When presenting non-GAAP information, the company includes a reconciliation of the non-GAAP results to the GAAP results. Management believes that including the non-GAAP results assists investors in assessing the company’s operational performance and its performance relative to its competitors. The company presents these non-GAAP results as a complement to results provided in accordance with GAAP, and these results should not be regarded as a substitute for GAAP. Management uses these non-GAAP measures to manage and assess the profitability and performance of its business and does not consider stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquisition-related intangibles, acquisition-related transaction costs, taxes levied on the transfer of acquired intellectual property, foreign exchange loss on acquisitions, restructuring charges, tax reform charges, disposal gains on buildings and related charitable contributions, tax effects related to businesses held-for-sale, gain on divestment, and capitalization and amortization of internally developed software costs in managing its operations. Specifically, management uses non-GAAP measures to plan and forecast future periods; to establish operational goals; to compare with its business plan and individual operating budgets; to measure management performance for the purposes of executive compensation, including payments to be made under bonus plans; to assist the public in measuring the company’s performance relative to the company’s long-term public performance goals; to allocate resources; and, relative to the company’s historical financial performance, to enable comparability between periods. Management also considers such non-GAAP results to be an important supplemental measure of its performance.

This news release discloses the company’s EBITDA for the three-month and 12-month periods ending Dec. 31, 2019 and 2018. The company believes that including the EBITDA results assists investors in assessing the company’s operational performance relative to its competitors. A reconciliation of EBITDA to GAAP net income is included with this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains “forward-looking statements” including statements regarding that this is a reflection of our realignment, execution to our strategy and commitment to operational excellence, believing we are entering 2020 with renewed momentum, remaining confident in the continued success of NI under Eric, our highly capable new CEO, belief that we are in a stronger position than ever, that we have created a solid foundation which we believe will help accelerate our growth and achieve our long-term aspirations for all our stakeholders, belief that our strong results show the stability provided by our broad customer base and end-market diversity, the value customers see in our innovative platform, and our ability to scale, expecting Q1 revenue to be in the range of $308 million to $338 million, expecting that GAAP diluted EPS will be in the range of $0.99 to $1.13 for Q1, with non-GAAP diluted EPS expected to be in the range of $0.24 to $0.38; estimating its non-GAAP effective tax rate to be approximately 17% to 18% percent for 2020; expecting that for a significant majority of software development projects the costs incurred subsequent to the achievement of technological feasibility will be immaterial in future periods; expecting to record significantly less capitalized software development costs than under its historical software development approaches; and expecting amortization of previously capitalized software development costs to steadily decline as previously capitalized software development costs become fully amortized over the next four years. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the risk of adverse changes or fluctuations in the global economy, further adverse fluctuations in our industry, foreign exchange fluctuations, changes in the current global trade regulatory environment, fluctuations in demand for NI products including orders from NI’s large customers, component shortages, delays in the release of new products, the company’s ability to effectively manage its operating expenses, manufacturing inefficiencies and the level of capacity utilization, the impact of any recent or future acquisitions or divestitures by NI, expense overruns, disruption from public health concerns and adverse effects of price changes or effective tax rates. Actual results may differ materially from the expected results.

The company directs readers to its Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2018, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2019 and the other documents it files with the SEC for other risks associated with the company’s future performance.

About NI

NI ( www.ni.com) empowers engineers and scientists with a software-centric platform that incorporates modular hardware and an expansive ecosystem. This proven approach puts users firmly in control of defining what they need to accelerate their system design within test, measurement and control. NI’s solution helps build high-performance systems that exceed requirements, quickly adapt to change and ultimately improve the world. (NATI-F)

National Instruments, NI and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.