iBought iRobot

In the same holiday spirit as wives buying husbands tool sets so they can fix odds and ends around the house, this year's household fixing gift (I think) will ultimately be an iRobot consumer product. Picture this: You (the married female) open your nicely wrapped present and *gasp!* it's a vacuum. Immediately somewhat dismayed, the husband jumps right in and wows you with "But you won't have to vacuum anymore! It'll do it for you!" What he really means on the inside is, "Now the house will be clean and if it's not, it's so simple that I can make the iRobot vacuum."

All sarcasm aside, I really do like iRobot's line of consumer products. I think they're particularly fascinating and hope to purchase one myself soon. But I do think a Roomba or Scooba could be on a lot of shopping lists this year (because of the aforementioned mentality). Retailers are anticipating this too. I've seen advertisements for Roomba's and Scooba's at Sam's Clubs, Linens N Things, and Target - just to name a few.

Anyway, I digress. My whole revelation on iRobot being a hot item for Christmas prompted me to buy shares today. I was a little weary - statistically, companies that just IPO end up with their shares trading significantly lower on the one year anniversary date of the IPO. (Most obviously, Google is an outlier in that statistic, with shares trading up 360% since it's IPO a year and a half ago.) Since I'm not too patient, I give myself props for even waiting a solid month before purchasing. But I do believe iRobot has a lot of growth potential. In addition, iRobot has a solid and very satisfied customer base that looks again to iRobot to fulfill their vacuum's filter-refill needs and dream of the day when iRobot will fulfill their cooking needs or bathroom cleaning needs. (If you're bored, read through some of the Owner Reviews.) Not only are consumers chiming in on their love for their product, iRobot has actually been receiving it's fair share of awards for their Scooba this year. I mean, it is the first floor washing robot available for home use. (Oh. If you didn't know, the Roomba vacuums, and the Scooba washes, scrubs, and dries hard floors. Pretty ingenious, huh?)

IRBT's trading range thus far has been between $26.29 (IPO date) to $37.33 (two days after it's IPO), and is currently trading around $31. This will be one of my buy and hold positions. It has too much upside potential to risk cashing out too early.