What happened

Shares of Impinj (PI 3.40%) were sliding today after the maker of RFID devices posted a disappointing second-quarter earnings report.

As a result, the stock was down 13.2% as of 10:53 a.m. EDT.

An RFID tag

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

Apparel retail, a sector that's been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, makes up Impinj's biggest market, so it wasn't surprising to see revenue down sharply in the quarter. Sales fell 31% to $26.5 million, missing estimates at $26.8 million as management said that markets outside of apparel retail were also negatively impacted by COVID-19.

The bottom line also suffered as the company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $5.2 million, compared to an adjusted EBITDA profit of $805 million in the quarter a year ago. On an adjusted basis, it lost $0.25 per share, after posting $0.03 per-share profit in the quarter a year ago. That result was still a penny better than earnings-per-share estimates.

"Covid-19 negatively impacted our second-quarter results, and the continuing uncertainty tempers our third-quarter outlook," CEO Chris Diorio said in a statement. "Regardless, we see brightness ahead. Endpoint IC bookings are improving, large systems opportunities are accelerating and, longer term, we see adoption accelerating."

Now what

Management declined to give guidance for the third quarter, saying that there is too much uncertainty around the pandemic to estimate results for the current period. Still, the company expects performance to recover after the lockdowns in the second quarter caused a massive disruption in the apparel retail industry. It said on the earnings call that bookings improved in July and it expects customer inventory to normalize by the end of the third quarter. 

While a return to revenue growth doesn't seem imminent, the worst of the crisis has likely passed for Impinj.