Latest news with #DraftOne
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Axon's Q2 Earnings Call: Our Top 5 Analyst Questions
Axon's second quarter drew strong positive market reaction, reflecting the company's ongoing ability to exceed Wall Street's expectations. Management credited the company's robust performance to accelerating adoption of new software solutions, as well as deeper customer relationships across state, local, and international markets. CEO Patrick Smith highlighted rapid uptake of products like Draft One and TASER 10, noting that 'demand for new technology from our customers is accelerating, and it's outpacing even my most optimistic expectations.' The quarter was also characterized by a record-breaking contract in the state and local segment and notable contributions from the corrections and enterprise verticals. Is now the time to buy AXON? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Axon (AXON) Q2 CY2025 Highlights: Revenue: $668.5 million vs analyst estimates of $641 million (32.8% year-on-year growth, 4.3% beat) Adjusted EPS: $2.12 vs analyst estimates of $1.46 (45% beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $171.6 million vs analyst estimates of $161.3 million (25.7% margin, 6.4% beat) The company lifted its revenue guidance for the full year to $2.69 billion at the midpoint from $2.65 billion, a 1.5% increase EBITDA guidance for the full year is $675 million at the midpoint, in line with analyst expectations Operating Margin: -0.2%, down from 6.7% in the same quarter last year Annual Recurring Revenue: $1.18 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.14 billion (39.2% year-on-year growth, 3.7% beat) Market Capitalization: $60.34 billion While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Our Top 5 Analyst Questions From Axon's Q2 Earnings Call Keith Housum (Northcoast Research) asked about which products are driving enterprise market traction. Chief Operating Officer Joshua Isner highlighted broad product suite adoption, noting both body cameras and AI solutions are seeing strong interest. Andrew Sherman (TD Cowen) inquired about accelerating demand for AI Era Plan products. Isner confirmed demand is 'absolutely accelerating,' crediting customer feedback and visible time savings as key adoption drivers. William Power (Baird) sought more detail on counter-drone growth and its law enforcement versus enterprise mix. CEO Patrick Smith described Dedrone as a 'market leader,' with broadening demand across both sectors and rapid iteration to address evolving threats. Meta Marshall (Morgan Stanley) questioned how Axon overcomes adoption hurdles for new AI products. Isner explained that hands-on user feedback and pilot programs are most effective, with customers quickly seeing practical value. Alyssa Shreves (Barclays) asked if international outperformance will shift segment mix. Isner replied that while international will grow, the U.S. remains strong, so mix changes may be gradual rather than rapid. Catalysts in Upcoming Quarters Looking ahead, our analysts will focus on (1) the pace of customer upgrades from basic to premium and AI-enabled product bundles, (2) Axon's ability to manage tariff-driven cost pressures while protecting margins, and (3) execution on large international and enterprise contracts. Progress in R&D hiring and new product launches will also be essential indicators of Axon's long-term trajectory. Axon currently trades at $772, up from $742.75 just before the earnings. In the wake of this quarter, is it a buy or sell? Find out in our full research report (it's free). High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions When Trump unveiled his aggressive tariff plan in April 2025, markets tanked as investors feared a full-blown trade war. But those who panicked and sold missed the subsequent rebound that's already erased most losses. Don't let fear keep you from great opportunities and take a look at Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Egypt Independent
3 days ago
- Egypt Independent
How AI is being used by police departments to help draft reports
Fort Collins, Colorado — In his nine years at the Fort Collins, Colorado, police department, Officer Scott Brittingham says he has taken a lot of pride in the process of writing reports after each call for service. But when the department decided to test a tool to speed things up, he was intrigued. Now, a report that might have previously taken him 45 minutes to write takes just 10 minutes. 'I was a little bit skeptical, I'm not a big technology person,' Brittingham said in a March interview at the Fort Collins police station for CNN's Terms of Service podcast. But spending less time writing reports means Brittingham can 'take more calls for service' and 'be proactive in preventing crime,' he said. Brittingham is referring to Draft One, artificial intelligence-powered software that creates the first draft of police reports, aiming to make the process faster and easier. And his experience may increasingly become the norm for police officers as departments across the country adopt the tool. It's gaining traction even as some legal experts and civil rights advocates raise concerns that AI-drafted police reports could contain biases or inaccuracies, as well as presenting potential transparency issues. Axon — the law enforcement tech company behind the tool that also makes tasers and body cameras — said Draft One has been its fastest growing product since it launched last year. And Axon isn't the only player in this industry; law enforcement tech company Truleo makes a similar AI police report tool called Field Notes. Police reports sit at the heart of the criminal justice process — officers use them to detail an incident and explain why they took the actions they did, and may later use them to prepare if they have to testify in court. Reports can also inform prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and the public about the officer's perspective on what took place. They can influence whether a prosecutor decides to take a case, or whether a judge decides to hold someone without bond, said Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, an American University law professor who studies the intersection of technology and policing. 