iRobot Corp (NASDAQ:IRBT)

These guys have to have hit bottom. Yes, the Roomba doesn't have ideal reliability (especially the charging system). Still, the combo between govt contracts and consumer items seems motivating.

Irobot is a great bunch of ideas. It's really sweet. I love my Roomba.

BUT: I picked this emotionally. Looking at the fundamentals, I wouldn't have. But I love it!

And look how it's paid me back. Dumb.

Now, do I end the pick? Do I buy more (in real life.) Tough to know...

EMOTIONLESS PATIENCE. If anyone knows where I can buy a bag of it, I'd love some! I'd really, really love some--and I'd get excited about it--oh, but that's not really emotionless patience, is it?

*kicking own butt*

*kick*

*kick*

Ouch. Time to go back in real life?

with msft cooperation, not a bad alliance

iRobot is a market leader in an emerging high growth industry - the personal robot. iRobot has barely scratched the potential uses of robots in the consumer area. They also have a growing presence in military robots. As our conflicts become increasing guerilla based (i.e. fighting terrorism), robots will play an increasing larger role in making our troops more efficient and keeping them safer.

Someday these guys will be good it hasn't happened at 1/07.

a customer in every suburban town (sheriff)

Military and civil applications should make this an attractive takeover target during the next four years.

I've been a fan of this company since I first heard about their little vacuum bots. I didn't start looking into them as an investment until around September when I started slowly building a position in the company. The only thing I haven't been excited about is it's market performance. The company itself thrills me with it's promise. I don't think I need to repeat what others have said about the companies products; except that people, the military and civilian, generally are pleased with their products. I fully expect that as their reach and earnings grow I will actually be grateful for the recent price drop. Looking long-term. . .Hoorah, I love to wait!

Well positioned in a "new" sector - robotics. Revenue growth is good but the company is getting punished for heavy spending on R&D.

iRobot Corporation manufactures robots that help humans perform difficult tasks in a more efficient way. They have robots for floor vacuuming, robots that perform time-consuming domestic chores, tactical military robots that perform battlefield reconnaissance and bomb disposal. The company has a Consumer as well as a Government and Industrial segment.

iRobot had a record fourth quarter in 2006 which was its tenth straight quarter of year over year revenue increase. But it also ran into losses in the quarter due to extremely high expenses related to selling and marketing and research and development. However on the bright side revenues improved 31.3%.

In the second half of 2006, the company introduced three new products in the home robot category namely the iRobot Dirt Dog workshop robot, the iRobot Roomba for pets and the iRobot Roomba scheduler with Intelli-Bin all of which contributed to the increase in revenues. More than 4.1 million robots are expected to be doing chores in homes by 2007. In January 2007, iRobot was also awarded a $16.6 million order for delivery of more than 100 explosive-detection robots for use by the U.S. military in Iraq. The Government backlog at the end of 2006 was $7.5 million

The iRobot Warrior is expected to be launched in 2008 while in 2007, the second generation PackBot Robot, the PackBot 510 will be launched in the government segment. The company aims to develop robots in reconnaissance and Combat engineering which could be useful in this climate of war. The hefty defense budget announced by George Bush will make companies like iRobot happy. Penetration into new markets like Asia will also help the company and it has announced initiatives to slowly move towards a global presence. With revenues in 2007, expected to grow 19 to 24 percent over 2006 this should be an excellent year for the company.

OK, short term may not loook rosy, but this stock is for long term.

way oversold

I'll buy in now - i think there's an upper limit to the number of vacuuming robots a single household can afford to purchase - but I think the platform is compelling. I think the lessons learned in the government applications will translate into improvements in the consumer models.

Can't compete with GD

Guys... about a month ago I was looking for my next real estate invesment, I was looking for a one room luxury flat in a main urban area, near hospitals or business centers. I looked for different flats in different cities (in Portugal)...in one of them near a business center one thing caught my mind, all the flats were already equiped with a Roomba! And by the way, some others came already with Microsoft Media Center and all of them had built in Siemens kitchens. Pay attention to luxury trends ;-) That's my little hint.

Hemming and hawing over a pick can cost you some serious CAPS points. Ugh.

competition is going to heat up big time in this arena. While margins will probably get sqeezed, their contracts with the military have a great potential for growth. If they can get a more seasoned management, the technology will take them far.

Products have many applications; their military application essential at this time.