Sanmeet Deo

Yeah.

If anyone knows me, they know I like to observe the world and find stock picks that way.

I recently joined a local Planet Fitness, a brand new one that opened in my neighborhood.

I was pleasantly surprised.

I will say, I have had a little bit of a bias against it in the past, but I kept an open mind.

I was surprised with the affordability.

It was clean and organized.

Obviously, it was newer, so that helped.

They also have some fun perks if you're a Blackheart member with massage chairs and red light therapy and drink discounts and stuff.

Pretty good deal there.

I think Planet Fitness is a good trade-down winner if inflation stays sticky and rates stay higher for longer.

People cut big luxuries, but often keep affordable habits.

Planet Fitness ended 2025 with about 20.8 million members across just under 2,900 clubs, while still growing system-wide same club sales at

6.7% and opening 181 new clubs.

And we've seen this model work in other similar environments.

In 2018, with late cycle rising rates, Planet Fitness delivered 10.2% system-wide same-store sales, opened 230 new stores.

In 2023 to 2024, with those aggressive rate hikes and restrictions

They still posted about 8.7% and 5% system-wide, same club sales, respectively.

The pressure points to watch are franchisee-level costs, labor, rent, utilities.

If those continue to go up and it cuts their margins, and if churn with customers truly gets squeezed, then we could start getting a little worried.