Earnings call transcript: BK Technologies Q2 2025 sees stock surge on strong EPS

Published 14/08/2025, 15:10
 Earnings call transcript: BK Technologies Q2 2025 sees stock surge on strong EPS

BK Technologies Inc. (BKTI) reported a robust performance in its Q2 2025 earnings call, with significant gains in both revenue and earnings per share (EPS). The company achieved a notable increase in its stock price, which surged by 39.96% to $54.44 in premarket trading. According to InvestingPro data, this continues an impressive trend, with BKTI delivering a 151.83% return over the past year. The positive market reaction reflects confidence in the company’s strategic initiatives and financial health, highlighted by a substantial year-over-year improvement in EPS and revenue growth. The company’s overall financial health score stands at "GREAT" based on InvestingPro’s comprehensive analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • BK Technologies’ stock price soared 39.96% in premarket trading.
  • Q2 2025 revenue increased by 4.5% year-over-year.
  • Gross margin improved significantly to 47.4%.
  • The company launched new products and expanded its manufacturing capabilities.

Company Performance

BK Technologies demonstrated strong performance in Q2 2025, with revenue reaching $21.2 million, up 4.5% from the previous year. The company reported a gross margin of 47.4%, a significant improvement from 37.3% in 2024. This growth is attributed to strategic product launches and increased demand from federal and local agencies. InvestingPro analysis reveals the company maintains strong financial fundamentals with a current ratio of 2.61 and minimal debt, holding more cash than debt on its balance sheet. For detailed insights into BKTI’s financial health and growth potential, investors can access the comprehensive Pro Research Report, available exclusively to InvestingPro subscribers.

Financial Highlights

  • Revenue: $21.2 million (+4.5% YoY)
  • GAAP EPS: $0.96 (vs. $0.47 in 2024)
  • Non-GAAP Adjusted EPS: $1.30 (vs. $0.55 in 2024)
  • Gross Margin: 47.4% (up from 37.3% in 2024)
  • Operating Income: $4 million (18.9% margin)
  • Cash and Equivalents: $11.9 million, with no outstanding debt

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, BK Technologies’ stock price experienced a substantial increase of 39.96%, reaching $54.44 in premarket trading. This surge reflects investor optimism driven by the company’s strong financial performance and strategic outlook. Trading at a P/E ratio of 15.62 and an EV/EBITDA of 13.23, InvestingPro analysis suggests the stock is currently overvalued relative to its Fair Value. The stock’s movement positions it closer to its 52-week high of $62.45, indicating robust market confidence. Subscribers to InvestingPro can access 8 additional ProTips and detailed valuation metrics to make more informed investment decisions.

Outlook & Guidance

BK Technologies has raised its full-year revenue guidance to reflect high single-digit growth, with a gross margin target exceeding 47%. The company also increased its GAAP EPS target to $3.15 and its non-GAAP adjusted EPS target to $3.80. These revisions underscore the company’s confidence in continued growth, particularly in the adoption of its BKR 9,000 radio.

Executive Commentary

CEO John Suzuki expressed optimism about BK Technologies’ future, stating, "We’re bullish on the company, right? We’re bullish on the future. We think that there’s plenty of opportunity for growth for us." He also highlighted the company’s strategic focus on expanding its market presence and product offerings.

Risks and Challenges

  • Potential supply chain disruptions could impact product delivery timelines.
  • Market competition in the communications sector remains intense.
  • Economic uncertainties may affect government spending on communication technologies.
  • Continued investment in sales and marketing may pressure profit margins.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the sales cycle for the BKR 9,000 radio, which ranges from 6 to 18 months depending on customer size. The company anticipates ongoing federal order activity and plans to continue investing in marketing to drive product adoption.

Full transcript - BK Technologies Inc (BKTI) Q2 2025:

Holly, Conference Call Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the BK Technologies Corporation conference call for the 2025. This call is being recorded. All participants have been placed on a listen only mode. Following management’s remarks, the call will be opened for questions. There is a slide presentation that accompanies today’s remarks, which can be accessed via the webcast.

