The shares of GoPro are trading lower today after an analyst at Citi Group warned that the interest of consumers on action cameras is fading. The stock price of the action camera maker declined almost 3% to $57.22 per share around 12:25 in the afternoon in New York.
GoPro shipment and EPS estimates reduced
Citigroup analyst Jeremy David reduced his estimate on the shipment of GoPro action cameras after the result of a survey showed that the interest of consumers on action cameras is fading.
He noted that fewer consumers are planning to purchase action cameras this year. Consumers are switching their attention to drones as they look for alternatives to create virtual reality video.
Citigroup’s survey indicated that only 5% of consumers in the United States are planning to buy an action camera over the next 12 months. Last year, 7% expressed their intention to buy an action camera.
David suggested that the increasing popularity of drones could slow the growth of GoPro’s action camera.
David estimated that GoPro shipments will be around 9.3 million units by 2018, down from its previous estimate of 10.6 million units.
“Awareness of GoPro and its content is increasing (and now stands at 72%), but exposure to content is less likely to drive a purchase, and fewer respondents are describing the content as being ‘appealing,” said David in a note to investors.
David also reduced his 2015 and 2016 earnings estimates for GoPro to $1.55 per share and $1.86 per share, respectively. His estimates were lower than the consensus estimate at $1.66 per share (2015) and $1.96 per share (2016).
He maintained his Neutral rating on the stock with a price target of $56 per share.
GoPro CEO aims to transform the company into a media brand
Nick Woodman, the founder and CEO of GoPro aims to transform the company from a camera maker to a media brand. During an interview with Tech Crunch, Woodman said GoPro cameras are designed to withstand the harshest conditions, but the content are still saved on SD cards—a feature similar to traditional cameras, which needs to be addressed.
“GoPro has to build an iTunes type management system that just works with people. I didn’t realize that early on as a single guy. As soon as I became a Dad I had no more time to manage the content. We are sort of leaving our customers in a dark forest,” said Woodman.
Woodman indicated that GoPro has a huge plan for cloud services.
The company is still in the early stages of development. He explained that GoPro is developing a feature that would eliminate the task of transferring content from an SD card into editing software. According to him, the service will upload the content to a cloud service while the came is charging. Users will be able to edit their content and share it from the cloud service.
Woodman also indicated the possibility for users to be able to edit long videos into feature highlight reels. The feature could pave the way for GoPro’s goal of allowing users to share even more footages. He said, “When we do this, people will think of GoPro in whole new way.”
