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Fitbit’s IPO

fitbitFitbit (NYSE: FIT), based in San Francisco, CA, manufactures wearable fitness tracking devices that record various metrics, steps taken, distance traversed, calories consumed, and the quality of one’s sleep. Founded in 2007 as Healthy Metrics Research, the company changed its name to Fitbit in the same year. Consensus estimates call for revenue of $1.7 billion in 2015, an increase of over 120 percent over 2014, and EPS of $0.75, up slightly from the prior year.

Fitbit priced its 37 million share IPO on the NYSE on June 17 for a first trade on the following day at $20 per share. 22.4 million Class A shares were offered by Fitbit, thus raising $448 million for the company, while pre-IPO investors sold 14.2 million shares. The underwriters were granted a 30 day option to purchase an additional 5.5 million Class A shares. The deal was led by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and BofA Merrill, while SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Barclays were “passive joint book-running managers, and Raymond James, Piper Jaffray, Stifel, and William Blair were co-managers. At a recent share price of $33, Fitbit’s market cap is roughly $6.8 billion.

Seemingly well-positioned at the confluence of consumer wearables, a trend toward greater health and fitness awareness, and the current fascination with collecting and analyzing data on oneself through the use of smart sensors, software, and the cloud, Fitbit is among the year’s most intriguing consumer product IPOs. Co-founded by CEO James Park and CTO Eric Friedman, the company began selling wearable fitness trackers in 2009, when the first model shipped as a clip-on device. By 2013, the company’s annual revenue grew to $271 million. It nearly tripled to $745 million in 2014, and in the second quarter of 2015 revenue rose to $400 million from $114 million in the prior year.

Emerging from the pedestrian category of pedometers, Fitbit, self-proclaimed a “fitness platform” in its IPO prospectus, sold 20.8 million devices, from its inception through the first quarter of 2015, and sold 4.5 million connected units in the second quarter of 2015, as compared to nearly 11 million units sold in all of 2014. Since shipping its first wearable device, Fitbit’s product line has grown to encompass six wearable fitness tracking models, ranging in price from roughly $60 to $250, available in both clip-on, and wristwatch style configurations. Fitbit offers a “good, better, best” approach to marketing, as its products range from everyday fitness products, to a single “active” product, the Charge, and a “Performance” product, the “Surge” priced at $250. Fitbit claims an 85 percent revenue market share of the US connected activity tracker market, according to data gathered by the NPD group.

As one might imagine, the price points of Fitbit’s activity trackers increase according to functionality, from basic tracking of number of steps taken to the total distance and calories burned, sleep duration and quality, to more advanced functions, such as heart rate tracking and GPS-type functions, such as speed, distance, and exercise routs. In addition to wearable products, the company also sells wrist bands, clips, clasps, power cords, belt holsters, charging stations, logoed T-shirts and caps, backpacks, and even a wifi scale.

Of all the competitors on the market, which include Jawbone, Garmin, Omron, and others, Apple offers the most serious competition, as it offers a free fitness app in its iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 products, though technically neither device is a considered a “wearable.” However, the long awaited introduction of its first generation iWatch, is the most formidable intermediate term challenger to Fitbit. Even though the fitness tracking capability of the iWatch falls short of Fitbit, and the device is still significantly higher in price, Fitbit runs the risk of becoming the Garmin of the fitness tracking market. Intriguingly, Fitbit’s IPO was priced on the same day that Apple made its iWatch available for purchase on a world-wide basis.

Etsy: a Hand-crafted Commerce Site

etsyEtsy (NASDAQ: ETSY) operates an ecommerce marketplace, focused on handmade and vintage products and supplies, including clothing, jewelry, electronics, household goods, bath and beauty products, wine, do-it-yourself kits, and toys. Debunking the myth that successful ecommerce sites can be operated only from Silicon Valley or Seattle, Etsy’s operations are based in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of New York City. Consensus estimates call for revenue of $273 million in 2015, an increase of 39 percent over 2014, and a Loss per share of $0.69 in 2015, as compared to an operating loss of $15 million in 2014.

Etsy came public on the NASDAQ in an IPO priced at $16 per share on April 16, 2015 in a transaction led by investment banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Allen & Company, Loop Capital Markets, and The Williams Capital Group. Originally structured as a 16.7 million share IPO, the deal was expanded through the underwriter’s allotment to ultimately encompass 19.2 million shares, with 13.3 million shares sold by the company, and 5.8 million shares sold by existing shareholders, up from 3.33 million at the time the deal was priced. All told, the company raised nearly $200 million. Post-IPO the company has about $293 million in cash and no debt. At a recent share price of $13, Etsy’s market cap is roughly $1.5 billion.

Etsy is the most recent in a string of ecommerce IPOs over the last couple years, which include Zulily (NASDAQ: ZU), an ecommerce site focused on Moms, which came public in November of 2013, as well as Boston-based Wayfair (NYSE: W), an October 2014 IPO focused on home furnishings. Recognizing the growing percentage of consumer products purchased over the internet, and that not even Amazon.com can completely dominate web commerce, Etsy occupies a unique niche in online commerce, offering handcrafted, rather than mass produced products, including so-called vintage products, which must be 20 years of age or older.

Etsy’s revenue comes from listing fees from sellers on its sites, typically $0.20 per listing fee, as well as a 3.5 percent fee on the value of an item sold on the site. These fees account for about 55 percent of revenue. In addition, Etsy collects seller services fees, consisting of promoted listings, direct checkout fees, shipping labels, and wholesale fees. Together these comprise nearly all of the remainder. Like eBay, Etsy does not hold inventory or sell goods, an important selling point for sellers concerned that Etsy might compete with them. As of the end of 2014, Etsy claimed over 19.8 million active buyers, and 1.4 million sellers.

To learn where Etsy trades relative to its Internet IPO peers of the last seven years, please contact Battle Road Research for additional information.