At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host for today, Jen Belodeau of IMS Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jen Belodeau, Investor Relations, IMS Investor Relations: Thank you, Holly. Good morning, and welcome to our conference call to discuss BK Technologies results for second quarter twenty twenty five. On the call today are John Suzuki, chief executive officer, and Scott Mellinger, chief financial officer. I will take a moment to read the safe harbor statements. Statements made during this conference call and presented in the presentation that are not based on historical facts are forward looking statements.

Such statements include, but are not limited to, projections or statements of future goals and targets regarding the company’s revenue and profits. These statements are subject to known and unknown factors and risks. The company’s actual results, performance, or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements, and some of the factors and risks that could cause or contribute to such material differences have been described in this morning’s press release and in BK’s filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on information and understandings that are believed to be accurate as of today, and we do not undertake any duty to update such forward looking statements. With that out of the way, I’ll turn the call over to John Susuki, CEO of BK Technologies.

Please go ahead, John.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Thank you, Jen. Good morning. Thank you, everyone, joining today. I’ll start by reviewing some of the highlights of our operations and financial results during the second quarter, and then I’ll turn over to our Chief Financial Officer, Scott Malmender, for a deeper dive into our financial results. We’ll conclude by opening the call for a brief Q and A.

This was a strong quarter for us. Our BKR product line is being well received in the marketplace and we’re seeing the benefits of the strategic initiatives we have put in place to enhance and grow long term profitability for shareholders. The strong operational execution is evidenced by continued revenue growth, significantly enhanced gross margin and profitability. Second quarter revenue increased 4.5% to $21,200,000 consistent with the single digit revenue growth we previously targeted for 2025. As I will address later in the presentation, it is now our expectation that revenue growth will be high single digits for 2025.

Gross margin in the quarter improved significantly to 47.4% compared to 37.3% in the 2024. Fully diluted GAAP EPS was $0.96 compared with $0.47 in the 2024. On a non GAAP basis, fully diluted adjusted EPS of $1.3 in the second quarter meaningfully outpaced non GAAP fully diluted adjusted EPS of $0.55 in the 2024. During the second quarter, we launched Relay One, a rapidly deployed portable repeater kit designed to extend range and facilitate interoperability among different types of public safety and military radios. Relay One is a newly branded BK1 family of offerings focused on developing innovative interoperable communication solutions for first responders.

In conjunction with the launch, we received a purchase order from Larimer County Sheriff’s Office based in Fort Collins, Colorado for Relay One, which will be used by their search and rescue team. Larimer County is a population of around 360,000, and Fort Collins is their most populous city and the county seat. Federal order activity began to pick up just after the close of the quarter. And during the month of July, we received several purchase orders from the USDA Forest Service totaling $12,900,000 The orders included the largest single purchase of the BKR 5,000 since its debut and underscore our position as a leading communications provider in the federal wide land space. We also received orders from various federal, state and local government agencies, bringing the total order value to 17,800,000.0 for the month of July alone.

It appears that while Dodge, the Department of Government Efficiency, may have delayed the timing of the federal orders, federal budget money is now slowing. Slide four. Slide four illustrates our successful efforts to drive improved gross margins through the diversification of our product mix, our cost savings outsourced manufacturing model, and disciplined expense management. The 47.4% gross margin we achieved in the quarter is a significant improvement over last year and also improved on a sequential basis from 47% in the 2025. With our visibility today and The U.

S. Tariff uncertainty mostly behind us, we’ve increased our full year margin target to at least 47%, reflecting our confidence in the trajectory of our business and improved operating model. Strong market demand for our VKR series radios has driven solid revenue growth. Agencies at the local, state and federal levels are choosing our advanced public safety communication solutions for their radio fleets. As I mentioned a moment ago, we saw significant federal order activity in the month of July and we expect this to continue through the third quarter as wildland fire activity intensifies and the federal fiscal year comes to an end.

