Taser's New Hires Could Be The Competitive Edge It's Been Looking For

“We continue to believe that TASER International, Inc. TASR's unaided brand awareness, very high market share, and its business model gives it significant leading advantage over competitors in non-lethal weaponry, and the developing business of online forensics and evidence management,” said Imperial Capital’s Jeff Kessler, in a note.

The analyst maintains an In-Line rating on the company, with a price target of $25.

Growth Potential

Kessler believes leadership changes at Taser highlight the company’s target of transforming into a “high-tech growth company,” with management focused on becoming a larger competitor in the SaaS-based public safety market.

The analyst explained that while the price target implies 11 percent upside potential, Taser was unlikely to outperform its peer group.

“While we remain constructive on the company and the recent leadership changes, we are awaiting the operational and financial improvements resulting from the new hires,” Kessler went on to say.

Leadership Changes

Following a meeting with President Luke Larson, Kessler stated that he was impressed by the leader team Larson and CEO Rick Smith had assembled for Taser.

The analyst noted almost all the members of the leadership team comes from a technology background, which was expected to help Taser accelerate its transformation into a high-tech growth company.

“We see management leveraging its deep relationships with state and local governments, and focusing on bringing technology and innovation, to help achieve its goal of providing high-margin software solutions to the public safety market,” Kessler stated.

Taser has announced the appointment of Jawad Ahsan as the company’s chief financial officer, effective April 3. Ahsan will succeed Dan Behrendt and acting CFO Marie Masenga.

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Jim Cramer Gives His Opinion On First Republic Bank And TASER _______ Image Credit: By Junglecat (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons