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GoPro founder reveals what's next for the action camera maker

Nick Woodman is adamant that a more focused GoPro means a better chance at a profitable 2019.

“The focus we have restored to GoPro is why you will see us return to growth this year. We expect to return to growth for the second half of the year and be profitable for the fourth quarter. We believe we are setting ourselves up for a profitable full year 2019,” Woodman told Yahoo Finance.

Woodman said GoPro is trending to 5 million units of sell through this year versus 4.3 million last year, powered by a good reception among consumers to the new Hero 7.

Woodman declined to share anymore guidance beyond that.

Suffice it to say, GoPro and Woodman have some proving to do to Wall Street. The action camera maker has racked up losses for each of the past three years as it ventured momentarily into drones and explored building out a media business. Both of those ventures have since been curtailed. The company laid off hundreds of employees in January this year.

But the mistakes — and Wall Street viewing GoPro as operating in an ultra competitive space where Apple’s camera phones loom large — continue to hang over the stock. GoPro shares touched an all-time high of $98 or so in October 2014 and now trade a shade under $5.

The stock was punished in early November as investors locked into GoPro’s gross profit margin that came in at 33.2% versus Wall Street estimates of 34.1%. The third-quarter adjusted net loss was 4 cents a share, better than analyst forecasts for a 6 cents a share loss.

The question now dominating Wall Street is whether GoPro would be better off owned by a larger hardware company. Woodman told Yahoo Finance in November he would be open to a partnership. The action sports enthusiast turned CEO has the ultimate say — he controls GoPro’s voting stock.

“I have the responsibility to deliver a return to our shareholders and am always going to be looking at opportunities to do that,” Woodman said.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSozzi

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