Peloton shares plunge after CEO admits company ‘thinly capitalized’
Peloton will need to pedal harder to get out of this hole.
The exercise-bike company’s shares plunged as much as 20% on Tuesday after it slashed its sales guidance, reported a deeper loss than Wall Street had expected and said it’s low on cash.
The stock closed at $12.90, down 8.7%.
Chief executive Barry McCarthy told investors on Tuesday that Peloton is “thinly capitalized for a business of our scale.” The company had $879 million in cash left on its balance sheet at the end of the most recent quarter.
The New York based company is struggling to recover from a series of miscalculations by former founder and CEO, John Foley, who was ousted in February for saddling the company with among other things a pile of excess inventory that has been hard to sell since demand for at-home exercise equipment has lessened as lockdowns ended.
McCarthy, who is the former chief financial officer of Spotify and Netflix, is shepherding Peloton through a turnaround that has not yet taken hold. The company has laid off hundreds of workers, slashed the prices on its equipment and subscriptions in a quest to boost customers.
Turnarounds are hard work,” McCarthy wrote in a letter to shareholders. “It’s intellectually challenging, emotionally draining, physically exhausting, and all consuming.”
Peloton reported a shocking net loss of $757.1 million compared with analysts’ estimates of $132 million loss and with a $8.6 million loss from a year ago.
Revenue sank to $964 million in the most recent quarter compared with $1.3 billion a year ago.
Peloton expects to report $675 million to $700 million in sales in the fourth quarter, which is well below analysts’ average estimate of $821 million, blaming the shortfall on “softer demand” and recent discounting.
To shore up its balance sheet, Peloton inked a five-year deal with JPMorgan Chase Co. and Goldman Sach Group to borrow $750 million.
Peloton’s shares have plummeted by more than 60% this year.
The company also fell out of favor over safety issues that resulted in a massive recall of its treadmills after young children were injured by the equipment and a child died.
At the time Foley, denied that there was a problem with the equipment.
