'Clowns' Allege Ubiquiti 'Completely Fraudulent'

I've met dealers and installers who swear by their EdgeMAX routers.  I know of no other option if you want a managed PoE router of that size.   (note that their micro PoE routers are passive PoE though).

They seem to be solid products and work as advertised.

It's interesting to me that in the research Citron did, they don't mention product pricing and how that plays/played a big role in UBNT appeal.

The company is not really a tech innovator, they commoditize existing tech.

In my time as an integrator, I remember one could buy a $2000+ radio from Cisco or a $200 UBNT device that satisfied the same core functions well.

Buy Ubiquiti antennas they are a fine product, even if you hate Hikvision (which if you know me you know my stand there) those folks have stood behind several problems systems we have encountered in our Tower maintenance and Cellular communications division where other way, way, more expensive antennas never worked right and Ubiquiti worked from day one and still does.

We use the UBNT wifi bridges quite a bit with our IP camera systems as many of our jobs are in agricultural applications... need to link to the outbuildings.  Found them to be very reliable and relatively inexpensive.

Clowns is literally a compliment. The guy has not even basic understanding of either financial, corporate growth or technology. Not even sure why he's getting this much of attention.

Ubiquiti, simply sell enterprises level networking at consumer pricing. Simple as that.

In addition they have zero technical support except monitoring their forums. This means, unless you know what you are doing, you are out in the ocean on your own. Granted, the forums are very active and responsive.

This business model allowed Ubiquiti to penetrate the market aggressively and put some serious concerns with their competition

That being said, there isn't much of margins for dealers but that's a different discussion.

As a company we replaced our entire internal infrastructure with Ubiquity Switches and Wifi products. In the 22 years I have worked here we have never had a more stable environment!! It is extremely easy to configure.

We have also installed the Ubiquity products in many customer sites; using their switches, wifi, and especially their PtP and PtMP products. Again, these sites have been extremely stable. No other wireless/network company seems to compare to their product line in what they offer: stability, usability, and PRICE POINT!!! There price points are so competitive it is hard to go with anyone else. I'm usually not the type of person that is this much of a "fan" of a product or company, but it is hard not to be from a Business perspective and the solutions that they have provided.

Update: Citron research has released an update with 10 questions that are much more focused on real potential issues:

Again, we cannot attempt to answer the cash flow questions but, at least, these questions are more relevant to potential fraudulent activities than basketball and Jim Cramer criticisms.

Interestingly, UBNT stock is back to ~$55 which was were it was before Citron's report, so far then UBNT has whethered these allegations well.

I watched the 3 hour webcast with investment analysts today.  It had previously been scheduled prior to the Citron report.  After a few technical snafus at the beginning, it consisted of Pera alone giving about an hour powerpoint on his vision and unique business model, and then fielding questions for about 2 hours.  The stock dropped almost 3 bucks at the early part of his conference and then recovered half of it and  leveled out. Most of the questions were surprisingly soft.  No hostility or accusatory tones from the questioners.  He seems at peace that the market will give them what it will.  If it trades the stock down, then he'll buy stock back.   His corporate governance is based on simplicity and cost savings.  He has the minimum amount of board members legally required because he doesn't think they really accomplish much.

One side note that I think you'll find interesting is when an analyst asked him about security cameras.  He spent a lengthy amount of time on the subject and seemed to really know what he was talking about in the details.  Said nothing had frustrated him more than video security.  He says he saw the vision back around 2007 and wanted to be a big player.  He mentioned the market then was Pelco, Sony, Milestone, and to some degree emerging Axis, which were solid but expensive.  Said they just didn't execute correctly.  Decided to focus the software on some open source, Zoneminder, and it didn't work as planned.  Eventually revamped the software, but the market had been somewhat dominated by HIK and Dahua.  They arrived to where he had hoped to.  Still sold about a million cameras, a tribute to the brand identity.  Thinks there might be some potential in an enhanced user experience, which I took to mean software, but likely not a huge focus going forward.  

What piqued my interest from the initial report was always the potential financial engineering, not the validity of the products.

Final update: Ubiquiti's stock is now ~16% higher / ~$9 more than the day before this short seller published.

2 thoughts, and I'm very pro Ubiquiti.  

1.a Not alleging some sort of conspiracy, but it is curious that these items requested by the SEC almost mirror exactly the main bullet points of Left's hit piece.  User community size, distributor relationships, etc.  

1.b  A very large poison pill drop dead date is imminent (end of this month, I think) on the buy/sell of the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team. This will personally affect the CEO as he will either sell his majority interest, or have to by the other largest 2 shareholders.  The price of NBA teams have skyrocketed in the last 12 months.  Could this be a timing coincidence to negatively affect Pera in some form or fashion?

2. There is always concerns when the SEC is issuing subpoenas, so tread cautiously.  I do think UBNT over inflated their user community numbers, but that's not really financially material.  Even less so than Facebook or Twitter who make money depending on the size of their communities and were discovered to have tons of fake bot accounts.

And finally, FWIW, Wells Fargo just upped their credit extension to UBNT (since the Left hit piece) to $500 million.  I would think that WF did their due diligence.  UBNT doesn't appear to need cash, it has never issued a secondary, it has bought a great deal of stock back, and continues post profits.  If this were a scam, one would think they would have run out of cash at some point long ago.  

Owning UBNT stock for the long haul is not for the feint of heart...

Good luck to all  :)