GPRO guidance, job cuts

Shares of GoPro Inc GPRO are under pressure on Thursday after the high definition camera maker released weaker-than-expected fourth quarter guidance and stated that it would cut 7 percent of its workforce. The company's shares are trading down -17.52 percent on Thursday's pre-market trading session and have been on a downtrend since August. Chowdhry: GoPro Is 'Declining Asset Business,' No One Would Touch In M&A "Our views on GPRO have remained unchanged to what we presented on October 28, 2015, February 07, 2015 and February 05, 2015…Many kept telling...Drones are coming, it's a media company etc etc....basically investment thesis were being built on imagination." Chardan Capital Expects GPRO's Negative Announcement To Weight On AMBA The firm expects a drag on AMBA to continue until GPRO offers visibility on turnaround of the consumer segment. FBN Securities Downgraded GoPro to Sector Perform, and Lowered its PT to $11.00 "We had expressed that the company made a mistake in not introducing a HERO5 in C2015, and after the large share price decline throughout the year we were willing to give the company a pass on slightly weak results in FQ4 as we had expected the company to benefit from a strong HERO5 cycle later in 2016 due to there being roughly two-years of pent-up demand." Piper Jaffray Maintained an Underweight on GoPro, Lowering its PT to $9.00 "Sell-through rates were challenged throughout the quarter but particularly in the earlier part. We believe trends were toughest in November. The price pressures the brand has faced of late, which have been expressed in our research in addition to the telegraphed re-pricing of the Session, created material margin headwinds." Raymond James Maintained its Outperform on GoPro, and Lowered its PT to $30.00 The firm forecasted slow growth, especially in its wearable action cameras. The lack of new camera products for the past holiday season also contributed to the company's deceleration in growth. JP Morgan Maintained an Overweight rating on GoPro, Lowering its PT to $21.00 "We think GoPro Hero 4 Black and Silver models have sold-through well during the holiday season based on our channel checks, which suggests 4Q results may come in better than initially feared." Wedbush Maintained an Outperform on GoPro, and Lowered its PT to $18.00 "Q4 revenue is expected to be roughly $435 million, well below our prior estimate of $550 million, the guidance range of $500 – 550 million, and consensus of $512 million. Q4 revenue includes a $21 million reduction for price protection charges from the December HERO4 Session price cut. Q4 non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be 34.5 – 35.5%, below our prior estimate of 46.6% and 48.0% in Q4:14." Northland Securities Maintained an Outperform on GoPro, Lowering its PT to $20.00 The firm believes that it would be appropriate for Apple Inc. AAPL to consider buying GoPro for its video and virtual-reality technologies. Sterne Agee CRT Maintained a Buy on GoPro, and Maintained a $21.00 PT The firm sees problems originating from the company's flawed 2015 product strategy. Sterne Agee also sees Hero 5 as an H2 2016 bullish catalyst. JMP Securities Maintains Outperform on GoPro, Lowering its PT to $21.00 The firm is unaware of when growth will resume. JMP Securities sees GoPro shares risk./reward as positive, given its steep decline in GPRO and the awaited launch of new products. Barclays Maintains an Equal Weight rating on GoPro, with a $12.00 PT. "After the weak 3Q results and 4Q guide, we stuck with our long-term OW view given the opportunities we saw in 2016, including better software, initial drone launches, and the emerging 360/VR opportunity. Our view that 3Q was a one-off and the company was focused on execution was reinforced at our December conference, when CEO Nick Woodman stated "we gaffed." Morgan Stanley issued an Underweight rating with a $12.00 PT. "GoPro preannounced Q4 results on Wednesday afternoon, guiding for Q4 revenue of $435mm, which is below management's previous guidance of $500mm-$550mm. Management cited slower than expected sell through at retailers and a $21mm contra-revenue charge for price protection. GoPro has lost 72 percent in six months. The company pre-announced its 4Q results which were significantly below expectations. GoPro revenues are currently $435 million, and missed its forecasted $521 million.