Item 1A. Risk Factors

Investors should carefully consider the risks described below and all other information in this annual report on Form 10-K. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing the Company. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to the Company or that it currently deems immaterial may also impair the Company’s business and operations.

If actions taken by management to limit, monitor or control financial enterprise risk exposures are not successful, the Company’s business and consolidated financial statements could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of the Company’s common stock could decline and investors may lose all or part of their investment.

The Company is dependent on the communications industry, including information technology and data communications, wireless communications and broadband communications.

Approximately 51% of the Company’s 2014 net sales came from sales to the communications industry, including information technology and data communication, wireless communications and broadband communications, with 17% of the Company’s 2014 net sales coming from sales to the mobile device market. Demand for these products is subject to rapid technological change (see below—“The Company is dependent on the acceptance of new product introductions for continued revenue growth”). These markets are dominated by several large manufacturers and operators who regularly exert significant price pressure on their suppliers, including the Company. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to continue to compete successfully in the communications industry, and the Company’s failure to do so could have an adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

Approximately 7% and 11% of the Company’s 2014 net sales came from sales to the broadband communications and mobile networks markets, respectively. Demand for the Company’s products in these markets depends primarily on capital spending by operators for constructing, rebuilding or upgrading their systems. The amount of this capital spending and, therefore, the Company’s sales and profitability will be affected by a variety of factors, including general economic conditions, consolidation within the communications industry, the financial condition of operators and their access to financing, competition, technological developments, new legislation and regulation of operators. There can be no assurance that existing levels of capital spending will continue or that spending will not decrease.

Changes in defense expenditures may reduce the Company’s sales.

Approximately 11% of the Company’s 2014 net sales came from sales to the military market. The Company participates in a broad spectrum of defense programs and believes that no one program accounted for more than 1% of its 2014 net sales. The substantial majority of these sales are related to both U.S. and foreign military and defense programs. The Company’s sales are generally to contractors and subcontractors of the U.S. or foreign governments or to distributors that in turn sell to the contractors and subcontractors. Accordingly, the Company’s sales are affected by changes in the defense budgets of the U.S. and foreign governments. A significant decline in U.S. defense expenditures and foreign government defense expenditures could adversely affect the Company’s business and have an adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

The Company encounters competition in substantially all areas of its business.

The Company competes primarily on the basis of technology innovation, product quality, price, customer service and delivery time. Competitors include large, diversified companies, some of which have substantially greater assets and financial resources than the Company, as well as medium to small companies. There can be no assurance that additional competitors will not enter the Company’s existing markets, nor can there be any assurance that the Company will be able to compete successfully against existing or new competition, and the inability to do so could have an adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Company is dependent on the acceptance of new product introductions for continued revenue growth.

The Company estimates that products introduced in the last two years accounted for approximately 20% of 2014 net sales. The Company’s long-term results of operations depend substantially upon its ability to continue to conceive, design, source and market new products and upon continuing market acceptance of its existing and future product lines. In the

ordinary course of business, the Company continually develops or creates new product line concepts. If the Company fails to or is significantly delayed in introducing new product line concepts or if the Company’s new products are not met with market acceptance, its business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Covenants in the Company’s credit agreements may adversely affect the Company.

The Credit Agreement, dated as of July 31, 2013, among the Company, certain subsidiaries of the Company and a syndicate of financial institutions (the “Revolving Credit Facility”), contains financial and other covenants, such as a limit on the ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a limit on priority indebtedness and limits on incurrence of liens. Although the Company believes none of these covenants is presently restrictive to the Company’s operations, the ability to meet the financial covenants can be affected by events beyond the Company’s control, and the Company cannot provide assurance that it will meet those tests. A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under the Revolving Credit Facility. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under any of the Company’s credit facilities, the lenders could elect to declare amounts outstanding thereunder to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit. If the lenders accelerate the repayment of borrowings, the Company may not have sufficient assets to repay the Revolving Credit Facility and other indebtedness.

Downgrades of the Company’s credit rating could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations and financial condition.

If the credit rating agencies that rate the Company’s debt were to downgrade the Company’s credit rating in conjunction with a deterioration of the Company’s performance, it may increase the Company’s cost of capital and make it more difficult for the Company to obtain new financing, which could adversely affect the Company’s business.

Inability to access capital markets may adversely affect the Company’s business.

The Company’s ability to invest in its business and make strategic acquisitions requires access to the capital markets. If general economic and capital market conditions deteriorate significantly, it could impact the Company’s ability to access the capital markets. While the Company has not encountered any financing difficulties, the capital and credit markets have experienced significant volatility in recent years. Market conditions could make it more difficult to access capital to finance investments and acquisitions. As such, this could adversely affect the results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

The Company’s results may be negatively affected by changing interest rates.

The Company is subject to interest rate volatility with regard to existing and future issuances of debt. The Company monitors the mix of fixed-rate and variable-rate debt, as well as the mix of short-term debt versus long-term debt. As of December 31, 2014, $676.3 million, or 25% of the Company’s outstanding borrowings were subject to floating interest rates, primarily due to changes in LIBOR. In 2014, the Company issued $750.0 million principal amount of unsecured 2.55% senior notes due January 2019, $375.0 million principal amount of unsecured 1.55% senior notes due September 2017 and $375.0 million principal amount of unsecured 3.125% senior notes due September 2021. The Company used all of the net proceeds of these offerings to repay the outstanding $600.0 million 4.75% senior notes that were due in November 2014 and to repay amounts outstanding under its Revolving Credit Facility and Credit Agreement, which reduced the Company’s interest expense.

