It's been an up-and-down (but more down than up) year for iRobot
1. Does iRobot need government spending?
A major part of iRobot's winter wipeout was a decline in heavy-duty battle-bots for the government. Growth continues to be driven by sales of consumer bots, but the company's bottom lines have been erratic -- free cash flow especially so.
IRBT Total Return Price data by YCharts
Military preferences have shifted toward unmanned aerial vehicles, leaving less room for iRobot's ground-and-pound bots, which were built in part under contract to Boeing
2. Can iRobot branch out?
There are four robots in the iRobot home lineup, and they all clean a different surface. Tasks beyond a simple "go here and scrub this" can quickly ratchet up consumer costs, but why not devise a lawn-mowing bot? Honda
Other alternatives may include wider industrial uses. Amazon.com
3. Can iRobot succeed against stiffer competition?
My colleague Rich Duprey points out a laundry list of potential competition that includes not only Honda and Amazon, but Google
One way to keep ahead of big iRobot news is to keep a close eye on potential partners and competitors. Now that it's bought its way into industrial robotics, Amazon could take on either role. It's so important to so many companies that the Fool's devoted some of our best tech analysts to Amazon coverage in our new premium research service. Every subscriber gains access to a full year of updates for less than the cost of a single trade. Interested in finding out more? Click here to get started.