We view the order activity we’re seeing as validation of our high reliability and performance of our radios in mission critical situations where there is zero margin for error. With that, I’ll turn it over to Scott Malmenger, CFO, to give a more detailed overview of our second quarter financial performance. Go ahead, Scott.

Scott Mellinger, Chief Financial Officer, BK Technologies: Thanks, John. My prepared remarks will focus on the second quarter results. For a full review of year to date results, please consult the press release issued earlier today or the earnings presentation posted on our website. We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Investor Relations website. This launch is part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accessibility, and keeping our shareholders informed.

Sales for the second quarter totaled 21,200,000 an increase of 4.5% compared with $20,300,000 in the 2024. Sequentially, revenues increased 11.1% compared to the $19,100,000 in the 2025. As John mentioned, gross profit margin in the second quarter was 47.4% compared with 37.3% in the 2024, reflecting improved sales mix and cost reduction initiatives, including the successful transition of manufacturing to East West manufacturing. Selling, general and administrative expenses, or SG and A, for the second quarter increased slightly to $6,000,000 compared to $5,500,000 for the same quarter last year. We strategically invested in engineering, product development, and sales and marketing to support our long term growth while keeping our other G and A expenses flat for the quarter.

Specifically, engineering and product development expenses for the 2025 increased to $2,300,000 or 10.9% of sales, compared with approximately $2,000,000 or 9.8% of sales for the same quarter of fiscal year twenty twenty four. This increase is primarily attributed to noncapitalizable development costs for the BKR multiband mobile radio product. Sales and marketing expenses also increased slightly to approximately $1,900,000 or 9.2% of sales compared with approximately 1,700,000 or 8.4% of sales for the 2024, primarily due to the addition of new salespeople and increased trade show participation. Other G and A expenses stayed flat for the quarter at $1,800,000 as we continue to diligently manage our expenses. Operating income totaled $4,000,000 in the 2025, representing operating margin of 18.9%.

This compares with an operating income of $2,000,000 in the ’4 or operating margin of 10%. The increase demonstrates the operating leverage that we are beginning to see in our business as we efficiently execute our strategy. The company achieved GAAP net income of $3,700,000 or GAAP EPS of 1.03 per basic or $0.96 per diluted share in the 2025 compared with the net income of $1,700,000 or $0.47 per basic and diluted share in the prior year period. Non GAAP adjusted earnings, which add back net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments, non cash stock based compensation expenses, non cash deferred tax provision, and severance expenses, was $5,100,000 or $1.39 per basic share and $1.3 per diluted share in the 2025. This is compared with an adjusted earnings of $2,000,000 or $0.56 per basic and $0.55 per diluted share in the 2024.

We reported non GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $4,400,000 in the 2025, a significant increase over non GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $2,500,000 in the 2024. Second quarter twenty twenty five adjusted EBITDA margin was 20.7%, which for the first time surpassed our target adjusted EBITDA margin of 20%. Slide seven demonstrates our track record of delivering strong and improving profitability, driven by sales growth, an improved revenue mix, and higher margins. Both adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings have grown significantly, and with our current visibility, we believe that we are well positioned to continue delivering improved profitability and enhanced value to our shareholders. Our balance sheet continues to strengthen, providing us with increased financial flexibility to execute on our growth strategy and pursue the larger market opportunity before us.

At June 30, we had $11,900,000 of cash and cash equivalents and no debt. Working capital improved to $28,900,000 at 06/30/2025, compared with $23,000,000 at 12/31/2024. Working capital at 06/30/2025, included approximately $11,900,000 in cash and cash equivalents compared with $7,100,000 at 12/31/2024. Shareholders’ equity increased to $36,800,000 compared with $29,800,000 at 12/31/2024. We are pleased with the significant improvement we have seen in our balance sheet liquidity and look forward to continue carefully deploying capital to drive long term shareholder value.

