The Manlets at $FIT Warn, Promise to Fire a Bunch of People, Shares Sink into Swamp

I never understood why someone would want to be tethered to a fucking tracking device, willingly. Criminals have been wearing fitbits for decades, under the watchful eye of law enforcement to make sure they weren’t leaving their home-jails. Enterprising criminals would spend countless hours trying to jimmy their way out of the fuckers — totally uninterested in the number of steps they were taking. They were only interested in robbing another bank. But you fuckers, you stupid shits, need to know how many steps you’re take on a daily basis and become somewhat elated by reaching meaningless goals, like 10,000.

What does that even mean? You didn’t build those steps, someone else did.

Listen up, fat face. Quit eating so much fat and carbs. Go to the gym at least 3 times per week and do a lot of dead lifts. You’ll be alright in 6 months by following Fly’s fitness regimen.

Now where’s my $199? I’ll slap a fucking watch on your wrist that will tell you to quit eating those fucking pizza pies and/or to get off your fat asses, quit watching Netflix, and go lift something heavy.

As a company, Fitbit is doomed, not because their tech is retarded (which it is), but because they haven’t a moat for their idiot tracking device.

Via Briefing.

Lowers Q4 EPS to ($0.51-0.56) from $0.14-0.18 vs $0.17 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; revs to $572-580 mln from $725-750 mln vs $734.57 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The company expects non-GAAP fourth quarter gross margin to be materially below its previously issued 46% guidance due to excess inventory and other related charges as follows: One-time write downs of tooling equipment and component inventory of ~$68 million. Increased rebates and channel pricing promotions of ~$37 million which is recorded as a reduction in revenue and others.

“Fourth quarter results are expected to be below our prior guidance range; however, we are confident this performance is not reflective of the value of our brand, market-leading platform, and company’s long-term potential. While we have experienced softer-than-expected holiday demand for trackers in our most mature markets, especially during Black Friday, we have continued to grow rapidly in select markets like EMEA, where revenue grew 58% during the fourth quarter. To address this reduction in growth and what we believe is a temporary slowdown and transition period, we are taking clear steps to reduce operating costs. Looking forward, we believe Fitbit is in a unique position to stimulate new areas of demand by leveraging the data we collect to deliver a more personalized experience while developing upgraded versions of existing products and launching additional products to expand into new categories.”

Sees FY17 ($0.22-0.44) vs $0.64 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs $1.5-1.7 bln vs $2.39 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Preliminary non-GAAP free cash flow guidance of ~negative $50 to $100 million.

Long-term non-GAAP gross margin of ~45% versus previous 50% target.

Fitbit is taking direct action to reduce the expense basis of the co while maintaining necessary investments to drive future growth and maintain its global leadership position in the wearables market.

Targeting a reduction in the 2016 exit operating expense run rate of ~$200 million, to ~$850 million for 2017, which includes realigning sales and marketing spend and improved optimization of research and development investments.

Conducting a reorganization of its business, including a reduction in force, that will impact ~110 employees, constituting ~6% of the co’s global workforce, creating a more focused and efficient operating model. The cost of these reorganization efforts is expected to be ~$4 million to be recorded in the first quarter of 2017.

The stock is down 13% now, amazingly in the $6s.