Quarter pounded

Dire continuity yields to the march of time as this week marks cleanup for the industry’s quarterly financial results.

One more to go as of writing this and then the second quarter (Q2) 2024 begins for me in earnest, but most companies have probably been eager to get a jump on Q2 for some time now. It’s no secret that it’s been a rough financial quarter for everyone in one way or another, I don’t even think it’s confined to the security industry either! Go peek at the other tech companies and see how they’re doing right now, it’s ugly out there.

Not much of a shock to anyone following industry news either I suspect. Covid-era had its own hurdles to overcome, but it proved to be a period of job growth for several sectors, and a lot of those businesses that rapidly expanded are feeling the shrink. The security industry in particular is getting hit the hardest in the residential vertical, thanks to extreme costs and lack of available options pushing younger people away from home ownership and older homeowners from being unable to sell or move to new homes.

We covered this before the reports came drifting in, so headlines of flat sales, declining sales, and the most important headline, companies divesting their businesses to make a buck in the short term were expected. Even then, I can’t say that every sale I’ve seen in the past quarter was a bad choice, and at the same time I’ve seen a few companies make a few savvy purchases that look likely to pay off in the long run (i.e. Resideo Technologies purchasing Snap One). However, there’s a lot of talk of companies getting back to basics, focusing on their core business etc., and I hope that core business gets healthy again before the cash infusion runs dry.

I was going to make a reference to selling the cow for magic beans, but it turns out that was a fairly lucrative investment for Jack.