Roku Crushes Expectations in First-Ever Earnings Report
Roku shares rallied after it released a better-than-expected earnings report, its first as a public company.
When Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) released its third-quarter earnings report late on Wednesday, the company posted a net loss of $0.10 per share on $124.8 million in revenue. Thomson Reuters consensus estimates had called for a net loss of $1.40 per share and $110.47 million in revenue.
During the quarter, active accounts totaled 16.7 million, up 48% year over year. Importantly, more than half of new accounts in the quarter came from licensed sources, a new milestone for Roku, with the largest and fastest-growing portion coming from Roku TVs.
The company also highlighted that in this quarter streaming hours increased 58% year over year to 3.8 billion hours.
Trailing 12-month average revenue per user (ARPU) in the third quarter was a record $12.68, up 37% year over year. ARPU more than doubled in the past two years as it continued to expand its content publisher relationships and develop new ad products and monetization features.
[nativounit]
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Roku expects to see revenues in the range of $175 million to $190 million and net income loss between $14 million and $8 million. Consensus estimates are a net loss of $0.13 per share and $177.12 million in revenue for the quarter.
Anthony Wood, founder and CEO, commented:
Our higher margin platform segment is the key driver of our growth and gross margin expansion, and our advertising business has more than doubled in size year-to-date. We continue to see strong momentum with our Roku TV program. One of our Roku TV partners, TCL, achieved the #2 spot for U.S. smart TV sales in September 2017 and #4 spot in 2017 year-to-date, up from #19 in 2014. We are leading the way in a rapidly evolving TV streaming ecosystem and will continue to focus on delighting our customers and creating value for our partners.
Shares of Roku were last seen up almost 47% at $27.65, with a consensus analyst price target of $25.00 and a 52-week range of $15.75 to $29.80.
[wallst_email_signup]
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
