 
$
43,128

 
$
35,675

 
$
24,954


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The following table sets forth statement of income data as a percentage of sales for the years indicated.
 
 
For the years ended
 
 
December 29,
 
December 30,
 
December 31,
 
 
2017

2016
 
2015
Sales
 
100.0
 %
 
100.0
%
 
100.0
 %
Cost of sales
 
67.5

 
68.6

 
69.5

Gross profit
 
32.5

 
31.4

 
30.5

Operating expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sales and marketing
 
5.9

 
6.4

 
6.3

Research and development
 
4.2

 
4.6

 
4.6

General and administrative
 
7.3

 
6.9

 
5.7

Amortization of purchased intangibles
 
0.6

 
0.7

 
2.3

Fair value adjustment of contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation
 
0.3

 
1.5

 
1.9

Total operating expenses
 
18.3

 
20.1

 
20.8

Income from operations
 
14.2

 
11.3

 
9.7

Other expense, net:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Interest expense
 
0.5

 
0.5

 
0.4

Other income (expense), net
 
0.1

 
0.1

 
(0.1
)
Other expense, net
 
0.6

 
0.6

 
0.3

Income before income taxes
 
13.6

 
10.7

 
9.4

Provision for income taxes
 
4.4

 
1.8

 
2.5

Net income
 
9.2

 
8.9

 
6.9

Income attributable to non-controlling interest
 
(0.1
)
 
—

 
—

Net income attributable to Fox stockholders

 
9.1
 %
 
8.9
%
 
6.9
 %

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Year ended December 29, 2017 compared to year ended December 30, 2016
Sales
(in millions)
2017

2016
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Sales
$
475.6

 
$
403.1

 
$
72.5

18.0
%
Sales for the year ended December 29, 2017 increased approximately $72.5 million, or 18.0%, compared to the year ended December 30, 2016. The sales increase reflects 30.5% growth in powered vehicle products as well as an 8.2% increase in mountain bike products for the year ended December 29, 2017 compared to the prior year. The increase in sales of powered vehicle products was primarily due to continued higher demand for on and off-road suspension products, including increased OEM sales. The increase in bike product sales is primarily due to the success of our current bike product lines including new products within those lines.
Cost of sales
(in millions)
2017

2016
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Cost of sales
$
321.1

 
$
276.7

 
$
44.4

16.0
%
Cost of sales for the year ended December 29, 2017 increased approximately $44.4 million, or 16.0%, compared to the year ended December 30, 2016. The increase in cost of sales was driven primarily by an increase in product sales, as well as certain business factors affecting gross margin which are discussed below.
For the year ended December 29, 2017, our gross margin was 32.5% compared to 31.4% for the year ended December 30, 2016. The increase in our gross profit margin was attributable primarily to improved manufacturing efficiencies and favorable product and customer mix.
Operating expenses
(in millions)
2017

2016
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Operating expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sales and marketing
$
27.9

 
$
25.8

 
$
2.1

8.1
 %
Research and development
20.2

 
18.5

 
1.7

9.2
 %
General and administrative
34.9

 
27.7

 
7.2

26.0
 %
Amortization of purchased intangibles
3.0

 
3.0

 
—

—
 %
Fair value adjustment of contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation
1.4

 
5.9

 
(4.5
)
(76.3
)%
Total operating expenses
$
87.4

 
$
80.9

 
$
6.5

8.0
 %
Total operating expenses for the year ended December 29, 2017 increased approximately $6.5 million, or 8.0%, over 2016. When expressed as a percentage of sales, operating expenses decreased to 18.3% of sales for the year ended December 29, 2017 compared to 20.1% of sales in 2016.
Within operating expenses, our sales and marketing expense increased by approximately $2.1 million primarily due to a $1.0 million increase in wages and related expenses, a $0.9 million increase in promotional expenses to support the growth of our products and brands, and an increase of $0.2 million in facility related costs. Research and development increased approximately $1.7 million primarily due to a $1.4 million increase in wages and related expenses, and a $0.3 million increase in equipment and supply related expenses. General and administrative expenses increased approximately $7.2 million primarily as a result of higher incentive compensation of $3.2 million, a $1.5 million increase in litigation related expenses, a $0.8 million increase in acquisition related expenses, a $0.6 million increase in audit fees primarily associated with Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, and higher operating costs at our subsidiaries of $1.6 million reflecting our overall growth. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $0.6 million in ERP implementation related expenses.
Amortization of purchased intangible assets in the year ended December 29, 2017 remained relatively unchanged as compared to the year ended December 30, 2016.

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During the year ended December 29, 2017, we incurred $1.4 million in acquisition related compensation in connection with management earn-out arrangements, a decrease of $4.5 million compared to $5.9 million for the year ended December 30, 2016.  The decrease is due to the completion of the earn-out arrangements during the current fiscal year. 
Income from operations
(in millions)
2017

2016
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Income from operations
$
67.0

 
$
45.5

 
$
21.5

47.3
%
As a result of the factors discussed above, income from operations for the year ended December 29, 2017 increased approximately $21.5 million, or 47.3%, compared to income from operations in the same period in 2016.
Other expense, net
(in millions)
2017

2016
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Other expense, net:
 
 
 
 


Interest expense
$
2.4

 
$
2.1

 
$
0.3

14.3
%
Other expense, net
0.4

 
0.4

 
—

—
%
Other expense, net
$
2.8

 
$
2.5

 
$
0.3

12.0
%
Other expense, net for the year ended December 29, 2017 increased by approximately $0.3 million to $2.8 million compared to $2.5 million for the year ended December 30, 2016. The increase in other expense, net is primarily due to a $0.3 million increase in interest expense in the year ended December 29, 2017 due to additional borrowings and higher interest rates as compared to the year ended December 30, 2016.
Income taxes
(in millions)
2017

2016
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Income tax expenses
$
21.1

