diff --git a/tracer/gsttr-stats.py b/tracer/gsttr-stats.py
index 4547aef3ad..aeee522a93 100644
--- a/tracer/gsttr-stats.py
+++ b/tracer/gsttr-stats.py
@@ -77,13 +77,12 @@ class Stats(Analyzer):
         if event[Parser.F_FUNCTION]:
             return
 
-        try:
-            s = Structure(event[Parser.F_MESSAGE])
-        except ValueError:
-            logger.warning("failed to parse: '%s'", event[Parser.F_MESSAGE])
+        msg = event[Parser.F_MESSAGE]
+        p = msg.find(',')
+        if p == -1:
             return
-        entry_name = s.name
 
+        entry_name = msg[:p]
         if self.classes:
             if not any([fnmatch(entry_name, c) for c in self.classes]):
                 return
@@ -92,6 +91,12 @@ class Stats(Analyzer):
         if not record:
             return
 
+        try:
+            s = Structure(msg)
+        except ValueError:
+            logger.warning("failed to parse: '%s'", msg)
+            return
+
         # aggregate event based on class
         for sk,sv in record['scope'].items():
             # look up bin by scope (or create new)