NEW YORK ( TheStreet) - GoPro shares were trading down sharply after its Chief Financial Officer spoke to Citigroup's Ehud Gelblum at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, noting the company's overseas expansion plans would take more time than anticipated. GoPro CFO Jack Lazar mentioned Wednesday that the company was looking to move towards a direct distribution model in Europe, but that overseas expansion would take time. An impatient market responded, sending GoPro shares down more than 5% to as low as $60.25 yesterday, before closing at $62.45. The drop may wind up being countered by this morning's report that GoPro may also be expanding to China, according to the Financial Times. Additionally, GoPro launched new commercials for its Hero 4 Black product, receiving a great response on YouTube, which analysts say represents a wise investment in media. The company also had a successful holiday season, with analysts estimating sales of over a million units in December alone. Must Read: Will GoPro (GPRO) Stock be Helped Today as It Looks to Expand to China? Following yesterday's sharp decline, Shares of GoPro are down another 1.5% to $61.50 in pre-market trade. Here's what analysts had to say about GoPro: Andrew Uerkwitz, Oppenheimer (Underperform) We had the opportunity to meet with Jack Lazar, at CES 2015 in Las Vegas. We came away from the meeting with our investment thesis unchanged. Overall we see growing competition and limited market expansion opportunities for GoPro camera and for those reasons we reiterate our Underperform rating. GPRO management remains very bullish on the long-term growth outlook for its camera products. It believes that 4 million shipment per year represents a small piece of the total market its camera can address. However, our view is more conservative due to smartphone cameras' improving quality and superior convenience. GPRO management believe that software and ease of use are the main drivers for the longer-term adoption of its camera. We agree and note that its internal editing software is lagging in convenience compared to most smartphone apps. Must Read: 10 Stocks Every Millennial Should Add to Their Portfolio Right Now Brad Erickson, Pacific Crest (Sector Perform) Despite likely upside to GoPro's Q4 and Q1, valuation keeps us sidelined and somewhat skeptical of sustainable stock appreciation that near-term hardware could drive. We met with GoPro's CFO Jack Lazar earlier today at CES. While we are not claiming it an exact science, GoPro's booth had the most dense foot traffic we saw all day. (The free camera giveaway and a keg did not hurt, but still, trying to leave reminded us a bit of a college fraternity party). Even compared to the buzz around hot new products like drones, robotics and wearable virtual reality, we found interest at the GoPro booth to be at the high end across the entire show. Near-term upside likely, but valuation and volatility make GPRO tough to recommend over longer term. We continue to expect near-term upside to consensus numbers but found nothing incremental in terms of media strategy, which almost certainly is a part of any bull thesis on the name. While GPRO remains one of the most volatile names in any sector, the valuation remains rich and we are skeptical of the sustainability that any near-term hardware upside would drive in the stock. James E. Faucette, Morgan Stanley (Equal-weight, $57 PT) Considering the strong launch of the HERO4 product line in September, we think GoPro should easily meet our estimate of 2.1M units shipped for the December quarter. We also estimate that retail locations on average held less than 2 weeks of inventory exiting December. Current average inventory levels should be adequate after the expected post-holidays drop in sell-through rates, but we think GoPro could see 1Q benefit as there seem to have been frequent stock outages and smaller retail locations not receiving shipments of the HERO4 models. However we remain Equal-weight as we look for developments in GoPro's video editing and automation capabilities, which we believe will be a necessity as the company looks to maintain growth rates beyond the POV category that would justify current valuations. Must Read: Why Fitbit CEO James Park Thinks His Company Was the Pioneer In the Expanding Wearables Market
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