Strategy in TECH...
On Tuesday, Sonos, Inc. [Nasdaq: SONO] reported its first quarter, fiscal 2024 results for the period that ended December 30, 2023. While the actual numbers were a bit of a mixed bag with revenues down – even though the company embarked on a strong holiday promotional push – the company booked strong gross profit improvements and generated more cash beating Wall Street estimates. This resulted in a big jump in its share price on the next trading day.
On Wednesday, Masimo Corporation (NASAQ: MASI) released preliminary results for its Fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full-year results and issued new guidance representing its outlook for Fiscal 2024. Even though its final results won’t be announced until next month (February) the company has enough information to issue these preliminary results now, giving investors a better picture of how their fiscal quarter and year will end.
Masimo also announced it would change its formulation for future guidance by excluding the extensive costs associated with its litigation with Apple.
After the close of markets on Tuesday, VOXX International Corporation (NASDAQ: VOXX) released its Fiscal 2024 third-quarter financial results for the period ending November 30, 2023. Citing continued challenging macroeconomic conditions in 2023, the company reported that its third-quarter sales declined 5.4% and net income dropped 74.3%. CEO Pat Lavelle, who was participating in an analyst conference call on its earnings by phoning in from CES 2024, started his presentation somberly, saying to analysts that, “2023 has been tough for everyone, not just Voxx. Our entire industry has had a very challenging year.”
Savant Systems, Inc., a leading provider of control, home automation, smart home, and smart power solutions, announced on Monday that it has acquired the assets of J Geiger Shading, a leading provider of architecturally conscious shading products. The two companies have had an ongoing association for several years now, and this new transaction brings J Geiger products under the Savant umbrella.
Nice, a multi-national company based in Italy with a portfolio of Home Management and Building Management brands (including former Nortek Security and Control brands) and its primary shareholder BeNice Holding, has finalized a strategic partnership with FSI, an Italian private equity investment company. This partnership was first announced in August as part of a capital investment by FSI and has now fully closed.
Spotify Technology, S.A. announced that it will lay off approximately 1,500 employees, or about 17% of its entire staff. The company says the cuts are necessary to adjust operations for a very different operating environment than it anticipated when it built staff to drive growth in 2020 during the pandemic.
These are not its first layoffs in 2023…
Earlier this month, WiSA Technologies released its Fiscal 2023 third-quarter earnings report and it was not a pretty picture. Still, company CEO Brett Moyer struck an optimistic tone and said its results were “better than expected.” Then he shifted attention to a focus on the company’s latest WiSA E technology which he suggests is making huge positive gains that point to a brighter future.
Can investors ignore the messy present financial condition…to hold on for a – maybe – brighter tomorrow???
After the close of markets on Wednesday, Sonos released its Fiscal 2023 fourth quarter (Q4) and full-year results. As one of the industry’s top consumer brands, Sonos’ latest quarterly and full-year earnings put the post-COVID strain in full display as the company was hit with both sales and profit declines even though it took aggressive steps to adjust to an adverse consumer market.
The company says loyal customers are its greatest buffer against macroeconomic headwinds, but those headwinds were particularly daunting in 2023.
Last week, Snap One Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq: SNPO) reported its Fiscal 2023 third-quarter results, and it seemed to me like we’ve seen this movie before. In a nutshell, the company’s net sales declined and its net losses decreased. These are virtually the same trends we saw last quarter (Q2) and even the quarter before that. In fact, the company first talked about elements of these trends in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Without a doubt, Fiscal 2023 has been a challenging year for Masimo in many ways. And this week, as the company reported its results for the third quarter (Q3) that ended on September 30, 2023, that reality couldn’t be any clearer. With revenues down 13% and net income down more than 72%, about all the company could say is – wait until next year…it is going to be great.
