Socket Mobile Reports First Quarter 2018 Results

New product shipping delays (now shipping) and timing of enterprise deployments contributed to lower YoY revenues

NEWARK, Calif., April 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Socket Mobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCKT), a leading innovator of data capture and delivery solutions for enhanced productivity, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018.  Sales of cordless barcode scanners during the first quarter of 2018 were slowed due to delays in shipping new cordless barcode scanning products, announced in January 2018, but not shipping until April 20, 2018, and higher enterprise deployments in the first quarter of 2017.  

Revenue for the first quarter of 2018 was $4.0 million, a decrease of 29 percent compared to revenue of $5.6 million for the same quarter a year ago. Revenue in the first quarter of 2017 included $1.2 million of enterprise deployment revenue compared to enterprise deployment revenue of $317,000 in the first quarter of 2018.  Enterprise deployments in 2017 were just 11 percent of total revenue, but heavily concentrated in the first half of 2017. The Company announced to its worldwide distributors plans to commence shipment of a new family of barcode scanners which slowed down replenishment orders for older products during the first quarter of 2018. Shipments commenced last week.

Gross profit margins for the first quarters of both 2018 and 2017 were 51.8 percent of revenue. Operating expenses in the first quarter of 2018 were $2.3 million, an increase of 5 percent compared to operating expenses in the first quarter of 2017, reflecting added product development and production resources relating to new products.

The Company reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2018 of ($225,000), or ($0.03) per share, compared to net income of $386,000, or $0.07 per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

During the first quarter of 2018, the Company completed a tender offer to purchase and retire 1,250,000 of its common shares, or 17.6 percent of total shares outstanding, at a purchase price per share of $3.90. 

Kevin Mills, president and chief executive officer, commented, "Our first quarter revenues were a disappointment, in part caused by a delay in delivering our new S700 product family due to last minute technical issues after we had advised our distribution channel to expect delivery in the first quarter.  The delay resulted in lower replenishment orders for the products that our new product family will replace.  In addition, corporate enterprise deployments totaling $317,000 were less robust than the $1.2 million we enjoyed a year ago and we experienced a slowing pace of growth from our retail customers."    click here for the full release

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