Though consumers are still opening their wallets for smartwatches, things are definitely not sunshine and lollipops for Fossil Group which saw its shares plunge more than 30% on poor wearables revenues.
As reported by Investing.com, shares of the Texas-based maker of designer jewelry and smartwatches plummeted in after-hours trading yesterday as it missed analysts’ forecasts for earnings and revenues in the first quarter, and lowered its future outlook.
Revenues were hit by an 11% drop in jewelry sales and an 8% decrease in watch sales. Sales fell by 7% in both Europe and the U.S. from the same quarter last year
In first quarter 2016, Fossil missed expectations of $0.15 per share earnings on $667 million in sales, by posting actual earnings of $0.12 per share on sales of $659.8 million.
Will an Apple leave no Fossil?
Increased competition from Apple’s iWatch significantly ate into sales from its subsidiary Misfit wearables, which had previously been hailed as a growth driver for Fossil. Misfit, which was acquired in fall 2015 for $260 million, propelled Fossil to stronger than expected earnings in Q4 2015.
However, Fossil revealed in its quarterly report that Misfit operations will now be dilutive to its 2016 results.
The poor showing by Misfit and its wearables products led Fossil to play down earlier plans to launch up to 100 new wearables this year.
“While our financial results were in line with our expectations, they were below last year given the persistent headwinds pressuring the traditional watch category and the challenging retail environment, particularly in our wholesale channel,” said Kosta Kartsotis Fossil CEO. “We are disappointed that those headwinds have intensified, which will impact this year’s expectations, despite our further expense management.”
