GoPro Expected To Launch Karma Drone and Hero 5 During The First Half Of 2016

The action camera maker needs to up its game as investors and shareholders of the company are getting frustrated with its slow growth.

In a year, GoPro Inc.’s stock has fallen by as much as 80% due to the slow sales and badly priced products. The founder and chief executive of the action camera maker, Nick Woodman, wanted to transform the camera industry; turns out that just backfired quite badly in his face.

In 2015, the stock lost 73%; while year-to-date, the shares roughly lost as much as 45%. This news is probably worse for the people involved with the company, including its investors. The action camera maker giant reported its fourth quarter earnings last week after which it stopped trading in the after-market hours.

For the fourth quarter, the investors and the shareholders were ready to hear the bad news but the company painted a worse picture for the current quarter (Q1FY16). Analysts had predicted that the company would at least expect to generate revenue of $298.04 million but it has managed to post the guidance for the first quarter revenue generation at $160 – 180 million.

Sales for 2015 rose by 16% while the growth in 2014 was about 41%. Similarly, in 2013, it was 87%. For the current year, analysts are expecting a continuation in the downward trend as it is predicting the sales to slide to 15%. However, the camera manufacturer is confident that the launch of its Karma Drone and Hero 5 will help it to get its growth sales back. The corporation has not provided any details for the launch and specifications for the products yet.

In an effort to simplify its product line, CEO Nick Woodman stated during the conference call that it will be discontinuing a number of its products, including Hero, Hero+ and Hero+ LCD cameras, and will only carry the Hero 4 Session, Silver and Black. He added during the conference call that the Karma Drone would be on the shelves during the first half of the current year.

Additionally, it is believed that the Karma Drone will not have a built-in camera as earlier during the Consumer Electronics Show 2016, Nick stated that the drone would be ‘backwards compatible’ with the previously developed devices by the business. The latest product will only be launched after the above-mentioned three products are discontinued so it will be launched somewhere between May and June. However, CFO Jack Lazar told that it has not been confirmed whether the device will be launched by June or not.

GoPro stock is presently being traded at a share price of $10.99 indicating an increase of 10.34% in the stock price. During the previous trading session, the stock of the action maker was seen hit a higher end of $11.69 and at a lower end of $10.01. The one-year high of the stock is at $65.49 while at a lower end it was seen at $10.44. The market capitalization of the business is currently at $45.74 billion with earnings per share of $1.19.