Will iRobot Corporation (IRBT) Earnings Deliver the Growth Investors Want?

iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) will release its quarterly report on Tuesday, and investors are ecstatic about the company’s long-term prospects to deliver on its multiple business fronts. With products that have applications both in the consumer world and in military and industrial operations, the company has plenty of opportunities to grow, and investors hope that iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) earnings will reflect those growth opportunities.

Many consumers believe that the only products that iRobot offers are its Roomba vacuum cleaners. But the company has also served the armed forces in producing robots that can remotely enter hazardous areas and detect bombs and other dangers, keeping military personnel out of harm’s way. Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report.

Stats on iRobot

Analyst EPS Estimate $0.19
Change From Year-Ago EPS (27%)
Revenue Estimate $128.9 million
Change From Year-Ago Revenue 15.7%
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters 4

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

How will iRobot earnings fare this quarter?
Analysts have gotten a lot more optimistic about iRobot earnings prospects in recent months, boosting their June-quarter estimates by $0.08 per share and raising their full-year views by almost double that amount. The stock has continued its impressive run, rising almost 55% since mid-April.

iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT)’s stock has responded to very promising results lately, with the company having boosted its own guidance for the year in its most recent quarterly report. iRobot has done a good job of avoiding the challenges of defense-budget spending limits, reaping new orders even in the face of sequestration, but the key to its profits remains the consumer segment, which it plans to scale up to represent about 90% of the company’s overall business.

iRobot does face some competition on the military front. In April, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) said it planned to start expanding the use of its CUTLASS unmanned ground vehicle, claiming a superior six-wheel design that arguably offers more maneuverability and could lure away some of iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT)’s existing military customers.

Yet iRobot has also looked for new business segments for its innovative technology. In health-care, the RP-VITA medical telepresence system got FDA approval in January, and already, the company has done a good job of getting the systems into several hospitals in the U.S. and Mexico. Moreover, iRobot is working with Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) on its Ava 500 telepresence robot, which should help facilitate inter-office meetings in situations involving moving presentations like tours rather than fixed teleconference sites.

In the iRobot earnings announcement, look to see whether the company decides to increase its guidance for the year again. With the stock having climbed so sharply, investors clearly want to see more of the impressive growth that iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) has delivered recently. Anything short of perfection could lead to a pullback for the soaring stock, at least in the short run.

The article Will iRobot Earnings Deliver the Growth Investors Want? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Caplinger.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter: @DanCaplinger. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and iRobot and owns shares of Northrop Grumman.

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