Peloton crash: Home fitness company Peloton is in trouble

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Ever have one of those days where everything just goes wrong? Home-workout company Peloton just had one of those days, every day, for a whole quarter.

Last year Peloton capitalized strongly on the shift to work-from-home, selling thousands of its $2,000+ bikes throughout the pandemic and building up a fanatic fanbase. This year hasn't been as easy.

Jumping off the bike

Probably the most worrying trend in Peloton's numbers is also the simplest: people just aren't using their Peloton as much as they used to. The number of total tracked workouts fell for the second quarter in a row, and the average member is using their Peloton about 20% less than they did this time last year.

On top of that, the financials aren't good. Revenue did grow 6% relative to last year, but that was below expectations, and boosted by an heavy slash in the price of a Peloton. The company was hoping that the lower price would whip up crazy demand. That never happened.

What did happen was Peloton's gross profit margin fell to 12%, from 39% a year earlier, guiding the company to an overall operating loss of $360m for the quarter. Oh, and the company is having supply chain issues, like everyone else.

At the time of writing, the company's share price is down more than 33%. A Peloton hasn't crashed this hard since last year's Tour de France.

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