Peloton shares slide on bigger-than-expected Q3 loss

By Aishwarya Jain

May 8 (Reuters) - Peloton Interactive PTON.O raised its 2025 revenue forecast on Thursday but reported a bigger third-quarter loss than expected as the fitness company struggles to recover from a post-pandemic slump, sending its shares down more than 14% in morning trading.

The pandemic-era favorite has been pivoting away from equipment such as spin bikes and treadmills and focusing on subscriber growth for its live and on-demand workout videos.

The company saw a slowdown in both equipment sales and subscriptions during the reported quarter as consumers pull back on discretionary spending amid tariff-induced economic uncertainty. U.S. consumer sentiment fell for the fourth straight month in April, while inflation expectations were at their highest since 1981.

At the end of March and very early April, we did see a little bit of softness in our sales, but we're actually seeing things bounce back since then, CFO Liz Coddington said in a conference call.

She said macroeconomic uncertainty could impact connected fitness hardware sales as they are larger ticket purchases.

For the quarter ended March 31, the company posted a loss per share of 12 cents, bigger than analysts' estimate of 6 cents per share.

Quarterly revenue from equipment sales fell 27% to $206 million, while it ended the quarter with 6.1 million paid members, down about half a million from last year.

The quarter marks the first earnings result with new CEO Peter Stern, who has been tasked with helming Peloton's transition.

The fitness company now expects 2025 revenue to be between $2.46 billion and $2.47 billion, up by $7.5 million at the midpoint of its previous forecast.

While it raised the lower end of its full-year forecast for connected fitness subscriptions to 2.77 million, from 2.75 to 2.79 million previously, this still reflects a year-over-year fall of 7%.

It also lowered its 2025 outlook for app-based subscriptions to 540,000 to 550,000, a decline of 30,000 at the midpoint.

It reported a quarterly revenue of $624 million compared to Street estimates of $621.3 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.