Peloton shares tank as sales slow and people head back to gyms
Peloton shares tanked more than 34 percent in late afternoon trading on Friday — wiping out almost $9 billion from the company’s market capitalization — after it reported weaker-than-expected sales as Americans headed back to their gyms.
On Thursday evening, the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that showed $805.2 million in sales, lower than expected by Wall Street, and a widening loss of $1.25 per share.
That’s a major slowdown from the pandemic-driven sales boom that Peloton and other at-home fitness startups enjoyed last year.
The company also slashed its sales outlook for the full year to between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion, below Wall Street expectations of $1.5 billion.
CEO and founder John Foley cited both supply-chain issues and softening demand due to the reopening of the economy as reasons for the miss.
“We anticipated fiscal 2022 would be a very challenging year to forecast, given unusual year-ago comparisons, demand uncertainty amidst re-opening economies, and widely-reported supply chain constraints and commodity cost pressures,” Foley said in a statement.
Also likely still hurting Peloton’s most recent quarter was the May recall of the company’s treadmills after reports of injuries and even one death.
Peloton has since released a new treadmill product with increased safety features, but in August, the company disclosed that it’s the subject of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security over its public disclosures about the consumer injuries.
The stock was seen trading Friday at just below $57 per share around 6 a.m. ET.
At the same time, shares of gym chain Planet Fitness soared almost 12 percent during trading on Thursday as its third-quarter earnings showed business roaring back to life.
“We are emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than ever, having achieved the highest sequential net member growth of any third quarter in company history, with membership levels reaching 97 percent of our all-time peak,” CEO Christopher Rondeau said Thursday on a conference call to discuss the report.
The stock hit a fresh all-time high of $94.30 per share on Thursday as the share price ripped past its pre-pandemic peak.
Planet Fitness stock is up more than 18 percent since Jan. 1 while shares of Peloton have fallen more than 43 percent during the same period.
