Well, the analysts at Citron Research seem to think so. Fitbit Inc. (FIT) saw a massive surge yesterday after a long time when the stock climbed around 15% after-market. After a nasty two years during which the company lost a major chunk of its value, June has come as a breath of fresh air. The stock gained over 35% during the past one month. The jump on Monday came on the heels of the announcement of the global availability of the kids’ wearable device, the Fitbit Ace.
This was furthered by a report from Citron Research that said good times were ahead for Fitbit. The firm expects the stock to continue its improvement and even double by the end of the year. Citron has optimism in Fitbit’s healthcare initiatives and also in Fitbit’s potential as a takeover target.
Citron believes someday Google might acquire Fitbit
Fitbit has partnered with DexCom Inc. (DXCM) for glucose-monitoring devices and also with healthcare insurance provider United Healthcare. In addition to this, the company has partnered with Alphabet (GOOGL) subsidiary Google for AI and cloud services. Citron believes this partnership could turn into something more by Google eventually taking over Fitbit and giving it the clout to go up against Apple (AAPL). There is also optimism on the potential in the health technology space.
Fitbit also sees some life in its devices business with the sale of more than a million Versa smartwatches since mid-April, making it the company’s fastest-selling product ever. Perhaps this lift along with momentum in other areas will finally give Fitbit the ability to keep up with Garmin (GRMN) which has seen continuous profits and has good revenue diversification.
During its most recent quarter, Fitbit posted a revenue decline of 17% and a higher net loss while Garmin reported a 11% growth in sales with a net income of $129 million.