The stock charts of Peloton Interactive Inc. and Planet Fitness Inc. are worth a thousand words: People seem to prefer going out to the gym to work out over staying home and using their own fitness equipment as COVID lockdowns are lifted.
Planet Fitness stock
PLNT,
has shot up 15.4% in two days toward a record close Friday. The fitness center operator reported before Thursday’s open profit and revenue for the quarter to Sept. 30 that rose above expectations, and boosted its full-year revenue outlook, citing a third-quarter record for sequential net member growth.
Meanwhile, Peloton’s stock
PTON,
plummeted a record 34.2% toward a 17-month low on Friday, after the at-home fitness company reported after Thursday’s close that it swung to a wider-than-expected loss for the same calendar quarter and slashed its full-year outlook, citing a “pronounced tapering of demand.” Read analyst reactions to Peloton’s results.
What a difference a year during COVID makes for these stocks, as Pelton’s stock had rocketed 346% from the end of 2019 through Nov. 5, 2020, while the pandemic raged, and Planet Fitness shares shed 10.9% over the same time.
FactSet, MarketWatch
While consumer and investor behavior are likely to change and moderate as people adapt to a new post-pandemic world, the stock charts tell a clear story, that as nice as it was to stay home to work out with shiny new equipment, people still like getting out of the house when they can.
What does that say about the work-from-home trend?
Planet Fitness stock has rallied 22.8% year to date while Peloton shares have shed 62.7%. The S&P 500 index
SPX,
has gained 24.8% this year.
This post was originally published on Market Watch
