Roku didn’t offer financial forecasts beyond the first quarter, citing uncertainty about vaccinations and other issues.
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Roku reported an unexpected quarterly profit, helping the stock to tick higher in after-hours trading.
The company reported fourth-quarter earnings of 49 cents a share, far better than the net loss of five cents a share that analysts anticipated, according to FactSet. Sales of $649.9 million were up 58% year over year, while Wall Street had expected $619 million.
The company said platform-segment revenue, which includes advertising sales and Roku’s cut of certain subscriptions sold via its platform, was up 81% year over year to $471.2 million. Sales of its devices were up 18% to $178.8 million. The company previously announced it ended the quarter with 51.2 million active accounts, adding 14.3 million in 2020.
Noting that the first quarter has historically been Roku’s softest quarter, in terms of sales, the company said it expects 2021 first-quarter revenue between $478 million and $493 million. That, too, was better than Wall Street expected. The consensus call was for sales of $463 million.
Management didn’t provide a formal outlook beyond the first quarter, citing uncertainty surrounding vaccine distribution, new Covid-19 variants, and other economic factors.
The company plans to launch content it acquired from the defunct mobile-streaming platform Quibi later in the year on its free, advertising-supported Roku Channel. The company noted the Roku Channel reached an estimated 63 million people during the quarter in the U.S., up more than 100% year over year.
Roku stock was up 0.9% in after-hours trading shortly after disclosing the results.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]
