Shares of Byrna Technologies dropped almost 17% as the company faced obstacles in advertising its less-lethal weapons, such as pepper-spray and gun-like launchers. The Andover, Mass.-based company had to retract its full-year guidance due to a ban on advertising some of its products.
This setback caused the stock to slip approximately 16.7% to $4.35, with shares experiencing a decline of over 44% in the past year.
The predicament emerged when Meta and Google classified the company’s products as contraband, resulting in a prohibition on advertising the less-lethal weapons. Although Google has slightly eased its stance on product advertising, Meta has remained adamant, preventing any promotion of Byrna’s products on Facebook and Instagram. While Byrna is campaigning for Meta to reconsider its ban, CEO Bryan Ganz mentioned plans to shift advertising efforts towards Twitter and other platforms.
During a conference call with analysts, Ganz highlighted the diminishing effectiveness of Meta due to Apple’s restrictions on data collection from mobile users. Consequently, these significant changes in marketing strategies have created uncertainty and prompted the company to withdraw its full-year outlook, stated Chief Financial Officer David North.
For the quarter ending on May 31, revenue slightly decreased from $11.6 million to $11.5 million. Analysts projected sales of $12.4 million, according to FactSet.
Although Byrna managed to narrow its loss for the quarter to $1.12 million compared to last year’s loss of $3 million, the company’s per-share loss was 5 cents. Analysts, however, anticipated a break-even performance for the quarter.