Shares of GoPro (GPRO -1.12%) are back in the double digits after spending most of the year waffling about in the single digits. The action-camera maker saw its stock soar 14% last week after updating its earlier guidance in a positive manner. A pair of analysts wound up boosting their price targets on the stock.
GoPro announced on Thursday that it will land at the high end of its earlier guidance for the current quarter. GoPro's initial outlook was for revenue to clock in between $290 million and $310 million on 36% to 38% in gross margin. GoPro also revealed that it expects to post a profit on an adjusted basis for the third quarter. Wall Street pros were holding out for a small deficit.
The quarter is still three weeks away from the finish line, so anything can change, but it's a good indication when a company is nudging expectations higher.
Image source: GoPro.
Coming into focus
GoPro is rolling right now. Landing at the high end of its revenue range would translate into 29% year-over-year growth. This will be the fourth quarter of double-digit top-line growth for GoPro, and the wearable camera leader's second-best surge in that run. Gross margin at or near 38% would be its strongest showing on that front since the end of last year.
The camera and drone specialist isn't anywhere close to where it was in the past. The stock is still trading 89% lower than it was when it peaked three years ago, a few months after the company went public. Revenue maxed out in 2015. Earnings and gross margin peaked the year before that.
Now, momentum is turning the corner. The stock hit levels last week it hasn't seen since February. Thursday's release included the company's bullish outlook on upcoming launches of the Hero6 action camera and its new Fusion spherical camera, and analysts are buying it.
Stanley Kovler at Citi is boosting his price target from $9.50 to $10.50. Paul Coster at J.P. Morgan is bumping his goal from $13 to $15. Coster is allowing for a higher multiple on GoPro based on improvement in execution, as GoPro is also reducing the pesky inventory channel levels that dogged the shares through most of 2016.
GoPro is now a year removed from its fumbled initial entry into the drone market and a sharp drop in popularity of its flagship wearable cameras. The Hero product line may never regain its peak, but GoPro's diversified product line arms it with more than a single catalyst. And the stock price remains low, despite the recent gains.
The turnaround is real. GoPro doesn't have to complete the long road back to be a market winner.
