JCS Communications Systems, Inc.

Communications Systems, Inc. operates through its subsidiaries which are principally engaged in the manufacture and sale of core media conversion products and connectivity infrastructure products for broadband and voice communications. It operates through the following segments: Transition Networks, JDL Technologies, and Net2Edge. The Transition Networks segment designs and markets media conversion products, ethernet switches, and other connectivity and data transmission products. The JDL Technologies segment is an IT managed services provider and value-added reseller. The Net2Edge segment develops, manufactures and sells products to connect legacy networks to high-speed services. The company was founded by Curtis A. Sampson in 1969 and is headquartered in Minnetonka, MN.

Company profile

Ticker

JCS

Exchange

NASDAQ

Website

www.commsystems.com

CEO

Roger H. D. Lacey

Incorporated in

Minnesota

Location

Minnesota

Fiscal year end

Dec 31

Sector

Electronic Technology > Telecommunications Equipment

Industry (SEC)

Telephone & Telegraph Apparatus

Avaya • Ciena • NETGEAR • Plantronics • ADTRAN • Infinera • Fabrinet • AudioCodes • Westell • DASAN Zhone Solutions ...

Former names

Communications Systems Inc

SEC CIK

0000022701

Corporate docs

Articles of Incorporation & Bylaws

IRS number

410957999

JCS stock data

S&P 500

1M 1Y 2Y 5Y

Calendar

15 May 20

7 Jul 20

31 Dec 20

News

Company financial data Financial data

Chart JCS financial data

Quarter (USD)	Mar 20	Dec 19	Sep 19	Jun 19
Revenue	9.16M	15.36M	13.62M	10.7M
Net income	1.5M	1.72M	1.74M	2.77M
Diluted EPS	0.16	0.18	0.19	0.3
Net profit margin	16.42%	11.20%	12.75%	25.91%
Operating income	-1.22M	1.19M	772K	-1.13M
Net change in cash	6.63M	-693.42K	1.47M	3.66M
Cash on hand	20.56M	13.93M	14.62M	13.15M
Cost of revenue	5.43M	-1.75M	10.49M	9.69M

Annual (USD)	Dec 19	Dec 18	Dec 17	Dec 16
Revenue	50.91M	42.37M	82.32M	99.35M
Net income	6.47M	-6.79M	-11.83M	-8.11M
Diluted EPS	0.69	-0.75	-1.32	-0.92
Net profit margin	12.71%	-16.03%	-14.36%	-8.17%
Operating income	9.21K	-4.75M	-11.76M	-4.46M
Net change in cash	2.87M	-1.4M	2.01M	630.54K
Cash on hand	13.93M	11.06M	12.45M	10.44M
Cost of revenue	28.72M	24.75M	61.49M	72.77M

Financial data from company earnings reports

Recent insider trades

JCS insider ownership history Insider history

Date	Owner	Security	Transaction	Code	10b5-1	$Price	#Shares	$Value	#Remaining
17 Jun 20	Randall D Sampson	Stock Option (Right-to-Buy) Common Stock	Grant	Aquire A	No	4.94	10,000	49.4K	10,000
17 Jun 20	Primuth Richard A	Stock Option (Right-to-Buy) Common Stock	Grant	Aquire A	No	4.94	10,000	49.4K	10,000
17 Jun 20	Zapata Michael R.	Stock Option (Right-to-Buy) Common Stock	Grant	Aquire A	No	4.94	10,000	49.4K	10,000
17 Jun 20	Webster Steven	Stock Option (Right-to-Buy) Common Stock	Grant	Aquire A	No	4.94	10,000	49.4K	10,000

Data from 3, 4 and 5 filings. Stock values as filed, not updated for current price.

Institutional ownership Q1 2020

JCS institutional ownership history Ownership history

42.8% owned by funds/institutions

13F holders	Current	Prev Q	Change
Total holders	29	36	-19.4%
Opened positions	5	11	-54.5%
Closed positions	12	2	+500.0%
Increased positions	13	8	+62.5%
Reduced positions	6	11	-45.5%

13F shares	Current	Prev Q	Change
Total value	17.84M	19.55M	-8.7%
Total shares	4M	3.17M	+26.2%
Total puts	0	0
Total calls	0	0
Total put/call ratio	–	–	–

