The Roku 3 television streaming player menu is shown on a television in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Shares of Roku closed up more than 12% Friday after investors rallied around the company’s third-quarter earnings beat.
The company on Thursday posted 9 cents in earnings per share on $452 million in revenue. Analysts had projected a loss of 40 cents per share and $366 million in revenue, according to Refinitiv. The company said it added 2.9 million incremental active accounts in Q3 2020 to reach 46 million.
“Roku blew past already elevated expectations last night, posting 73% y/y total revenue growth and $56 million in EBITDA as the advertising recovery, particularly in connected TV, accelerated,” Benchmark analysts said in a note Friday.
The firm raised its price target to $300 from $185. The analysts said they anticipate the stock to make “further gains in the coming months.”
Roku did not provide formal Q4 guidance but said it expects quarterly revenue to grow in the mid-40% range year over year. The streaming provider has benefited from stay-at-home orders that caused people to seek out in-home entertainment. It’s also benefiting from the shift in viewing away from traditional TV channels as people cut the cord on their pay-TV subscriptions.
“We remain Positive on ROKU as we view the company as one of the few ways to play the secular linear TV-to-digital engagement and ad budget shift, which is accelerating during the pandemic,” Susquehanna analysts wrote in a Friday note. The firm also raised its price target to $275 from $185.
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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