Fitbit Inc. (FIT) Earnings Preview: With Wearable Market More Crowded, Shares Could Plunge After Third Quarter Release

Fitness band maker Fitbit Inc.’s (FIT) is set to announce third-quarter earnings on Wednesday amid bearish bets by investors.

In August, the company posted revenues of $586.53 million, or 12 cents per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $577.75 million, or 11 cents per share. For the third quarter, Zacks Investment Research pegged forecasts at $503.5 million from last year’s $409.3 million, in line with the company’s projected range of $490 million to $510 million. FactSet was slightly more optimistic, with revenue expectations of $506.9 million.

Despite the San Francisco-based company’s second quarter announcement that its quarterly revenue grew 46 percent over that of the second quarter of 2015, the company’s shares’ short interest has hit its highest level since Fitbit first went public in June 2015, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners. The data and analytics company estimated that up to half of Fitbit’s shares had been borrowed by sellers betting against the fitness tracker’s financial health.

The company’s share price sharpened its week-long decline on Tuesday morning, falling from a high of $13.31 to under $13.04.

While Fitbit released its well-reviewed Flex 2 for just $99.95 in October—compared to the $369 Apple Watch Series 2 and the $249.99 Samsung Gear S2—its earlier release, the slightly pricier Charge 2, required fixes for two software bugs that led to inaccurate distance tracking.

The company has continued to dominate the market for wearables, an industry that has seen a 27.2 percent decline in sales of wearables that support third-party applications over the past year, but a 48.8 percent increase in standalone wearables over the same period, according to research from International Data Corporation.

Though Fitbit may offer a less expensive alternative to aforementioned models by Apple and Samsung, the company faces an increasingly crowded market, with similar products coming from Garmin, Jawbone, Lenovo and Xiaomi. The Chinese maker poses the greatest risk to Fitbit, according to International Data Corporation. Fitbit derives most of its revenue growth from the U.S., Europe, Africa and the Middle East, but Xiaomi, which has maintained its popularity in China, is looking to expand globally.