What happened
Shares of Taser and body-camera maker Axon Enterprise Inc. (AXON -0.74%) plunged as much as 17.1% in trading Wednesday after the company reported second-quarter 2018 results. Shares recovered some of their losses late in the day, but were still down 12% as of 1:45 p.m. EDT.
So what
Quarterly revenue jumped 24.6% to $99.2 million, and net income nearly quadrupled to $8.5 million, or $0.15 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, which pulls out one-time items, earnings were $0.18 per share, or double what analysts had estimated.
Image source: Axon Enterprise.
What may have spooked investors a bit is growth guidance for the rest of the year. After growing 27.7% and 24.6% in the first two quarters respectively, management gave guidance of 18% to 20% in revenue growth for the full year.
The other news was Axon's announcement of a partnership with Verizon to "bring connectivity to public-safety solutions for the benefit of first responders and the communities they serve." AT&T will also be a partner, although in a more secondary role. This could be a precursor to taking body camera images off devices wirelessly.
Now what
Axon's shares are up 116.5% on the year, even after today's drop, so investor expectations were sky high. Given the growth of revenue, it would have been nice to see an increase in revenue guidance. But management isn't setting the bar too high for itself in the second half of the year.
The more important thing is that Axon is firing on all cylinders, and new products are being tested that could grow the business for years to come. For example, Axon Records, which could change how incidents are documented by law enforcement, is in development. It will be out next year and should be a big growth product. I see no reason to panic after today's drop; this looks like a long-term buying opportunity.