'Police reports are really an accountability mechanism,' Ferguson said. 'It's a justification for state power, for police power.' For that reason, proponents of Draft One tout the potential for AI to make reports more accurate and comprehensive, in addition to its time-saving benefits. But skeptics worry that any issues with the technology could have major ramifications for people's lives. At least one state has already passed a law regulating the use of AI-drafted police reports. Draft One's rollout also comes amid broader concerns around AI in law enforcement, after experiments elsewhere with facial recognition technology have led to wrongful arrests. 'I do think it's a growing movement. Like lots of AI, people are looking at how do we update? How do we improve?' Ferguson said of AI police report technology. 'There's a hype level, too, that people are pushing this because there's money to be made on the technology.' An efficiency tool for officers After an officer records an interaction on their body camera, they can request that Draft One create a report. The tool uses the transcript from the body camera footage to create the draft, which begins to appear within seconds of the request. The officer is then prompted to review the draft and fill in additional details before submitting it as final. Each draft report contains bracketed fill-in-the-blanks that an officer must either complete or delete before it can be submitted. The blank portions are designed to ensure officers read through the drafts to correct potential errors or add missing information. 'It really does have to be the officer's own report at the end of the day, and they have to sign off as to what happened,' Axon President Josh Isner told CNN. Draft One uses a modified version of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which Axon further tested and trained to reduce the likelihood of 'hallucinations,' factual errors that AI systems can randomly generate. Axon also says it works with a group of third-party academics, restorative justice advocates and community leaders that provide feedback on how to responsibly develop its technology and mitigate potential biases. Draft One, an AI software that creates police reports from body cam audio, is demonstrated on a screen at OKCPD headquarters on Friday, May 31, 2024 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Nick Oxford/AP The idea for Draft One came from staffing shortages that Axon's police department clients were facing, Isner said. In a 2024 survey of more than 1,000 US police agencies, the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that agencies were operating at least 10% below their authorized staffing levels on average. 'The biggest problem in public safety right now is hiring. You cannot hire enough police officers,' Isner said. 'Anything a police department can adopt to make them more efficient is kind of the name of the game right now.' Axon declined to say how many departments currently use Draft One, but police have also adopted it in Lafayette, Indiana; Tampa, Florida; and Campbell, California. And given that 'almost every single department' in the United States uses at least one Axon product, according to Isner, the growth potential for the product appears high. In Fort Collins, Technology Sergeant Bob Younger decided to test Draft One last summer after seeing a demo of the tool. 'I was blown away at the quality of the report, the accuracy of the report and how fast it happened,' he said. 'I thought to myself, 'This is an opportunity that we cannot let go.'' The department initially made the technology available to around 70 officers; now all officers have access. Younger estimates the tool has reduced the time officers spend writing reports by nearly 70%, 'and that's time we can give back to our citizens,' he said. 'Radical transparency is best' Isner said he's received largely positive feedback from prosecutors about Draft One. But last September, the prosecutor's office in King County, Washington, said it would not accept police reports drafted with the help of AI after local law enforcement agencies expressed interest in using Draft One. The office said using the tool would 'likely result in many of your officers approving Axon drafted narratives with unintentional errors in them,' in an email to police chiefs. An Axon spokesperson said that the company is 'committed to continuous collaboration with police agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, community advocates, and other stakeholders to gather input and guide the responsible evolution of Draft One.' They added that the AI model underlying Draft One is 'calibrated … to minimize speculation or embellishments.' But King County prosecutors aren't the only ones concerned about errors or biases in AI-drafted police reports. 'When you see this brand new technology being inserted in some ways into the heart of the criminal justice system, which is already rife with injustice and bias and so forth, it's definitely something that we sit bolt upright and take a close look at,' said Jay Stanley, a policy analyst with the ACLU Speech Privacy and Technology Project, who published a report last year recommending against using Draft One. Even Ferguson, who believes the technology will likely become the norm in policing, said he worries about mistakes in transcripts of body camera footage impacting reports. 