Ocean Power Technologies Inc to Participate at Water Tower Research Fireside Chat Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : That's great. So before we actually go ahead with the rest of the stuff, just diving deeper into this. In terms of like timeline, how do you envisage the timeline from like -- so this was the first step -- maybe not the first step, but this was the culmination of a number of different steps. What are the next steps that we should think of? And what could the timeline be?

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : Of course, of course. So for somebody that might have been introduced to Ocean Power maybe three or four years ago prior to you becoming the CEO, you are a very different company now. And it's more intelligence and data rather than the power and the energy itself. So talk about that transformation and what capabilities have you kind of added over a period of time?

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : Got it. Got it. And you touched upon a number of different things, and I definitely want to go into each one of them kind of in different questions. But when you think of defense and when you think of homeland security and that has been in a lot of focus post the War in Ukraine started and the change in administration, can you talk about where you kind of fit in the overall defense, homeland security, kind of a landscape? And what is the differentiation that you bring into the whole process?

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : That's very fascinating and very interesting. So you are definitely part of the solution of maybe a much larger and a bigger solution. So when you think of like contracts that come out of the government, whether it is defense or it is homeland security or what have you, how do you kind of fit REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MAY 06, 2025 / 3:00PM, OPTT.A - Ocean Power Technologies Inc to Participate at Water Tower Research Fireside Chat in, in terms of -- they're probably not going to give you a direct contract with OPTT per se. There could be a much larger contractor that would be involved here. So as you think of your partnerships, who all are you partnering with as far as these government contracts are concerned?

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : Got it. Now bringing it all down to what investors definitely care about the market potential and the growth prospects and what have you, but they also care about profitability. And one of the things that you had talked about few months ago, was that you would be profitable by the end of calendar 2025, I want to understand, given all the changes that are happening and probably changes that are happening on an everyday basis, maybe even hourly basis on policies and what have you. How are you thinking about profitability? And what kind of revenue run rate do you need to kind of get there?

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : Great. That is great. One last thing, and I couldn't let you go before asking you this is valuation. And you've -- again, I mean, in all our conversations, time and again, you've talked about how you are valued at a discount to peers and potential competitors and everybody else in the space. Talk about valuation, talk about the -- who you are thinking of as comps? And why do you think there is such a disconnect between your valuation and their valuation?

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : Of course, nobody knows.

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : That's great. We are over time, way over time, but this was such an interesting conversation that it had to flow over time. One of the things I kind of took away especially from the last answer that you just gave is, hey, this is something that you're building for the long term. And people in the venture space kind of see the long-term possibility, and that is what they're investing against. And so the near-term distraction of like next year's multiples or whatever is like something very, very short term. And that should resolve itself over time as you keep delivering. And as visibility into the business kind of increases, you should be able to get proper valuation.

Question: Kunal Madhukar - Water Tower Research - Analyst : Great. On that note, Philipp, thank you so much. folks on the call, I apologize. This went longer than what we had kind of originally thought. If you have any questions, please e-mail me or reach out otherwise to any of us on the call. and we will respond to your questions. Have a good day. Thank you so much, Philipp. Have a great day.