iRobot released better-than-expected first quarter earnings after the close Thursday and reaffirmed its somewhat lukewarm expectations for the year. (2008 is the potential blockbuster year, with key military products including the PackBot SUGV Early and the iRobot Warrior driving sales).
"In Q1, we delivered our 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth," said iRobot CEO Colin Angle. "Our financial performance in the quarter was on plan and consistent with our expectations. These results coupled with our excellent visibility for the rest of the year, particularly in our government business, give us a high level of confidence in meeting our first-half and full-year financial guidance. We are therefore reaffirming the guidance we provided on Feb. 12, 2007."
The company highlighted its Roomba product, saying that sales of the product were up both to stores and to consumers. But there was no mention of Scooba, which has been withdrawn from some storefronts (which the company said would happen at last quarter's conference call).
Revenue rose to $39.5 million, up from $38.2 million, which comes despite a tough comparison to last year's distribution of approximately 50,000 Scoobas (my rough estimate) of high-margin Scoobas in last year's first quarter channel fill.
Gross profit declined to $11.1 million from $12.2 million, which I imagine was due to the Scooba rollout.
Net loss rose to $5.5 million vs. $2.9 million -- but remember that the company is significantly larger than it was a year ago with a bigger cost structure as it ramps up spending to support future growth.
The company also mentioned its $2.8 million order for 22 PackBots from Germany, $14 million for 101 Fido PackBots, the introduction of the iRobot Verro pool cleaning robots, its new alliance with Boeing on the SUGV Early (which will be available for delivery in "mid-2008") and the naming of Sandra Lawrence president and GM of the Home Robots Division.
iRobot will host a conference call Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
Robot Stock News will post notes after the conference call concludes.
Tags: iRobot, IRBT
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment