Peloton shares soar 35% as turnaround plan takes hold, losses shrink

Peloton said Thursday it is digging itself out of the red and eked out a slight sales increase for the first time in nine quarters as it slashed its overall losses. 

The company's shares spiked 35% on Thursday.

The beleaguered connected fitness company, which two board members have run since former CEO Barry McCarthy resigned earlier this year, saw sales grow by 0.2% during its fiscal fourth quarter. While only a modest uptick, it's the first time Peloton posted year-over-year revenue growth since its 2021 holiday quarter. 

The company also indicated it's ready to focus on profitability over growth with significant cuts to its marketing and sales spending and meaningful increases to free cash flow and adjusted EBITDA. Those cuts helped Peloton narrow its quarterly losses to $30.5 million from $241.1 million in the year-ago period.

Here's how the Bike and Tread maker performed compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

For the three-month period that ended June 30, Peloton significantly narrowed its losses. The company posted a loss of $30.5 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a loss of $241.8 million, or 68 cents per share, a year earlier. 

Sales rose to $643.6 million, up about 0.2% from $642.1 million a year earlier. That's only a $1.5 million increase, but Peloton did it at a time when sales are typically a bit slower for the company, because the quarter bleeds into the summer when people are more focused on going out and traveling than working out.The last time Peloton delivered year-over-year sales growth was during its holiday season in 2021, which is typically the company's strongest quarter.

During the quarter, sales for Peloton's pricy connected fitness hardware