Revenues for GoPro in the first quarter jumped by 20 percent from the year-ago quarter to $242.7 million, and the company's net loss narrowed by 68 percent to $24.3 million. The gross margin soared by 11 percentage points to 33 percent.
The management attributed the improved results to strong global demand for its products, accompanied by aggressive cost cutting and disciplined expense and inventory management. It lifted its sales forecast for the year to an increase of between 7 and 10 percent from its previous forecast of 5 and 8 percent.
The management said its GoPro.com website made up more than 10 percent of revenues, growing by 90 percent. The company's YouTube channel surpassed 2 billion lifetime views on April 27.
The company's online platform presence showed continued growth as organic viewership of GoPro content hit an all-time quarterly high, with 173 million organic, non-paid views. So far, viewers have watched nearly 8,000 years of content generated through GoPro equipment.
As compared to the year-ago quarter, the number of active paying subscribers was up by 10 percent to 220,000 and the number of social media followers was 1.3 million higher with a total of around 40 million people, watching the contents mostly on YouTube and Instagram.
In Europe, GoPro held 86 percent market share in both units and dollars for action sports cameras in the price band at $199 and above in the quarter, up slightly from 85 and 84 percent, respectively, in the year-ago period. Three out of the top-five action cameras sold by unit volume were GoPro cameras, according to GfK.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the sell-through of Go Pro cameras grew in aggregate by 11 percent on a dollar basis, also according to GfK.
In the U.S., GoPro expanded its market share in units by 3 percentage points to 89 percent and it market share in dollars by 2 percentage points to 97 percent. The Hero7 Black was the top selling camera in all of digital imaging by unit volume, according to the NPD Group.
