Fitbit quarterly results beat Street as it sold more wearable devices

(Reuters) - Wearable device maker Fitbit Inc reported better-than expected first-quarter results on Wednesday, benefiting from higher sales of its smartwatches and wearable devices that track daily activities.

Shares of the company rose 1.5 percent to $5.45 in late trade.

Fitbit’s trackers returned to year-over-year growth for the first time in three years, getting a boost from higher demand for its new ‘Inspire’ devices. Smartwatch sales also more than doubled in the quarter.

Fitbit said it sold 2.9 million devices in the quarter, 36 percent higher than a year-ago. Average selling prices fell 19 percent to $91 per device as the company focused on cheaper devices to compete with tech-heavyweights Apple Inc and Samsung .

The company’s net loss narrowed to $79.5 million, or 31 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 30, from $80.9 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Fitbit reported a loss of 15 cents per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of a loss of 22 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Revenue rose to $271.9 million from $247.9 million, above Wall Street expectations of $259.7 million.

Reporting by Arjun Panchadar and Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Bernard Orr

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