'The transcript that you get, which becomes a police report, might be filled with misunderstandings, because the algorithm didn't understand, like, a southern accent or a different kind of accent,' Ferguson said. He also added that nonverbal cues — for example, if a person nodded rather than saying 'yes' out loud — might not be reflected. Axon tries to prevent errors or missing details with those automatic blank fields. However, in a demo at the Fort Collins Police Department, CNN observed that it is possible to delete all of the prompts and submit a report without making any changes. And once a report is submitted as final, the original, AI-generated draft isn't saved, so it's not possible to see what an officer did or didn't change. Axon says that's meant to mimic the old-school process where, even if an officer was writing by hand, their drafts wouldn't be saved along with their final report. The company also offers an opt-in setting that lets police departments require a certain percentage of the report be edited before the draft is submitted. And then there's the question of transparency, and whether a defendant might know the police report in their case was drafted by AI. Final reports created with Draft One include a customizable disclaimer by default, noting that they were written with the help of AI, but departments can turn that feature off. The Fort Collins Police Department does not include disclaimers, but officers are incentivized to make reports their own and ensure their accuracy, Younger said. 'What an officer is worried about is being critiqued or held responsible for an error or doing something and being inaccurate,' he said. 'Officers are super hyper-focused on the quality and quantity of their work.' But Ferguson said he believes 'radical transparency is the best practice.' In Utah, state lawmakers passed a law earlier this year that requires police departments to include that disclaimer on final reports that were drafted by AI. Ultimately, like so many other applications of AI, Draft One is a tool that relies on responsible, well-meaning users. 'My overall impression is that it's a tool like anything else,' Brittingham said. 'It's not the fix. It's not replacing us writing reports. It's just a tool to help us with writing reports.'
CNN
4 days ago
- CNN
How AI is being used by police departments to help draft reports
In his nine years at the Fort Collins, Colorado, police department, Officer Scott Brittingham says he has taken a lot of pride in the process of writing reports after each call for service. But when the department decided to test a tool to speed things up, he was intrigued. Now, a report that might have previously taken him 45 minutes to write takes just 10 minutes. 'I was a little bit skeptical, I'm not a big technology person,' Brittingham said in a March interview at the Fort Collins police station for CNN's Terms of Service podcast. But spending less time writing reports means Brittingham can 'take more calls for service' and 'be proactive in preventing crime,' he said. Brittingham is referring to Draft One, artificial intelligence-powered software that creates the first draft of police reports, aiming to make the process faster and easier. And his experience may increasingly become the norm for police officers as departments across the country adopt the tool. It's gaining traction even as some legal experts and civil rights advocates raise concerns that AI-drafted police reports could contain biases or inaccuracies, as well as presenting potential transparency issues. Axon — the law enforcement tech company behind the tool that also makes tasers and body cameras — said Draft One has been its fastest growing product since it launched last year. And Axon isn't the only player in this industry; law enforcement tech company Truleo makes a similar AI police report tool called Field Notes. Police reports sit at the heart of the criminal justice process — officers use them to detail an incident and explain why they took the actions they did, and may later use them to prepare if they have to testify in court. Reports can also inform prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and the public about the officer's perspective on what took place. They can influence whether a prosecutor decides to take a case, or whether a judge decides to hold someone without bond, said Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, an American University law professor who studies the intersection of technology and policing. 'Police reports are really an accountability mechanism,' Ferguson said. 'It's a justification for state power, for police power.' For that reason, proponents of Draft One tout the potential for AI to make reports more accurate and comprehensive, in addition to its time-saving benefits. But skeptics worry that any issues with the technology could have major ramifications for people's lives. At least one state has already passed a law regulating the use of AI-drafted police reports. Draft One's rollout also comes amid broader concerns around AI in law enforcement, after experiments elsewhere with facial recognition technology have led to wrongful arrests. 'I do think it's a growing movement. Like lots of AI, people are looking at how do we update? How do we improve?' Ferguson said of AI police report technology. 'There's a hype level, too, that people are pushing this because there's money to be made on the technology.' After an officer records an interaction on their body camera, they can request that Draft One create a report. The tool uses the transcript from the body camera footage to create the draft, which begins to appear within seconds of the request. The officer is then prompted to review the draft and fill in additional details before submitting it as final. Each draft report contains bracketed fill-in-the-blanks that an officer must either complete or delete before it can be submitted. The blank portions are designed to ensure officers read through the drafts to correct potential errors or add missing information. 