*By Kavitha Shastry*
Shares of Sonos dropped as much as 20 percent Tuesday after the smart speaker maker said revenues fell 6 percent in its latest quarter, and losses nearly doubled to $27 million.
It was the company's first earnings report since its highly-anticipated IPO in early August.
Losses can often be exaggerated in the quarter a company goes public due to adviser fees and compensation for employees whose options vest in the offering, but Sonos did see weakness in a couple areas ー sales of components fell more than 4 percent and revenue from home theater speakers fell 20 percent to $66.7 million. The company forecast revenue for its fiscal year ending in September at about $1.1 billion, about 12 percent higher than in 2017.
But that kind of growth didn't appear to satisfy investors who'd driven the stock price up 40 percent through Monday's close. Tuesday's declines more than erased the gains at the start of the week and brought shares to their lowest level in more than three weeks ー significant for a company that's only been public for a little over a month.
CEO Patrick Spence attributed the revenue decline in its latest quarter to elevated sales from a year ago, when Sonos launched its Playbase audio streaming device. The report did not include results from the Sonos Beam, a $400 soundbar that launched in July.
Spence said in a letter to shareholders that the home market remains a top priority for the company, but Sonos has no shortage of competition from the likes of the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple Home Pod. It even faces the risk that Amazon, whose Alexa technology is integrated with its Sonos One, could end that relationship at any time.
Sonos shares started trading on the Nasdaq on August 2 after pricing at $15 in its IPO.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
Europeans upset with Elon Musk still aren’t buying his electric cars, adding to a long losing streak for his company.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