 
$
7.4

 
$
13.7

185.1
%
Income tax expense for the year ended December 29, 2017 increased by approximately $13.7 million to $21.1 million compared to income tax expense of $7.4 million in the same period in 2016. The increase in expense resulted primarily from an increase in pre-tax income of $21.2 million, as well as the impact of TCJA, including a partial valuation allowance of approximately $6.0 million on foreign tax credits for amounts we do not reasonably expect we can utilize through tax planning strategies. Additionally, we incurred a one-time transition tax on unremitted foreign earnings of approximately $3.7 million, and additional state and foreign withholding taxes of approximately $2.0 million, as we no longer assert permanent reinvestment of the earnings of certain of our foreign subsidiaries. The unfavorable impact of the TCJA was offset by a reduction in our net deferred tax liability and income tax expense of approximately $2.4 million due to the decrease in the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. Additionally, our income tax expense was reduced by $6.0 million as a result of the excess benefit of stock-based compensation.
The effective tax rates were 32.8% and 17.2% for the years ended December 29, 2017 and December 30, 2016, respectively.
For the year ended December 29, 2017, the difference between our effective tax rate and the 35% federal statutory rate resulted primarily from the benefit of excess deductions on stock-based compensation, lower rates on foreign earnings, the impact of the TCJA on our net deferred tax liabilities, our research and development credits, and the reversal of our liability for uncertain tax positions as a result of the expiration of the statute of limitations for certain tax filings. These positive rate impacts were partially offset by the valuation allowance on foreign tax credits and the taxes on unremitted foreign earnings as a result of the TCJA.
For the year ended December 30, 2016, the difference between our effective tax rate and the 35% federal statutory rate resulted primarily from the lower rates on foreign earnings and the reversal of our liability for uncertain tax positions as a result of (i) the conclusion of the Company's 2011 and 2012 California Franchise Tax Board audits and (ii) the expiration of the statute of limitations for certain tax filings. Additionally, our effective tax rate benefited as a result of the research and development tax credits, California business development tax credits, and the benefit of excess deductions on stock-based compensation. These income tax benefits were partially offset by 2016 state taxes and the impact of non-deductible costs.

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Net income
(in millions)
2017
 
2016
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Net income
$
43.2

 
$
35.7

 
$
7.5

21.0
%
As a result of the factors described above, our net income increased $7.5 million, or 21.0%, to $43.2 million in the year ended December 29, 2017 from $35.7 million for the same period in 2016.

Year ended December 30, 2016 compared to year ended December 31, 2015
Sales
(in millions)
2016

2015
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Sales
$
403.1

 
$
366.8

 
$
36.3

9.9
%

Sales for the year ended December 30, 2016 increased approximately $36.3 million, or 9.9%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2015. The sales increase reflects 13.7% growth in powered vehicle products as well as a 7.1% increase in mountain bike products for the year ended December 30, 2016 compared to the prior year. The increase in bike product sales is due to the success of our current bike product lines including new products within those lines. The increase in sales of powered vehicle products was primarily due to continued higher demand for on and off-road suspension products.
Cost of sales
(in millions)
2016

2015
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Cost of sales
$
276.7

 
$
254.8

 
$
21.9

8.6
%
Cost of sales for the year ended December 30, 2016 increased approximately $21.9 million, or 8.6%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2015. The increase in cost of sales was driven primarily by an increase in product sales, as well as certain business factors affecting gross margin which are discussed below.
For the year ended December 30, 2016 our gross margin was 31.4% compared to 30.5% for the year ended December 31, 2015. The increase in our gross profit margin was attributable primarily to cost improvements as we completed the transition of the majority of our bike manufacturing to Taiwan. The West Coast port slowdown resulted in increased shipping and handling costs in 2015. Additionally, acquisition related finished goods inventory valuation adjustments in connection with the Race/Face Easton acquisition and inventory write-downs associated with the Marzocchi acquisition had a negative impact on our 2015 gross margin.
Operating expenses
(in millions)
2016

2015
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Operating expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sales and marketing
$
25.8

 
$
23.2

 
$
2.6

11.2
 %
Research and development
18.5

 
17.0

 
1.5

8.8
 %
General and administrative
27.7

 
21.1

 
6.6

31.3
 %
Amortization of purchased intangibles
3.0

 
8.5

 
(5.5
)
(64.7
)%
Fair value adjustment of contingent consideration and acquisition related compensation
5.9

 
6.9

 
(1.0
)
(14.5
)%
Total operating expenses
$
80.9

 
$
76.7

 
$
4.2

5.5
 %
Total operating expenses for the year ended December 30, 2016 increased approximately $4.2 million, or 5.5% over 2015. When expressed as a percentage of sales, operating expenses decreased to 20.1% of sales for the year ended December 30, 2016 compared to 20.8% of sales in 2015.

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Within operating expenses, our sales and marketing expense increased by approximately $2.6 million primarily due to a $1.3 million increase in wages and related expenses, a $0.3 million increase in travel expenses, a $0.3 million increase in equipment and a $0.2 increase in promotional expenses to support the growth of our products and brands. Research and development increased approximately $1.5 million due to investments in our product lines aimed at producing new products and technologies to maintain our premium position in the marketplace and to pursue new markets. General and administrative expenses increased approximately $6.6 million primarily as a result of a $2.9 million increase in stock compensation and wages, $2.7 million of expense associated with patent litigation activities involving an industry competitor, and a $0.5 million increase in professional fees associated with our ERP implementation. Additionally, we incurred $0.6 million in costs associated with secondary public offerings which closed on March, August and November 2016.
Amortization of purchased intangible assets in the year ended December 30, 2016 decreased approximately $5.5 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2015. The decrease is primarily due to technology and customer relationship assets from the Compass Acquisition becoming full amortized as of December 31, 2015.
During the year ended December 30, 2016, we incurred $5.9 million in acquisition related compensation in connection with management earn-out arrangements.
     Income from operations
(in millions)
2016

2015
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Income from operations
$
45.5

 
$
35.3

 
$
10.2

28.9
%
As a result of the factors discussed above, income from operations for the year ended December 30, 2016 increased approximately $10.2 million, or 28.9%, compared to income from operations in the same period in 2015.
Other expense, net
(in millions)
2016

2015
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Other expense, net:
 
 
 
 


Interest expense
$
2.1

 
$
1.5

 
$
0.6

40.0
 %
Other expense (income), net
0.4

 
(0.4
)
 
0.8

(200.0
)%
Other expense, net
$
2.5

 
$
1.1

 
$
1.4

127.3
 %
Other expense, net for the year ended December 30, 2016 increased by approximately $1.4 million to $2.5 million compared to $1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2015. Interest expense increased in the year ended December 30, 2016 by $0.6 million due to additional borrowings and higher interest rates as compared to the year ended December 31, 2015. Other expense, net, increased by $0.8 million due to foreign currency transaction losses, $0.5 million of which resulted from the settlement of Canadian Dollar denominated acquisition related compensation liability resulting from the acquisition of Race Face/Easton.
Income tax expense
(in millions)
2016

