GoPro Reports Surprise 4Q Loss, Issues Weak Sales Forecast

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) —

Slumping wearable camera maker GoPro Inc. on Wednesday reported a surprise fourth-quarter loss and forecast sales well below Wall Street expectations, sending its stock tumbling.

The San Mateo, California, company also named a new finance chief.

GoPro said it lost $34.5 million, or 25 cents a share, in the last three months of 2015. Losses, adjusted for stock option expense and pretax expenses, came to 8 cents per share.

The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for adjusted earnings of 1 cent per share. In the same period of 2014, it earned $122.1 million, or 83 cents a share.

Revenue fell 31 percent to $436.6 million. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $434.9 million.

CEO Nicholas Woodman acknowledged the slowdown in revenue in the second half of last year, saying that the company recognized the “need to develop software solutions that make it easier for our customers to offload, access and edit their GoPro content.”

For the current quarter ending in March, GoPro said it expects revenue in the range of $160 million to $180 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been forecasting $291 million.

The company expects full-year revenue in the range of $1.35 billion to $1.5 billion, also well below Wall Street expectations of $1.61 billion.

GoPro shares have dropped 41 percent since the beginning of the year and 80 percent in the past 12 months.

Brian McGee, who joined GoPro from Qualcomm last year, will take over as CFO on March 11, the company said. Current CFO Jack Lazar is retiring.

For the year, GoPro reported profit of $36.1 million, or 25 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $1.62 billion.

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