Peloton posted a worse-than-expected holiday quarter on Thursday after shoppers failed to shell out for its new AI-driven product line and turned away from higher subscription prices, sending shares down more than 20% in early trading.
The connected fitness company missed Wall Street’s estimates on the top and bottom lines and fell short of its own internal sales targets in the three months ended Dec. 31 – typically the strongest for Peloton’s hardware revenue.
The company said it expects sluggish sales to continue in the current quarter. Peloton forecasts revenue between $605 million and $625 million, below expectations of $638 million, according to LSEG.
The weak results, coupled with soft guidance, are the first clues investors have that Peloton’s product overhaul may not be the sales driver the company hoped it would be.
The revamped assortment, which came with artificial intelligence-powered tracking cameras, speakers, 360-degree swivel screens and hands-free control, was designed to grow sales and bring in new customers. But Peloton’s results show demand has been sluggish.
“I will not be satisfied until this company is back to healthy, sustained top line growth,” CEO Peter Stern said on a call with analysts. He said the company has seen improvement in the sense that its revenue declines are getting less steep, but he acknowledged that is “not enough.”
While Peloton’s top line might be disappointing to investors, the company is still making gains in improving its profitability. Over the holiday quarter, the company generated $81 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, better than the $73 million analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
After it announced plans to lay off 11% of its staff last week, the company expects to generate between $120 million and $135 million in adjusted EBITDA in the current quarter, better than the $119 million analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
It raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to between $450 million and $500 million, up from a prior range of between $425 million and $475 million.
That’s welcome news to investors because it shows Peloton was able to innovate its product line without draining profitability.
Also on Thursday, the company announced CFO Liz Coddington is leaving Peloton to “pursue an opportunity outside the industry.” She’s staying on through March as the company searches for its next finance chief.
Here’s how Peloton did in its fiscal second quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Loss per share: 9 cents vs. 6 cents expected
- Revenue: $657 million vs. $674 million expected
The company’s net loss for the quarter was $38.8 million, or 9 cents per share, a significant improvement from the $92 million, or 24 cents per share, it lost in the year ago period.
Sales fell to $656.5 million, down about 3% from $673.9 million a year earlier.
Since Peter Stern took over as Peloton’s CEO, he’s worked to generate new revenue streams and build on the company’s progress of improving its profitability.
The revamped product assortment was one of his first big moments as CEO and included new prices for both subscriptions and hardware. Despite higher prices, revenue for both hardware and subscription came in lower than expected, indicating unit sales have been weak.
Hardware sales drove $244 million in revenue during the quarter while subscriptions saw $413 million in sales, both below expectations of $253 million and $424 million, respectively, according to StreetAccount.
Part of the issue was Peloton had expected more of its current members to swap out their old hardware.
“We simply overestimated the rate with which existing members would want to upgrade their existing equipment to new equipment. The only historical data point we had as a company on this was when we launched Bike Plus a few years ago, and that was a really fundamental reinvention of the entire frame of the Bike,” said Stern. “And so we did not, as it turns out, see the same rate of upgrade from existing members.”
Looking ahead, investors want to see if Stern can bring the company back to growth now that expenses have stabilized and profitability is improving. In an economy where value is more important than ever, it’s been tough to convince shoppers to spend thousands on stationary bikes and treadmills.
One glimmer could be the company’s growing commercial business unit, which includes commercial versions of its Bike+, Tread+ and Row+ that will be marketed to places that have small gyms, like hotels, apartment buildings, corporate wellness centers and country clubs.
During the quarter, revenue in Peloton’s commercial business unit was up 10%.