Is GoPro Inc (GPRO) About To Experience A Roller-Coaster Ride Like Its Users?

Second only to Alibaba in terms of its IPO, shares of GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) have come a long way from the $24-tab at which they had been placed during the Initial Public Offering. Having soared 236% of its IPO price, it is the first time that the stock plummeted by as much as 23% since October 7^th, 2014, the latest plunge being that of 9% that occurred on Friday, 24^th October, 2014. Eventually it closed at $71.91 at the end of the day.

While this latest plunge was attributed to Andrew Uerkwitz, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co, having down-graded it, another factor which appears to have contributed to the downfall is the press release pertaining to Michael Schumacher’s accident. The final blow was delivered by Nicholas Woodman’s, founder and CEO of GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO), decision to donate 5.8 million shares to his personal charitable venture.

Andrew Uerkwitz provided the following justification for his degradation of the stock –

“If we think about 2014, we do think it’s going to be a big year. We think the holiday season’s going to be great. But as GoPro pivots away from action capture, what they’ve been known for, into what we call life-logging—you know, taking pictures of your kids’ wedding, etc.—I think that’s going to be a very difficult market to crack. And ultimately we think growth rates will decelerate pretty rapidly as we head through 2015, 2016.”

On one hand, he admits that GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) forms an important part of this segment which cannot be easily undermined, he points out to the fact that the crux of the competition arises from models that are simplicity personified. Therefore, the three models of GoPro namely Hero, Hero4 Silver and Hero4 Black might be every professional photographer’s and adventure sports-lover’s dream, it may not appeal to a commoner wanting to capture a moment for his Facebook page.

Whether or not this is the case can be best adjudged only by going through the details of features offered by GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) in its products.

This article has been written by Vinita Basu.