Shares of Fitbit soared in its initial public debut and the company’s chief financial officer said Fitbit (FIT) can continue its strong growth even with competition from new players like the Apple (AAPL) Watch. CFO Bill Zerella said the company has been able to executive flawlessly, financially. ‘We’re one of the few companies that have combined rapid growth with really strong operating margins, and we’re going to do our best to continue that in the future,’ said Zerella. He added the business is managed with a lot of financial discipline and that executives are very focused on hitting target gross margins. Zerella said the company’s core mission is about health and fitness and the market opportunity is huge. ‘There’s over 200 billion in annual spend in health and fitness and frankly we look at our revenue today, and while it’s been great and our growth has been phenomenal, there’s a big opportunity out there.’ Zerella said Fitbit has about 85% of the market share in fitness trackers today selling products from 60 to 250 dollars . Zerella said there’s room in the market for new players like Apple and that Fitbit will continue to grow rapidly. He said the company is selling in 54 countries, across all demographics, proving that fitness trackers are not just a fad. The IPO was priced at $20 a share, valuing the company at more than $4-billion dollars. Shortly after the stock began trading, it jumped 50%. TheStreet’s Jim Cramer said he gives his blessing to Fitbit shares between $35 to $40. When asked about recent lawsuits against Fitbit by Jawbone, Zerella said he did not expect the suits would have a material impact on the financial side. Jawbone had sued Fitbit over alleged patent infringement. Zerella added ‘as the market share leader, we really have no need to steal anybody else’s technology or trade secrets. Everything that we’ve developed internally is backed by a lot of patents, so we believe these lawsuits are without any merit whatsoever.’
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