Start here if you're new
what it is
Aware sells software that helps governments and companies recognize people by fingerprints, faces, and irises.
how it gets paid
Last year Aware made $17M in revenue. SDKs and biometric software was the main engine at $6.8M, or 40% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 0.6% last year. The $4.7M quarter shows the company is still mostly flat while losing money.
what just happened
Revenue hit $4.7M, but EPS stayed -$0.07.
At a glance
C++ balance sheet — some cracks in the foundation
40/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
-$0.21 fy2024 eps est
$17M fy2024 rev est
37.9% operating margin
xvary composite: 41/100 — below average
What they do
Aware sells software that helps governments and companies recognize people by fingerprints, faces, and irises.
Aware says 100+ commercial leaders and 80+ government agencies trust its software. Your replacement vendor has to rebuild those integrations. The company has sold this since 1993, or 32 years, which is a long time to become annoying to replace.
How they make money
$17M
annual revenue · their business grew -0.6% last year
SDKs and biometric software
$6.8M
+0.0%
Biometric applications
$4.8M
3.0%
Biometric services platform
$3.1M
+2.0%
Services and other
$2.3M
+1.0%
The products that matter
new software sales
Software licenses
$4.7M · 27.2% of revenue
this is where fresh demand shows up. it generated $4.7M last year and was flat, which tells you the sales engine has not turned yet.
growth test
recurring customer support revenue
Software maintenance
$12.4M · 71.7% of revenue
it's the core of the business. $12.4M of maintenance revenue gives aware a base to stand on, but that base still slipped 1.6% from a year ago.
recurring base
implementation and other services
Services & other
$0.2M · 1.1% of revenue
this line is too small to change the story. at $0.2M and down 33.3%, it is not the turnaround lever you care about.
not material
Key numbers
$17M
annual revenue
Revenue → sales → the whole company is still only a $17M business, so one contract swing matters.
37.9%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → the company loses 37.9 cents on every sales dollar.
C++
balance sheet
Balance sheet grade → financial cushion → C++ says the company is not fragile, but it is not swimming in cash either.
$3M
long-term debt
Debt → borrowed money → $3M is 10% of capital, so leverage exists without being the main drama.
Financial health
C++
strength
- balance sheet grade C++ — below average — limited financial resources
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 15 / 100
- long-term debt $3M (10% of capital)
C++ — below average. watch for debt servicing and cash burn.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for AWRE right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue hit $4.7M, but EPS stayed -$0.07.
Sales were up 146% vs. prior year. The quarter still lost money, which tells you growth is not yet paying the rent.
$4.7M
revenue
-$0.21
eps
146%
revenue growth
the number that mattered
The $4.7M quarter shows the company is still mostly flat while losing money.
source: EDGAR, Q4 2025 earnings release
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is continued cash burn in a $17.3M revenue business.
med
cash burn stays the story
Aware lost $6.0M last year on $17.3M of revenue. That is a large loss for a company worth about $30M in the market.
If revenue stays flat, the pressure shifts from product progress to financing risk.
med
maintenance revenue is sticky, not growing
Software maintenance produced $12.4M, or 71.7% of revenue, but it still fell 1.6%. The base is there. The expansion is not.
If the recurring line keeps slipping, the one part of the model that looks dependable stops being dependable.
med
new-ceo optimism arrives before proof
Ajay Amlani was appointed CEO in February 2025. Leadership changes can reset strategy, but they also buy time before numbers have to improve.
You can end up paying with patience while waiting for pipeline conversion that never shows up in reported sales.
med
thin coverage means wider swings
Institutional ownership data is limited and price stability is just 15 / 100. Small, lightly followed software names can gap around on very little new information.
Even if the business stays unchanged, the stock can behave like something dramatic happened.
A $6.0M annual loss against a $30M market cap leaves very little room for another year of flat execution.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
the key metric
software license revenue
License revenue was $4.7M and flat last year. If a turnaround is real, this is usually where you see it first.
next checkpoint
Q1 2026 earnings
You want to see more than cost talk. Revenue growth and a narrower loss would be the first actual evidence that 2026 is different.
balance-sheet pressure
another year of losses
A business losing $6.0M a year does not get infinite retries. Watch whether losses start shrinking from the recent $1.5M quarterly level.
recurring base
maintenance revenue trend
$12.4M of maintenance revenue is the floor under the story. If that line keeps declining from the current 1.6% drop, the floor gets softer.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
40 / 100
in human-speak, analysts do not see a smooth earnings path here. expect uneven quarters and sharp reactions to small changes.
risk rank
3
That puts AWRE around the middle on broad safety screens. The stock still feels riskier than that because the business is tiny and still losing money.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for AWRE is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$2
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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