Item 1A. Risk Factors

The following are important factors we have identified that could affect our future results and your investment in our securities. You should consider them carefully when evaluating an investment in PTC securities or any forward-looking statements made by us, including those contained in this Annual Report, because these factors could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or the performance projected in forward- looking statements. The risks described below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and/or operating results. Holders of the 6.00% Senior Notes due 2024 (the “2024 6% Notes”) that we issued in May 2016 should also consider the risk factors related to those notes described in the prospectus supplement we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 5, 2016, which are incorporated herein by reference.

**I.**Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Industry

We face significant competition, which may reduce our profitability and limit or reduce our market share.

The markets for our products and solutions are rapidly changing and characterized by intense competition, disruptive technology developments, evolving distribution models and increasingly lower barriers to entry. If we are unable to provide products and solutions that address customers’ needs as well as our competitors’ products and solutions do, or to align our pricing, licensing and delivery models with customer preferences, we could lose customers and/or fail to attract new customers, which could cause us to lose revenue and market share. Competitive pressures could also cause us to reduce our prices, which could reduce our revenue and margins.

Our current and potential competitors range from large and well-established companies to emerging start-ups. Some of our competitors and potential competitors have greater name recognition in the markets we serve and greater financial, technical, sales and marketing, and other resources, which could limit our ability to gain customer recognition and confidence in our products and solutions and successfully sell our products and solutions, which could adversely affect our ability to grow our business.

A breach of security in our products or computer systems, or those of our third-party service providers, could compromise the integrity of our products, cause loss of data, harm our reputation, create additional liability and adversely impact our financial results.

We have implemented and continue to implement measures intended to maintain the security and integrity of our products, source code and computer systems. The potential consequences of a security breach or system disruption (particularly through cyber-attack or cyber-intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists) have increased in scope as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. Despite efforts to create security barriers to such threats, it is impossible for us to eliminate this risk, and, in fact, we deal with security issues on a regular basis and have experienced security incidents from time to time. Accordingly, there is a risk that we might encounter a material event or issue and that such an event or issue may occur.

In addition, we offer cloud services to our customers and some of our products are hosted by third-party service providers, which expose us to additional risks as those repositories of our customers’ proprietary data may be targeted by hackers.

A significant breach of the security and/ or integrity of our products or systems, or those of our third-party service providers, could prevent our products from functioning properly, could enable access to sensitive, proprietary or confidential information, including that of our customers, or could disrupt our business operations or those of our customers. This could require us to incur significant costs of investigation, remediation, and further protection, harm our reputation, cause customers to stop buying our products, and cause us to face lawsuits and potential liability, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We may be unable to hire or retain personnel with the necessary skills to operate and grow our business, which could adversely affect our ability to compete.

Our success depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled managerial, sales and marketing, technical, financial and administrative personnel to operate and grow our business. Competition for such personnel in our industry is intense, particularly in the Boston, Massachusetts area where our global headquarters is located.

The technical personnel required to develop our products and solutions are in high demand, particularly technical personnel with augmented and virtual reality and analytics expertise as there are comparatively fewer persons with those skills. If we are unable to attract and retain technical personnel with the requisite skills, our product and solution development efforts could be delayed, which could adversely affect our ability to compete and thereby adversely affect our revenues and profitability.

The managerial, sales and marketing, financial and administrative personnel necessary to guide our operations, market and sell our solutions and support our business operations are also in high demand due to the intense competition in our industry.

If we are unable to attract and retain the personnel we need to develop compelling products and solutions, and guide, operate and support our business, we may be unable to successfully compete in the marketplace, which would adversely affect our revenues and profitability.

We depend on sales within the discrete manufacturing sector and our business could be adversely affected if manufacturing activity does not grow, or if it contracts, or if manufacturers are adversely affected by other economic factors.

A large amount of our sales are to customers in the discrete manufacturing sector. The global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) has declined significantly over the past year and remained below the 50% level in September 2019, with a particularly large recent decline in Europe. Although the decline in Manufacturing PMI did not have a significant adverse affect on our business in 2019, if the manufacturing sector does not improve or continues to decline, our customers in this sector may, as they have in the past, reduce or defer purchases of our products and services, which could adversely affect our financial results.

