Jason Woods
Shares of action cam maker GoPro jumped 16% on Thursday after market analysts speculated that the company may be an acquisition target for Apple.
GoPro shares opened at $17.25 and rose as high as $19.56 on Thursday before closing at $18.83. The spike began when FBR Capital Markets and Co. research analyst Daniel Ives listed GoPro as a potential strategic acquisition for Apple in 2016, saying a GoPro purchase would "make sense" for the Cupertino company.
"We believe GoPro would fit like a glove into the Apple product portfolio," Ives commented in an email to MarketWatch.
Prior to the suggestion from Ives, GoPro shares were down 82% from their all-time high of $93.85 in October 2014. Shares fell below the $24 IPO price in November.
At the close of business Thursday, GoPro had a market capitalization of $2.6 billion, while Apple had more than $200 billion in cash reserves. The companies have worked together closely in the past, with Apple Stores stocking a range of GoPro products and GoPro working to support Apple's entire ecosystem, now including the Apple Watch.
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31 Comments
As a one horse wonder, I don't see the value of acquiring go pro from a technology perspective. Apple could easily do what go pro is doing on their own for a fraction of the cost. Where it might make sense is adding another successful brand, like Beats. As Apple grows, it may make strategic sense to go to market with a more diverse portfolio of high value brands as opposed to everything under the Apple logo. This allows the core to remain focused, while better cultivating and monetizing the ecosystem.
I really don't see a need for this purchase.
Why, oh why would Apple buy Go Pro????
There simply is no reason for Apple to buy Go Pro.
Besides, Go Pro is getting killed by clones from other companies, including cheap Chinese knock offs.
Go Pro does not add any new technology that improves Apple's products.
There is nothing that Go Pro can do since all it is is a simple camera.
In fact, Apple has all the technology to replicate anything Go Pro can do. Apple already uses Sony cameras on its iPhones. All Apple has to do is to create a box, add a Sony camera, add a battery and storage then voila! a Go Pro clone.
In fact, the iPhone can already be mounted and do what Go Pro can do.
This kind of manipulation should be illegal. Any swinging proboscis can start a rumor to make a stock jump up or down. Why is this legal?
Wow, talk about an insanely stupid speculation. GoPro offers Apple NOTHING they can't do vastly better themselves.
Or perhaps Jonny has become enamored of crappy little video boxes mounted on helmets like giant cyber-warts? Jonny: "OMG that looks so futuristic!" — ha!
Or maybe Apple's entire video production staff has finally thrown in the towel on video quality. Epileptic video fragments are the new, um, black or something...?
One thing you can be sure of: the Ives guy just made a ton of money manipulating the market.