GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) shares slumped 9.29% on Thursday to close at $71.74 after the company disappointed investors by pricing its secondary offering at $75. Shares of the action camera maker have almost tripled since its June IPO at $24. At one point in October, the stock was trading above $93 and many analysts were expecting the stock to hit $100.
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Follow-on offering expected to generate $780 million
So, when the company prices its follow-on offering at $75, most investors were alarmed. The pricing indicates that GoPro believed its stock was overpriced and $75 was all the market could bear. The action camera company will sell 1.29 million shares itself. GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman is selling 4.1 million shares in the offering. Riverwood Capital would offload 1.63 million shares and Foxteq Holdings plans to sell one million shares.
In total, 10.36 million shares will be sold by the company and existing shareholders. GoPro said that the underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy an additional 1.55 million class-A shares. The San Mateo-based company is expected to receive close to $100 million from the proposed sale. Current shareholders will rake in about $680 million from the sale of 9.1 million shares, which doesn’t inspire much confidence.
[drizzle]Why is GoPro raising fresh capital for itself?
GoPro ended the third quarter with $237.7 million in cash. So, it’s still unclear why the company is raising $100 million in new capital. Underwriters for the offering are Morgan Stanley, Piper Jaffray, JMP Securities, Barclays, JPMorgan, Stifel, Raymond James, Citigroup and Baird. Before falling heavily on Thursday, GoPro shares had been increasing in the run up to the crucial holiday shopping season.
The company’s new cameras Hero 4 Silver Edition and hero 4 Black Edition have been selling pretty well since their launch in late September. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter says that GoPro products are on every retailer’s hot product list. Wall Street expects the company to generate $574 million in sales and 69 cents in earnings per share in the current quarter.
However, shares recovered partially in the early trading Friday, gaining 2.41%.
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