In addition, manufacturers worldwide are facing increasing uncertainty about the global economic climate due to, among other factors, the geopolitical environment and ongoing trade tensions and tariffs. In addition, within the technology industry the U.S. Administration’s focus on technology transactions with non-U.S. entities and potential expanded prohibitions has created additional uncertainty. In light of these concerns and challenges, including the potential enactment or expansion of laws that restrict our ability to sell our solutions to customers, customers may delay, reduce or forego purchases of our solutions, which would adversely affect our business and financial results.

If we fail to successfully manage our transition to a subscription-based licensing company, our business and financial results could be adversely affected.

We completed our transition from offering perpetual licenses for our products to offering only subscription-based licenses worldwide in January 2019 (excluding Kepware). While we expect our subscription base, recurring revenue and cash flow to increase over time as a result of this licensing model transition, our ability to achieve these financial objectives is subject to risks and uncertainties. Becoming a subscription-based licensing company requires a considerable investment of technical, financial, legal and sales resources, and a scalable organization. Whether our transition will be successful and will accomplish our business and financial objectives is subject to uncertainties, including but not limited to: customer demand, attach and renewal rates, channel acceptance, our ability to further develop and scale infrastructure, our ability to include functionality and usability in such offerings that address customer requirements, and our costs. If we are unable to successfully establish these new offerings and navigate our business transition due to the foregoing risks and uncertainties, our business and financial results could be adversely impacted.

Because our sales and operations are globally dispersed, we face additional compliance risks and any compliance risk could adversely affect our business and financial results.

We sell and deliver software and services, and maintain support operations, in a large number of countries whose laws and practices differ from one another and are subject to unexpected changes. Managing these geographically dispersed operations requires significant attention and resources to

ensure compliance with laws of those countries and those of the U.S. governing our activities in non-U.S. countries.

Those laws include, but are not limited to, anti-corruption laws and regulations (including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the U.K. Bribery Act 2010), data privacy laws and regulations (including the European Union's General Data Privacy Regulation), and trade and economic sanctions laws and regulations (including laws administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the United Nations Security Council and other relevant sanctions authorities). Our compliance risks are heightened due to the go-to-market approach for our businesses that relies heavily on a partner ecosystem, the fact that we operate in, and are expanding into, countries with a higher incidence of corruption and fraudulent business practices than others, the fact that we deal with governments and state-owned business enterprises, the fact that cyber attacks and intrusions that could expose sensitive information have increased, and the fact that global enforcement of laws has significantly increased.

Accordingly, while we strive to maintain a comprehensive compliance program, we cannot guarantee that an employee, agent or business partner will not act in violation of our policies or U.S. or other applicable laws, that a cyber attack or intrusion would not be successful, or that we may inadvertently violate such laws. Investigations of alleged violations of those laws and cyber intrusions can be expensive and disruptive. Violations of such laws can lead to civil and/or criminal prosecutions, substantial fines and other sanctions, including the revocation of our rights to continue certain operations, and also cause business and reputation loss, which could adversely affect our financial results and/or stock price.

Our international businesses present economic and operating risks, which could adversely affect our business and financial results.

We expect that our international operations will continue to expand and to account for a significant portion of our total revenue. Because we transact business in various foreign currencies, the volatility of foreign exchange rates has had and may in the future have a material adverse effect on our revenue, expenses and operating results.

Other risks inherent in our international operations include, but are not limited to, the following:

•	difficulties in staffing and managing foreign sales and development operations;

•	possible future limitations upon foreign-owned businesses;

•	increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities;

•	inadequate local infrastructure; and

•	greater difficulty in protecting our intellectual property.

We may have exposure to additional tax liabilities and our effective tax rate may increase or fluctuate, which could increase our income tax expense and reduce our net income.

As a multinational organization, we are subject to income taxes as well as non-income based taxes in the U.S. and in various foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide income tax provision and other tax liabilities. In the ordinary course of a global business, there are many intercompany transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our tax returns are subject to review by various taxing authorities. Although we believe that our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits or tax disputes could be different from what is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals. For example, we have an open tax dispute in South Korea with respect to which we paid $12 million in 2017 to accommodate the potential tax liability through 2015, which we are disputing. If we do not prevail in that challenge, we could be subject to additional liabilities for periods after 2015, which we estimate could be $13 million.

