Axon (AXON) blew past first-quarter earnings estimates after Monday’s close, while announcing a deal to buy “airspace security” leader Dedrone. Axon stock cooled off a bit after hours, following a regular session that saw the Taser innovator and provider of other leading-edge law-enforcement technologies retake a buy point.

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The Taser stun-gun and Axon body camera maker has continually expanded its target markets and took another step with the deal for Dedrone, whose terms weren’t disclosed.

“Together, we will accelerate our efforts in creating a more advanced end-to-end drone solution that enables the good drones to fly and helps ensure the bad ones don’t,” CEO Rick Smith said in a statement.

Axon already cleared an early entry last week on momentum from its April 21-25 Axon Week event, highlighted by the unveiling of Draft One. The generative AI takes audio input that has been uploaded to the cloud from officers’ body cameras to create a first draft of field reports “in literally just seconds,” William Blair analyst Jonathan Ho wrote in an April 24 report.

“Axon believes it can save an average of an hour per day in report writing per officer,” Ho wrote. He added that Draft One may incorporate video from body cameras to augment reports in the future.

Following Axon Week, JMP Securities hiked its Axon stock price target to 375 from 320, keeping an outperform rating. The firm is bullish on the potential for Axon VR training to grow adoption of the Taser 10 weapon released last year. It also touted the Feb. 1 acquisition of Fusus, a leader in real-time crime center technology that lets law enforcement officials manage developing situations remotely.

Axon Earnings

Estimates: Analysts expected Axon earnings per share to rise 8% to 95 cents, according to the FactSet consensus. Revenue was seen rising 29% to $441.6 million.

Results: Axon earnings grew 31% to $1.15 a share, 20 cents ahead of forecasts. Revenue jumped 34% to $460.7 million.

Outlook: For the full year, Axon raised its revenue outlook to a range of $1.94 billion to $1.99 billion from a prior range of $1.88 billion to $1.94 billion.

Axon bumped up its capital spending plan to a range of $80 million to $95 million from $60 million to $75 million as it accelerates its capacity expansion to meet higher demand for its newest Taser.

Flashed Early Entry Last Week

Axon rose 2.9% to 327.64 in Monday stock market action.

Axon fell 2.3% to 320 in late trading.

The security tech company’s stock has a 325.63 buy point from a prior flat base that’s arguably still actionable, according to a MarketSurge analysis.

Early last week, Axon flashed an early entry, as it reclaimed its 10-week moving average, while breaking a trendline sloping down from its April 11 high.

Axon’s Relative Strength line, the blue line in IBD charts that tracks its progress vs. the S&P 500, is hitting new highs ahead of a possible breakout in a validation of its market leadership.

Axon is part of the flagship IBD 50 list of leading growth stocks.

Be sure to read IBD’s The Big Picture column after each trading day to get the latest on the prevailing stock market trend and what it means for your trading decisions.

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