Companies and Brands

Will the End of Fitbit Quiet Period Give the Stock a Jolt?

The 25-day quiet period on Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) ends Monday, July 13, and we can expect to see the company’s underwriters pushing out analysis and recommendations Tuesday morning. The maker of wearable fitness tracking devices began trading on June 18 at an opening price of $31.34 per share. Shares had priced at $20, giving the stock an opening lift of 52%. Since then the stock has more than doubled the initial public offering (IPO) price to close Friday at $42.10.

The IPO’s lead underwriters included Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Co-managers were Barclays, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Piper Jaffray, Raymond James, Stifel and William Blair. A total of 36.6 million shares were offered in the IPO, and the underwriters have exercised overallotment options on an additional 5.49 million shares. Of the total of more than 42 million shares, 53% were sold by the company and the rest by selling shareholders.

According to a report at Investor’s Business Daily, Baird analyst William Power issued a note to clients on July 7 initiating coverage with an Outperform rating and a price target of $52. Power said:

In our recent fitness band survey, 20% of U.S. respondents currently own some sort of fitness band, and 24% plan to purchase one. Fitbit led in current market share and in purchase intent, and exhibited the strongest loyalty among existing owners.

ALSO READ: 5 Big Defensive Dividend Stocks to Buy Trading at Deep Discounts

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets had already put an Outperform rating on the stock and price target of $45 at the end of June.

The company’s competitors include Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Jawbone, and, in some ways, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and its recently released Apple Watch. The most expensive Fitbit device, the Surge, has a list price of $249.95, a full $100 lower than the least expensive Apple Watch. The cheapest Fitbit device, the Zip, retails for $59.95.

Fitbit had 85% of the U.S. market for fitness wristbands in the first quarter of this year and about a third of the global market for the devices. Research firm IDC has said that the wearable device market is set to grow from 45.7 million in 2014 to 126.1 million by 2019. Of the total market in 2015, nearly 90% will be wrist-worn wearables, or about 41 million devices.

Since July 1, Fitbit stock has traded right around $42, a share after climbing from around $33 on June 29. The IPO underwriters are virtually certain to have good things to say about the company on Tuesday, especially given the beating that Apple has taken over reportedly weak sales of the Apple Watch.

ALSO READ: 5 Fresh Dividend Hikes Too Important to Ignore

Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)

Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.

Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.

Click here now to get started.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.