2015
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Income tax expenses
$
7.4

 
$
9.3

 
$
(1.9
)
(20.4
)%

Income tax expense for the year ended December 30, 2016 decreased by approximately $1.9 million to $7.4 million compared to income tax expense of $9.3 million in the same period in 2015. The decrease in expense resulted primarily from the previously described reorganization of foreign entities and indefinite reinvestment of foreign earnings in jurisdictions with lower tax rates.
The effective tax rates were 17.2% and 27.1% for the years ended December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively.
For the year ended December 30, 2016, the difference between our effective tax rate and the 35% federal statutory rate resulted primarily from the lower rates on foreign earnings and the reversal of our liability for uncertain tax positions as a result of (i) the conclusion of the Company's 2011 and 2012 California Franchise Tax Board audits and (ii) the expiration of the statute of limitations for certain tax filings. Additionally, our effective tax rate benefited as a result of the research and development tax credits, California business development tax credits, and the benefit of excess deductions on stock-based compensation. These income tax benefits were partially offset by 2016 state taxes and the impact of non-deductible costs.

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For the year ended December 31, 2015, the difference between our effective tax rate and the 35% federal statutory rate resulted primarily the expiration of the statute of limitations for certain tax filings that allowed us to release approximately $1.3 million of our liability for unrecognized tax benefits. Additionally, our effective tax rate was benefited as a result of the research and development tax credit, domestic production activity deduction, and other adjustments. These income tax benefits were partially offset by 2015 state taxes.
Net income
(in millions)
2016
 
2015
 
Change ($)
Change (%)
Net income
$
35.7

 
$
25.0

 
$
10.7

42.8
%
As a result of the factors described above, our net income increased $10.7 million, or 42.8%, to $35.7 million in the year ended December 30, 2016 from $25.0 million for the same period in 2015.

Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our primary cash needs are to support working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and acquisition-related compensation, debt repayments and share repurchases. We have generally financed our historical needs with operating cash flows and borrowings under our credit facilities. These sources of liquidity may be impacted by various factors, including demand for our products, investments made by us in acquired businesses, our plant and equipment and other capital expenditures, and expenditures on general infrastructure and information technology.
As of December 29, 2017, we held $18.8 million of our $35.9 million of cash and cash equivalents in accounts of our subsidiaries outside of the US for which we may pay as dividends and accordingly have provided for withholding taxes. We manage our foreign cash, intercompany payables and intercompany debt to provide a foreign currency hedge against US dollar-denominated trade receivable balances held by our Taiwan location.
A summary of our operating, investing and financing activities are shown in the following table:
 
For the years ended
 
December 29,
 
December 30,
 
December 31,
(in thousands)
2017
 
2016
 
2015
Net cash provided by operating activities
$
48,172

 
$
38,845

 
$
30,022

Net cash used in investing activities
(70,456
)
 
(12,222
)
 
(13,163
)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
22,007

 
1,830

 
(14,052
)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash
944

 
(117
)
 
(75
)
Increase in cash and cash equivalents
$
667

 
$
28,336

 
$
2,732

We expect that cash on hand, cash flow from operations and availability under our credit facility will be sufficient to fund our operations during the next twelve months from the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Operating activities
Cash provided by operating activities primarily consists of net income, adjusted for certain non-cash items primarily, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, deferred income taxes, and changes in fair value of contingent consideration, offset by net cash invested in working capital.
In the year ended December 29, 2017, cash provided by operating activities was $48.2 million and consisted of net income of $43.2 million plus non-cash items totaling $17.9 million less changes in operating assets and liabilities and other adjustments totaling $13.0 million. Non-cash items and other adjustments consisted primarily of depreciation and amortization of $10.3 million, and stock-based compensation of $8.7 million, offset by a $1.2 million change in deferred taxes. Cash invested in operating assets and liabilities is primarily the result of increases in inventory of $8.3 million and prepaids and other assets of $9.4 million, and a decrease in accrued expenses of $7.2 million, partially offset by a decrease in accounts receivable of $3.6 million, and increases in accounts payable of $2.2 million and income taxes net payable of $6.2 million. The increases in inventory and accounts payable reflects the growth of our business, and the expansion of our manufacturing facilities. The decrease in accounts receivable reflects changes in customer mix and timing. The decrease in accrued expenses is primarily due to payments of our acquisition related compensation. The increase in prepaid and other assets is a result of advanced payments to vendors and the timing of insurance and benefits payments. The change in net current income tax accounts is primarily due to timing of estimated tax payments and refunds.
In the year ended December 30, 2016, cash provided by operating activities was $38.8 million and consisted of net income of $35.7 million plus non-cash items totaling $12.3 million less changes in operating assets and liabilities and other adjustments totaling $9.1 million. Non-cash items and other adjustments consisted primarily of depreciation and amortization of $8.8 million, and stock-based compensation of $6.2 million, offset by a $3.0 million change in deferred taxes. Cash invested in operating assets and liabilities is primarily the result of increases in accounts receivable of $17.9 million, inventory of $3.0 million, and prepaids and other assets of $2.1 million, partially offset by increases in accounts payable of $9.6 million, accrued expenses of $2.9 million, and income taxes net payable of $1.5 million. The increase in accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable and accrued expenses reflects the growth of our business, change in customer mix, and the expansion of our manufacturing facilities. The increase in prepaid and other assets is a result of advanced payments to vendors and the timing of insurance and benefits payments. The change in net current income tax accounts is primarily due to timing of estimated tax payments and refunds.
In the year ended December 31, 2015, cash provided by operating activities was $30.0 million and consisted of net income of $25.0 million plus non-cash items totaling $13.1 million less changes in operating assets and liabilities and other adjustments totaling $8.1 million. Non-cash items and other adjustments consisted primarily of depreciation and amortization of $13.1 million, stock-based compensation of $4.9 million, and cost of goods on acquired inventory step up of $0.8 million, offset by a $4.4 million change in deferred taxes and change in fair value of contingent consideration of $0.7 million. Cash invested in operating assets and liabilities is primarily the result of increases in inventory of $11.1 million, accounts receivable of $5.5 million, income taxes of $2.4 million, and prepaids and other assets of $1.9 million, partially offset by an increase in accrued expenses of $10.7 million and accounts payable of $2.1 million. The increase in inventory and accounts receivable reflects the growth of our business and the expansion of our manufacturing facilities. Changes in prepaid and other assets and income taxes are primarily due to timing of tax related payments and refunds. The increase in accrued expenses is attributable to accruals for management earn-outs and other compensation.
Investing activities
Cash used in investing activities primarily relates to strategic acquisitions of businesses and other assets, and investments in our manufacturing and general infrastructure through the acquisition of property and equipment.
In the year ended December 29, 2017, cash used in investing activities was $70.5 million which consisted primarily of $53.6 million invested in the Tuscany acquisition and $16.9 million in property and equipment additions.
In the year ended December 30, 2016, cash used in investing activities was $12.2 million which consisted primarily of $12.0 million in property and equipment additions. Additionally, we invested $0.2 million in acquisitions.
In the year ended December 31, 2015, cash used in investing activities was $13.3 million which consisted primarily of $10.9 million in property and equipment additions. Additionally, we invested $2.4 million in acquisitions.

