Why Ambarella Earnings Are Finally Decoupled From GoPro

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 7:15AM EST · Published Jun 2, 4:31PM EDT

Why Ambarella Earnings Are Finally Decoupled From GoPro — © Thinkstock

Ambarella Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) reported fiscal first-quarter financial results after markets closed on Thursday. The company said it had $0.34 in earnings per share (EPS) on $57.2 million in revenue, compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.28 in EPS on $57.01 million in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.71 in EPS on $71.01 million in revenue.

Considering the GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) situation, some investors might have had low opinions on Ambarella and expected a poor quarter. GoPro is currently going through a transitionary phase for its products. With Ambarella tied to it as its key supplier, weaker estimates were most likely made on the assumption that GoPro’s underperformance would be Ambarella’s as well.

During this quarter, Ambarella’s board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to $75 million of its ordinary shares over a six month period beginning in the second quarter of this year.

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Gross margin for the first quarter was 64.6%, compared with 64.8% for the same period in fiscal 2016.

Fermi Wang, CEO of Ambarella, commented:

We are pleased with our execution during the first fiscal quarter of 2017, as we introduced our first 14nm IP camera SoC and continued to see strong design win momentum for our new 4K and HEVC SoC families across all market segments. While near term headwinds continue in the wearable sports camera market, and we expect some adverse impact to our business caused by the disruption in supply of Sony image sensors to our customers as a result of the April 2016 Japanese earthquake, we remain confident of renewed revenue growth based on our technology leadership, product roadmap and the potential of our current and future markets.

On the books, Ambarella’s cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $323.8 million at the end of the quarter, versus $235.2 million at the end of the same period of last year.

Shares of Ambarella closed Thursday up 2.3% at $42.48, with a consensus analyst price target of $57.00 and a 52-week trading range of $33.39 to $129.19. Following the release of the report, the stock was up 1.8% at $43.25 in the after-hours trading session.

GoPro shares closed Thursday up nearly 4% at $10.72, with a consensus price target of $11.88 and a 52-week range of $8.62 to $65.49. After Ambarella’s earnings, the stock was up an additional 0.4% at $10.76.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.