Lantronix (LTRX) Risk Analysis

We may become subject to increased scrutiny and evolving expectations from investors, customers, lawmakers, regulators, and other stakeholders on environmental, social and governance ("ESG") practices and disclosures, including those related to environmental stewardship, climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion, forced labor, racial justice, and workplace conduct. Regulators have imposed in the past, and may impose in the future, ESG-related rules and guidance, which may conflict with one another and impose additional costs on us or expose us to new or additional risks. Moreover, certain organizations that provide information to investors have developed ratings for evaluating companies on their approach to different ESG-related matters, and unfavorable ratings of us or our industry may lead to negative investor sentiment and the diversion of investment to other companies or industries. As a smaller company, we may not have resources to meet the evolving ESG-related expectations of the investment community.

We have historically incurred net losses. There can be no assurance that we will generate net profits in future periods. Further, there can be no assurance that we will be cash flow positive in future periods. In the event that we fail to achieve profitability in future periods, the value of our common stock may decline. In addition, if we are unable to achieve or maintain positive cash flows, we would be required to seek additional funding, which may not be available on favorable terms, if at all.

Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors that are beyond our control, including general economic conditions and policies of various governmental and regulatory agencies. Higher interest rates may hinder opportunities in markets where we do business, have negative impacts on the global economy, and may lead customers to decrease or delay spending on products and projects, including on products that we sell, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, higher interest rates impact the amount of interest we pay for our debt obligations and leases and continue and sustained increases in interest rates has in the past and may in the future negatively impact our financing costs or cash flow.

Historically, we have relied upon a small number of distributors and end-user customers for a significant portion of our net revenue. Our customer concentration could fluctuate, depending on future customer requirements, which will depend on market conditions in the industry segments in which our customers participate. The loss of one or more significant customers or a decline in sales to our significant customers could result in a material loss of sales and possible increase in excess inventories which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We depend on the resale of products through distributor accounts for a substantial majority of our worldwide net revenue. In addition, sales through our top five distributors accounted for approximately 37% of our net revenue in fiscal 2025. A significant reduction of effort by one or more distributors to sell our products or a material change in our relationship with one or more distributors may reduce our access to certain end customers and adversely affect our ability to sell our products. Furthermore, if a key distributor materially defaults on a contract or otherwise fails to perform, our business and financial results would suffer. In addition, the financial health of our distributors and our continuing relationships with them are important to our success. Our business could be harmed if the financial health of these distributors impairs their performance and we are unable to secure alternate distributors.

Some of our integrated circuits are only available from a single source and in some cases, are no longer being manufactured. From time to time, integrated circuits, and potentially other components used in our products, will be phased out of production by the manufacturer. When this happens, we attempt to purchase sufficient inventory to meet our needs until a substitute component can be incorporated into our products. Nonetheless, we may be unable to purchase sufficient components to meet our demands, or we may incorrectly forecast our demands, and purchase too many or too few components. In addition, our products use components that have been in the past and may in the future be subject to market shortages and substantial price fluctuations, whether due to a pandemic or epidemic, the war between Ukraine and Russia, conflict in the Middle East, hostilities in the Red Sea, tensions between China and Taiwan, increased tariffs and changes in U.S. trade policies or otherwise. For instance, the market is currently experiencing memory supply shortages, which has led to higher costs and constrained availability of memory components. From time to time, we have been unable to meet customer orders because we were unable to purchase necessary components for our products. We do not have long-term supply arrangements with most of our vendors to obtain necessary components, including semiconductor chips, or technology for our products and instead purchase components on a purchase order basis. If we are unable to purchase components from these suppliers, our product shipments could be prevented or delayed, which could result in a loss of sales. If we are unable to meet existing orders or to enter into new orders because of a shortage in components, we will likely lose net revenue, risk losing customers and risk harm to our reputation in the marketplace, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Certain of our products contain software developed and maintained by third-party software vendors or which are available through the "open source" software community. We also expect that we may incorporate software from third-party vendors and open source software in our future products. Our business would be disrupted if this software, or functional equivalents of this software, were either no longer available to us or no longer offered to us on commercially reasonable terms. In either case, we would be required to either redesign our products to function with alternate third-party software or open source software, or develop these components ourselves, which would result in increased costs and could result in delays in our product shipments. Furthermore, we might be forced to limit the features available in our current or future product offerings.