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Financing activities
Cash used in or provided by financing activities primarily relates to changes in our capital structure, including the various forms of debt and equity instruments used to finance our business.
In the year ended December 29, 2017, net cash provided by financing activities was $22.0 million, which consisted primarily of $31.4 million in net proceeds from our credit facility used to finance acquisitions, partially offset by a payment of $5.4 million in contingent consideration related to our 2014 acquisition of Sport Truck, and $4.0 million in payments to repurchase shares to cover tax withholding related to the vesting of restricted stock awards, net of proceeds from the exercise of stock options.
In the year ended December 30, 2016, net cash provided by financing activities was $1.8 million, which consisted primarily of $17.7 million in net proceeds from our credit facility, partially offset by $7.9 million to repurchase our common stock under a buyback plan authorized in 2016, a payment of $6.9 million in contingent consideration related to our 2014 acquisition of Sport Truck, and $1.0 million in payments to repurchase shares to cover tax withholding related to the vesting of restricted stock awards, net of proceeds from the exercise of stock options.
In the year ended December 31, 2015, net cash used in financing activities was $14.1 million, which consisted primarily of a payment of $7.9 million in contingent consideration related to our 2014 acquisition of Sport Truck and $5.2 million to repurchase our common stock under a buyback program authorized in 2014.
Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility
In August 2013, we entered into the 2013 Credit Facility with Sun Trust Bank and other named lenders. The 2013 Credit Facility provided a revolving line of credit. On March 31, 2014, in connection with our asset purchase of Sport Truck, we amended and restated the 2013 Credit Facility. The Amended and Restated Credit Facility provided a maturing secured term loan in the principal amount of $50.0 million, subject to quarterly amortization payments, and extended the term of the 2013 Credit Facility through March 31, 2019. The proceeds of the term loan were used, in part, to fund the acquisition of Sport Truck and to pay down the revolving line of credit provided under the 2013 Credit Facility. On December 12, 2014, we amended the existing Amended and Restated 2013 Credit Facility. The First Amendment increased the term loan by the principal amount of $30.0 million to a total of $56.8 million, subject to quarterly amortization payments, and extended the maturity of the Amended and Restated 2013 Credit Facility through December 12, 2019. The additional proceeds of the term loan made available through the First Amendment were used to partially fund the acquisition of Race Face/Easton. Additional amendments entered into on May 29, 2015 and March 31, 2016 respectively, made minor technical changes to the Amended and Restated 2013 Credit Facility. On May 11, 2016, we amended and restated the existing Amended and Restated 2013 Credit Facility. Further technical amendments were made on August 11, 2016, June 12, 2017 and November 30, 2017 (as most recently amended and restated and as further amended, the "Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility"). The Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility provided a maturing secured term loan in the principal amount of $75.0 million, subject to quarterly amortization payments, increased the availability on the line of credit to $100.0 million, and extended the maturity of the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility through May 11, 2021.

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In the year ended December 29, 2017, we made principal payments of $3.75 million on the term loan and $7.0 million on the revolving line of credit. The Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility is secured by substantially all of our assets, restricts our ability to make certain payments and engage in certain transactions, and also requires that we satisfy customary financial ratios, including a fixed charge coverage ratio of not less than 1.5:1.0 and a leverage ratio of not greater than 3.0:1.0, both ratios calculated as defined in the Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility. Additionally, certain disposal events can trigger prepayments. We were in compliance with the covenants as of December 29, 2017.
Contractual obligations and commitments
As of December 29, 2017, we had the following contractual obligations (in thousands):
Payments due by period
Total
 
Less than 1 year
 
1-3 years
 
4-5 years
 
More than 5 years
Long-term borrowings
$
99,023

 
$
5,156

 
$
12,656

 
$
81,211

 
$
—

Operating lease obligations
17,328

 
5,375

 
9,737

 
816

 
1,400

Purchase obligations and other
3,234

 
3,234

 
—

 
—

 
—

Total
$
119,585

 
$
13,765

 
$
22,393

 
$
82,027

 
$
1,400

As of December 29, 2017, we had a liability of approximately $7.8 million associated with uncertain tax positions, which is classified as a current liability in our consolidated balance sheet because it is reasonably possible that certain federal, foreign, and state tax matters could be concluded in the next twelve months. However, our liability for uncertain tax positions has been excluded from our summary of contractual obligations as we cannot make a reliable estimate of the period of cash settlement with the respective taxing authorities, nor the amount of the final cash settlement. See Note 11 - Income Taxes of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Seasonality
Certain portions of our business are seasonal; we believe this seasonality is due to the delivery of new products. In each of the last three fiscal years, our quarterly sales have been the lowest in the first quarter and higher in the third or fourth quarter of the year. For example, our sales in our first and third quarters of 2017 represented 22% and 27% of our total sales for the year, respectively. In addition, acquisitions such as Tuscany will affect the seasonality of our business and product mix by quarter, therefore our 2017 sales are not necessarily reflective of the future.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We have no material off-balance sheet arrangements.
Inflation
Historically, inflation has not had a material effect on our results of operations. However, significant increases in inflation, particularly those related to wages and increases in the cost of raw materials could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates, judgments, and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, sales, expenses and related disclosures. We evaluate our estimates, judgments, and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.
We believe that the assumptions, judgments, and estimates associated with the following have the greatest potential impact on, and are critical to the understanding of, our results of operations: revenue recognition, provision for doubtful accounts receivable, inventory, goodwill and intangible assets, earn-out arrangements, warranty, income taxes and stock-based compensation. For further information see Note 1 - Description of the Business, Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Critical Accounting Policies

