Shares of Byrna Technologies fell almost 17% after the company, which makes less-lethal weapons like pepper-spray and gun-like launchers, pulled its full-year guidance due to a ban on some advertising of its products.
The stock slipped about 16.7% to $4.35. Shares are down more than 44% over the past 12 months.
The Andover, Mass.-based company said earlier Tuesday that its sales in the second quarter were hurt after Meta and Google classified the company’s products as contraband and banned the advertising of the less-lethal weapons.
Google has softened its stance on advertising of the products, Byrna CEO Bryan Ganz said, but Meta “has been unrelenting” and the products still can’t be advertised on Facebook and Instagram. The company is campaigning for Meta to reconsider its ban, but Ganz said Byrna also plans to shift advertising more to Twitter and other platforms.
On a conference call with analysts, he said the effectiveness of Meta was already waning because Apple was blocking how much data the company could collect on mobile users. The shakeup of how the company markets its products has created uncertainty and prompted the company to pull its full-year outlook, Chief Financial Officer David North said.
Overall for the quarter ended May 31, revenue fell to $11.5 million from $11.6 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting sales of $12.4 million.
Byrna said its loss for the quarter narrowed to $1.12 million, from a loss of $3 million a year ago. On a per-share basis, the loss was 5 cents a share. Analysts were expecting the company to break even in the quarter, according to FactSet.