With the market power being generated by GoPro right now, this action camera brand have got its critics thinking... Is GoPro, Inc. the best tech hardware company since Apple?
Lately, GoPro is making a much bigger buzz this year. Fortune agrees that GoPro's second-quarter earnings prove the company isn't ready to slow down any time soon. They said this action hardware company can't stop growing, and even managed to snap up even more sales in its second quarter.
During the recent GoPro's earnings call, CEO Nick Woodman emphasized the company's overall revenue for the second quarter at $419.9 million, much higher than the $395.2 million analysts originally estimated. Meanwhile, their net income came in just above the $35 million mark.
The sale was boosted significantly by increased demand overseas, specifically in China where the country is now designated as a top-ten revenue-generating country.
Another laurel to GoPro's hat, they shipped at least 1.6 million devices throughout the quarter; an increase of 93% year-over-year. In total, GoPro has shipped over 16 million devices and now available in 40,000 stores worldwide, Fortune reported.
And lastly, was the company's recent social media triumph. Yes, they are very proud of it. They reported that the GoPro hashtag has doubled in use over the year, with over 45,000 daily shares across social networks. Facebook activity and YouTube views are going nowhere but up, too.
Meanwhile, Benzinga defended GoPro on its stock market feats. Benzinga confirmed that Investors were skeptical about the company going public. Despite the famous exploits of the GoPro action camera, skeptics argued that "the market offered little room for differentiation and the predominantly young target group would soon be drawn to cheap alternatives to GoPro's products."
However, 13 months passed since GoPro's IPO, and the company is still performing really good. GoPro's stock started trading at $24.00, and is now trading above $64. This is amazingly up almost 170 percent. Now, more and more investors are buying GoPro stocks and it continues to add value on this action camera company.
Just a refresher, GoPro is the market leader in selling high-margin "action cameras." It is the brainchild of founder and CEO Nick Woodman. An avid surfer and amateur photographer, he designed the first prototypes of these blockbuster action cameras.
It is very interesting to know how GoPro came in to the scene as a rookie and emerged later on as a market pro. Forbes traced GoPro's exploits starting 2004. GoPro sales have more than doubled every year since its first camera's debut in 2004. In 2012 the company sold 2.3 million cameras and grossed $521 million. It even toppled Sony off from being the highest-grossing digital imaging brand at Best Buy, for the first time. This market aggressiveness prompted Chinese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. to invest $200 million investment in GoPro. This in turn catapulted CEO Nick Woodman to the FORBES World Billionaires list with a net worth of $1.3 billion.
GoPro's really doing impressive recently. But how far can it actually go. Certainly, this action camera is a far-cry from Apple's milestones right now. But at its pace now, GoPro is blasting its way going where Apple is.
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