'It really does have to be the officer's own report at the end of the day, and they have to sign off as to what happened,' Axon President Josh Isner told CNN. Draft One uses a modified version of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which Axon further tested and trained to reduce the likelihood of 'hallucinations,' factual errors that AI systems can randomly generate. Axon also says it works with a group of third-party academics, restorative justice advocates and community leaders that provide feedback on how to responsibly develop its technology and mitigate potential biases. The idea for Draft One came from staffing shortages that Axon's police department clients were facing, Isner said. In a 2024 survey of more than 1,000 US police agencies, the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that agencies were operating at least 10% below their authorized staffing levels on average. 'The biggest problem in public safety right now is hiring. You cannot hire enough police officers,' Isner said. 'Anything a police department can adopt to make them more efficient is kind of the name of the game right now.' Axon declined to say how many departments currently use Draft One, but police have also adopted it in Lafayette, Indiana; Tampa, Florida; and Campbell, California. And given that 'almost every single department' in the United States uses at least one Axon product, according to Isner, the growth potential for the product appears high. In Fort Collins, Technology Sergeant Bob Younger decided to test Draft One last summer after seeing a demo of the tool. 'I was blown away at the quality of the report, the accuracy of the report and how fast it happened,' he said. 'I thought to myself, 'This is an opportunity that we cannot let go.'' The department initially made the technology available to around 70 officers; now all officers have access. Younger estimates the tool has reduced the time officers spend writing reports by nearly 70%, 'and that's time we can give back to our citizens,' he said. Isner said he's received largely positive feedback from prosecutors about Draft One. But last September, the prosecutor's office in King County, Washington, said it would not accept police reports drafted with the help of AI after local law enforcement agencies expressed interest in using Draft One. The office said using the tool would 'likely result in many of your officers approving Axon drafted narratives with unintentional errors in them,' in an email to police chiefs. An Axon spokesperson said that the company is 'committed to continuous collaboration with police agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, community advocates, and other stakeholders to gather input and guide the responsible evolution of Draft One.' They added that the AI model underlying Draft One is 'calibrated … to minimize speculation or embellishments.' But King County prosecutors aren't the only ones concerned about errors or biases in AI-drafted police reports. 'When you see this brand new technology being inserted in some ways into the heart of the criminal justice system, which is already rife with injustice and bias and so forth, it's definitely something that we sit bolt upright and take a close look at,' said Jay Stanley, a policy analyst with the ACLU Speech Privacy and Technology Project, who published a report last year recommending against using Draft One. Even Ferguson, who believes the technology will likely become the norm in policing, said he worries about mistakes in transcripts of body camera footage impacting reports. 'The transcript that you get, which becomes a police report, might be filled with misunderstandings, because the algorithm didn't understand, like, a southern accent or a different kind of accent,' Ferguson said. He also added that nonverbal cues — for example, if a person nodded rather than saying 'yes' out loud — might not be reflected. Axon tries to prevent errors or missing details with those automatic blank fields. However, in a demo at the Fort Collins Police Department, CNN observed that it is possible to delete all of the prompts and submit a report without making any changes. And once a report is submitted as final, the original, AI-generated draft isn't saved, so it's not possible to see what an officer did or didn't change. Axon says that's meant to mimic the old-school process where, even if an officer was writing by hand, their drafts wouldn't be saved along with their final report. The company also offers an opt-in setting that lets police departments require a certain percentage of the report be edited before the draft is submitted. And then there's the question of transparency, and whether a defendant might know the police report in their case was drafted by AI. Final reports created with Draft One include a customizable disclaimer by default, noting that they were written with the help of AI, but departments can turn that feature off. The Fort Collins Police Department does not include disclaimers, but officers are incentivized to make reports their own and ensure their accuracy, Younger said. 'What an officer is worried about is being critiqued or held responsible for an error or doing something and being inaccurate,' he said. 'Officers are super hyper-focused on the quality and quantity of their work.' But Ferguson said he believes 'radical transparency is the best practice.' In Utah, state lawmakers passed a law earlier this year that requires police departments to include that disclaimer on final reports that were drafted by AI. Ultimately, like so many other applications of AI, Draft One is a tool that relies on responsible, well-meaning users. 'My overall impression is that it's a tool like anything else,' Brittingham said. 'It's not the fix. It's not replacing us writing reports. It's just a tool to help us with writing reports.'