Our effective tax rate can be adversely affected by several factors, many of which are outside of our control, including:

•	changes in tax laws, regulations, and interpretations in multiple jurisdictions in which we operate;

•	assessments, and any related tax interest or penalties, by taxing authorities;

•	changes in the relative proportions of revenues and income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates;

•	changes to the financial accounting rules for income taxes;

•	unanticipated changes in tax rates; and

•	changes to a valuation allowance on net deferred tax assets, if any.

**II.**Risks Related to Acquisitions and Strategic Relationships

Businesses we acquire may not generate the revenue and earnings we anticipate and may otherwise adversely affect our business.

We have acquired, and intend to continue to acquire, new businesses and technologies. If we fail to successfully integrate and manage the businesses and technologies we acquire, or if an acquisition does not further our business strategy as we expect, our operating results will be adversely affected.

Moreover, business combinations involve risks and uncertainties that can adversely affect our operations and operating results, including:

•	difficulties managing an acquired company’s technologies or lines of business or entering new markets where we have limited or no prior experience or where competitors may have stronger market positions;

•	unanticipated operating difficulties in connection with the acquired entities, including potential declines in revenue of the acquired entity;

•	failure to achieve the expected return on our investments, which could adversely affect our business or operating results and impair the assets that we recorded as a part of an acquisition, including intangible assets and goodwill;

•	diversion of management and employee attention;

•	loss of key personnel;

•	assumption of unanticipated legal or financial liabilities or other unidentified issues with the acquired business;

•	potential incompatibility of business cultures;

•	significant increases in our interest expense, leverage and debt service requirements if we incur additional debt to pay for an acquisition; and

•	if we were to issue a significant amount of equity securities in connection with future acquisitions, existing stockholders would be diluted and earnings per share would likely decrease.

Our inability to maintain or develop our strategic and technology relationships could adversely affect our business.

We have many strategic and technology relationships with other companies with which we work to offer complementary solutions and services, that market and sell our solutions, and that provide technologies that we embed in our solutions. We may not realize the expected benefits from these relationships and such relationships may be terminated by the other party. If these companies fail to perform or if a company terminates or substantially alters the terms of the relationship, we could suffer delays in product development, reduced sales or other operational difficulties and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

**III.**Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

We may be unable to adequately protect our proprietary rights, which could adversely affect our business and our ability to compete effectively.

Our software products are proprietary. We protect our intellectual property rights in these items by relying on copyrights, trademarks, patents and common law safeguards, including trade secret protection, as well as restrictions on disclosures and transferability contained in our agreements with other parties. Despite these measures, the laws of all relevant jurisdictions may not afford adequate protection to our products and other intellectual property. In addition, we frequently encounter attempts by individuals and companies to pirate our software. If our measures to protect our intellectual property rights fail, others may be able to use those rights, which could reduce our competitiveness and revenues.

In addition, any legal action to protect our intellectual property rights that we may bring or be engaged in could be costly, may distract management from day-to-day operations and may lead to additional claims against us, and we may not succeed, all of which would materially adversely affect our operating results.

Intellectual property infringement claims could be asserted against us, which could be expensive to defend and could result in limitations on our use of the claimed intellectual property.

The software industry is characterized by frequent litigation regarding copyright, patent and other intellectual property rights. If a lawsuit of this type is filed, it could result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. We cannot be sure that we would prevail against any such asserted claims. If we did not prevail, we could be prevented from using the claimed intellectual property or be required to enter into royalty or licensing agreements, which might not be available on terms acceptable to us. In addition to possible claims with respect to our proprietary products, some of our products contain technology developed by and licensed from third parties and we may likewise be susceptible to infringement claims with respect to these third-party technologies.

**IV.**Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as our ability to meet our payment obligations under our debt.

