Planet Fitness Stock Is Built to Survive Any Economy

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Planet Fitness stock - Planet Fitness Stock Is Built to Survive Any Economy

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Planet Fitness Inc (NASDAQ: PLNT) is a new kind of fitness club. It’s a stripped down, simple concept that is testament to people who want to have a gym membership but can’t make the limited hours, don’t need to pay for a lot of stuff they don’t use and aren’t interested in spending a fortune to access a facility that offers more than they need. And it’s making a lot of members — and Planet Fitness stock investors — very happy.

PLNT stock is up 78% in the past year, and 40% year to date, even after a big selloff in the first half of October. And in the past couple of months, analysts at Guggenheim and Cowen have boosted their price targets for Planet Fitness stock by 15%.

Until recently, PLNT stock had been sitting near its 52-week highs. Now that it’s come down with the market to the mid-40’s, it’s a great time to scoop up Planet Fitness stock.

Right now, the market is working through allocation issues and some of that is hitting stocks. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall. That makes bonds a more attractive safe haven than say, overpriced stocks that don’t have much more room to grow. Investors can get an attractive yield from bonds and not worry so much about a stock reckoning.

And when a selloff occurs like this week, it’s even more motivation to move money into bonds. But once institutional investors, hedge funds and mutual funds reallocate and reevaluate their stock portfolios, all this will be over. And Planet Fitness stock will continue its solid trajectory.

Remember, this selloff hasn’t been triggered by dire economic news or any significant long-term issues. This is what happens after the central banks gets out of the way of the free markets. We haven’t seen that in a decade and it feels like new territory. But the markets are transitioning just fine.

Planet Fitness Stock Is Protected by Its Business Model

The reason I’m confident that Planet Fitness stock will come through this even stronger than before is there are a number of things to like about PLNT as a business, especially in this kind of economy.

One of Planet Fitness stock’s most compelling aspects is a business model that appeals to all socioeconomic demographics. Planet Fitness has a simple 2-tier membership offer — a $10-a-month offer or a $21.99-a-month offer — at very reasonable rates. These numbers work for everyone’s budget.

Both plans offer 24/7 access and free fitness training, so there are no limits placed on what you can do inside the club. The $21.99-monthly plan gives you access to all PF gym franchises (There are over 1,500 locations around the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the Dominican Republic and Panama.) as well as hydromassage, tanning beds, massage chairs and discounts on other goods and services.

Another key to Planet Fitness’ sustained growth is that it’s a franchise business. That means local individuals are building the business in their communities, which takes a lot of risk away from corporate Planet Fitness. Maybe corporate marketing didn’t see a need for one or two gyms in Waukegan, Illinois, but a local entrepreneur did.

This is a great revenue model for this type of venture, and given Planet Fitness’ size and success, it’s creating a compelling barrier to entry for any competitors.

Louis Navellier is a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of five investing newsletters: Blue Chip Growth, Emerging Growth, Ultimate Growth, Family Trust and Platinum Growth. His most popular service, Blue Chip Growth, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool, PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/10/planet-fitness-stock-is-built-to-survive-any-economy/.

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