TASER International Continues To Outrank Its Cop Body-Camera Rivals

Scottsdale, Arizona-based TASER makes conducted electrical weapons (CEWs) designed for use by law enforcement, military, corrections and private security.

"TASER continues to show a dominant position in video despite the threat of new entrants. While numerous large companies have sought to break into the on-officer video market such as Motorola Solutions Inc MSI we find little evidence that competitors are gaining much, if any, traction," analyst Glenn Mattson wrote in a note.

Mattson noted that the company has "by far the most major cities of any competitor." Three additional cities were added in Q12016: Chicago, Minnesota and Baltimore. TASER has won 29 of the 36 major cities that have adopted on-officer video solution or 81 percent of all deployments.

Related Link: BZ Note: For Some Perspective On TASER Contract, Co Announced "Largest Body Camera Order" In Nov

On Thursday, Axon, a business unit of TASER, said it has been officially awarded a $28 million contract from Los Angeles Police Department to deploy Axon Cameras and TASER devices standard to all 7,000 front-line officers. The initial rollout will start in the third quarter of 2016 and is expected to complete shipping in 2017.

"At over 7,000 officers, this is one of the largest deployments to date, and the exhaustive review of the program further validates TASR's position as one of the only companies who has proven it can handle video at scale," Mattson highlighted.

Mattson, who still expects TASER to see strong U.S. adoption in the video segment, raised his price target by $4 to $28, implying an upside of 16 percent.

"We believe that this business (weapons business) is proving less cyclical as a prolonged upgrade continues to play out in the U.S., and the international opportunity continues to expand," Mattson said.

For 2016, Mattson expects earnings of $0.40 a share on revenue of $236 million versus consensus estimate of $0.29/$234.17 million.

At the time of writing, shares of TASER rose 1.98 percent to $24.70.