Tag Archives: Leisure/Travel Goods

Peloton Stock Is Tumbling. A Disappointing Report Sinks Another Pandemic Play.

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Peloton stock is down double-digits in after-hours trading after the at-home fitness company reported a big loss and cut guidance.


Courtesy Peloton


Peloton Interactive

was the latest pandemic-play stock casualty this earnings season. Shares were diving in premarket trading Friday after the at-home fitness firm reported a wider-than-expected net loss for the September quarter, and cut its full fiscal-year outlook.

Peloton reported a fiscal-first-quarter net loss of $376 million, or $1.25 a share. Total revenue grew 6% year over year to $805.2 million. Wall Street’s consensus estimate called for a net loss of $1.10 a share on revenue of $808.7 million, according to FactSet.

The company, which sells bikes and treadmills that pair with $39.99 a month subscriptions, said average monthly workouts per connected fitness subscription dropped to 16.6 from 20.7 a year ago. Investors watch that metric for signs of engagement.

Peloton stock dropped 33.5% to $57.27 early Friday. The stock set a 52-week intraday high of $171.09 in January. The company joins


Roku

(ROKU) and


Chegg

(CHGG) as popular pandemic plays that are now disappointing investors with reports this week.

Peloton now expects the 2022 fiscal year to end in June with 3.35 million to 3.45 million connected fitness subscribers, down from a prior forecast of 3.63 million. Its outlook for fiscal-year revenue ranges from $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion, down from a prior forecast of $5.4 billion.

For the fiscal second quarter, which includes the all-important holiday season, the company expects to hit connected fitness subscribers of between 2.8 million to 2.85 million. It expects revenue in the range from $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion for the quarter, below Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $1.49 billion, according to FactSet. The company said that so far, the fiscal second quarter has been softer than expected.

“With the benefit of adequate inventories and order-to-delivery windows that are now back to pre-pandemic levels, we expect a healthy holiday selling season,” the company added in a prepared statement. “Our forecast assumes unit sales modestly ahead of last year’s Q2 levels, driven by growing consumer interest in the Connected Fitness category and a resumption of our marketing and promotional activity.”

Write to Connor Smith at connor.smith@barrons.com

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Microsoft Is in Exclusive Talks to Acquire Discord

Microsoft Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire messaging platform Discord Inc. for $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter, as the software giant seeks to deepen its consumer offerings.

Microsoft and Discord are in exclusive talks and could complete a deal next month, assuming the negotiations don’t fall apart, the people said.

Originally favored by gamers, San Francisco-based Discord offers voice, text and video chatting. The platform’s popularity has surged since the pandemic took hold as people stay home and connect online—as has that of other chat services, like Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp and Signal Messenger LLC. Discord has been considering an IPO.

Microsoft, which has a market value of more than $1.7 trillion, has been on the hunt for an acquisition that would help it reach more consumers. Last summer, it held talks to buy the popular video-sharing app TikTok amid a high-profile geopolitical standoff prompted by the Trump administration, before abandoning the effort.

VentureBeat reported this week that Discord was exploring a sale and had entered exclusive discussions with an unnamed suitor.

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