Axon Enterprise CEO on emergency call line acquisitions

In a Wednesday interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Axon Enterprise CEO Rick Smith explained his company’s recent acquisitions, describing how their artificial intelligence technology can modernize emergency call lines.

“The reason we made not just one acquisition in this space, but two, is because we now have the most modern technology stack for handling 911 calls,” Smith said. “Our second acquisition actually not only layers in AI, but can replace the entire call center. You can run it from the cloud.”

Axon is known for making law enforcement equipment including drones and tasers. The company officially closed an acquisition of Prepared, an AI-powered 911 communication’s platform, in October. It announced Tuesday that it plans to buy Carbyne, another emergency communications platform.

According to Smith, AI tools are able to assist operators with real-time call translation and summaries, as well as dispatch drones immediately. For example, Smith said, in a major city during a holiday weekend, Prepared’s technology helped reduce the number of emergency calls operators had to handle by by 33% because AI was able to deal with non-critical calls like noise complaints.

Axon reported an earnings miss Tuesday night as the company dealt with new tariffs. By Wednesday’s close, the stock had dipped 9.43%. Smith indicated that Axon is able to shoulder costs related to new duties.

“We said that margins were less high than they would have otherwise been, but the adjusted EBITDA numbers still came in right where we said it would,” Smith told Cramer. “So we’re able to…absorb that and still hit our operating numbers.”