SCKT....a quick update on inventory numbers
For those that pay attention to what I post, I have found a way to track Socket's inventory numbers that occur at Ingram Micro, ScanSource and Bluestar in North America. It gives me a window into what's going on.
Two weeks ago I wrote to the CFO to tell him that I was bothered by the lack on inventory at distributors. Sales may be growing sequentially each month, but I worry about the building backlogs affecting Socket's perception at being a good supplier. I worried that perhaps they are just so short on capital that that they couldn't handle business. He told me to look for a change in the near future as their supply chain catches up.
Needless to say the scanners are starting to roll in! I won't get into sales numbers too much for now (because it's actually hard to track units sold when new units come in each day on top of it), but inventory for the 7ci scanner is higher than I've ever seen and then some. To put into perspective, last month they never had one unit in inventory. Everything went to backlog orders and they never caught up. Now they have taken care of all the backlog and have over 770 units in stock of the 7ci scanners. That's $150K worth that they obviously have the capital to build and ship so it's available immediately. I will get a better idea of the sales rate as this is depleted, but I do know from Ingram Micro sales numbers (which are the easiest and most accurate to track), that sales of the 7ci units there are 1.5x the rate of last month (and most of that is coming in the last week as the inventory rolls in). April was the best month I'd ever seen too for the 7ci (their most popular unit). The rest of the units (combined) are doing similar rates to last month.
I know from articles I've read, the new Square Stand is going to be a potential game changer for the tablet point of sale industry going forward. Square is taking orders now for delivery in July. The scanner can take several USB corded barcode scanners, but, the stand is made to swivel (so the employees can take your info/credit card and then swing it around so you can sign the iPad with your finger). You can't swivel a unit with a corded barcode scanner attached. As such, you need a cordless one. I know that several units will work there, but the ONLY one listed on Square's page is the Socket 7ci.
The only thing that bothers me lately is there are sellers. I cannot understand why (nothing that I know of is negative anymore). However, over 600K shares traded below $1.20 in the last 9 months so it could be many of them taking a guaranteed profit. The nice thing is there are buyers stepping up.
