Key Takeaways:
Dogness reported its revenue rose 39.5% in its fiscal year through June to $20.7 million, while its loss narrowed by 15.8% to $5.1 million
The pet product seller's shares have fallen by three quarters since the beginning of the year, despite strong growth for smart products in its latest fiscal year
Decades ago, Chen Silong, then 16, began his career working in a shoelace factory in Dongguan, the industrial city near Guangzhou that has been called the factory to the world. After trying his hand at a few different industries, Chen started a business printing and dyeing shoelaces for shoe factories in 2003 at the age of 22. From there he gradually expanded into carabiners, and then pet leashes, before founding his current company, Dogness (International) Corp. (NASDAQ:DOGZ) in 2008.
Chen got his timing right with the rise of China's pet economy, which initially boomed among millennials and continues to find strong demand from a GenZ that is more likely to raise pets than kids and treat pets as family. The country's pet population is relatively stable, at about 124.1 million in 2024, and a new growth wave is coming from a vast array of pet products and services adding high-tech touches into traditional things like leashes and feeders.
After going public on the Nasdaq in 2017, Dogness hit a peak in 2022 as the pandemic created a worldwide boom in pet adoption. But the company has been in the doghouse since then, mired in losses and declining revenues, echoed by a relentless decline in its share price. Now, the pet tech wave is showing there could yet still be some life in the Dogness story, as reflected in its latest annual results for its fiscal year through June, released earlier this month.
The headline numbers showed the company is on the road to recovery, although its core pet leash business remains ...
