Latest news with #SKLZ
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Reasons to Avoid SKLZ and 1 Stock to Buy Instead
While the broader market has struggled with the S&P 500 down 1.9% since November 2024, Skillz has surged ahead as its stock price has climbed by 10.7% to $6.31 per share. This was partly due to its solid quarterly results, and the run-up might have investors contemplating their next move. Is now the time to buy Skillz, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Get the full stock story straight from our expert analysts, it's free. We're happy investors have made money, but we're cautious about Skillz. Here are three reasons why we avoid SKLZ and a stock we'd rather own. As a video gaming company, Skillz generates revenue growth by expanding both the number of people playing its games as well as how much each of those players spends on (or in) their games. Skillz struggled with new customer acquisition over the last two years as its paying monthly active users have declined by 33.6% annually to 124,000 in the latest quarter. This performance isn't ideal because internet usage is secular, meaning there are typically unaddressed market opportunities. If Skillz wants to accelerate growth, it likely needs to enhance the appeal of its current offerings or innovate with new products. EBITDA is a good way of judging operating profitability for consumer internet companies because it excludes various one-time or non-cash expenses (depreciation), providing a more standardized view of the business's profit potential. Skillz's expensive cost structure has contributed to an average EBITDA margin of negative 54.3% over the last two years. Unprofitable consumer internet companies require extra attention because they spend heaps of money to capture market share. As seen in its historically underwhelming revenue performance, this strategy hasn't worked so far, and it's unclear what would happen if Skillz reeled back its investments. Wall Street seems to think it will face some obstacles, and we tend to agree. If you've followed StockStory for a while, you know we emphasize free cash flow. Why, you ask? We believe that in the end, cash is king, and you can't use accounting profits to pay the bills. Skillz's demanding reinvestments have drained its resources over the last two years, putting it in a pinch and limiting its ability to return capital to investors. Its free cash flow margin averaged negative 36%, meaning it lit $36.04 of cash on fire for every $100 in revenue. We see the value of companies helping consumers, but in the case of Skillz, we're out. With its shares beating the market recently, the stock trades at 1.3× forward price-to-gross profit (or $6.31 per share). While this valuation is optically cheap, the potential downside is huge given its shaky fundamentals. There are better stocks to buy right now. We'd suggest looking at the most dominant software business in the world. Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump's presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth. While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we're leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 5 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Internet Stock with Exciting Potential and 2 to Steer Clear Of
Consumer internet businesses are redefining how people engage with the world by giving them instant connectivity and convenience. Luckily for them, the market seems to believe there is a long runway for growth as the industry has recorded a 1.6% gain over the past six months while the S&P 500 shed 2% of its value. Nevertheless, investors should tread carefully as many internet companies pursue winner-take-all strategies, meaning losses can be hefty if their playbooks don't pan out. Taking that into account, here is one internet stock poised to generate sustainable market-beating returns and two we're steering clear of. Market Cap: $578.5 million Helping residents figure out what's happening on their block in real time, Nextdoor (NYSE:KIND) is a social network that connects neighbors with each other and with local businesses. Why Are We Wary of KIND? Customer spending has dipped by 1.1% on average as it focused on growing its users Poor expense management has led to EBITDA losses Cash-burning tendencies make us wonder if it can sustainably generate shareholder value At $1.52 per share, Nextdoor trades at 2.7x forward price-to-gross profit. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why KIND doesn't pass our bar. Market Cap: $83.65 million Taking a new twist at video gaming, Skillz (NYSE:SKLZ) offers developers a platform to create and distribute mobile games where players can pay fees to compete for cash prizes. Why Are We Out on SKLZ? Paying Monthly Active Users have declined by 41.7% annually over the last two years, suggesting it may need to revamp its features or user experience to stay competitive Inability to adjust its cost structure while its revenue declined over the last few years led to a 17.7 percentage point drop in the company's EBITDA margin Cash burn makes us question whether it can achieve sustainable long-term growth Skillz's stock price of $5 implies a valuation ratio of 1.2x forward price-to-gross profit. