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Fitbit narrows losses, sales lift on increased devices

fitbit
Source : Fitbit

U.S. wearable tech company Fitbit Inc. said that first-quarter revenues increased by double-digits, on the back of a surge in devices and smartwatches.

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The San Francisco-based Fitbit said revenues increased 10 percent to $272 million for the quarter, as devices sold lifted 36 percent to 2.9 million.

The sales figure was unperturbed during the quarter, despite Fitbit’s introduction of more affordable watches and accessories, which saw a 19 percent decrease its average selling price, to $91.

For the three months ending March 30, Smartwatch sales increased 117%, helped by the introduction of new trackers, Inspire and Inspire HR.

Domestic revenues, which represented 50% of total revenues, were down 3% year-over-year, said the American firm.

In addition, the firm’s Fitbit Health Solutions business grew 70% with revenue of $30.5 million, “demonstrating great progress towards our $100 million revenue target for 2019,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO, who went on to highlight the company’s user growth and downplayed the drop in prices per unit.

“New users are continuing to join the Fitbit platform with active users increasing in the first quarter, underscoring the effectiveness of our strategy to bring more users onto the Fitbit platform with the introduction of more accessible, affordable devices.”

The company’s net loss narrowed to $79.5 million, or 31 cents per share, from $80.9 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Fitbit reported a loss of 15 cents per share, beating estimates of a loss of 22 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

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Looking ahead, Fitbit cemented its prior full-year revenue guidance of $1.52 billion to $1.58 billion.

For the second quarter, Fitbit forecasted revenue between $305 million and $320 million, and expects an adjusted loss between 17 cents to 20 cents per share.