Morgan Stanley Sees GoPro Setting Sights On Q1 Demand

In a report published Thursday, Morgan Stanley analyst James E. Faucette reiterated an Equal-Weight rating and $57.00 price target on

. In the report, Morgan Stanley noted, “Our channel checks reflected the expected drop in post-holiday sales, but we saw strong sell-through rates in January that could put GPRO on pace to meet or exceed our current Q1 estimates. Based on the data we collected, we think the channel sold through over 500k units in January alone(vs. our estimate of 1mm units in December), which further improves confidence in our forecast of 1.1mm units to be shipped in Q1. "While there were fewer instances of stock outages, many retailers we spoke with require weekly shipments to meet demand and we estimate only a modest uptick in average weeks inventory (from less than 2 weeks to slightly over 2 weeks). With strong sell-through rates and lean inventory levels, we think GPRO could continue to benefit from channel fill opportunities and deliver upside to current Q1 expectations.” GoPro closed on Wednesday at $51.46.