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By Bloomberg

GoPro Inc. tumbled in late trading after projecting profit and revenue for the current quarter that sparked concern among investors that the company is too dependent on the holiday period for sales of its action cameras.

The shares fell 15 percent to $46.05, reversing earlier gains driven by strong holiday sales in the last quarter. On a conference call Thursday, executives announced a profit range for the current quarter that trailed analysts’ estimates at the lower end. First-quarter sales also are expected to fall 46 percent from the fourth quarter.

“If the fourth quarter was up so strongly from the year before, why isn’t the first quarter up as much?” said Andrew Uerkwitz, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. “It’s making investors wonder whether this is a one-hit wonder kind of stock” that only grows during the holiday season.

GoPro, which went public in June and was trading at more than twice its initial public offering price of $24 a share, has been volatile in recent months. The company is facing questions about overseas growth and its ability to create a media business around the videos that consumers post online using their GoPro devices.

Seasonal Sales

GoPro founder and Chief Executive Officer Nick Woodman said the first-quarter sales forecast still surpassed analysts’ expectations, adding that he isn’t concerned about seasonality.

“You can’t win ’em all, and you can’t please ’em all,” he said of the stock’s decline in a phone interview. “We have aspirations of going from success as a consumer-products company to success as a software company and ultimately to success as a media company, but today we’re almost completely a consumer- products company. And consumer-products companies do a lot of their sales in the fourth quarter.”

Sales in the fourth quarter surged 75 percent to $633.9 million, exceeding the company’s forecast of $550 million to $580 million. Analysts had projected $581.9 million, on average.

First-quarter earnings per share will be 15 cents to 17 cents, the company said. Analysts projected 17 cents, the average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. GoPro predicted sales for the period of $330 million to $340 million, compared with estimates for $324 million. GoPro, based in San Mateo, California, also said Chief Operating Officer Nina Richardson resigned.

Retail Prices

Uerkwitz, who has a sell rating on the shares, said many analysts expected the average selling price of GoPro cameras to rise more than they did. The average price in the third quarter was $257, and it rose to only $263 even after the introduction of a $500 version that costs $100 more than the previous top-of- the-line model.

Woodman said the small rise in the average selling price was the result of strong growth for both the new $500 model and a $129 camera that’s cheaper than previous models.

“With an entry-level product, we continued to expand the product appeal without cannibalizing from above,” he said. “We nailed it. It’s very difficult to come out with an entry-level product that expands your market and not have it hurt sales of your premium product.”