Taser International (TASR) (now AXON) is the leading developer, manufacturer, and seller of conducted electrical weapons. These weapons are used in the military, law enforcement, and for consumers as personal self-defense. Law Enforcement, in particular, has been one of the main avenues of growth recently as several law enforcement agencies have made significant orders including the Louisiana State Police, the Las Vegas Metro Police, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. However, let’s take a closer look at the personal defense side of the company since those are the products that we can buy and use to protect ourselves and our families.
Taser is the better and safer choice for personal defense over fire arms because it is a non-lethal solution and is generally allowed to be carried for protection without a license. A mistake with a gun can be fatal and traumatic for anybody involved. Bullets can also wound unnecessarily and cause damage to property. Tasers, on the other hand, perform their function almost flawlessly without all of that. There is essentially no risk to bystanders like there is with a stray bullet. There have been a few extreme cases over the years where somebody was hurt badly with a Taser, but those cases pale in comparison to what guns have done during the same time period.
Furthermore, Tasers are substantially better than other non-lethal self defense weapons such as stun guns and pepper spray for a couple of reasons. The first reason is what each weapon does to attackers. Stun Guns only cause pain to attackers in order to get the attackers to stop. Pepper spray also only causes pain to deter the attacker or attackers. This can be a major problem if the attacker is not deterred by the pain and continues the assault. Tasers, on the other hand, knock out the attackers completely to put an end to the attack in a non-lethal way so the defender can safely leave the scene.
The other major advantage for Tasers over other forms of Self-Defense is simply range. In fact, it is not even close. Stun guns must be thrust into the attackers up close, and some like batons are fairly big, while Pepper Spray has a range of about three feet. Pepper Spray has the further hindrance of possibly backfiring on the defender. Meanwhile, Tasers have a safe range up to 15 feet. Therefore, a defender has the time to use the weapon and to get away after the attacker is knocked out.
Moving on to the financials, growth for the company is also on the upswing. Taser reported solid third quarter earnings on October 30, 2014. Net sales increased 26% to $44 million from $35 million in the third quarter last year. Earnings per share (EPS) beat estimates by 5 cents. What is driving this sales and earnings growth? Although the company has a few other areas of potential growth such as Evidence.com and Axon Cameras , 90% of total sales still comes from its weapons segment. Lastly, TASR’s recent stock price is also significant because it is close to $20 per share which is just stun gun distance away from its 52 week high of $20.83. Actually, that is also the 5 year high for the stock. If it gets past that high then it would likely get more attention from investors and then be looking to pass up its 10 year high share price of a little over $30 all the way back in 2004. If it continues to grow like it has been, 2015 could be a breakout year for Taser International.