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including SKLZ in your portfolio, it's free. Market Cap: $116.3 billion Originally started as an online auction platform, MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) is a one-stop e-commerce marketplace and fintech platform in Latin America. Why Is MELI a Good Business? Unique Active Users are rising, meaning the company can increase revenue without incurring additional customer acquisition costs if it can cross-sell additional products and features Grip over its ecosystem is highlighted by its ability to grow engagement while increasing the average revenue per user by 18.3% annually Impressive free cash flow profitability enables the company to fund new investments or reward investors with share buybacks/dividends, and its growing cash flow gives it even more resources to deploy MercadoLibre is trading at $2,295 per share, or 29.7x forward EV/EBITDA. Is now the right time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it's free. The market surged in 2024 and reached record highs after Donald Trump's presidential victory in November, but questions about new economic policies are adding much uncertainty for 2025. While the crowd speculates what might happen next, we're homing in on the companies that can succeed regardless of the political or macroeconomic environment. Put yourself in the driver's seat and build a durable portfolio by checking out our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 175% over the last five years. Stocks that made our list in 2019 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+2,183% between December 2019 and December 2024) as well as under-the-radar businesses like Comfort Systems (+751% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Cash-Burning Stocks in Dangerous Territory
Companies that burn cash at a rapid pace can run into serious trouble if they fail to secure funding. Without a clear path to profitability, these businesses risk dilution, mounting debt, or even bankruptcy. Just because a company is spending heavily doesn't mean it's on the right track, and StockStory is here to separate the winners from the losers. That said, here are three cash-burning companies to steer clear of and a few better alternatives. Trailing 12-Month Free Cash Flow Margin: -30.7% Tackling hazardous waste challenges since 1990, Perma-Fix (NASDAQ:PESI) provides environmental waste treatment services. Why Is PESI Risky? Annual sales declines of 4.3% for the past five years show its products and services struggled to connect with the market during this cycle Diminishing returns on capital from an already low starting point show that neither management's prior nor current bets are going as planned Short cash runway increases the probability of a capital raise that dilutes existing shareholders Perma-Fix is trading at $8.31 per share, or 1.7x forward price-to-sales. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why PESI doesn't pass our bar. Trailing 12-Month Free Cash Flow Margin: -10.4% Taking a new twist at video gaming, Skillz (NYSE:SKLZ) offers developers a platform to create and distribute mobile games where players can pay fees to compete for cash prizes. Why Do We Think SKLZ Will Underperform? Paying Monthly Active Users have declined by 41.7% annually over the last two years, suggesting it may need to revamp its features or user experience to stay competitive EBITDA profits fell over the last few years as its sales dropped and it struggled to adjust its fixed costs Cash-burning tendencies make us wonder if it can sustainably generate shareholder value Skillz's stock price of $4.58 implies a valuation ratio of 1.1x forward price-to-gross profit. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including SKLZ in your portfolio, it's free. Trailing 12-Month Free Cash Flow Margin: -46.8% Established in 2006, SolarEdge (NASDAQ: SEDG) creates advanced systems to improve the efficiency of solar panels. Why Do We Pass on SEDG? Performance surrounding its megawatts shipped has lagged its peers Shrinking returns on capital suggest that increasing competition is eating into the company's profitability Limited cash reserves may force the company to seek unfavorable financing terms that could dilute shareholders At $12.43 per share, SolarEdge trades at 0.7x forward price-to-sales. If you're considering SEDG for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more. The market surged in 2024 and reached record highs after Donald Trump's presidential victory in November, but questions about new economic policies are adding much uncertainty for 2025. While the crowd speculates what might happen next, we're homing in on the companies that can succeed regardless of the political or macroeconomic environment. Put yourself in the driver's seat and build a durable portfolio by checking out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 175% over the last five years. Stocks that made our list in 2019 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+2,183% between December 2019 and December 2024) as well as under-the-radar businesses like Comfort Systems (+751% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Reasons to Sell SKLZ and 1 Stock to Buy Instead
