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 maker iRobot
So what: Revenue increased slightly to $111.4 million in the second quarter from $108.1 million a year ago, but easily topped the $107.4 million analysts had expected. Net income of $7.4 million, or $0.26 per share, was also better than the $0.10 in EPS analysts had expected.
The company's home-robot business was the driver of earnings, growing 50%, and made up for weak defense spending.
Now what: The company is going through a transition away from high defense spending to more of a consumer-based product. So far, the transition appears to be going well and Roomba and Scooba are becoming more common household items. The stock currently trades at 19 times forward earnings estimates, a steep price for a company barely growing revenue, but if the stock pulls back a bit from today's gain, this could be a good bet on the future of consumer robotics.
Interested in more info on iRobot? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.
