12:16 pm Taser Intl. (TASR)
7.43 -1.07: Taser International reported a sharp rise in second quarter profit, as sales grew 22% amid improving sentiment over the safety of its products. The results, however, fell short of analysts' forecasts, sending shares nearly 14% lower during the regular trading session.
Taser earned $1.5 million, or $0.02 per share, compared with $497,000, or $0.01 per share, a year earlier. Sales for the quarter rose 22.7% to $16.2 million, up from $13.2 million last year. The company said it filled some significant law enforcement agency and international orders during the quarter, as sales recovered from a host of lawsuits over deaths linked to its products. Analysts were looking for earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $16.1 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
Although the company has been hampered by concerns over the safety of its products and a barrage of related lawsuits, the negative perception surrounding the company appears to be improving. During the quarter, the company said ten more product liability lawsuits were dismissed, bring the total number of lawsuits to be dismissed or favorable judgments to 22 over the past 24 months. In addition, it said the Securities and Exchange Commission ended its ongoing investigation into the company's accounting practices during the quarter, without recommending any enforcement action.
Nonetheless, we are hesitant to commit money to the stock at this time, due to its speculative nature, as the company continues to recover from a challenging year and a number of product liability lawsuits.
--Richard Jahnke, Briefing.com |