What a brutal six months it's been for Skillz. The stock has dropped 27.4% and now trades at $3.95, rattling many shareholders. This was partly due to its softer quarterly results and may have investors wondering how to approach the situation. Is there a buying opportunity in Skillz, or does it present a risk to your portfolio? Get the full breakdown from our expert analysts, it's free. Despite the more favorable entry price, we're cautious about Skillz. Here are three reasons why there are better opportunities than SKLZ and a stock we'd rather own. Taking a new twist at video gaming, Skillz (NYSE:SKLZ) offers developers a platform to create and distribute mobile games where players can pay fees to compete for cash prizes. As a video gaming company, Skillz generates revenue growth by expanding both the number of people playing its games as well as how much each of those players spends on (or in) their games. Skillz struggled with new customer acquisition over the last two years as its paying monthly active users have declined by 41.7% annually to 110,000 in the latest quarter. This performance isn't ideal because internet usage is secular, meaning there are typically unaddressed market opportunities. If Skillz wants to accelerate growth, it likely needs to enhance the appeal of its current offerings or innovate with new products. EBITDA is a good way of judging operating profitability for consumer internet companies because it excludes various one-time or non-cash expenses (depreciation), providing a more standardized view of the business's profit potential. Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Skillz's EBITDA margin decreased by 17.7 percentage points over the last few years. Skillz's performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn't pass them onto its customers. Its EBITDA margin for the trailing 12 months was negative 65.6%. Free cash flow isn't a prominently featured metric in company financials and earnings releases, but we think it's telling because it accounts for all operating and capital expenses, making it tough to manipulate. Cash is king. Skillz's demanding reinvestments have drained its resources over the last two years, putting it in a pinch and limiting its ability to return capital to investors. Its free cash flow margin averaged negative 37.6%, meaning it lit $37.62 of cash on fire for every $100 in revenue. We see the value of companies helping consumers, but in the case of Skillz, we're out. After the recent drawdown, the stock trades at 1× forward price-to-gross profit (or $3.95 per share). While this valuation is optically cheap, the potential downside is huge given its shaky fundamentals. There are more exciting stocks to buy at the moment. We'd suggest looking at one of our top software and edge computing picks. The market surged in 2024 and reached record highs after Donald Trump's presidential victory in November, but questions about new economic policies are adding much uncertainty for 2025. While the crowd speculates what might happen next, we're homing in on the companies that can succeed regardless of the political or macroeconomic environment. Put yourself in the driver's seat and build a durable portfolio by checking out our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 175% over the last five years. Stocks that made our list in 2019 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+2,183% between December 2019 and December 2024) as well as under-the-radar businesses like Sterling Infrastructure (+1,096% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SKLZ Spotlights Essential Baseball and Softball Training Aids to Prepare Athletes for the Upcoming Season
DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SKLZ, the leader in athlete development products, is spotlighting their best-selling baseball and softball training aids ahead of the 2025 season. Michael Polk, Chief Executive Officer of Implus, said, "Our SKLZ collection of baseball and softball training aids provides athletes the tools they need to elevate their performance and build their confidence while preparing for the season. Our products are designed with features to enhance throwing, hitting and agility skills so that athletes stay game-day ready." SKLZ offers a range of baseball and softball training aids designed to help athletes of all skill levels improve their mechanics, agility and overall performance. Key products include: Hit-A-Way Portable Training Station: The #1 baseball batting trainer in an all-in-one portable design. It features a sturdy pole and twist-back design to maximize a player's power, swing speed, and mechanics, and delivers up to 500 swings per hour without the hassle of chasing balls. Catapult Soft Toss Machine: A machine designed to work on both the offensive and defensive aspects of the game. It serves a ball every 8 seconds, allowing athletes to work on their hitting and catching while focusing on hand-eye coordination. Fielding Trainer: A rebound net designed to provide three ball-return settings – grounders, line drives and fly balls. It helps players of all levels build the necessary reactions, muscle memory, and glove skills to transform average defenders into all-star players. SKLZ baseball and softball training aids are available online at and in store and online at select Dick's Sporting Goods and Academy Sports + Outdoors stores. About SKLZSKLZ is the leading provider of performance training products and programs for athletes of all levels. SKLZ products are designed to sync the body to the brain, helping athletes to be stronger, smarter, and faster. With tools available for every sport and skill, like training nets, agility ladders, resistance bands, and more, SKLZ empowers athletes to never settle for yesterday's best. Learn more at About ImplusImplus is home to 16 brands in the footwear accessories, hosiery, specialty running, outdoor, fitness and movement categories. As an industry leader in active accessories, Implus is committed to enabling people to live active, healthy, and fulfilled lives, providing innovative products to more than 80,000 retail outlets worldwide. Distributing across more than 70 countries, Implus is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, with five international offices. Key brands within Implus' portfolio include Balega®, SKLZ®, Yaktrax®, TriggerPoint™, Sof Sole®, RockTape® and Spenco®. Learn more at Media ContactRachel Rose(984) 344-1642rrose@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Implus LLC