I will now turn the call back over to John.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Thanks, Scott. Our second quarter performance is characterized by exceptional execution. The tariff landscape appears to be settling down. And based upon the order activity we’re seeing, the potential impacts of Doge on government spending have been muted. With our current visibility and increased confidence as we head into the back half of twenty twenty five, we have updated certain previously stated full year financial targets as follows.

We are maintaining our single digit revenue growth target. However, we now expect to be on the high end of this range. We now expect gross margin for the full year to be 47 plus percent, raising the 42 plus percent target we previously provided. Given we expect revenues at the high end of our range and the improved gross margin, we’re raising our full year GAAP EPS target to $3.15 up from our previously stated target of $2.4 Lastly, we’re raising our full year non GAAP adjusted EPS target to 3.8 up from our previously stated target of $2.8 The higher increase in our non GAAP guidance versus our GAAP guidance is due to an expected increase in non cash stock based compensation for the year. Now that I’ve been with BK for four years, it’s increasingly clear to me, there’s a huge opportunity to grow BK in a much larger and considerably more profitable business for shareholders.

And we’re committed to retaining the team that has gotten us to where we are today. As we move through the balance of 2025, we will continue to invest in our sales and marketing efforts to expand adoption of our BKR 9,000 multiband radio, which commands a higher price point than our BKR 5,000 single band radio and drives enhanced margins for our business. The growth of our solutions business remains a priority as well. We’re strategically building R and D and engineering capabilities to strengthen our software expertise and offerings and position BK at the forefront of the next generation of public safety communications. Finally, development of our next generation BKR 9,500 multiband mobile radio is progressing well.

As a companion radio to the BKR9000 multiband handheld portable radio, the 9,500 mobile radio will be installed directly into first responder vehicles. Our investment level in the BKR 9,500 will continue to increase as we near the launch and begin recognizing revenue in 2027. With that, we can now open the call for questions. Holly?

Holly, Conference Call Operator: Certainly. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue.

For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for questions. First question for today is from Jason Smith with Lake Street.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Yes. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on a really strong quarter. I want to start with that lift to the gross margin outlook. Curious how much of that is being driven by just feeling better about the tariff environment versus this really favorable mix shift that you noted in Q2?

Scott Mellinger, Chief Financial Officer, BK Technologies: Yes, Jason, think I’ll try to take that question. Thanks for the question. Basically, the tariff expectations earlier in the year were very uncertain so we took a good conservative approach to the tariffs and that’s, the primary driver. But in addition to that, our shift to higher margin product and the cost savings that we are realizing related to the outsourcing production that East West manufacturing is also a significant contributor.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Okay. No, that’s really helpful. And then with the 9,000, just curious if you could provide some more color on how that’s tracking? Was it up sequentially and year over year?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Hey, Jason, it’s John Suzuki. Thanks for the question. So I believe what I had stated on the last call was that our expectation for this year is that we’re going to ship two to three times more radios than we did last year. So clearly that’s much higher than last year and we believe that that trajectory will continue throughout the year.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Okay, perfect. And then you noted some really strong order patterns in July. Maybe I missed it, but what was the backlog number exiting Q2?

Scott Mellinger, Chief Financial Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah, the backlog number exiting Q2 was about $16,000,000 and that was basically a little bit lower than what we would have anticipated, but it had a lot to do with the federal orders that we received early in July. So if you take that into consideration, it seems reasonable.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Okay. No, that makes sense. I’ll jump back into queue. Thanks a lot, guys.

Scott Mellinger, Chief Financial Officer, BK Technologies: You bet.

Holly, Conference Call Operator: Your next question is from Sameer Patel with Askeladdin Capital.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Hey, congrats, as everyone else is going to say, on a great quarter. Know, I always like to ask this, what’s the progress on the tethering and on with the Interop one and then any milestones on the 9,500 development?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: So I’ll take the first part of that question, Samir. Thank you for the question. So the Interop one tethering is still in development and it’s progressing. So there’s really no update at this point. Once we have the product ready for field testing, we’ll provide that information on one of our calls.

