What happened
Shares of Inseego (INSG -3.25%) sank 31.5% in March, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The stock fell hard after the company published its fourth-quarter results at the beginning of the month.
Inseego published its Q4 results on March 1, and its stock sold off hard in the next trading day. Sales for the company's 4G and 5G MiFi hot spot networking hardware products came in stronger than expected in the period, but the business posted an unexpected loss, and the market seemed concerned about management's guidance.
Inseego sales grew roughly 64.5% year over year in Q4 to reach $86.1 million, beating the average analyst target by approximately $2.1 million. However, the company's non-GAAP (adjusted) per-share loss of $0.07 in the quarter was significantly worse than the break-even quarter that analysts expected.
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So what
Sales for Inseego's hardware-focused IoT and mobile solutions segment nearly doubled in the period to reach $72.1 million. However, revenue for the company's enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) segment declined roughly 7% year over year to come in at $14 million.
Hardware sales have gotten a boost amid the coronavirus pandemic as people shifted to work-from-home setups and generally relied more on network connectivity for socialization and entertainment. Inseego should benefit from the rollout of 5G-compatible devices and services, but it will also have to navigate declining demand for the 4G products and tailwinds from the pandemic won't last forever. The company may need to rely more on its software segment in order to drive long-term growth.
Now what
Inseego stock has slipped lower early in April, with the company's share price dipping roughly 1.6% in the month's first trading day.
The company is aiming to launch new 5G solutions for its carrier customers and continue expanding into the enterprise market with its SaaS business this year, but it looks like declining sales for 4G MiFi products. CFO Craig Foster didn't lay out specific guidance in the company's Q4 earnings call, but his comments stating that performance in the second half of the year would likely be better than the first suggest that the first couple of quarters could be a bit underwhelming.
Inseego has a market capitalization of roughly $1 billion and is valued at approximately 3.6 times this year's expected sales.