CNN
4 days ago
- CNN
How AI is being used in police stations to help draft reports
In his nine years at the Fort Collins, Colorado, police department, Officer Scott Brittingham says he has taken a lot of pride in the process of writing reports after each call for service. But when the department decided to test a tool to speed things up, he was intrigued. Now, a report that might have previously taken him 45 minutes to write takes just 10 minutes. 'I was a little bit skeptical, I'm not a big technology person,' Brittingham said in a March interview at the Fort Collins police station for CNN's Terms of Service podcast. But spending less time writing reports means Brittingham can 'take more calls for service' and 'be proactive in preventing crime,' he said. Brittingham is referring to Draft One, artificial intelligence-powered software that creates the first draft of police reports, aiming to make the process faster and easier. And his experience may increasingly become the norm for police officers as departments across the country adopt the tool. It's gaining traction even as some legal experts and civil rights advocates raise concerns that AI-drafted police reports could contain biases or inaccuracies, as well as presenting potential transparency issues. Axon — the law enforcement tech company behind the tool that also makes tasers and body cameras — said Draft One has been its fastest growing product since it launched last year. And Axon isn't the only player in this industry; law enforcement tech company Truleo makes a similar AI police report tool called Field Notes. Police reports sit at the heart of the criminal justice process — officers use them to detail an incident and explain why they took the actions they did, and may later use them to prepare if they have to testify in court. Reports can also inform prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and the public about the officer's perspective on what took place. They can influence whether a prosecutor decides to take a case, or whether a judge decides to hold someone without bond, said Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, an American University law professor who studies the intersection of technology and policing. 'Police reports are really an accountability mechanism,' Ferguson said. 'It's a justification for state power, for police power.' For that reason, proponents of Draft One tout the potential for AI to make reports more accurate and comprehensive, in addition to its time-saving benefits. But skeptics worry that any issues with the technology could have major ramifications for people's lives. At least one state has already passed a law regulating the use of AI-drafted police reports. Draft One's rollout also comes amid broader concerns around AI in law enforcement, after experiments elsewhere with facial recognition technology have led to wrongful arrests. 'I do think it's a growing movement. Like lots of AI, people are looking at how do we update? How do we improve?' Ferguson said of AI police report technology. 'There's a hype level, too, that people are pushing this because there's money to be made on the technology.' After an officer records an interaction on their body camera, they can request that Draft One create a report. The tool uses the transcript from the body camera footage to create the draft, which begins to appear within seconds of the request. The officer is then prompted to review the draft and fill in additional details before submitting it as final. Each draft report contains bracketed fill-in-the-blanks that an officer must either complete or delete before it can be submitted. The blank portions are designed to ensure officers read through the drafts to correct potential errors or add missing information. 'It really does have to be the officer's own report at the end of the day, and they have to sign off as to what happened,' Axon President Josh Isner told CNN. Draft One uses a modified version of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which Axon further tested and trained to reduce the likelihood of 'hallucinations,' factual errors that AI systems can randomly generate. Axon also says it works with a group of third-party academics, restorative justice advocates and community leaders that provide feedback on how to responsibly develop its technology and mitigate potential biases. The idea for Draft One came from staffing shortages that Axon's police department clients were facing, Isner said. In a 2024 survey of more than 1,000 US police agencies, the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that agencies were operating at least 10% below their authorized staffing levels on average. 'The biggest problem in public safety right now is hiring. You cannot hire enough police officers,' Isner said. 