GoPro had a troublesome third quarter as sales dropped to $240.6 million from $400 million in 2015. Post the release of the news, GoPro’s stock slumped to $11.94 per share and was halted after hours. The stock touched as high as $17.15 per share after the announcement of the Karma drone and new Hero 5 cameras in September.
GoPro, IFA 2015 by Janitors, FlickrSeries of problems weighed on GoPro’s numbers
During the investor call, CEO Nick Woodman said that the poor third quarter earnings are the outcome of a series of problems such as disappointing sales and production problems with the Hero 5 and Karma drone. This, according to him, negatively impacted the retail availability. However, the company is still hopeful that its new products will sell well this holiday season.
GoPro is also upbeat about its fourth quarter revenue, estimating it at $625 million. This reflects the company’s optimistic approach, given it has hit $400 million in revenue only four times since it went public in 2013, notes The Verge. GoPro’s stock is not performing well and has been declining since the summer of 2015.
GoPro largely depends on the holiday season now to help it clock revenue close to the level of its fourth quarter in 2014 — the first holiday season in which the Hero camera was on sale. Historically, the holiday season is seen as the best one for the company, notes The Verge. GoPro’s fortune largely depends on customers and whether it can attract new customers or retain old ones and convince them to upgrade their existing models.
GoPro re-positioning itself
GoPro has been forming its software team from quite some time, and recently they have started delivering new desktop and mobile apps and products like the cloud storage subscription service that gives users access to their footage on all their devices. According to The Verge, the company is positioning itself more as a platform rather than as a hardware maker, and its growth will rely much on convincing people of this.
During the investor call, Woodman said, “The thesis for GoPro remains the same: the world is filled with an increasing number of consumers that are interested in capturing and expressing themselves visually and socially.”
He added that GoPro is at the “epicentre of that, as a storytelling solution that really is a differentiated way to capture and share one’s life in a manner that you simply cannot do with a smartphone or DSLR.”
On Thursday, GoPro closed down 7.01% at $11.94. Year to date, the stock is down more than 35%, while in the last year, it is down more than 52%. The stock was down almost 20% after hours.
