IRobot's deeper focus on consumer robotics is starting to really pay off after selling its defense and security division last year.
The Bedford-based company's stock price is up more than 16 percent on Wednesday to $80.66 a share, an all-time high in iRobot's nearly 12-year history as a public company. The company's stock price was less than half of that, $34.76, a year ago.
Investors are reacting favorably to the company's earnings report for the first quarter of 2017. The company said its earnings per share were 58 cents in Q1, more than double the 26 cents Wall Street analysts were expecting. It was also a major increase over the 13 cents it reported the same quarter last year, which was impacted by the sale of its defense and security division.
IRobot sold the defense and security division early last year to a Maryland private equity firm for $45 million after facing pressure from activist investor Red Mountain Capital. The company's defense division is now a standalone company called Endeavor Robotics, which is continuing production of iRobot's defense robots such as the heavy-payload robot Kobra.
IRobot's Q1 revenue was $168.5 million, a 34 percent increase over the same quarter last year and above the $154.5 million Wall Street analysts were expecting. Revenue growth for its consumer division was 32 percent.
The Q1 results prompted the company to upgrade its 2017 guidance for revenue to $780 to $790 million and its full-year net earnings to between $1.45 and $1.70 per share.