Pandemics or similar outbreaks have had, and may in the future have, an adverse impact on the economy, our business and the businesses of our suppliers, and our results of operations and financial condition. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in industry events, trade shows and business travel being suspended, cancelled and/or significantly curtailed. If these activities are suspended, cancelled and/or significantly curtailed in the future, whether due to a possible pandemic and similar outbreak, our sales may be negatively impacted in the future. In addition, the impact of possible pandemics subjects us to various risks and uncertainties that could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, including the following: - significant volatility or decreases in the demand for our products or extended sales cycles;         - changes in customer behavior and preferences, as customers may experience financial difficulties and/or may delay orders or reduce their spending;         - adverse impacts on our ability to distribute or deliver our products or services, as well as temporary disruptions, restrictions or closures of the facilities of our suppliers or customers and their contract manufacturers;         - further disruptions in our contract manufacturers' ability to manufacture our products, as some contract manufacturers and suppliers of materials used in the production of our products are, or may be, located in areas more severely impacted by a possible pandemic, which has in the past limited and could in the future limit, our ability to obtain sufficient materials to produce and manufacture our products; and         - volatility in the availability of raw materials and components that our contract manufacturers purchase and volatility in raw material and other input costs. The duration and extent of a future pandemics or other similar outbreak's effect on our operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time. The adverse impact of a possible future pandemic or similar outbreak on our business, results of operations and financial condition may be material.

We cannot predict whether, and to what extent, there may be changes to international trade agreements or whether additional quotas, duties, tariffs, exchange controls or other restrictions on our products will be changed or imposed. If we are unable to source our products from the countries where we wish to purchase them, either because of regulatory changes or for any other reason, or if the cost of doing so increases, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, imposition of tariffs or other developments may result in our implementing local or alternative sourcing initiatives that make it more difficult to sell our products in foreign countries, which would negatively impact our business and operating results. Recent judicial rulings and changes in tariff policies have introduced uncertainty regarding the applicability, scope, and duration of certain U.S. tariffs, and availability of refunds for invalidated tariffs. There remains substantial uncertainty regarding the availability, timing, and amount of potential refunds, if any, the scope and duration of newly announced tariffs, and the possibility of further additional or modified tariffs or retaliatory actions.

The sale of our wireless products in some geographical markets is sometimes dependent on the ability to gain certifications and/or approvals by relevant governmental bodies. In addition, many of our products are certified as meeting various industry quality and/or compatibility standards.  Failure to obtain these certifications or approvals, or delays in receiving any needed certifications or approvals, could impact our ability to compete effectively or at all in these markets and could have an adverse impact on our revenues.

Certain of our products and services as well as the operations of our business may involve access or exposure to personally identifiable or otherwise confidential information and customer data and systems, the misuse or improper disclosure of which could result in legal liability. The collection, hosting, transfer, disclosure, use, storage and security of personal information is subject to federal, state and foreign data privacy laws. These laws, ("Privacy and Data Protection Requirements") which are not uniform, do one or more of the following: regulate the collection, transfer (including in some cases, the transfer outside the country of collection), processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal information, and require notice to individuals of privacy practices and in some cases consent to collection of personal information; give individuals certain access, correction and deletion rights with respect to their personal information; and prevent the use or disclosure of personal information, or require providing opt-outs for the use and disclosure of personal information, for secondary purposes such as marketing. Under certain circumstances, some of these laws require us to provide notification to affected individuals, data protection authorities and/or other regulators in the event of a data breach. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information among us and our subsidiaries. Laws and regulations in this area are evolving and generally becoming more stringent. For example, the European General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR") requires us to meet stringent requirements regarding (i) our access, use, disclosure, transfer, protection, or otherwise processing of personal information; and (ii) the ability of data subjects to exercise their related various rights such as to access, correct or delete or limit the use of their personal data. Under the GDPR and the U.K.'s version of the GDPR, information transfers from the European Union and the U.K. to the U.S. are generally prohibited unless certain measures are followed. The 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 provide individuals similar rights with respect to the processing of their personal data. Multiple states in the U.S. have enacted such privacy laws, and data privacy laws are scheduled to become effective in several others in 2026. There is also the possibility of federal privacy legislation and increased enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission under its power to regulate unfair and deceptive trade practices. Markets in the Asia Pacific region have also recently adopted GDPR-like legislation, including China's Personal Information Protection Law. Failure to meet Privacy and Data Protection Law requirements could result in significant civil penalties (including fines up to 4% of annual worldwide revenue under the GDPR) as well as criminal penalties. Privacy and data protection law requirements also confer a private right of action in some countries, including under the GDPR. As these laws continue to evolve, we may be required to make changes to our systems, services, solutions and/or products to enable us and/or our clients to meet the new legal requirements, including by taking on more onerous obligations, limiting our storage, transfer and processing of data and, in some cases, limiting our service and/or solution offerings in certain locations and our ability to market to customers. Changes in these laws, or the interpretation and application thereof, may also increase our potential exposure through significantly higher potential penalties for non-compliance. The costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, such laws and regulations and client demand in this area may limit the use of, or demand for, our services, solutions and/or products, make it more difficult and costly to meet client expectations, or lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for noncompliance, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.