GoPro Revenues Down Far More Than Expected

November 3, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) is a story that investors have to wonder about. The stock was already down 7% ahead of earnings. All the hype of wearable action cameras and then to drones has not managed to bring a recovery to the post-IPO highs. In fact, GoPro shares were halted for the news and now shareholders will know why.

GoPro’s adjusted earnings per share was a loss at -$0.60 EPS and revenue was $240.57 million. Those compare to a year ago being at $0.25 EPS and revenues were down a sharp 29.9% from a year ago. The consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters were -$0.36 EPS and $316 million in revenues.

Fourth quarter guidance was offered at $625 million (plus or minus $25 million) and the company’s adjusted earnings guidance was $0.30 EPS plus or minus 5-cents. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters were $0.46 EPS and $675.5 million in revenues.

For 2017, GoPro is looking for double-digit revenue growth, for non-GAAP operating expenses of approximately $650 million, and for the company to be profitable on a non-GAAP basis but with a GAAP net loss.

Despite the negative actual performance, CEO Nick Woodman was talking up that GoPro launched its GoPro Plus as a camera-to-cloud content management solution and that GoPro is now an end-to-end hardware and software storytelling solution. The efforts to show that the operating expenses would be down substantially in 2017 and that the company expects to return to profitability in the fourth quarter and for all of 2017 might not matter.

GoPro’s balance sheet continues to dwindle down as well. At the end of 2015 it had $1.1 billion in total assets — and that was down to $901 million at the end of the September quarter.

CEO and Founder Nick Woodman said:

These are the best products we’ve ever made and consumer demand is strong. GoPro is now a seamless storytelling experience and we’re very happy with customer reception so far. Looking forward to 2017, we expect to return to profitability, driven by the strength of our new products, double digit revenue growth and annual operating expenses of approximately $650 million.

GoPro shares were down 7% at $11.94 ahead of the news on Thursday’s close. The trading volume was 8 million shares. The after-hours trading reaction was down another 18% at $9.60 after reopening. GoPro’s prior 52-week range is $8.62 to $26.12 and the consensus analyst price target ahead of earnings was $14.00 per share.

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