GoPro stock continues to get pummeled today as analyst after analyst warns that weak Session sales do not bode well for the camera maker, and on top of that, negative reviews of its newest cameras are now out. There have been calls in the past for Apple to buy the company, and those calls have been renewed again now that GoPro shares hit a new low this week.
Renewing the call for Apple to buy GoPro
The stock fell as much as 5.46% to $27.73 per share during late morning trading. GoPro shares are off by more than 22% since they debuted on the NASDAQ last year.
Gerber Kawasaki President and CEO Ross Gerber told CNBC‘s Closing Bell on Wednesday that he thinks Apple should take advantage of GoPro’s new lows to acquire the company. He said GoPro has “a unique position in the market,” which is why he’s advocating for Apple to buy it. He also thinks Apple will acquire “another bright ecosystem addition by acquiring GoPro.
He added that the low prices offer an attractive entry point for investors who are thinking in the long term.
Action cameras the next big thing?
Analyst Daniel Ives of FBR Capital Markets agrees that Apple should consider snapping up GoPro while it’s cheap. He thinks action cameras just might be the smartphone market’s next big development, which could put GoPro up head to head with Apple. The analyst thinks that within the next year or two, Apple could become more interested in the action camera market and might think about buying GoPro. Further, he suggested that Microsoft might be interested as well.
It’s worth noting, however, that buying GoPro would be rather out of character for Apple. Sure, it has the ash to do it, but GoPro’s market cap is nearly $4 billion, even after the recent stock price declines. The most Apple has paid to acquire a company (that has been made public anyway) was $3 billion, which it paid for Beats Electronics. Beats was a private company at the time of the purchase, however, unlike GoPro.
Of course looking at the Beats acquisition, Apple did get a related product in the company’s iconic ear-canceling headphones. On the other hand though, the company may have been more interested in Beats’ streaming music service, as it launched iTunes Radio not long after the acquisition. Apple also could have considered the headphones part of the business as a nice little extra.