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Revenue recognition
We recognize sales when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, title has transferred, the sales price is fixed or determinable, and collectability of the receivable is reasonably assured. Provisions for discounts, rebates, sales incentives, returns, and other adjustments are provided for in the period the related sales are recorded based on management’s assessment of historical trends and projection of future results. Sales are recorded net of sales tax. Effective December 30, 2017, we will adopt ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Refer to Note 1 Description of the Business, Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional details of this new accounting pronouncement.
Allowance for doubtful accounts
We record a provision for doubtful accounts deemed not collectable based on historical experience and a detailed assessment of the collectability of our accounts receivable. In estimating the allowance for doubtful accounts, we consider, among other factors, the aging of the accounts receivable, historical write-offs, and the credit-worthiness of each customer. If circumstances change, such as higher-than-expected defaults or an unexpected material adverse change in a major customer’s ability to meet its financial obligations, we estimate if the recoverability of the amounts due could be reduced by a material amount.
Inventories
Inventories are stated at the lower of actual cost (or standard cost which generally approximates actual costs on a first-in first-out basis) or market value. Cost includes raw materials, as well as direct labor and manufacturing overhead for products we manufacture. Market value is based on current replacement cost for raw materials and on a net realizable value for finished goods. Adjustments to reduce the cost of inventory to its net realizable value are made, if required, for estimated excess, obsolete or impaired balances.
We regularly monitor inventory quantities on hand and on order and record write-downs for excess and obsolete inventories based on our estimate of the demand for our products, potential obsolescence of technology, product life cycles, and when pricing trends or forecasts indicate that the carrying value of inventory exceeds our estimated selling price. These factors are affected by market and economic conditions, technology changes, and new product introductions and require estimates that may include elements that are uncertain. Actual demand may differ from forecasted demand and may have a material effect on our gross margin. If inventory is written down, a new cost basis will be established that cannot be increased in future periods.
Goodwill, intangible assets and long-lived assets
Goodwill
Goodwill represents the excess of purchase price over the fair value of the net assets of businesses acquired. On an annual basis, the Company makes a qualitative assessment to determine if it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, including goodwill. If the Company determines that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, it will perform a quantitative analysis; otherwise, no further evaluation is necessary.
For the quantitative impairment test, the Company compares the fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying value, including goodwill. The Company determines the fair value of the reporting unit based on a weighting of income and market approaches. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value of the net assets assigned to that unit, goodwill is not impaired and no further testing is performed. If the carrying value of the net assets assigned to the reporting unit exceeds the fair value of the reporting unit, then the Company will recognize a loss equal to the excess, limited to the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. Impairments, if any, are charged directly to earnings. We completed our most recent annual impairment test in the third quarter of 2017 at which time we had a single reporting unit for purposes of assessing goodwill impairment. No impairment charges have been incurred to date.
Indefinite-lived intangible assets
Trademarks and tradenames are considered to be indefinite life intangibles, and are not amortized but are subject to testing for impairment annually.
Finite-lived intangible assets
We assess the impairment of identifiable finite-lived intangible assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that an asset group’s carrying amount may not be recoverable. Recoverability of certain finite-lived intangible assets, particularly customer relationships and core technology, would be measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of the asset group to which the assets are assigned to the sum of the undiscounted estimated future cash flows the asset group is expected to generate. If the asset is considered to be impaired, the amount of such impairment would be measured by the difference between the carrying amount of the asset and its fair value. Recoverability and impairment of other finite-lived intangible assets, particularly developed

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technology and patents, would be measured by the comparison of the carrying amount of the asset to the sum of undiscounted estimated future product revenues offset by estimated future costs to dispose of the product to which the asset relates. No impairment charges have been incurred to date.
Warranty
Unless otherwise required by law, the Company offers limited warranties on its products for generally one to four years. We accrue estimated costs related to warranty activities as a component of cost of sales upon product shipment or when information becomes available indicating that an adjustment to the warranty reserves is appropriate. Management estimates are based upon historical and projected product failure rates and historical costs incurred in correcting product failures. The warranty reserve is assessed from time to time for adequacy and adjusted as necessary for specifically identified warranty exposures. Actual warranty expenses are charged against our estimated warranty liability when incurred. Factors that affect our liability include the number of units, historical and anticipated rates of warranty claims, and the cost per claim. An increase in warranty claims or the related costs associated with satisfying these warranty obligations could increase our cost of sales and negatively affect our operating results.
Income taxes
We record our income tax expenses or benefits in each federal, state and foreign jurisdiction in which we operate using an asset and liability approach. This process requires that we compute the current tax expense or benefit and deferred tax expense or benefit, which result from changes in temporary differences between the accounting and tax treatment of assets and liabilities, including items such as accruals and allowances, which are recorded in different periods for financial statement and income tax return purposes. The income tax effects of these differences we identify are classified as long-term deferred tax assets and liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets. Our provision for income tax expense also considers our assertions regarding the indefinite reinvestment of earnings of our foreign subsidiaries. We consider the following matters, among others, in evaluating our plans for indefinite reinvestment: (i) the financial requirements of both the Company and its foreign operations, both for the long term and for the short term; (ii) the ability to manage cash globally through royalty remittances and intercompany loans; (iii) the tax consequences of any decision to reinvest the earnings of foreign subsidiaries, including any changes in U.S. tax law relating to the treatment of these unremitted earnings; and (iv) any U.S. and foreign government programs or regulations relating to the repatriation of these unremitted earnings. As a result of the enactment of the TCJA in December 2017, our unremitted earnings became subject to a transition tax, which we expect to pay with existing foreign tax credits. We therefore no longer consider our unremitted earnings to be permanently reinvested, and have adjusted the income tax provision for the year ended December 29, 2017 for the transition tax provided by the TCJA, related state income taxes and foreign withholding tax that would become due upon remittance.

