GoPro Inc. reported first-quarter revenue was $119 million, in-line with the preliminary results published on April 15, slightly ahead of Wall Street’s expectations but down from $243 million for the same period a year ago.

“We’ve taken decisive action to transition into a more efficient and profitable direct-to-consumer business,” said GoPro Founder and CEO, Nicholas Woodman. “This benefits GoPro with a substantially reduced operating expense model, improved gross margin and a significantly lower threshold to profitability.”

GoPro Q1 2020 Financial Results

  • Revenue for Q1 2020 was $119 million, in-line with the preliminary results published on April 15, and down from $243 million for the same prior-year period.
  • GAAP gross margin for Q1 2020 was 32.2 percent, slightly down from 33.1 percent year-over-year. Non-GAAP gross margin for Q1 2020 was 34.2 percent, flat from the prior year.
  • Q1 2020 GAAP net loss was $64 million, or $0.43 per share. Non-GAAP net loss was $50 million, or $0.34 per share.
  • Q1 2020 GAAP operating expenses of $95 million decreased 6 percent year-over-year. Q1 2020 non-GAAP operating expenses were $87 million, down 4 percent year-over-year. GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses were at their lowest levels since 2014.
  • Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2020 was negative $41 million, compared to negative $1 million in the same period a year ago.
  • Cash and investments totaled $125 million at the end of Q1 2020.

Recent GoPro Highlights

  • GoPro.com represented a record percentage of revenue in Q1 2020 at 17 percent, up from 11 percent in Q1 2019.
  • Cameras with retail prices above $300 represented nearly 90 percent of Q1 2020 revenue, continuing a trend of consumers moving to our high-end cameras.
  • GoPro’s Plus subscription service ended Q1 2020 with 355,000 paid subscribers, up 14 percent sequentially and up 69 percent year-over-year.
  • Social followers increased by more than 1.3 million across all channels in Q1 2020 to more than 44 million, driven primarily by increases on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
  • Organic viewership of GoPro content grew more than 40 percent both sequentially and year-over-year to a record quarterly high of 243 million organic, non-paid views in Q1 2020.
  • On April 15, GoPro announced Aimée Lapic, former Pandora and Banana Republic Chief Marketing Officer, as its Chief Digital Officer to lead direct-to-consumer growth initiatives.

“While our business slowed due to COVID-19, consumers have continued to purchase GoPro cameras at substantial levels during the pandemic, and since early April we’ve seen sell-through trend in a positive direction,” said Brian McGee, GoPro CFO and COO. “Operationally we are performing well during a difficult period and we are extremely proud of our team’s dedication. We expect our shift to a more consumer-direct model allows us to succeed both during the pandemic and in the long-term.”

Photo courtesy GoPro