As of December 31, 2014, the Company had the following unsecured Senior Notes outstanding:

A 10% change in LIBOR at December 31, 2014 would have no material effect on the Company’s interest expense. The Company does not expect changes in interest rates to have a material effect on income or cash flows in 2015, although there can be no assurances that interest rates will not change significantly.

The Company’s results may be negatively affected by foreign currency exchange rates.

The Company conducts business in many international currencies through its worldwide operations, and as a result is subject to foreign exchange exposure due to changes in exchange rates of the various currencies. Changes in exchange rates can positively or negatively affect the Company’s sales, gross margins and equity. The Company attempts to minimize currency exposure risk in a number of ways including producing its products in the same country or region in which the products are sold, thereby generating revenues and incurring expenses in the same currency, cost reduction and pricing actions, and working capital management. However, there can be no assurance that these actions will be fully effective in managing currency risk, especially in the event of a significant and sudden decline in the value of any of the international currencies of the Company’s worldwide operations, which could have an adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations and financial condition.

The Company is subject to the risks of political, economic and military instability in countries outside the United States.

Non-U.S. markets account for a substantial portion of the Company’s business. During 2014, non-U.S. markets constituted approximately 69% of the Company’s net sales, with China constituting approximately 27% of the Company’s net sales. The Company employs approximately 90% of its workforce outside the United States. The Company’s customers are located throughout the world and it has many manufacturing, administrative and sales facilities outside the United States. Because the Company has extensive non-U.S. operations as well as significant cash and cash investments held at institutions located outside of the U.S., it is exposed to risks that could negatively affect sales, profitability or the liquidity of such cash and cash investments including:

· tariffs, trade barriers and trade disputes;

· regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

· longer payment cycles;

· tax issues, such as tax law changes, examinations by taxing authorities, variations in tax laws from country to country as compared to the U.S. and difficulties in repatriating cash generated or held abroad in a tax-efficient manner;

· challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

· employment regulations and local labor conditions;

· difficulties protecting intellectual property;

· instability in economic or political conditions, including inflation, recession and actual or anticipated military or political conflicts; and

· the impact of each of the foregoing on outsourcing and procurement arrangements.

The Company may experience difficulties and unanticipated expense of assimilating newly acquired businesses, including the potential for the impairment of goodwill.

The Company has completed a number of acquisitions in the past few years and anticipates that it will continue to pursue acquisition opportunities as part of its growth strategy. The Company may experience difficulty and unanticipated expense in integrating such acquisitions and the acquisitions may not perform as expected. At December 31, 2014, the total assets of the Company were $7,027.0 million, which included $2,616.7 million of goodwill (the excess of fair value of consideration paid over the fair value of net identifiable assets of businesses acquired). The Company performs annual evaluations for the potential impairment of the carrying value of goodwill. Such evaluations have not resulted in the need to recognize an impairment. However, if the financial performance of the Company’s businesses were to decline significantly, the Company could incur a material non-cash charge to its income statement for the impairment of goodwill.

The Company may experience difficulties in obtaining a consistent supply of materials at stable pricing levels, which could adversely affect its results of operations.

The Company uses basic materials like aluminum, steel, copper, titanium, metal alloys, gold, silver, certain rare earth metals and plastic resins, in its manufacturing processes. Volatility in the prices of such materials and availability of supply may have a substantial impact on the price the Company pays for such materials. In addition, to the extent such cost increases cannot be recovered through sales price increases or productivity improvements, the Company’s margin may decline.

The Company may not be able to attract and retain key employees.

The Company’s continued success depends upon its continued ability to hire and retain key employees at its operations around the world. Any difficulties in obtaining or retaining the management and other human resource competencies that the Company needs to achieve its business objectives may have an adverse effect on the Company’s performance.

Changes in general economic conditions and other factors beyond the Company’s control may adversely impact its business.

The following factors could adversely impact the Company’s business:

· A global economic slowdown in any of the Company’s market segments;

· The effects of significant changes in monetary and fiscal policies in the U.S. and abroad including significant income tax changes, currency fluctuations and unforeseen inflationary pressures;

· Rapid material escalation of the cost of regulatory compliance and litigation;

· Unexpected government policies and regulations affecting the Company or its significant customers;

· Unforeseen intergovernmental conflicts or actions, including but not limited to armed conflict, trade wars, and acts of terrorism or war;

· Unforeseen interruptions to the Company’s business with its largest customers, distributors and suppliers resulting from but not limited to, strikes, financial instabilities, computer malfunctions, inventory excesses, natural disasters, or other disasters such as fires or explosions;

· Increases in employment costs, particularly in low-cost regions in which the Company currently operates;

· Changes in assumptions, such as discount rates and lower than expected investment performance related to the Company’s benefit plans; and

· Failures of our management information or other systems due to cyber-attacks, computer viruses and other security breaches despite the Company’s implementation of information technology security measures.