In terms of Interop one, the interest level continues to be very high. We have trials going. It’s really a product that’s helping us sell our BKR9000. In the market space today in public safety, customers who are looking at purchasing new radios are also asking the question about what your strategy is for your path towards LTE or cellular. Interop one is designed as an augmentation to the LMR product.

So it’s an augmentation to the BKR 9,000. That story seems to resonate very well with customers. And of course, when we get the tethering completed, that will actually allow you to operate push to talk over cellular calls through your LMR radio via your cell phone. That story has resonated extremely well with the clients. And so we’re very anxious to get that product to market.

But at the end of the day, this is public safety. It is a difficult program, and we’re not going to launch it before it’s ready. In terms of I’m sorry, Samir, I forgot your second second part question. Of the question.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: No, just yeah, it was just milestones on the 9,500, just how the development is going.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah, so I’ll just refer back to my comments. The 9,500 is on track. We expect to complete the development and we expect to get revenue for that product in 2027.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Okay, fine. That’s great. And then I just want to dig in a little bit to the guidance upgrade. And I just wanted to ask, so the extent so on the revenue side, how much of it just represents kind of getting those federal orders that you think were potentially going to be impacted by Doji that you were previously uncertain about relative to other factors such as kind of the more local and municipal business? And then similarly on the margin, how much of that is just due to USMCA still being in place relative to other factors impacting your decision to increase the guidance?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah, thanks Samir. Let me try and take a cut and Scott can correct me if I’m wrong. So obviously we had an outlook this year of being in that single digit. Thing that we were uncertain about was the Doge impact and the impact that would have on the federal order flow. And so if, for example, it had a strong impact delayed orders such that they couldn’t spend the money that had been budgeted, would have been, we would end up on the low side, right?

That has passed, The orders are flowing. We received what we were expecting in terms of the large orders. We continue to get orders through the third quarter. And so that’s why we’re ended up on the we’re going to end up on the high side of that revenue flow. If you look at the first quarter or the first two quarters, right, most of that was state and local business.

And year over year, that’s actually up. And that’s driven primarily by the adoption of the BKR series radios. So state and local continues to grow and seemed not impacted by Doge, which was more on the federal side. In terms of the margins, think in the first quarter call, we had said that we wanted to put out a target that included our best guess on the impact of the tariffs. And if you remember at the time we did the call was back in, I think it was back in March when we set the targets.

There was a lot of conversation around tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico. That was, I guess, first set of conversations that the administration was putting out. And so what we had decided was we were going to take our best estimate on the impact of those tariffs on our products. And in conjunction with that, we also did a price increase on our products, those two things. So as it’s turning out, right, a lot of our products are covered under USMCA and because they’re produced in Mexico and in Canada, they are continuing to come in tariff free.

And that looks like that’s going to be the position of the administration through the balance of the year. So that’s a big chunk of the favorability. Offsetting that, we have a number of our accessories coming out of Vietnam, which historically had been a very low or zero tariff environment. It initially got hit with a 10% tariff and now a 20% tariff. And so in response to that, we’ve just increased our pricing on some of the accessories that are coming out of Vietnam.

It’s not something we wanted to do, but a 20% tariff is just more than anyone can absorb. And so I think clarity on the tariff situation, while it’s not ideal, at least we believe for this year it’s behind us. And that’s why we have more confidence in our gross margins.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Great. And based on our history, I’m not sure if you’ll answer this, but I have to try. So you talked about kind of qualitatively your expectations for very strong growth in the big opportunities. Obviously, a lot of momentum here in the back half of the year based on your guidance. Any reason to think that wouldn’t continue into 2026 or kind of anything where you’re seeing one time benefits that you don’t expect to repeat?