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Additionally, our judgments, assumptions, and estimates relative to the provision for income taxes take into account enacted tax laws, our interpretation of enacted tax laws, and possible outcomes of current and future audits conducted by tax authorities. Changes in tax laws, such as those brought about by the TCJA, or our interpretation of tax laws and the resolution of current and future tax audits could significantly impact the amounts provided for income taxes in our consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statements of income.
As permitted by the SEC's Staff Accounting Bulletin 118, we have not completed our accounting for the tax effects of the enactment of the TCJA; however, in certain cases, as described below, we have made a reasonable estimate of the effects of the new law. In other cases, primarily the impact of grandfathering provisions on limitations of deductibility of executive compensation, we have not been able to make a reasonable estimate because clarifying regulations have not been issued and as such we continue to account for those items based on its existing accounting under ASC 740, Income Taxes, and the provisions of the tax laws that were in effect immediately prior to the enactment of the TCJA. We have recognized provisional amounts for all items for which we were able to determine a reasonable estimate. In all cases, we will continue to make and refine our calculations as additional analysis is completed. In addition, our estimates may be affected as interpretations of the law through regulations and as common practices emerge.
Provisional amounts
Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities: We remeasured our U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities that give rise to future tax deductions based on the enacted tax rates in effect for the periods in which the deductions are expected to be taken. However, certain aspects of the TCJA could potentially affect the measurement of these balances or give rise to new deferred tax amounts. For example, differences between the provisional and actual calculations of the on-time transition tax could result in the need for changes to the amount of the valuation allowance on the balance that is not utilized to pay such tax. The provisional amount recorded related to the remeasurement of our deferred tax balance was a net benefit of $2.4 million.
One-Time Transition Tax: The one-time transition tax is based on the total post-1986 earnings and profits on which US tax were previously deferred. We recorded a provisional amount as an increase in income tax expense related to the one-time transition tax of $3.7 million. Because of the complexities of the TCJA, we have estimated the amount of earnings and profits subject to the tax. Further, the transition tax is based in part on the amount of those earnings held in cash and other specified assets. Our estimates may change when we finalize the calculations required to determine the ultimate amount of the transition tax.
We must also assess the likelihood that deferred tax assets will be realized from future taxable income for each jurisdiction and, based on this assessment establish a valuation allowance, if required. The determination of our valuation allowance involves assumptions, judgments, and estimates, including forecasted earnings, future taxable income of a character necessary to realize the deferred asset, and the relative proportions of revenue and income before taxes in the various domestic and international jurisdictions in which we operate. As a result of the TCJA, we believe that it is more likely than not that a portion of our foreign tax credits will not be realizable, and as such, provided an allowance of $6.0 million. A full valuation allowance was not required primarily due to the decision to implement a prudent and feasible tax planning strategy to restructure business functions such that both U.S. taxable income and foreign sourced income will increase in future years, allowing a portion of the foreign tax credits to be utilized. To the extent we have established a valuation allowance or change the valuation allowance in a period, we reflect the change with a corresponding increase or decrease of our income tax provision in our consolidated statements of income.
We account for uncertain tax positions utilizing a two-step approach to recognize and measure those positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. The first step is to determine if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement. We adjust liabilities for our uncertain tax positions due to changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit, expiration of a statute of limitations for assessment of income tax, the refinement of estimates, or the realization of earnings or deductions that differ from our estimates. To the extent that the final outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will impact our tax provision in our consolidated statements of income in the period in which such determination is made.

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As of December 29, 2017, we had $8.2 million of unrecognized tax benefits, of which approximately $7.0 million, if recognized, would favorably impact the effective tax rate. On January 30, 2018, we received a no change letter from the IRS related to the audit of our 2015 federal tax return. Specifically, the audit resolved issues involving the 2015 deductibility of amortization and depreciation arising from the Compass Acquisition. The favorable conclusion of the audit will result in a decrease in the unrecognized tax benefits of $1.5 million, of which $1.3 million will favorably impact the effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2018. The IRS is considering a closing agreement that will resolve the uncertainty about acquisition related amortization and depreciation deductions for all open tax years and tax returns to be filed in the future. As a result, we believe that it is reasonably possible that unrecognized tax benefits at December 29, 2017 could be reduced by an additional $5.2 million in the next twelve months. Including the reversal of related deferred tax liabilities, the favorable impact of the closing agreement on the effective tax rate could amount to approximately $8.3 million. Interest and penalties associated with income taxes are recorded as income tax expense in our consolidated statements of income.
Stock-based compensation
The Company measures stock-based compensation for all stock-based awards, including stock options and restricted stock units ("RSUs"), based on their estimated fair values on the date of the grant and recognizes the stock-based compensation cost for time-vested awards on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period. For performance-based RSUs, the number of shares ultimately expected to vest is estimated at each reporting date based on management’s expectations regarding the relevant performance criteria. To the extent shares are expected to vest, the stock-based compensation cost is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period. The fair value of each stock option granted is estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, net of estimated forfeitures.
The determination of the grant date fair value of options using an option pricing model is affected by our common stock fair value as well as assumptions including our expected stock price volatility over the expected term of the options, stock option exercise and cancellation behaviors, risk-free interest rates and expected dividends.

Prior to our IPO in August of 2013, our Board of Directors considered numerous objective and subjective factors to determine the fair market value of our common stock at each meeting at which stock options were granted and approved.

Stock-based compensation expenses are classified in the statements of income based on the department to which the related employee reports. Our stock-based awards subsequent to our IPO have been comprised principally of restricted stock unit awards.

Fair value of financial instruments
ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, requires the valuation of assets and liabilities required or permitted to be either recorded or disclosed at fair value based on hierarchy of available inputs as follows:
Level 1: Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets that are accessible at the measurement date for identical, unrestricted assets or liabilities;
Level 2: Quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in markets that are not active, or inputs which are observable, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the asset or liability; and
Level 3: Prices or valuation techniques that require inputs that are both significant to the fair value measurement and unobservable (i.e., supported by little or no market activity).
We apply fair value accounting for all financial assets and liabilities and non-financial assets and liabilities that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the financial statements on a recurring basis. We define fair value as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining the fair value measurements for assets and liabilities, which are required to be recorded at fair value, we consider the principal or most advantageous market in which we would transact and the market-based risk measurements or assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, such as risks inherent in valuation techniques, transfer restrictions and credit risk.
As of December 29, 2017, we used Level 2 inputs to determine the fair value of our Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility because it has a variable interest rate that reflects market changes in interest rates and changes in the Company’s net leverage ratio.

