GoPro suffers another awful quarter, misses analysts' estimates by a huge margin

[midian182]

GoPro has announced its Q3 2016 earnings, and, like every other one of its quarters this year, the news isn’t good. The wearable camera and drone maker missed analysts estimates by a huge margin, causing shares to plummet more than 22 percent.

GoPro posted sales of $240.5 million for the last quarter, marking a 40 percent decrease from the $400 million it generated during the same period last year. It also reported a loss of 60 cents a share. Wall Street was expecting $316 million in sales and a much smaller loss of 35 cents per share.

GoPro has lost $84 million in the last three months, a 330 percent YoY fall. The company’s stock trading was halted before the results were released, but the share price fell so much in after-hours trading that almost $250 million was wiped off the value of the company. GoPro’s stock has been declining steadily since last summer, and has fallen around 56 percent this year.

The company issued fourth-quarter revenue estimates of between $600 million and $650 million, which seems optimistic given its recent results. Analysts, however, were expecting more - $675 million. Sales forecasts for the year have also been lowered, down to between $1.25 billion and $1.3 billion from previous estimates of $1.35 billion to $1.5 billion.

Despite the disastrous results, company founder and CEO Nick Woodman remains positive. He said the company’s main problem is with production – it apparently can’t make enough products, especially the Hero 5 Black cameras and Karma drones, to keep up with consumer demands. Both devices were released in October, so their sales aren’t taken into account in the Q3 report.

Woodman added that he expects his company to start making money again next year. "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," he said.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/66930-gopro-suffers-another-awful-quarter-misses-analysts-estimates.html

 

[umbala]

I don't know what these guys are expecting. Every few months they release a slightly "better", but much more expensive version of their toy and they think everyone will rush out to buy it. Most people who wanted want of these gadgets probably has one now and they're not going to keep buying more and more expensive revisions of the same thing.

 

[yRaz]

I don't know what these guys are expecting. Every few months they release a slightly "better", but much more expensive version of their toy and they think everyone will rush out to buy it. Most people who wanted want of these gadgets probably has one now and they're not going to keep buying more and more expensive revisions of the same thing.

The great thing about their original cameras was that they were so cheap that you could do anything with them and just replace it if it broke. Now their new cameras are so expensive that the idea of putting one on the end of an RC car and driving it off a cliff just to see what happens is out of the question.

GoPro gave up the low end market and now tons of companies moved in to fill the void. It seems they completely forgot what products made them famous in the firstplace.

 

[ghostf1re]

I don't know what these guys are expecting. Every few months they release a slightly "better", but much more expensive version of their toy and they think everyone will rush out to buy it. Most people who wanted want of these gadgets probably has one now and they're not going to keep buying more and more expensive revisions of the same thing.

The great thing about their original cameras was that they were so cheap that you could do anything with them and just replace it if it broke. Now their new cameras are so expensive that the idea of putting one on the end of an RC car and driving it off a cliff just to see what happens is out of the question.

GoPro gave up the low end market and now tons of companies moved in to fill the void. It seems they completely forgot what products made them famous in the firstplace.

That's what fame does to any company. They drive prices up because they know consumers will continue to buy their products until another company comes out with something comparable for a lower price. They just got greedy with the situation and figured people would continue to buy every year on marginal upgrades at best.

 

[Rippleman]

Diminishing return products... gotta hate it.

 

[Kibaruk]

I think they hit a sweet spot in the Session but then again, they are trying to release as fast as flagship phones for like someone said already, diminishing return. Yes, they are nice quality, yes it makes total sense to get a new one if you don't have a previous one, but still.

 

[yRaz]

I think they hit a sweet spot in the Session but then again, they are trying to release as fast as flagship phones for like someone said already, diminishing return. Yes, they are nice quality, yes it makes total sense to get a new one if you don't have a previous one, but still.

After all the things me and my friends have put a go pro through, I'll never pay $300+ for a camera that I'm going to hit with a golfclub

 

[GyratingIndy]

With smartphone having even better and better cameras every year, it's only logical for us to say goodbye to dedicated cameras.