'Anything a police department can adopt to make them more efficient is kind of the name of the game right now.' Axon declined to say how many departments currently use Draft One, but police have also adopted it in Lafayette, Indiana; Tampa, Florida; and Campbell, California. And given that 'almost every single department' in the United States uses at least one Axon product, according to Isner, the growth potential for the product appears high. In Fort Collins, Technology Sergeant Bob Younger decided to test Draft One last summer after seeing a demo of the tool. 'I was blown away at the quality of the report, the accuracy of the report and how fast it happened,' he said. 'I thought to myself, 'This is an opportunity that we cannot let go.'' The department initially made the technology available to around 70 officers; now all officers have access. Younger estimates the tool has reduced the time officers spend writing reports by nearly 70%, 'and that's time we can give back to our citizens,' he said. Isner said he's received largely positive feedback from prosecutors about Draft One. But last September, the prosecutor's office in King County, Washington, said it would not accept police reports drafted with the help of AI after local law enforcement agencies expressed interest in using Draft One. The office said using the tool would 'likely result in many of your officers approving Axon drafted narratives with unintentional errors in them,' in an email to police chiefs. An Axon spokesperson said that the company is 'committed to continuous collaboration with police agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, community advocates, and other stakeholders to gather input and guide the responsible evolution of Draft One.' They added that the AI model underlying Draft One is 'calibrated … to minimize speculation or embellishments.' But King County prosecutors aren't the only ones concerned about errors or biases in AI-drafted police reports. 'When you see this brand new technology being inserted in some ways into the heart of the criminal justice system, which is already rife with injustice and bias and so forth, it's definitely something that we sit bolt upright and take a close look at,' said Jay Stanley, a policy analyst with the ACLU Speech Privacy and Technology Project, who published a report last year recommending against using Draft One. Even Ferguson, who believes the technology will likely become the norm in policing, said he worries about mistakes in transcripts of body camera footage impacting reports. 'The transcript that you get, which becomes a police report, might be filled with misunderstandings, because the algorithm didn't understand, like, a southern accent or a different kind of accent,' Ferguson said. He also added that nonverbal cues — for example, if a person nodded rather than saying 'yes' out loud — might not be reflected. Axon tries to prevent errors or missing details with those automatic blank fields. However, in a demo at the Fort Collins Police Department, CNN observed that it is possible to delete all of the prompts and submit a report without making any changes. And once a report is submitted as final, the original, AI-generated draft isn't saved, so it's not possible to see what an officer did or didn't change. Axon says that's meant to mimic the old-school process where, even if an officer was writing by hand, their drafts wouldn't be saved along with their final report. The company also offers an opt-in setting that lets police departments require a certain percentage of the report be edited before the draft is submitted. And then there's the question of transparency, and whether a defendant might know the police report in their case was drafted by AI. Final reports created with Draft One include a customizable disclaimer by default, noting that they were written with the help of AI, but departments can turn that feature off. The Fort Collins Police Department does not include disclaimers, but officers are incentivized to make reports their own and ensure their accuracy, Younger said. 'What an officer is worried about is being critiqued or held responsible for an error or doing something and being inaccurate,' he said. 'Officers are super hyper-focused on the quality and quantity of their work.' But Ferguson said he believes 'radical transparency is the best practice.' In Utah, state lawmakers passed a law earlier this year that requires police departments to include that disclaimer on final reports that were drafted by AI. Ultimately, like so many other applications of AI, Draft One is a tool that relies on responsible, well-meaning users. 'My overall impression is that it's a tool like anything else,' Brittingham said. 'It's not the fix. It's not replacing us writing reports. It's just a tool to help us with writing reports.'