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As of December 29, 2017, we used Level 3 inputs to determine the fair value of our potential obligations to purchase the non-controlling interests held by third parties in the Tuscany subsidiary. These obligations are in the form of put provisions and are exercisable at the third-party owners' discretion within the specified periods outlined in the put provision within the Tuscany stockholders' agreement (see Note 15 - Acquisitions of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K). If these put provisions were exercised, we would be required to purchase the third-party owners' non-controlling interests at the appraised fair value. The initial non-controlling interest value was implicit in the purchase price. The Level 3 methodology we expect to use to estimate the fair value of the non-controlling interests subject to these put provisions will be based on an average multiple of earnings, taking into consideration historical earnings and other factors.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In May 2014, the FASB and International Accounting Standards Board issued their converged standard on revenue recognition, Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, updated in December 2016 with the release of ASU 2016-20. This standard outlines a single comprehensive model for companies to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers and supersedes most current revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific guidance. The core principle of the revenue model is that an entity recognizes revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods and services in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods and services. In addition, the new standard requires that reporting companies disclose the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers.
This standard will be effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning the first quarter of fiscal year 2018. The Company has selected the modified retrospective implementation method, in which the cumulative effect of initially applying the standard is recognized at the date of the initial application in retained earnings.
We utilized a cross-functional team to implement the guidance related to the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers. The implementation approach included an assessment of customer contracts aimed at identifying contractual provisions that could result in a change in the timing or the amount of revenue recognized in comparison with prior guidance, as well as assessing the enhanced disclosure requirements of the new guidance. As a result of these procedures, we expect that the primary impact of this guidance will be on pricing provisions contained in certain customer contracts which either represent variable consideration or provide the customer with a material right, in some cases resulting in a different allocation of the transaction price than under current guidance. We do not expect the impact to be material to its financial statements.
In July 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-11, Simplifying the Measurement of Inventory. The guidance applies to inventory that is measured using first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) or average cost. Under the guidance, an entity should measure inventory that is within scope at the lower of cost and net realizable value, which is the estimated selling prices in the ordinary course of business, less reasonably predictable costs of completion, disposal and transportation. The Company adopted ASU 2015-11 at the beginning of fiscal year 2017. The adoption of ASU 2015-11 did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.
In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which will supersede the existing guidance for lease accounting. This ASU will require lessees to recognize leases with durations greater than twelve months on the balance sheet. This guidance is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018, and early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact this guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.
In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows: Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments, which clarifies the presentation of certain transactions, including but not limited to contingent consideration payments made after a business combination and debt prepayment and extinguishment costs in the cash flow statement. This standard will be effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning the first quarter of fiscal year 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact this guidance will have on its consolidated statement of cash flows.
In October 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-16, Income Taxes: Intra-Entity Transfer of Assets Other Than Inventory, which improves the accounting for the income tax consequences of intra-entity transfers of assets other than inventory. This standard will be effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning the first quarter of fiscal year 2018. The Company is currently assessing the impact this guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.
In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-01, Business Combinations: Clarifying the Definition of a Business, which provides more guidance to an entity when they are assessing if transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions of assets or businesses. The clarification of the definition of a business impacts various areas of accounting such as acquisitions, disposals, goodwill, and consolidations. This standard will be effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning the first quarter of fiscal year 2018. The Company is currently assessing the impact this guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.
In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, which removes the second step of the goodwill impairment test that would currently require the assessment of fair value of individual assets and liabilities of a

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reporting unit to measure goodwill impairments. Under ASU 2017-04, goodwill impairment will be the amount by which a reporting unit's carrying value exceeds its fair value. The Company adopted ASU 2017-04 effective for goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017. The adoption of ASU 2017-14 did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK 
Interest rate sensitivity
We are exposed to market risk in the normal course of our business operations due to our ongoing investing and financing activities. The risk of loss can be assessed from the perspective of adverse changes in fair values, cash flows and future earnings. We have established policies and procedures governing our management of market risks and the use of financial instruments to manage exposure to such risks. We generally do not hedge our interest rate exposure. We had $98.6 million of debt, bearing interest at a variable rate, outstanding under our Second Amended and Restated Credit Facility as of December 29, 2017. A hypothetical 100 basis point increase or decrease in the interest rate on our variable debt would have resulted in an approximately $1.0 million change to our interest expense for the year ended December 29, 2017.
Exchange rate sensitivity
As of December 29, 2017, we are exposed to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. While historically this exposure to changes in foreign currency exchange rates has not had a material effect on our financial condition or results of operations, foreign currency fluctuations could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations in the future. Historically, our primary exposure has been related to transactions denominated in the Euro, New Taiwanese Dollar, and Canadian Dollar. The majority of our sales, both domestically and internationally, are denominated in U.S. Dollars. Historically, the majority of our expenses have also been in U.S. Dollars and we have been somewhat insulated from currency fluctuations. As a growing percentage of our activities are expected to be denominated in foreign currencies, we may be exposed to greater exchange rate sensitivity in the future. Currently, we do not hedge our foreign currency exposure; however, we may consider strategies to mitigate our foreign currency exposure in the future if deemed necessary.
Credit and other risks
We are exposed to credit risk associated with cash and cash equivalents and trade receivables. As of December 29, 2017, the majority of our cash and cash equivalents consisted of cash balances in non-interest bearing checking accounts which significantly exceed the insurance coverage provided on such deposits. We do not believe that our cash equivalents present significant credit risks because the counterparties to the instruments consist of major financial institutions. Substantially all trade receivable balances of our businesses are unsecured. The credit risk with respect to trade receivables is concentrated by the number of significant customers that we have in our customer base and a prolonged economic downturn could increase our exposure to credit risk on our trade receivables. To manage our exposure to such risks, we perform ongoing credit evaluations of our customers and maintain an allowance for potential credit losses.
We do not currently hedge our exposure to increases in the prices for our primary raw materials.
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Our financial statements and the report of our independent registered public accounting firm are included in Part IV. "Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The index to these reports and our financial statements is included in Item 15. "Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules" below.
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.


