What: Shares of fitness wearables company Fitbit (FIT) are down about 14% as of this writing on Nov. 13, joining dozens of other retail and consumer goods companies whose stocks are getting crushed on this infamous Friday.
So what: Fitbit shares are feeling a bit of a double-whammy today. First, the company priced a follow-on stock offering, selling three million new shares (downsized from seven million), while existing shareholders, including co-founders and CEO James Park and CTO Eric Friedman, as well as other large investors, will sell another 14 million shares.
Second, is the announcement from popular watchmaker Fossil Group that it is acquiring wearables company Misfit for $260 million, meaning yet another big player is aggressively entering the market that Fitbit has done much to build.
Now what: As of this writing, Fitbit stock is trading under the $28.13 per share that the company and the selling shareholders will net from the secondary offering, putting the stock well below its peak from just a few months ago. The market is likely concerned that the share price and offering size are both weaker than originally announced on Nov. 9.
And while increased competition isn't a "good" thing, per se, it's a reminder that Fitbit is operating in a business that's full of large, well-funded companies with long reputations in the fashion timepiece business -- it's inevitable that more of these companies will enter the fray. It's also a reminder that it's a pretty big market opportunity, and that's a good thing.
