Pomerantz LLP Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in In re GoPro, Inc. Securities Litigation

On April 26, 2018, Pomerantz LLP was appointed Co-Lead Counsel in a class action lawsuit against GoPro, Inc. (“GoPro” or the “Company”) and certain of its officers.   The class action, filed in United States District Court, for the Northern District of California, and docketed under 18-cv-00265, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of GoPro between August 4, 2017 and January 5, 2018, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”). Plaintiff seeks to recover compensable damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.

GoPro, Inc. develops and manufactures wearable and gear mountable cameras along with related accessories.  Its primary product offerings include: HERO5/HERO6, a line of cloud-connected cameras; GoPro Plus, a cloud-based storage solution that enables subscribers to access, edit and share content; Quik, a desktop app that provides expanded editing options for power users; Capture, a mobile app that allows users to preview and play back shots, control their GoPro cameras, and share content on the move using their smartphones; Karma, a compact, foldable drone and versatile stabilization solution; and Karma Grip, a handheld and body-mountable camera stabilizer to capture zero-shake and smooth video. GoPro markets and sells its products primarily through retailers and distributors, as well as through its website.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) demand for the GoPro brand had dramatically declined and retailers were not stocking up for 2017 holiday sales to the extent GoPro had budgeted for; (ii) demand for GoPro’s Karma drones was sufficiently weak that the Company could no longer afford to manufacture and sell them profitably; (iii) the Company would be forced to dramatically slash prices on its newly launched HERO6 Black and its dated HERO5 Black and HERO5 Session cameras, as well as its Karma drone, during the quarter and would need to further slash HERO6 prices in January 2018; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, GoPro was not on track to achieve the financial results it had led the market to believe it was on track to achieve during the Class Period.

On Monday, January 8, 2018, before the open of trading, GoPro issued a press release filed on Form 8-K with the SEC entitled “GoPro Announces Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2017 Results,” revealing that its fourth quarter 2017 sales were $340 million, significantly below analysts’ projections of over $470 million.  GoPro blamed the results on the slashing of prices for its HERO6 Black, HERO5 Black, and HERO5 Session cameras, as well as its Karma drone, during the quarter, which the Company had been forced to engage in to move inventory and which had a negative $80 million impact on revenues. GoPro also disclosed it was cutting more than one-fifth of its workforce and exiting the drone market altogether, requiring it to dump the rest of its Karma drone inventory. GoPro had cut the price for its HERO5 Black camera in December 2017 and announced it was now reducing the price of its newly launched HERO6 model to $399 from $499. The workforce reduction would cost GoPro $33 million, mainly in severance costs.

On this news, GoPro’s stock price declined, falling from a close of $7.52 per share on January 5, 2018, to trade as low as $5.04 per share in intraday trading on January 8, 2018, before closing at $6.56 per share on unusually high trading volume of more than 59 million shares traded.