Another price cut for the entry-level Hero Session camera has GoPro investors scared ... again. Source: GoPro.
To say it's been a rough year for action-camera maker GoPro (GPRO -0.56%) is an aggressive understatement. After running up in the wake of its successful IPO, shares of the company are down a massive 70% as concerns about future growth amid a potentially smaller-than-expected total addressable market have dogged the company.
Paradoxically, the company itself is performing well on an operational basis. As of the recently reported third fiscal quarter, the company has reported nearly $1.2 billion in revenue, with cumulative diluted EPS of $0.48 per share. These figures are up 56% and 1,100%, respectively, from last-year's corresponding period figures of $760.3 million and $0.04.
As a result of a collapsing market capitalization amid a growing business, the company now trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 15 and a price-to-sales ratio of 1.43, down from earlier-year figures of 70 times earnings and 6 times, respectively. When compared with other device manufacturers, including Apple (AAPL -0.81%), is GoPro becoming too cheap to ignore?
Let's talk about device manufacturers
On the basis of the aforementioned metrics, GoPro appears cheap when compared with Apple. For example, Apple currently trades at a cheaper price-to-earnings metrics of 12.4 but a much more expensive 2.8 times sales. Incorporating growth, however, Apple has "only" grown those figures 35% and 28% over the full fiscal year. On a comparative basis, it would assume that GoPro should be valued more richly, especially if its growth rates can continue.
And that's only comparing GoPro with the largest technology device manufacturer. Compared with wearables-tracker Fitbit, which trades at price-to-earnings ratio of 53 and a price-to-sales ratio of 4, and GoPro looks laughably undervalued. However, GoPro isn't a perfect investment, even at these low prices. Here's what investors need to watch for.
GoPro's issues
Unlike Apple, which has a demonstrated history of bringing new devices and services to market, GoPro is still a single-product company. As such, aforementioned concerns about total addressable market are now creeping into the picture. An earlier push by GoPro to play up its social-media ambitions seemed to placate these concerns in the short term, at the expense of pushing the stock up to unreasonable valuations, but investor concerns are now reappearing. Even Apple's not immune to TAM issues, as many analysts are now expecting iPhone growth to slow.
However, I personally don't feel that's the biggest problem for GoPro bulls. More recently, the company decided to cut the sales price for its Hero 4 Session camera from $299 to $199 to presumably boost demand. The move spooked Wall Street, because the unit made its debut at $399 and has seen its price cut twice in roughly five months. For a company trumpeted as a "visionary," with many focusing on the brilliance of the fresh-faced CEO, the failure of the company to accurately gauge demand -- and price its products appropriately -- is the antithesis of Apple's legendary execution.
Even with the apparent poor execution, GoPro now appears inexpensive versus other device manufacturers. The question, of course, is: Does this portend a great value purchase or a shrinking market ahead? I'm putting GoPro on my watch list, because the company is quickly becoming too cheap to ignore for value investors.