We have a significant amount of indebtedness. As of November 15, 2019, our total debt outstanding was approximately $1.1 billion, approximately $628 million of which was under our $1 billion secured credit facility (which matures in September 2023) and $500 million of which was associated with the 6% Senior Notes issued May 2016, which mature in May 2024 and are unsecured. Of the $628 million outstanding under our secured credit facility, $455 million was borrowed on November 1, 2019 to finance our acquisition of Onshape. In November 2019, we also amended the credit facility to increase the revolving loan commitment from $700 million to $1 billion (see Liquidity and Capital Resources-Outstanding Notes in Item 7. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" of this Annual Report). All amounts outstanding under the credit facility and the notes will be due and payable in full on their respective maturity dates. As of November 15, 2019, we had unused commitments under our credit facility of approximately $357 million. PTC Inc. and one of our foreign subsidiaries are eligible borrowers under the credit facility and certain other foreign subsidiaries may become borrowers under our credit facility in the future, subject to certain conditions.

Notwithstanding the limits contained in the credit agreement governing our credit facility and the indenture governing our 2024 6% Notes, we may be able to incur substantial additional debt from time to time to finance working capital, capital expenditures, investments or acquisitions, or for other purposes. If we do so, the risks related to our level of debt could intensify. Specifically, our level of debt could:

•	make it more difficult for us to satisfy our debt obligations and other ongoing business obligations, which may result in defaults;

•	result in an event of default if we fail to comply with the financial and other covenants contained in the agreements governing our debt instruments, which could result in all of our debt becoming immediately due and payable or require us to negotiate an amendment to financial or other covenants that could cause us to incur additional fees and expenses;

•	limit our ability to obtain additional financing to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general corporate requirements;

•	reduce the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes and limit our ability to obtain additional financing for these purposes;

•	increase our vulnerability to the impact of adverse economic and industry conditions;

•	expose us to the risk of increased interest rates as certain of our borrowings, including borrowings under the credit facility, are at variable rates of interest;

•	limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, and increasing our vulnerability to, changes in our business, the industries in which we operate, and the overall economy;

•	place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to other, less leveraged competitors; and

•	increase our cost of borrowing.

Any of the above-listed factors could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to meet our payment obligations under our debt agreements.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, legislative, regulatory and other factors some

of which are beyond our control. We may be unable to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and could be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures or to dispose of material assets or operations, seek additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. We may not be able to effect any such alternative measures, if necessary, on commercially reasonable terms or at all and, even if successful, those alternative actions may not allow us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. Our debt agreements restrict our ability to dispose of assets and use the proceeds from those dispositions and may also restrict our ability to raise debt or equity capital to be used to repay other indebtedness when it becomes due. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or to obtain proceeds in an amount sufficient to meet any debt service obligations then due.

Our inability to generate sufficient cash flows to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all, would materially and adversely affect our financial position and results of operations and our ability to satisfy our debt obligations.

If we cannot make scheduled payments on our debt, we will be in default and the lenders under our credit facility could terminate their commitments to loan money, the lenders could foreclose against the assets securing their borrowings, the holders of our 2024 6% Notes could declare all outstanding principal, premium, if any, and interest to be due and payable, and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. All of these events could result in a loss of your investment.

We are required to comply with certain financial and operating covenants under our debt agreements. Any failure to comply with those covenants could cause amounts borrowed to become immediately due and payable and/or prevent us from borrowing under the credit facility.

We are required to comply with specified financial and operating covenants under our debt agreements and to make payments under our debt, which limit our ability to operate our business as we otherwise might operate it. Our failure to comply with any of these covenants or to meet any debt payment obligations could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, would result in any amounts outstanding, including any accrued interest and/or unpaid fees, becoming immediately due and payable. We might not have sufficient working capital or liquidity to satisfy any repayment obligations in the event of an acceleration of those obligations. In addition, if we are not in compliance with the financial and operating covenants under the credit facility when we wish to borrow funds, we will be unable to borrow funds.

In addition, the financial and operating covenants under the credit facility may limit our ability to borrow funds, including for strategic acquisitions and share repurchases.

Our credit facility has variable interest tied to LIBOR and we could become subject to higher interest rates if the replacement rate we agree on with our banks is higher.

Borrowings under our revolving credit facility use the London Interbank Offering Rate (LIBOR) as a benchmark for establishing the interest rate. LIBOR is the subject of recent national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals for reform. These reforms and other pressures may cause LIBOR to disappear entirely or to perform differently than in the past. Although we believe the recent discussions about alternative rates will not materially increase the interest rates on our credit facility, the final agreed rate may increase the cost of our variable rate indebtedness.

