Peloton shares ($PTON) roared on Black Friday, as the exercise equipment & software company's ad campaign kicked into high gear, and as analysts and investors became more bullish on the business. Right now, the stock is at an all-time post-IPO high after a monster Friday trading day where it tacked on nearly 10%.
Fear not, Santa. Peloton has been staffing up across the board as it's in growth mode to support rising sales, and it's no more apparent than in our first two charts. The one above tracks LinkedIn ($MSFT) Employee Count over time, which rose 77% to nearly 1,600.
But the next chart focuses specifically on its hiring of new staff, and its continuing push to get more 'Field Operations' professionals onto the Peloton payroll as the company takes more control of its product and delivery. This role is for delivery and installation professionals, and since it's still hovering around all-time highs, it's safe to say Peloton is looking for its business to grow.
Peloton Field Operations roles (above) rose 50% - but the entire business continues to grow, too. Job postings across the company increased 78% so far in 2019, rising to 418 at our most recent count (not shown).
That's not all that's growing - Peloton has more than doubled its physical footprint this year, helping it get more people engaged with its product by planting bikes into storefronts in malls from coast-to-coast.
Advertising is one thing - and Peloton is absolutely plastering the airwaves with a blitz of ads, making many men question whether it's a trip to Jared they're actually supposed to embark upon this holiday season. But it's also driving a ton of organic engagement on Facebook ($FB), which is seeing the exercise startup's chatter rising to levels it has only hit once before - last year's holiday season.
Our final chart tracks the total number of people submitting ratings into the Apple Store for Peloton products lately. And, as you can see, it's still growing at a healthy clip of 11% in the last month - this number will be critical post-holidays as more people unwrap that conspicuous item underneath the tree to find either a Peloton stationary bike or treadmill. What's not apparent here, is Peloton's Apple rating over that timeframe: 5.0, signaling high satisfaction for the average user.
Peloton suffered the same bad mojo as a number of app-based businesses that launched (or just tried to launch) glitzy IPOs, only to promptly falter on disappointing guidance and quarterly losses. But a monster holiday season can change that - and Wall Street is already buying in.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.