Or again, I know you’re not going to give any guidance for 2026, but would you expect just kind of a continuation of revenue growth and margin improvement at this point?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yes, I appreciate the question, Samira. I certainly don’t want to get ahead of myself, right? I think our focus right now, right, is making sure that we deliver the strong results in the second half in line with what stated. In terms of 2026 and going forward, we’ll have an opportunity in March, right, to talk about our full year in 2025, how we performed against our Vision 2025 targets, one of which was that 20% EBITDA, which I’m pleased that we hit that this quarter. And then of course, setting the vision for 02/1930, which is about reshaping the business and what we think we could be going forward.

All that said, I think that we’re bullish on the company, right? We’re bullish on the future. We think that there’s plenty of opportunity for growth for us.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Fantastic. Well, I’ll turn it over. I think that’s enough questions for me. Thanks, guys.

Holly, Conference Call Operator: Your next question for today is from Aaron Martin with AIGH Investment Partners.

Aaron Martin, Analyst, AIGH Investment Partners: Hi. Good morning, John and Scott. Congratulations on a fantastic quarter. And, obviously, taking a step back over the past four years of your tenure, John, it’s been an amazing transformation. A couple more shop keeping items for me.

Scott, on the on the tax rate, you know, you’re getting close to finishing up your NOLs, if I calculated correctly. What should we think about as it goes to 26, 27 for a tax rate for the company? Am I correct that we’re going start paying cash taxes?

Scott Mellinger, Chief Financial Officer, BK Technologies: Correct. Yeah, I think your assessment is right. What I’ve been told by our tax experts is we should look at something total for federal and state in the range of 25% to 26%. Now that depends a lot on what we have for, like you said, the R and D tax credits, and that’s why we’re seeing a lower rate for this year because we’re still using up some of our R and D tax credits.

Aaron Martin, Analyst, AIGH Investment Partners: Got it. Okay. And obviously, you’re showing the operating leverage, but there is a slight uptick in the OpEx. How should we think about that going forward? This small step up where we need to be and now it levels out?

Or should we expect further small step ups as we look to more opportunities in ramping sales and marketing for the 9,000? How should we think about that?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Karen, let me take that question, right? So first is that we will continue to spend more on the launch for the launch of the BKR 9,500. As you get to product launch, your expenses increase in terms of the number of prototypes and things that you’re doing. So it’s not just labor, it’s material expenses. And then it calms down after you launch it, launch that product.

And then we will be talking about in the March timeframe, what other products that we’re looking at over the next five years under Vision 02/1930. So I’ll leave it at that for that point. And in terms of the sales and marketing, this is really about getting the adoption around the 9000 and we’re going to do everything we can that we feel is prudent, to either put more salespeople in the field or involve ourselves in more trade show events, anything we can do to get more visibility. We think, I mean, from the feedback we’re getting from the marketplaces, we got a solid product. We have a really good product.

We just need to get that product in more and more hands. And so to the extent that we’re gonna spend more money to get that product in more hands, that’s what we’re gonna do.

Aaron Martin, Analyst, AIGH Investment Partners: So a follow-up to that. On the you know, what’s the sales cycle timeline for the that we’re seeing with the PPR 9,000? You know, if we increasing now, is it six to nine months sales cycle? Is it twelve months in some of your federal things where there’s more budgeting going into it? How should we think about the sales cycle on the 9,000?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah. So the short answer is eighteen months. That’s So the short the longer answer is it depends on the size of the customer. I mean, we have our customers, Florida State, for example, bought the BTR 9,000. They were actually looking at the 5,000 initially.

And they spent two years evaluating that product before they made a very large purchase. California, Cal Fire, very similar two years. And those are existing customers. Now they’re very large customers buying large quantities of radios and they’re making a decision to refresh their fleet. Smaller customers, again, 80% of law enforcement in The United States have 80 officers or less.

And so when they’re buying radios, they’re buying a handful of radios at a time. It’s still a major purchase for these small departments, but to buy two or three radios to try them out is less risky. And so typically from introduction to getting a sale of two or three radios can be as short as six months. It’s still time because it’s not pocket change for these organizations. They have to get approval for it.