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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain "disclosure controls and procedures," as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Our management, under the direction and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 29, 2017. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 29, 2017, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting is contained in Part IV. "Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Attestation Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Grant Thornton, LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm who audited the Company’s consolidated financial statements, has issued an attestation report on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. A report of independent registered public accounting firm is contained in Part IV. "Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(d) and 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act that occurred during the three months ended December 29, 2017 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls
Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, believes that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and are effective at the reasonable assurance level. However, our management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. These inherent limitations include, but are not limited to, the realities that judgments in decision making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION.
None.

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PART III
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Information required by this Item regarding our directors and executive officers is incorporated by reference to the sections of our proxy statement to be filed with the SEC in connection with our 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Proxy Statement") entitled "Election of Class II Directors" and "Corporate Governance."
Information required by this Item regarding our corporate governance, including our audit committee and code of business conduct and ethics, is incorporated by reference to the sections of the Proxy Statement entitled "Corporate Governance" and "The Board of Directors."
Information required by this Item regarding compliance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the section of the Proxy Statement entitled "Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance."

ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Information required by this item regarding executive compensation is incorporated by reference to the information set forth under the captions "Executive Compensation," "Director Compensation" and "Corporate Governance" in our Proxy Statement.

ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
Information regarding security ownership of certain beneficial owners and management is incorporated by reference to the section of the Proxy Statement entitled "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management."
Information required by this item regarding securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans is incorporated by reference to the information set forth under the caption "Executive Compensation" in our Proxy Statement.

ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
Information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the section of the Proxy Statement entitled "Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence."

ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the section of the Proxy Statement entitled "Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm."

PART IV
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a) Financial Statements
 
 
 
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Consolidated Balance Sheets at December 29, 2017 and December 30, 2016
Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 29, 2017, December 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(b) Exhibits
 
 
 

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Index to Exhibits

 
 
Incorporated by Reference
 
Exhibit Number
Exhibit Description
Form
File No.
Filing Date
Filed Herewith
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
10-Q
001-36040
September 19, 2013
 
Amended and Restated Bylaws
10-Q
001-36040
September 19, 2013
 
Form of Common Stock Certificate.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
Form of Indenture dated March 31, 2015
S-3
333-203146
March 31, 2015
 
Employment Agreement, dated July 22, 2013, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Larry L. Enterline.
S-1
333-189841
July 25, 2013
 
Employment Agreement, dated July 22, 2013, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Zvi Glasman.
S-1
333-189841
July 25, 2013
 
Employment Agreement, dated February 20, 2014, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Bill Katherman.
8-K/A
001-36040
June 17, 2014
 
Employment Agreement, dated January 26, 2015, by and between Fox
Factory Holding Corp. and Tom Wittenschlaeger.
10-Q
001-36040
May 4, 2016
 
Employment Agreement, dated August 29, 2013, by and between Fox Factory
Holding Corp. and Wes Allinger.
10-Q
001-36040
May 4, 2016
 
Amendment, dated May 2, 2016, to the Employment Agreement, dated July 22, 2013, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Larry Enterline.
10-Q
001-36040
August 3, 2016
 
Amendment, dated May 2, 2016, to the Employment Agreement, dated July 22, 2013, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Zvi Glasman.
10-Q
001-36040
August 3, 2016
 
Amendment, dated May 2, 2016, to the Employment Agreement, dated February 20, 2014, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Bill Katherman.
10-Q
001-36040
August 3, 2016
 
Amendment, dated May 2, 2016, to the Employment Agreement, dated August 29, 2013, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Wes Allinger.
10-Q
001-36040
August 3, 2016
 
Amendment, dated May 2, 2016, to the Employment Agreement, dated January 26, 2015, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Tom Wittenschlaeger.
10-Q
001-36040
August 3, 2016
 
Amendment, dated October 19, 2016, to the Employment Agreement, dated February 20,
2014, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Bill Katherman.
8-K
001-36040
October 25, 2016
 
Information Sharing and Cooperation Agreement, dated August 13, 2013, by and between Compass Diversified Holdings, on its behalf and on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Compass Group Diversified Holdings LLC, and Fox Factory Holding Corp., on its behalf and on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Fox Factory, Inc.

10-Q
001-36040
November 6, 2013
 
Non-Employee Director Compensation Policy.
S-1
333-189841
July 25, 2013
 

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Form of Indemnification Agreement between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and certain of its directors and officers.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
Form of Indemnification Agreement between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Elias Sabo and certain advisors.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
2008 Stock Option Plan, as amended.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
2008 Non-Statutory Stock Option Plan, as amended.
S-1
333-189841
August 2, 2013
 
2013 Omnibus Plan as amended by the First Amendment, approved by stockholders on May 4, 2017.
8-K
001-36040
May 8, 2017
 
Form of Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement under 2013 Omnibus Plan.
S-1
333-189841
July 25, 2013
 
Amendment to Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Joseph Hagin, dated January 11, 2017.
10-Q
001-36040
May 3, 2017
 
Amendment to Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement, by and between Fox Factory Holding Corp. and Carl Nichols, dated January 4, 2018.

 
 
 
X
Air Commercial Real Estate Association Standard Industrial / Commercial Single-Tenant Lease – Gross, dated October 31, 2011, by and between Fox Factory, Inc. and Sammie Rae Abitbol, LLC.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
Air Commercial Real Estate Association Standard Industrial / Commercial Single-Tenant-Gross, dated March 24, 2010, by and between Fox Factory, Inc. and Scarborough Gilbert Partners, and related addenda.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
Lease Agreement, dated July 1, 2003, by and between Fox Factory, Inc. and Robert C. Fox, Jr.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
Amendment dated May 2, 2016 to the Lease Agreement, dated July 1, 2003,
by and between Fox Factory, Inc. and Robert C. Fox, Jr.
10-Q
001-36040
May 4, 2016
 
Sublease, dated January 1, 2012, by and between Fox Factory, Inc. and Robert C. Fox, Jr., and related addendum.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
Air Commercial Real Estate Association Standard Industrial/Commercial Multi-Tenant Lease - Net, dated April 19, 2012, by and between Fox Factory, Inc. and North Johnson Vernon Property, LLC, and related addendum.
S-1
333-189841
July 8, 2013
 
Asset Purchase Agreement, by and between ST USA Holding Corp. and Sport Truck USA, Inc., dated March 5, 2014.
8-K
001-36040