 

[Kibaruk]

With smartphone having even better and better cameras every year, it's only logical for us to say goodbye to dedicated cameras.

I imagines myself having a phone on the helmet... yeah not happening.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

I'd be very interested in a pair of POV glasses that could record in 1080p 60 FPS and offered digital image stabilization.

Other than that, their cameras are bulky and cost way too much.

I have an easier time making videos on iPhone 7 Plus 256GB.

I can record for over 5 hours and finalize my videos on iMovie.

Upload to Youtube.

Profit.

 

[captaincranky]

I'd be very interested in a pair of POV glasses that could record in 1080p 60 FPS and offered digital image stabilization....[ ]....

I thought that's what "Google Glass" was all about, and AFAIK those things are pretty much over.

Dream on about onboard IS in a product that small. Even more critical, you wouldn't be compensating for a bit of simple human unsteadiness induced camera shake. Think more in terms of head bobbing, weaving, and swiveling, needing to be compensated for.

Besides, IS adds a massive amount of cost to lenses with the capability. I believe the Canon L 70 to 200 F2.8 pro zoom is about $2400.00, while pretty much the exact same lens without IS is offered at about $1400.00!!

 

[Bigtruckseries]

I thought that's what "Google Glass" was all about, and AFAIK those things are pretty much over.

Dream on about onboard IS in a product that small. Even more critical, you wouldn't be compensating for a bit of simple human unsteadiness induced camera shake. Think more in terms of head bobbing, weaving, and swiveling, needing to be compensated for.

Besides, IS adds a massive amount of cost to lenses with the capability. I believe the Canon L 70 to 200 F2.8 pro zoom is about $2400.00, while pretty much the exact same lens without IS is offered at about $1400.00!!

The iPhone 6 Plus has digital image stabilization. The vast majority of its BULK is actually battery rather than circuitry. The camera - which I am fond of - runs perfectly and it's a flat sensor. Why couldn't someone build a pair of glasses - even if they were bulky? Pivothead? Oakley? They've already done it - I just want better.

 

[Kibaruk]

That being the case... just do it with any software, your loved youtube has post processing video stabilization, what Captain was talking was REAL IS, not centering the video and smoothing corners.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

That being the case... just do it with any software, your loved youtube has post processing video stabilization, what Captain was talking was REAL IS, not centering the video and smoothing corners.

Some people complain that Youtube's stabilizer makes the video blurry. I prefer it be done by the camera.

 

[Alex Voinica]

Phone are becoming waterproof and dustproof, and they capability to film and make photos are better and better. Plus, the Xiaomi Yi camera is half the price I believe and it does 95% of the same job. What were they expecting ?
GoPro 5 is a very small improvement over GoPro 4.

 

[mbrowne5061]

They should have kept their low end around, and then done yearly refreshes on that. They were right to make a high end model, but wrong to try to refresh it so often. How often do you see Nikon or Canon refresh their models? There is a reason for that: photographers and videographers are not made of money. The serious ones are looking to upgrade every 3-5yrs, the casual ones (that still use a dedicated DSLR) are around 5-7.

Breaking back into the low-end with the Session was the right move. Trying to turn their software into a semi-subscription was a very bad one. I'm not hopeful for their future - but I'm not expecting them to die tomorrow either.

 

[Kibaruk]

Phone are becoming waterproof and dustproof, and they capability to film and make photos are better and better. Plus, the Xiaomi Yi camera is half the price I believe and it does 95% of the same job. What were they expecting ?
GoPro 5 is a very small improvement over GoPro 4.

Yes, in an extremely unconformable sizing for the purposes, also I don't think for much waterproof and dustproof they have that it will survive a crash or a hit against something, you know, GPs are aimed for outdoor activities like sports -more or less- extreme depending on the taste. If you are planning on using it as a dashcam for your car, or to take pictures on the go, sure one of those chinese brands will probably do.