And then they’ll try that radio out for another six months, maybe

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: a year, before they say, Okay, I like this radio.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: I’m going to standardize on this radio for my fleet. And then they’ll start buying whatever they have budgeted. And it could take, you know, if they get grant money, they could replace their fleet in a year. More typically, they’ll replace 10% of their radios every year.

Aaron Martin, Analyst, AIGH Investment Partners: Got it. So the increases now and the opportunity now in the September, we should know, that should create tailwinds, you know, 2020 ’26, perhaps, and into ’27, you know, on that increased spend. Is that a fair way to look Yeah. At

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: don’t we don’t see a limit on the 9,000 at this point. We’re touching on a lot of customers, and we’re gonna continue doing that. And as we get more radios in the field, we get more referrals and we get more orders. That’s just the way the game is played. Mean, are 30,000 agencies across The United States.

The big agencies are very tough, right? And they take a long, long time. But the majority of the agencies are small, they’re cost conscious and they’re just looking for a good replacement radio perhaps at better price. That’s our offering is we can get them into multi band, which is something they want, but today they can’t afford with the other manufacturers. So we just ask them to give us a try, and that’s what they’re doing.

Aaron Martin, Analyst, AIGH Investment Partners: Got it. And then I’m gonna try again on the OpEx side of it, if you’re willing to be a little more granular on the guidance, because I’m still with the high single digit top line growth and the 47 plus gross margin, I’m still sort of struggling to get to your EPS number. It still seems extremely conservative on the EPS side, unless I mean, I don’t think in ’26, we’re starting to pay taxes and, unless, dramatically off on the OpEx. So I’ll try to get a hit. Do you can you be more granular on the OpEx guide?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: So, Sarah, just so I understand your question, and then I’m probably gonna pass it to Scott. Your question is that you feel that our EPS guidance is too conservative based on what you’re seeing? Or

Aaron Martin, Analyst, AIGH Investment Partners: Yes. I mean, I’m doing the math. I’m taking this, you know, high single digit revenue growth, and taking 47 plus gross margin that you’ve guided to your current operating expense rate, which is slightly elevated, and, you know, just computing an imputed EPS based on that. And I’m still I’m struggling to get down to the number that, that you’ve guided for.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: I’m going to let Scott answer that. Scott?

Scott Mellinger, Chief Financial Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah. Thanks for the question, Aaron. Basically, will say that I remain conservative. We feel that most of the tariff stuff is behind us, but that’s subject to change at any moment. At least that’s kind of what I’ve seen.

I am conservative. I have been conservative in the past. I think you’ll recognize that. But I’m very comfortable with the guidance that we’ve provided.

Aaron Martin, Analyst, AIGH Investment Partners: Okay. Thank you very much and congratulations, guys.

Scott Mellinger, Chief Financial Officer, BK Technologies: Thank you.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Thank you,

Holly, Conference Call Operator: Your next question is from John Old with Longmeadow Investors.

John Old, Analyst, Longmeadow Investors: Thanks. And I echo the other callers, John and Scott. Thank you and incredible results. Appreciate it. I wanted to get your take on the sort of the size and adjustable market for the 9,500 relative to the existing radios that you have in the market today.

Is it is it as big, bigger, smaller, just generally the opportunity there relative to what’s all the radios that we currently have in the market?

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah, thanks for the question, John. We’re gonna provide some updated guidance in March because we’ll be getting closer to that launch. But just to look at some of the numbers that we’ve talked about in the past, right? We talked about The US device market, handhelds, mobiles being about $2,300,000,000 right? $2,300,000,000 If I look at that marketplace for devices, there’s a split between what we call handheld radios, so radios that you would carry in your hand or traditionally would be on your hip.

