Peloton Stock Has a Lot to Prove This Week
If a Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ: PTON) fan is working up a sweat -- and it's not on a signature treadmill or stationary bike -- you can probably blame it on earnings season. The lead horse in the high-end home fitness market reports fresh financials this week, and it's easy to be worried. The stock has plummeted 44% since peaking in mid-January.
Was Peloton's surge in popularity last year an isolated pandemic play or did it make the most of the "shelter-in-place" opportunity to build out a massive audience that it will continue lucratively serving for years? With gyms starting to fill up again as the vaccination process plays out, we're about to learn if Peloton was just a premium-priced fitness fad or if the stationary-cycling specialist will keep spinning its wheels toward a robust ecosystem future.
The stock also took a big hit on Wednesday after Peloton finally caved in on a recall of its treadmills as a result of safety concerns. Stationary bikes remain its bread-and-butter business -- and recalls happen -- but for a premium aspirational brand, this is also the kind of news that can sting for longer than the interruption lasts.
Source Fool.com
