Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of robot technologist iRobot (IRBT 2.23%) sank 10% on Wednesday after its quarterly results and outlook disappointed Wall Street.
So what: iRobot's second-quarter earnings per share of $0.29 edged estimates, but a wide miss on the top line -- $139.80 million versus the consensus of $142.51 million -- coupled with downbeat revenue guidance is reigniting analysts' concerns over slowing growth. In fact, iRobot's gross margin fell 290 basis points year over year to 44.4%, suggesting that its competitive position is becoming more expensive to maintain.
Now what: Management now sees third-quarter EPS of $0.32-$0.35 on revenue of $133 million-$136 million, below the consensus of $0.36 and $149.54 million, respectively. "Our Home Robot business continues to deliver strong growth on an ever-increasing base in all three geographic regions while our Defense & Security business built a substantial order backlog for delivery in the second half of 2014," Chairman and CEO Colin Angle reassured investors in a press release. "Further, strong backlog growth during the quarter in Defense & Security, coupled with several expected near-term orders, and the overall growth of high probability pipeline has significantly improved visibility for 2014." With iRobot shares now off more than 25% from their 52-week high and trading at a PEG of 1, it might be an advantageous time to buy into that bull talk.