**V.**Risks Related to Our Common Stock and Debt Securities

Our operating results fluctuate from quarter to quarter, making future operating results difficult to predict; failure to meet market expectations could cause the price of our securities to decline.

Our quarterly operating results historically have fluctuated and are likely to continue to fluctuate depending on many factors, including:

•	variability in our contracts, including timing of start dates, length of contracts, and mix of on-premise and cloud-based purchases, which would impact our revenue and earnings;

•	a high percentage of our orders historically have been generated in the third month of each fiscal quarter and any failure to receive, complete or process orders at the end of any quarter could cause us to fall short of our financial and operating targets;

•	our adoption of Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Topic 606 in 2019 creates significant revenue volatility;

•	a significant percentage of our orders comes from transactions with large customers, which tend to have long lead times that are less predictable;

•	because our operating expenses are largely fixed in the short term and are based on expected revenues, any failure to achieve our revenue targets could cause us to miss our earnings targets;

•	because a significant portion of our revenue and expenses are generated from outside the U.S., shifts in foreign currency exchange rates could adversely affect our reported results; and

•	we may incur significant expenses in a quarter in connection with corporate development initiatives, restructuring efforts or the investigation, defense or settlement of legal actions that would increase our operating expenses and reduce our earnings for the quarter in which those expenses are incurred.

Accordingly, our quarterly results are difficult to predict prior to the end of the quarter and we may be unable to confirm or adjust expectations with respect to our operating results for a quarter until that quarter has closed. Any failure to meet our quarterly revenue or earnings targets could adversely impact the market price of our securities.

Our long-range financial targets are predicated on expanding our portfolio of recurring revenue contracts (ARR growth), operating margin improvements and cash flow growth that we may fail to achieve, which could reduce our expected earnings and cause us to fail to meet the expectations of analysts or investors and cause the price of our securities to decline.

We are projecting long-term ARR, operating margin and cash flow growth. Our projections are based on the expected growth potential in the IoT and AR markets, as well as more modest growth in our core CAD and PLM markets. We may not achieve the expected ARR growth if the markets we serve do not grow at expected rates, if customers do not purchase, renew, or expand subscriptions as we expect, if we are not able to deliver solutions desired by customers and potential customers, and/or if acquired businesses do not generate the revenue growth that we expect.

Over time, we expect our operating margin to improve, which improvements are predicated on operating leverage and on improved operating efficiencies, particularly within our sales organization, and on service margin improvements. If we are unable to reduce our sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of revenue through productivity initiatives, or to reduce the amount of services we provide and/or to improve our services margins, we may not achieve our operating margin targets.

If we fail to achieve our long-range financial targets, or if analysts and investors expect that we will not achieve our long-range financial targets, the price of our securities could decline.

Our stock price has been volatile, which may make it harder to resell shares at a favorable time and price.

Market prices for securities of software companies are generally volatile and are subject to significant fluctuations that may be unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. The trading prices and valuations of these stocks, and of ours, may not be predictable. Negative changes in the public’s perception of the prospects of software companies, or of PTC or the markets we serve, could depress our stock price regardless of our operating results.

Also, a large percentage of our common stock is held by institutional investors and by Rockwell Automation. Purchases and sales of our common stock by these investors could have a significant impact on the market price of the stock. For more information about those investors, please see our proxy statement with respect to our most recent annual meeting of stockholders and Schedules 13D and 13G filed with the SEC with respect to our common stock.

Our 2024 6% Notes are not listed on any national securities exchange or included in any automated quotation system, which could make it harder to resell the notes at a favorable time and price.

Our 2024 6% Notes are not listed on any national securities exchange or included in any automated quotation system. As a result, an active market for the notes may not exist or be maintained, which would adversely affect the market price and liquidity of the notes. In that case, holders may not be able to sell their notes when they want to or at a favorable price.

The market for non-investment grade debt historically has been subject to severe disruptions that have caused substantial volatility in the prices of securities similar to the notes. The market, if any, for

the notes may experience similar disruptions and any such disruptions may adversely affect the liquidity in that market or the prices at which the notes may be sold.