Largest owners	Shares	Value	Change
GBL Gamco Investors, Inc. Et Al	722.14K	$3.22M	+6.8%
Renaissance Technologies	706.35K	$3.15M	-1.0%
Dimensional Fund Advisors	449.69K	$2.01M	+1.6%
TETAB Teton Advisors	432K	$1.93M	NEW
Gabelli Funds	307K	$1.37M	+0.9%
Vanguard	301.58K	$1.35M	+67.0%
Bridgeway Capital Management	182.1K	$812K	+61.6%
Punch & Associates Investment Management	134.65K	$601K	NEW
EAM Investors	118.05K	$526K	+4.2%
BLK BlackRock	110.75K	$494K	+0.5%

Largest transactions	Shares	Bought/sold	Change
TETAB Teton Advisors	432K	+432K	NEW
Punch & Associates Investment Management	134.65K	+134.65K	NEW
Vanguard	301.58K	+121.03K	+67.0%
Bridgeway Capital Management	182.1K	+69.4K	+61.6%
Acadian Asset Management	109.67K	+61.01K	+125.4%
FOSUY Fosun International	53.98K	+53.98K	NEW
GBL Gamco Investors, Inc. Et Al	722.14K	+45.96K	+6.8%
Millennium Management	0	-23.98K	EXIT
Leap Investments	0	-18.49K	EXIT
Prelude Capital Management	0	-18.3K	EXIT

Data from 13F filings. Stock values as filed, not updated for current price. Long positions only.

Financial report summary

Competition

FutureLink • Procera Networks • Spok

Management Discussion

Consolidated sales decreased 18.3% in the first quarter of 2020 to $9,163,000 compared to $11,216,000 in the same period of 2019. Consolidated operating loss from continuing operations in the first quarter of 2020 was $1,224,000 compared to an operating loss from continuing operations of $821,000 in the first quarter of 2019. Net loss from continuing operations in the first quarter of 2020 was $809,000 or $ (0.09) per share compared to net loss from continuing operations of $792,000 or $ (0.09) per share in the first quarter of 2019.
Transition Networks sales decreased 8% to $8,164,000 in the first quarter of 2020 compared to $8,890,000 in 2019. Transition Networks organizes its sales force by vertical markets and segments its customers geographically. First quarter sales by region are presented in the following table:
Sales in North America increased $532,000, or 8%, primarily due to a strong quarter of sales to Federal agencies partially offset by a decline in sales to one major telecommunications customer. International sales decreased $1,258,000, or 64%, primarily due to an overall drop in demand for traditional products and the economic effects of COVID-19. Sales of Intelligent edge solutions (“IES”) products increased 36% or $828,000 due to higher sales of security and surveillance products and federal government contracts. Traditional product sales decreased 23% or $1,554,000 due mainly to a decline in media converter orders from one major telecommunications customer.

Content analysis ?

Positive
Negative
Uncertain
Constraining
Legalese
Litigous
Readability	H.S. freshman Avg

New words: adapt, advanced, American, approach, area, assist, assurance, automated, bandwidth, begun, bespoke, burden, charge, circuit, closure, complying, conducted, CRH, deemed, deploying, disruption, distance, distancing, drop, Ecessa, economic, ecosystem, emulation, enable, enterprise, environment, evolve, expertise, final, headcount, Hector, immaterial, inability, Initiative, instituted, intellectual, intelligence, intelligent, interface, Internet, IP, Ireland, ISDN, leadership, local, LTE, mandatory, MediaMAX, merger, minimizing, monitor, multiplexing, niche, Oldcastle, original, overhead, packet, pandemic, partnering, personnel, plant, PLC, Plymouth, portfolio, portion, power, PowerLink, Primex, promote, pushed, quality, range, refresh, reliably, repeated, Resilient, resolving, response, restored, restructuring, retrospectively, reverse, Serial, shut, simple, Simplification, simplify, Simplifying, social, SoHo, space, SpeedStar, successfully, TDM, team, temporarily, treated, triangular, TSA, upgrade, WANworX, wholly, wide

Removed: adequacy, amortization, ancillary, anniversary, announcing, arising, award, awarded, cabling, capacity, carrier, categorized, commenced, commencement, communication, connecting, conversion, correcting, covering, created, declining, delayed, dependence, determinable, EMEA, established, estimate, failure, featured, February, finite, fully, funded, FutureLink, half, identifiable, implementing, implicit, improve, incremental, individual, intangible, leasing, marketing, mix, Ownership, package, PPC, practical, pressure, project, prototype, qualitative, quantitative, realigned, realignment, recording, Release, rent, resumption, ROU, scheduled, September, shift, slower, spend, strategic, structured, terminate, Tier, utilize, vest, vesting, voice, Volatility, volume

From filing 10-Q 2020 Q1