“This isn’t your father’s Lantronix,” says Saleel Awsare.
Awsare, who became chief executive almost two years ago, says he’s pushing the Irvine-based company deeper into what’s called Edge AI—artificial intelligence used directly on devices like smart phones and drones.
“I’ve seen the possibility of what we can do here and now we are starting to execute,” Awsare told the Business Journal on Sept. 22. “It always takes a bit longer than you think.”
“This is a much fresher, newer company focused on edge compute and edge AI.”
The Irvine-based company, which dates to 1989, has been buffeted this year, losing its biggest customer and watching its shares hit the lowest point in a decade at $1.91 each in April (Nasdaq: LTRX).
Since then the shares have almost tripled in value, touching a 52-week high of $5.45 apiece on Oct. 3.
Meanwhile Awsare has been unveiling new customers working in the drone and cell phone industries.
He’s also beefed up the revenue stream by providing software and maintenance services in addition to hardware.
“This is the high-protein kind of business that I like,” he said.
Lantronix ranked No. 38 on the Business Journal’s 2025 annual list of largest public companies with an approximately $209 million market cap, up eight spots from the year before.
Diversification After Customer Loss
At its core, Lantronix is known for making highly sophisticated electronics products that let computers remain connected to networks.
Awsare, whose resume in the tech world dates back almost 40 years, in the past year faced a significant problem when major customer Gridspertise, an Italian company that provided nearly 30% of Lantronix revenue in fiscal 2024, stopped buying on Jan. 1.
Awsare says that once the revenue from Gridspertise is factored out “we are growing. We are probably growing in the low double digits.”
The Gridspertise departure—which he indicated may be temporary—has led to an intensified search for customers elsewhere.
“We are banking on a much broader customer base, diversification of customers but focused on specific verticals,” according to Awsare.
If Gridspertise eventually comes back “it’s going to be the cherry on the top.”
In addition to increasing aerospace and defense clients, further expansion includes mobile network operators and enterprise IT.
Lantronix said in June it had received a contract for a “Tier-1” mobile network operator to modernize more than 50,000 backup power systems and wireless cell sites.
While Awsare declined to give the amount of the contract, a calculation of unit price provides a contract price of up to $10 million.
The company also announced a contract win with Red Cat’s Teal Drones, where the Lantronix edge AI products will power Black Widow drones for the U.S. Army’s short-range reconnaissance program.
“What we do is enable the camera to work better and really to have edge compute and edge AI,” according to Awsare.
He predicted the Red Cat deal will “generate millions of dollars of revenue this year,” and drone work could eventually account for 10% of Lantronix’s annual revenue.
Separately, Lantronix said on Oct. 2 that its products have been selected by Gremsy, a leading global manufacturer of advanced camera-leveling stabilizers for drones and unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Lantronix continues to increase its momentum in the drone market with this breakthrough solution, which provides improved power efficiency for longer drone operational times while consuming less energy when processing tasks,” the company said in a news release.
Lantronix is also gaining acceptance for its “out-of-band products,” which transmit information through a separate communications channel.
“That is now getting data center acceptance,” the CEO said. To boost company growth, Awsare said he is “always looking” for acquisitions.
Revenue Down, Guidance Up
Lantronix on Aug. 27 said that revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter that ended June 30 fell 41% to $28.8 million, down from $49.1 million in the same period a year earlier, reflecting the loss from Gridspertise.
For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, Lantronix reported a GAAP net loss of $2.6 million, or 7 cents per share, compared to a GAAP net income of $386,000 in the same quarter of the previous year.
That is expected to bounce back soon.
The globally operating company predicts revenue may nudge up as high as $30.5 million for the current quarter, while adjusted earnings per share could be in the range of 2 cents to 4 cents.
Analysts are predicting revenue will grow 2.8% to $126.3 million in fiscal 2026, followed by an acceleration of 12% to $141.3 million in fiscal 2027.
The earnings report and management confidence got generally positive reviews from company analysts. Last week, Needham Co. raised its target price for the stock from $4.50 to $5.50.
Lantronix CEO has Deep Roots in California Tech
Saleel Awsare’s ties to the California tech world stretch back nearly 40 years, including a stint at one-time Irvine-based chip company Conexant Systems Inc.
Before he took over as president and CEO of Lantronix in November 2023, he was a senior vice president and general manager at San Jose-based chipmaker Synaptics Inc.
He helped bring about Synaptics acquisition of Conexant, where he had served as president from March 2016 until July 2017.
Awsare got his start in 1986 as a design engineer at Exar Corp., which was later acquired by MaxLinear of Carlsbad.
—Kevin Costelloe
Lantronix: Analyst Weigh-in Post Earnings
Stock analysts gave Lantronix generally positive reviews Aug. 28, the day after the company presented its fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2025 earnings results. Here are excerpts from three reports. Needham initially set its post-release price target at $4.50 but raised that to $5.50 at the end of September, citing expected drone business growth. The shares closed at $4.57 apiece on Sept. 30. Some excerpts follow below:
Craig-Hallum/Christian Schwab
Lantronix, Inc. (LTRX) Expanding Drone Opportunities Driving Increased Revenue Potential. Reiterating Our BUY Rating And Raising Our Price Target To $5.
Lantronix is seeing expanding opportunities within the drone market. The company recently announced a win with Red Cat for short range reconnaissance drones with the U.S. Army, while management stated they are working with a pipeline of an additional 10 drone customers.
The company outlined that its typical ASP for these applications is ~$500 and the average annual revenue opportunity with its pipeline of opportunities is ~$3-$5 million per customer. We would expect to see the company announce further design wins in this space over the course of FY26.
Roth Capital Partners/Scott Searle
LTRX reported 4Q25 results and provided a 1Q26 outlook that brackets consensus expectations (Note: adj for one-time inventory writedowns, LTRX beat consensus EPS by 1-2 cents).
More importantly, LTRX continues to post wins in edge compute/AI applications (video for drones, Red Cat, Aerora) and mobile carrier cell site monitoring. This is driving a return to growth (FY26 up 15% excluding Gridspertise) with healthy normalized GMs (43-44%). We believe that LTRX is poised to benefit from rapidly emerging edge compute/AI trends and would use the discounted valuation (~1x EV/sales) as an entry point. Buy.
Needham/Ryan Koontz
LTRX reported F4Q25 results that were in line vs consensus and guided F1Q in line.
Excluding previous key customer Gridspertise, which has halted procurement due to excess inventory, we estimate F4Q revenue growth was flat to slightly up y/y. EMEA (-80% y/y) was again very weak, likely due to Togg EV production and lack of Gridspertise revenue, but Americas revenue surprised with +16% y/y growth.
F1Q guidance reflects steady improvement within LTRX’s core business and a cost structure that demonstrates model leverage going forward. Management remains keen on pursuing opportunities in large and rapidly growing markets, including drones and edge AI.
