How much inventory exposure are we carrying?

MetricDays of inventory on hand

Unitdays (365 divided by inventory turns, turns calculated as cost of revenue over ending inventory)

Line of (inventory value divided by daily COGS). High means obsolescence risk; low means stockout risk. Build from inventory value divided by daily cost of goods sold. 60-90 days typical; above 120 raises write-down risk. Example: 85 days Q1, 110 days Q4 (overstocked).

COGS

Cost of goods sold. Direct costs of delivering the product: hosting, payment fees, support, materials and freight.

Public consumer electronics hardware brands, FY2025, cost of revenue over ending inventory. Manufacturer or brand level, not retailer level. · Two very different benchmarks circulate under the same name and must not be mixed. Manufacturer or brand level runs roughly 77 to 216 days across public comps, because the brand carries components, finished goods and in-transit stock. Retail and ecommerce guidance of 30 to 45 days for electronics describes a reseller holding finished goods only. High days on hand is also not automatically bad: one comp finances over 200 days deliberately, backed by a 58.7% gross margin and a $2.08bn cash balance, to guarantee availability. Judge the level against your own balance sheet and lead times, and judge the trend against unit volume.

Category split omitted: The two working capital surveys located report sector cash conversion cycle movement rather than a comparable DIO by device category, and the remaining data is firm-level, so a category table would rest on single companies standing in for categories.

Days on hand climbs for three or more consecutive quarters while units shipped are flat or falling, and the increase sits in finished goods rather than components, so the build is unsold product rather than pre-positioned supply.

96 days rising to 173 days over four quarters with shipments down 9%, parking roughly a quarter of annual cost of revenue in finished goods.

• Set days-on-hand targets by SKU class against actual supplier lead time rather than one company-wide number, and be explicit that a 200-day position is a financing decision only a balance sheet like the top comp's can carry.
• Flag every SKU running above twice the category median days and clear it through refurbished, bundled or channel-exclusive routes before it needs a write-down. Cost of revenue in this category routinely includes excess and obsolete write-downs, so the charge lands in gross margin if you wait.
• Split the reported number into components, finished goods and in-transit, and report each separately. The Hackett Group attributes the hardware sector's 2025 deterioration specifically to overproduction and inventory buildup, which only shows in the finished goods line.
• Pair every days-on-hand target with a fill-rate floor, so the number cannot be improved by under-forecasting and missing sales.

1. EightxConsumer electronics inventory planning: a CFO guide · 2026 · Public consumer electronics comps, FY2025 10-K and XBRL pull from SEC EDGAR Recomputed FY2025 turns: one navigation and wearables comp at 1.69x, about 216 days, financed by a 58.7% gross margin and a $2.08bn cash balance. A connected audio comp ran about 4.8x, roughly 77 days, after cutting inventory from $454.3m to $171.0m across four years. eightx.co ↗
2. EightxConsumer Electronics Financial Benchmarks 2026 · 2026 · Six public consumer electronics comps, SEC EDGAR Hardware-pure inventory turnover runs around 3.5x a year, roughly 100 days or more of stock, against a faster broad-DTC benchmark. eightx.co ↗
3. EightxConsumer Electronics Brand Unit Economics · 2026 · Six public electronics comps FY2025 inventory turns of 3.5x (about 104 days) and 3.6x for two of the comps, computed as cost of revenue over ending inventory. eightx.co ↗
4. The Hackett Group2025 US Working Capital Survey · 2025 · Top 1,000 US publicly traded nonfinancial companies Cash conversion cycle improved 4% to 37 days on a 3% DPO improvement to 59 days, while DSO and DIO both worsened slightly. The computer hardware and peripherals sector saw a 182% decline in cash conversion cycle on overproduction and inventory buildup driven by AI demand and trade policy uncertainty. thehackettgroup.com ↗
5. The Hackett Group2025 European Working Capital Survey · 2025 · 1,000 largest European-headquartered nonfinancial companies European DIO rose 4% to 68.9 days, its highest level in a decade, as companies built buffers against supply chain and geopolitical risk. Cash conversion cycle worsened 3%. thehackettgroup.com ↗
6. US SEC (Garmin Ltd)Garmin 2025 Annual Report, Form ARS · 2026 · One public manufacturer, FY2025 Revenue of $7.25bn at a 58.7% gross margin and 25.9% operating margin, the margin and cash position that make a long inventory holding affordable rather than dangerous. sec.gov ↗
7. CleverenceGuide: inventory turnover days interpretation · 2026 · Directional category ranges, retail and ecommerce level Consumer electronics at retail level runs 30 to 70 days, with launch cycles spiking days before big releases, against 10 to 20 days for grocery and 30 to 90 for fast fashion. cleverence.com ↗
8. Descartes FinaleDays Inventory Outstanding: Complete Guide · 2026 · Category benchmark table, seller level Electronics businesses at seller level target 30 to 45 days, against 50 to 70 for apparel retail and 60 to 100 or more for manufacturing companies. finaleinventory.com ↗