Thinking about investing in publicly traded cybersecurity companies — does it make sense?

Pay close attention to Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) on the financials. For tech companies doing business with government agencies, receivables turnover can stretch beyond 180 days. In a high-inflation environment, getting paid in local currency six months later destroys the company's real profits. A client portfolio weighted toward the private sector and foreign clients is always much healthier.

It's so easy to buy into a good narrative in tech. Cybersecurity sounds amazing on paper, but when you look at the actual turnover of a few listed companies you realize they just run on three or four government tenders. The moment those tenders dry up or get delayed those massive multiples collapse overnight. Tread very carefully imo.

Correction: I misremembered the figure, it was a bit lower.

I've been holding a company in this space for two years. When they posted a 15 million TL loss in Q1, the stock hit the lower limit; by year-end, a single defense contract delivery pushed them to a 110 million TL net profit. With these stocks, you can't look at single quarters—you have to position yourself based on cumulative 12 to 24-month figures.

Follow these three steps when evaluating them: 1) Check the FX export ratio in the annual report, 2) See if net working capital needs are being funded by short-term debt, 3) Review the share of personnel expenses within total operating expenses and check employee turnover rates.

Don't buy on headlines. Whenever news of a massive cyberattack hits the media, everyone rushes into these stocks, the price hits the upper circuit for two days, and then dumps right back to square one. Being a systems engineer is an edge; you're the best judge of whether their tech actually stands out against global competitors. If the product is solid, it'll grow into its valuation over time.

you dont buy tech stocks just looking at p/e, but definitely check the free float and whether the founders are selling shares. I mean if insiders keep dumping stock while reporting operational growth, theyre just offloading bags onto retail.

Where exactly in the annual reports can we find that order backlog breakdown? honestly i looked through the footnotes, but not every company seems to disclose it clearly. Isn't that legally required?

saved then splitting your budget without knowing where you're lossing users is just throwing money in the dark.

start with a small trial; don't commit to everything at once but just leaving this note, it might be useful.

You're right. Changing habits is harder and more expensive than setting up a system.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

We experienced almost the exact same thing last year... like a small market isn't bad; working cheaply in a small market is.

Im also curious if anyone does it differently.

I'd say don't rush. When you try to change everything at once, nothing settles.

Let me share what happened to me; it might be useful. Don't hesitate to ask; those who don't ask always pay more.

When making a decision also write down the cost of reversal. Of course, it varies if your situation is different.

Thanks, that was the answer I was looking for. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

To get into the details: Don't hesitate to ask; those who don't ask always pay more.

I'm also curious if anyone does it differently.

Same here.

i went throuh the same thing.

My questions are cleared up, thanks. The biggest time-waster for us was not knowing who had the final say.

Solutions that work at a small scale collapse when you grow; I learned this late. That's all, sorry if I went on too long.

The discussion got scattered, let me summarize. The real issue isn't the number, but what it's based on.

That's all, sorry if I went on too long.