Fitbit offers virtual treks

The fitness device maker’s Adventures includes Yosemite trails, marathon route.

Fitbit Inc. unveiled a series of virtual adventures to pair with its fitness-tracking wristbands Monday as the company tries to maintain its sales momentum.

Fitbit Adventures, a new feature on the San Francisco company’s mobile app, enables users to virtually experience such things as hiking trails at Yosemite National Park or tracing the route of the New York City Marathon with each step they log on their Fitbit device.

Photos, maps and other images that show the user’s progress on the adventures can be viewed on a smartphone or other device that syncs with the trackers. Future updates will add other global destinations and experiences, Fitbit said.

The adventures “are the perfect motivation for anyone who may not want to compete in a traditional Fitbit group challenge with friends or family,” Tim Roberts, executive vice president for interactive at Fitbit, said in a statement.

Fitbit’s sales continued to surge in the first half of this year, but its profit has plunged as it invests in new products, marketing and acquisitions. In response, the company’s stock has dropped well below the prices it enjoyed soon after its June 2015 initial public stock offering. The IPO price was $20 a share, and it brief ly soared above $50 a share.

But the stock then suffered a steady decline and it’s dropped by more than 50% over the last 12 months. On Monday, Fitbit closed at $14.94, up 1.8% on the day.

Fitbit’s current market value is $3.3 billion.

The company also has been diversifying to develop mobile-payment technology that could be integrated into its future wearable devices. In May, it acquired the wearable-payments platform of Coin, a Silicon Valley financial tech company.

Fitbit’s products are sold at 54,000 retail stores in 64 countries. Fitbit, founded in 2007, sold 10.5 million devices in the first half of this year, up from 8.3 million a year earlier, despite competition from such rivals as Jawbone, Misfit and Garmin.

Fitbit’s revenue soared in the first six months of this year to $1.09 billion, up 48% from $737 million a year earlier. The gains were led by sales of Fitbit’s newer Blaze and Alta devices. But its profit for that period fell to $17.4 million, down from $65.7 million a year earlier.