are available in print without charge to shareholders who request them. Information contained on or available through our Internet web site is not incorporated into this Annual Report or any other document we file with, or furnish to, the SEC. Please carefully consider the following discussion of material factors, events, and uncertainties that make an investment in our securities risky. When the factors, events and contingencies discussed below or elsewhere in this Annual Report materialize, our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, reputation or prospects could be materially adversely affected. While we believe all known material risks are disclosed, additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently deem immaterial, may also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, reputation, prospects or stock price. Because of the risk factors discussed below and elsewhere in this Annual Report and in other filings we make with the SEC, as well as other variables affecting our operating results, past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report. Our business depends on our customers’ levels of capital investment and maintenance expenditures, which in turn are affected by numerous factors, including changes in the state of domestic and global economies, global energy demand and the liquidity cyclicality and condition of global credit and capital markets, which have impacted and which could continue to impact the ability or willingness of our customers to invest in our products and services and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flow. Demand for most of our products and services depends on the level of new capital investment and planned maintenance expenditures by our customers. The level of capital expenditures by our customers depends, in turn, on general economic conditions, availability of credit, economic conditions within their respective industries and expectations of future market behavior. Additionally, volatility in commodity prices can negatively affect the level of these activities and can result in postponement of capital spending decisions or the delay or cancellation of existing orders. The ability of our customers to finance capital investment and maintenance is also affected by factors independent of the conditions in their industry, such as the condition of global credit and capital markets. The businesses of many of our customers, particularly oil and gas companies, chemical companies and general industrial companies, are to varying degrees cyclical and have experienced periodic downturns. Our customers in these industries, particularly those whose demand for our products and services is primarily profit-driven, tend to delay large capital projects, including expensive maintenance and upgrades, during economic downturns. For example, our chemical customers generally tend to reduce their spending on capital investments and operate their facilities at lower levels in a soft economic environment, which reduces demand for our products and services. Additionally, fluctuating energy demand forecasts and lingering uncertainty concerning commodity pricing, specifically the price of oil, have caused, and may in the future cause, our customers to be more conservative in their capital planning, reducing demand for our products and services. Reduced demand for our products and services could result in the delay or cancellation of existing orders or lead to excess manufacturing capacity, which unfavorably impacts our absorption of fixed manufacturing costs. This reduced demand has in the past and may continue in the future to also erode average selling prices in our industry. Any of these results could continue to adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The novel coronavirus ("COVID-19", "Pandemic") pandemic, and the volatile regional and global economic conditions stemming from the pandemic, have precipitated or aggravated many of the factors described above, and we expect that these factors will continue to adversely impact our operations and financial performance as well as those of many of our customers and suppliers. For further discussion of the risks presented by the ongoing pandemic, see the discussion below under the heading “The outbreak and global spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are having an adverse impact on our operations and financial performance, as well as on the operations and financial performance of many of our customers and suppliers. We are unable to predict the full extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to adversely impact our operations, financial performance, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and/or stock price.” Additionally, our customers sometimes delay capital investment and maintenance even during favorable conditions in their industries or markets. Despite these favorable conditions, the general health of global credit and capital markets and our customers' ability to access such markets impacts investments in large capital projects, including necessary maintenance and upgrades. In addition, the liquidity and financial position of our customers impacts capital investment ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS Business and Operating Risks 13