Action camera maker GoPro boosted its first-quarter revenue by more than 50% thanks to a rush of international sales that accounted for more than half of the company’s sales. Here are the key points from Tuesday’s first-quarter earnings release.
What you need to know: GoPro (GPRO) posted quarterly revenue of $363.1 million, a 54% gain year-over-year. The result beat analyst forecasts of $341 million in sales, according to FactSet, making it the fourth straight quarter of exceeding Wall Street expectations since the company’s June 2014 IPO.
GoPro’s profits improved 52%, to $16.8 million or 13 cents per share. That’s still a far cry from the $122 million in profit the company posted in the previous quarter (on $634 million in sales). But that blockbuster report came as a result of a particularly successful holiday retail season that produced record revenue and profits for GoPro.
The company’s stock jumped nearly 7% in after-hours trading after gaining 4% during the day.
The big number: GoPro said that more than half of its first-quarter revenue came overseas, with sales from markets across Europe and Asia up 66% in the most recent quarter. Such international success stands in stark contrast to the scores of other large companies that have blamed slumping international sales on unfavorable foreign exchange rates.
The overseas growth is nothing new for GoPro, where sales in markets across Europe and Asia were up 70% in the fourth quarter. GoPro worked on building out its international infrastructure in 2014, launching a product assembly facility in Brazil as well as European sales and marketing headquarters in Munich. The company also forged relationships with Chinese online retailers JD.com and Tmall last year.
What you might have missed: In an announcement that was separate from the earnings release, GoPro said it has agreed to buy Kolor, a company that specializes in virtual reality and 360-degree video automatically stitched together from multiple cameras. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“GoPro’s capture devices and Kolor’s software will combine to deliver exciting and highly accessible solutions for capturing, creating and sharing spherical content,” GoPro CEO Nick Woodman said in a statement about the deal. In GoPro’s earnings release, Woodman had already touted his company’s “investments in talent, technology, software, and innovative new products” in a statement about sustaining GoPro’s growth.
Adding Kolor’s virtual reality technology is part of GoPro’s plans to eventually compete in that market and expand into a full-fledged media company. GoPro offered some updates on that expansion Tuesday, noting that the number of videos published on the company’s YouTube channel were up 93% year-over year and views were up 46%. The company also said its GoPro Channel is now available through streaming service Vessel, joining similar partnerships with Roku, Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console and LG Smart TVs.
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