Three Morgan Stanley investment analysts tried a fresh approach to rating a stock.
James Faucette, Yuuji Anderson and Meta Marshall, who cover GoPro, decided to go out and shoot and edit a video like regular consumers would.
Shooting the video, they said, went smoothly. But when it came to editing, they called the process "laborious," according to The Wall Street Journal.
The difficult editing process and their final video - which the analysts deemed boring compared with the final videos of the elite athletes who favor GoPro - earned the GoPro a "neutral" rating.
"Our feats as equity research analysts provoke way fewer jaw-dropping oohs and ahhs than the world's top motorcycle freestylers," the analysts wrote in their coverage.
They added that it is easier to shoot hours of raw video content than it is to create anything that is "remotely digestible." The analysts added that it took them about eight hours of work to derive a watchable video of under two minutes.
GoPro is a favorite camera among extreme athletes, mainly because of its small size, which enables the camera to fit into places a regular camera cannot go. In addition, GoPro offers a selection of specialty mounts that can help the camera attach to surfboards, skis, helmets and be placed atop poles and even boat masts for unique video.
GoPro is a 10-year-old company based in San Francisco. Primarily a maker of hardware, GoPro went public last June and has fared well in the marketplace with sales of $624 million last year.
But the company cannot depend solely on sales to daredevil athletes and editing experts, the analysts said.
Faucet, Anderson and Marshall indicated that unless the creator of a video shoots something compelling enough to want to watch it at a later date, and unless he or she can master the editing process, GoPro is limited to a specific-interest demographic.
But there is more on the horizon for the California company. GoPro is the camera of choice in the rapidly evolving world of drone photography, according to C-NET.
The company is well-positioned to create ancillary products to support that stronghold. The company said it is developing a specialty multi-rotor aircraft to support its cameras, which is likely to drive sales. The drones are expected to sell in the range of $500 to $1,000.
