GoPro Tops Estimates on Easier-to-Use Camera and Big Cost Cuts

GoPro is keeping its promise to Wall Street. According to Bloomberg, second-quarter results beat analysts’ expectations, proving that cost cuts are stemming losses and software updates are reinvigorating demand for action cameras.

The maker of wearable action cameras and drones is recovering after a series of product delays, recalls, disappointing earnings and a long stock slide, prompting CEO Nicholas Woodman to eliminate hundreds of jobs and abandon an entertainment division. Now a leaner company with a narrower vision, GoPro is focused on making its devices easier to use and gearing up for the upcoming Hero6 camera and Fusion spherical camera rollouts.

GoPro reported $296.5 million in revenue for the three months ended June 30, up 34 percent from a year earlier, and surpassing analysts’ average estimate of $269.2 million. The company forecast third-quarter revenue of as much as $310 million, beating the average projection of $277.8 million. The company’s losses, excluding some costs, narrowed 82 percent to $12.9 million, or 9 cents a share. They were lower than analysts’ average estimate of $33.4 million, or 25 cents a share.

"I believe we are coming out of our two-year slump where we rationalize ourselves in this smartphone-centric world," Woodman said in an interview. "We’ve cleaned up our business. It was inefficiencies in the rest of our business that was clouding the true pace and health." He attributes renewed demand for the action-cameras to the company’s efforts to make its devices easier to use. To reach new consumers, GoPro realized it needs to make its devices attractive to people accustomed to the iPhone-easy process of capturing and sharing content, so Woodman is re-positioning its action-cameras as an "extension of the smartphone itself.