So things that you would normally see from law enforcement officers when they’re walking around. The second device is something that you would install in your vehicle. So like your stereo radio, it’s fixed permanently in the vehicle. If I look at the historical split, it has been trending towards more handheld radios than mobile radios. But historically, it’s been somewhere around 60% handhelds, 40% mobiles are now trending maybe 65, 35.

So if you take that $2,300,000,000 market, 60% to 65% of that is handhelds, which is what the BKR 9,000 is. And then that leaves another 35% to 40% of the market, which would be the market for the BTR 9,500 mobile vehicle. Again, some of these numbers we’re hoping to get refreshed as we set for our Vision 2,030 to give you a better more insight because we believe that this is going to be a strong product for us. It’s a companion radio to the BKR 9,000. And that we think that because of the seating we’re doing with the 9,000, we’ll start seeing sales on that fairly quickly.

John Old, Analyst, Longmeadow Investors: And just a follow-up, if so if you are they would they be sort of connected in some way? So in other words, if you get a customer with a 9,000 or a 9,500, are they likely to buy both together? That’s that if you have one of them, it makes the customer more sticky. Hope that makes sense, that question.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah, it does, John. Thanks for the question. Yeah. Yeah, it does make sense. Thanks for the question.

I think the I was to make an analogy for this, right? It’s kinda like I’m an iPhone user. I’m an Apple user. Therefore, when I when I bought my tablet, I bought an iPad. Right?

It’s it’s not to say that these things work together, but there’s some seamlessness in terms of how you operate the two. If I can operate my iPhone, I can operate my iPad. That’s very similar between the 9,000 handheld radio and the 9,500 mobile radio. They’re two different devices. But how they operate, how the user uses those radios is very, very similar.

And so while in some cases customers will buy and start upgrading their fleets at the same time, It’s very normal for them to focus on either one or the other products during refreshment cycle. So customers will typically start with handhelds because they have a shorter life cycle replacement and then follow-up with the mobile radios. So we’re seeing customers who are buying our 9,000 that are continually asking us when are we going get the 9,500 because that’s the product they want to buy. They don’t want to buy another radio, a different manufacturer’s radio because, again, just from an operator’s perspective, how it operates is very similar. It’s just simpler training for their first responders.

John Old, Analyst, Longmeadow Investors: Got it. Yep. I understand that. That’s that’s great. So they said that you can build a complete ecosystem.

That’s that’s gonna that’s gonna probably lead to higher retention of customers and better sales, would think.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah. And that’s our goal, John, is is the ecosystem around the handhelds, the in vehicles, as well as the software side, right? Interop one, you know, DK one solutions. It’s building that ecosystem.

John Old, Analyst, Longmeadow Investors: Perfect. Thank you so much.

Holly, Conference Call Operator: Your next question for today is a follow-up question from Sameer Patel. Your line is live.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Hey, John. I just wanted to follow-up on that last answer you gave. Very simple question. When you were talking about that split in the TAM between the mobile radios and the portable radios, were you referring to dollars for units? Because my assumption is that the mobile radio probably has a different ARPU.

So if you could just clarify that. Thanks. Yeah.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Yeah. So I kind of gave a range, Samir. You are correct, right? That the split in dollars is different than the splits in units. That the mobile radio is more expensive device than the handheld device.

It’s a few percentage difference between the two. So it depends. Every survey that I’ve seen, the dollar split between the devices is greater because the or sorry. Yeah. It’s greater because the the number of the mobile radio is more expensive.

And then but if you look at device counts, it’s smaller.

Jason Smith, Analyst, Lake Street: Okay. Perfect. That’s that’s all I needed. Thank you.

Holly, Conference Call Operator: We have reached the end of the question and answer session, and I will now turn the call over to John Suzuki for closing remarks.

John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, BK Technologies: Thank you, Holly, and thank you all for participating in today’s call. We look forward to speaking with you again when we report the third quarter results. All the best to all of you, and have a great day.

Holly, Conference Call Operator: This concludes today’s conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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