iRobot shares jump as robot vacuums drive 3Q earnings and revenue beats

Shares of iRobot Corp (NASDAQ:IRBT) popped in Tuesday’s after-hours session after the robot maker zipped past Wall Street’s third-quarter revenue and profit estimates due partly to robust sales of its newest generation of robot vacuums.

For the three months ended September 29, the Bedford, Massachusetts-based company posted earnings of $1.12 on sales of $264.5 million, which compares well with the year-ago quarter when the robot maker posted a profit of $0.76 per share on revenue of $205.4 million.

The results also crushed consensus estimates of $0.48 per share on revenue of $245.11 million.

In response, investors sent iRobot shares up 7.8% to $99.01 in Tuesday’s extended session.

READ: ROBO Global captures the high-octane growth of robotics and artificial intelligence

CEO Colin Angle attributed the successful quarter to sales of the company’s new Roombai7 and i7+ robots, which vacuum rooms.   

“We successfully launched two new products during the third quarter, the Roomba e5, our latest product offering premium features at a lower price point, and our game-changing premium Roomba i7 and i7+ robots, which helped to drive US year-over-year revenue growth of 45% in the third quarter,” Angle said in a statement.

Based in Bedford, Massachusetts, iRobot designs and builds robots for both inside and out and has sold more than 20 million robots. The company introduced its home-cleaning Roomba vacuuming robots back in 2002.

Looking ahead, iRobot is raising its guidance and now expects full-year 2018 revenue to come in at $1.08bn to $1.09bn and earnings per share to range from $2.55 to $2.75.

iRobot Corp is one of the components of the ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index, the world’s first benchmark index to track global companies that focus on robotics, automation and artificial intelligence.

Story by ProactiveInvestors