Business Insider
08-08-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Lightning Strikes Twice for AXON as Analysts Eye $1,000 Price Target
Excitement is peaking at Axon Enterprise (AXON), the company behind TASERs, security body cameras, and cutting-edge cloud software for public safety. Earlier this week, the company published stellar earnings results, helping the stock to repeat history, almost to the day. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. On August 6th, 2024, the company reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.15 per share and immediately spiked higher on the news, before consolidating its gains in the weeks ahead. Judging by the stock's reaction to this year's figures so far this week, it would seem AXON's upward trend remains intact. AXON's latest Q2 report hit like a bombshell, sending the stock up 17% since Monday and pushing its gain to ~150% over the past year. With accelerating top-line growth and surging profitability, Axon is leveraging AI and exceptional customer retention to strengthen its grip on a recession-resistant industry. While the valuation is undeniably rich, this is a unique business—one that rarely, if ever, trades at a discount. That's why AXON remains one of my largest holdings. Revenue Growth Keeps Punching Above 30% Axon's Q2 revenue clocked in at $669 million, a 33% jump from last year. Not only did this mark the sixth consecutive quarter of above 30% revenue growth, but in fact, it accelerated from Q1's already impressive 31% clip. The software and services segment was the star of the show, up 39% to $292 million, fueled by premium digital evidence management and new AI tools like auto-transcription. Management emphasized strong demand for TASER 10 and Axon Body 4 as well, with platform solutions like counter-drone tech growing 86%. AI's integration is streamlining police workflows, saving 6-12 hours per officer weekly, and with annual recurring revenue (ARR) hitting $1.2 billion, up 39%, this growth train's got serious momentum. International expansion, particularly in Europe, and enterprise customer wins are also juicing numbers. In the post-earnings call, CEO Rick Smith discussed their 'product-led flywheel,' where new products drive subscriptions, which in turn drive more innovation. AI's role here is enormous, as tools like Draft One and live translation are boosting adoption, and with $10 billion in future contracted bookings, Axon's growth looks locked in for years. Then you have new tools like Evidence Translation and Smart Capture that are set to roll out, and make Axon's ecosystem even stickier. Evidently, with a net revenue retention rate of 124%, customers aren't just renewing their subscriptions, but they're spending more year after year. Margin Expansion Fuels Profit Powerhouse Profitability-wise, Axon's adjusted EBITDA hit $172 million in Q2, up 37%, with a margin of 25.7%, beating expectations. Management credited higher revenue and operating leverage, but the real magic seems to be in the product mix. Software and services, with a 75.6% gross margin, grew way faster than hardware, offsetting lower device margins from newer products like counter-drone systems. AXON's management commented in the earnings call that AI-driven efficiencies, like video auditing and real-time operations tools, are raising margins by cutting manual work. This focus on high-margin software helped adjusted net income reach $174 million, driving EPS to $2.12, well above analyst estimates. Earlier, Axon had flagged tariffs as a potential margin hit, but it seems they are easily absorbing those costs while still targeting a 25% adjusted EBITDA margin for the year. AXON Stock Valuation Remains Pricey Yet Justified Axon's current valuation is eye-watering. Trading at a P/S of 25 and a P/E of 131 based on 2025's projected $2.72 billion revenue and $6.60 EPS, this is easily one of the most expensive stocks in the market. However, the truth is that Axon has been trading at these lofty multiples for years, and time after time it has delivered. With revenue growth showing no signs of slowing and AI efficiencies kicking in, I'm not betting on multiple contractions anytime soon. Then you have to think of Axon's monopoly-like grip on public safety tech (TASERs, body cams, and cloud software), on top of operating in a recession-proof space. Police budgets don't decline in downturns, and Axon's ecosystem is sticky, with customers locked into long-term contracts. At the same time, AI is set to supercharge profitability, potentially shrinking that P/E as EPS grows faster than the stock price. I would argue that a run to $1,000 per share, which would imply a P/S near 30, might raise eyebrows, but for a business this dominant, it's not crazy. What is the Price Target for AXON in 2025? There are 16 analysts offering price targets on AXON stock via TipRanks, with an overwhelming bullish consensus. Currently, the stock carries a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 15 Buy and one Hold ratings over the past three months. No analyst rates the stock a sell. AXON's average stock price target of $857.07 implies less than 1% downside over the next twelve months. However, Wall Street has yet to update its post-earnings estimates, which will likely move higher after such a strong beat. Time to Back AXON as a Generational Compounder At the end of the day, Axon is doing what top-tier companies do: beating growth expectations, widening margins, and securing long-term customers with essential technology. Sure, the valuation may look toppy and extreme through a traditional lens—but with AI amplifying its model and public safety spending proving recession-proof, AXON's fundamentals remain rock-solid. I'm not trimming a single share because I believe it's wiser to add to generational compounders—history shows the market usually ends up playing catch-up to their long-term potential.
