Rebecca Day

After strong Q4 and full-year comparative sales growth of 8.9% and 12.7%, Target is projecting low- to mid-single digit growth for 2022 as it laps year-ago consumer spending trends fueled by COVID-19 government stimulus programs, said Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke at the company’s Tuesday investor day, held virtually and in person in New York.

TCL unveiled 30 Series smartphones for the Europe and Asia markets at Mobile World Congress Sunday, with four models under $225 and a 5G model at about $280. Availability for the U.S. market is to be announced, it said. In January, TCL announced the TCL 30 XE 5G and TCL 30 V 5G as exclusives for the U.S. The 30 XE became the first 5G smartphone on T-Mobile when it began shipping Friday at $198 and Metro by T-Mobile at $199.

Higher hardware component and shipping costs drove a 42.7% net income decline to $9.1 million at Alarm.com in Q4, said the company Thursday. Revenue grew 18% to $195.3 million with software-as-a-service (SaaS) and licensing revenue growing 15.4% to $121.7 million, it said. The company instituted an 8%-9% price increase, which varied “dramatically” by SKU, said CEO Steve Trundle, on an earnings call. Customers have been in an “understanding kind of mode” on price increases “at the moment,” he said. Competitors also pushed through multiple price increases last year, “so I think most of our service providers were conditioned to expect something," he said; customers are now working through the process of increasing prices to their customers. Q4 gross margin was 11.1% vs. 15.2% in Q3; Trundle expects margins to return to 20%. Alarm.com had “solid demand" for its smart home technology in the quarter, with its home builder program a “bright spot,” Trundle said, saying 18 of the top builders use its systems, some standard in new home developments. He highlighted the company’s AI software for monitoring stations and Alarm response events, which provides a real-time determination to the monitoring station about the likelihood that the property owner will cancel an alarm, so operators can prioritize multiple alarm events. The company’s visual verification service provides critical information to public safety dispatchers, he said, and last year, it began deploying video analytics capabilities to deter break-ins. Upsells are a hardware growth driver, led by video camera sales that grew 36% year on year, he said. Trundle sees more room for growth because service providers have been focused on 3G upgrades “in terms of going back to the existing customers.” He also referenced upgrade opportunities with the company's smart water value and Flex sensor. Chief Financial Officer Steve Valenzuela said video analytics should raise dollar retention rates. Rates could see a “slight decline” due to 3G upgrades, he said. The Q1 outlook is for SaaS and license revenue ranging from $121.million to $121.2 million. For the year, it forecasts SaaS and license revenue of $508 million-$509 million and total revenue of $808 million-$819 million. Shares reached a 52-week low Friday at $60.70 before closing 5.5% lower at $65.23.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a “fundamentally new holiday season calendar,” said eMarketer analyst Andrew Lipsman on a Thursday holiday season retail webinar. As part of the holiday sales season's shift further into Q3, Lipsman predicted Amazon will make an October Prime Day event -- held in 2020 but not 2021 -- an annual occasion, while keeping the summer Prime Day event.

Emerald Holding, owner of the CEDIA Expo, narrowed its Q4 net loss to $7.3 million in 2021 from $33.9 million in 2020, due to the revenue increase from the return of live events in second half 2021, plus event cancellation insurance claims proceeds, said the company Thursday. Revenue was $41.1 million vs. $12.2 million in the year-earlier quarter. CEO Herve Sedky complained of a “disconnect” between media reports and “what I see in our business” about the public's readiness to return to physical shows. Acknowledging the "very real impact" of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sedky said Emerald’s customers value in-person, face-to-face events “in the most efficient and productive medium possible.” Emerald remains an “integral part" of customers' marketing budgets, he said. Attendee declines since the start of the pandemic improved to 35%-45% in Q4 from 50%-60% in the summer and fall. Emerald staged 63 live events last year with 129,000 attendees and 7,500 exhibitors; it canceled 132 events in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic. Sedky referenced the company’s purchase of PlumRiver’s Elastic business-to-business e-commerce platform in December 2020 as one of the company’s moves into “new verticals.” A customer centricity initiative will include short post-show surveys for all events and “experimentation with new pricing models and bundles,” Sedky said. In Q&A, Chief Financial Officer David Doft said Emerald has been able to “improve yield” at events “based on the value that the events are providing.” Throughout the pandemic, Emerald has added offerings, including “matchmaking,” which adds "incremental value" to its offering, he said.The company benefited from $21.7 million in revenue from live events that were held in Q4 but were canceled in the prior-year quarter. To date, Emerald has received $184.4 million in insurance claim payments due to canceled events out of $249 million submitted, said Doft. Shares closed 8.6% higher Friday at $3.55.

Xperi is making progress toward "re-establishing" its semiconductor IP business, announcing a multiyear agreement with Micron Technology for the company’s hybrid bonding IP for next-generation memory devices, said CEO Jon Kirchner on the Wednesday Q4 earnings call. The pact brings Xperi’s licensing share to 90% of the DRAM market and 55% of the NAND flash market, he said.

Imax is “moving beyond blockbusters” to become a “global platform,” said CEO Rich Gelfond on a Q4 earnings call Wednesday. The company is connecting its theaters over a high-speed network that can broadcast high-definition video and high-fidelity audio around the world, creating a “decentralized global arena” that covers 79 locations in three countries, Gelfond said.

FuboTV reached 1.3 million paid subscribers globally in Q4, up 106% from the prior-year quarter, said the company’s Wednesday shareholder letter. The virtual MVPD expects the Q1 subscriber count to be 1.028 million-1.033 million subscribers due to seasonality, it said. For the year, it forecast 1.5 million subscribers in North America and revenue of $1.08 billion-$1.09 billion vs. $638 million in 2021.

Q4 smart speaker shipments fell 64.7% in the U.S. across all three voice platforms in a market “correction,” reported Omdia Wednesday. Amazon Alexa speaker shipments plunged 79% year on year, Google Assistant speakers were off 39.4%, and Apple HomePod mini shipments fell 34.6%, it said.

Some 42 markets have access to ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, under 10% of the viewing public in the U.S., and just 3 million 3.0-capable TVs were shipped in the U.S. last year, said Digital Tech Consulting President Myra Moore, moderator on a Streaming Media Connect panel last week.