So-called pandemic stocks are in flux as businesses that thrived during everyone’s house arrest try to adapt to more normal routines.
Streaming-video services are struggling for direction. Home-delivery services are watching revenue shrink.
And home-fitness heavyweight Peloton, well, the company appears to be in serious trouble.
Peloton shares fell Friday as investors mulled whether it can turn itself around and post a profit. It’s latest earnings report comes out Tuesday.
Peloton went public in 2019 at $29 a share. It’s now trading at roughly half that amount.
Put another way, the company had a market value of about $50 billion last year. It’s now worth less than $6 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Peloton is seeking investors willing to purchase up to 20% of the business and provide new funding for the company’s turnaround.
Peloton brought in a new CEO in February and announced plans to slash 2,800 jobs. It hoped these moves would send a signal to Wall Street that it had things under control.
But the company’s shares have kept falling amid broader difficulties in the tech sector.
Some shareholders are now calling on Peloton to put the entire business up for sale, arguing that a new, deep-pocketed owner such as Amazon may be in a better position to fix things.
With gyms and fitness centers reopening, and with many people returning to the workplace, it may be that Peloton has had its day in the sun.
No wonder its managers are sweating.
