Shares of Roku surged 14% on Friday, reaching a new 52-week high following earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations. In an interview, CEO Anthony Wood stated that more than half of U.S. broadband households now use Roku for TV streaming.
Wood highlighted that the company gained over four million new streaming households in the most recent quarter and is on track to surpass 100 million streaming households within the next year.
The company’s growth has been fueled in part by Roku’s user experience, particularly its content promotion on the home screen, Wood explained.
“We’re the No. 1 streaming operating system in the country and in most of the Americas by a wide margin,” he said. Here is how Roku performed in the fourth quarter compared to Wall Street expectations, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
– Loss per share: 24 cents vs. a loss of 40 cents expected
– Revenue: $1.2 billion vs. $1.14 billion expected
Roku increased its revenue by 22% to $1.2 billion. The company reported a net loss of $35.5 million, or 24 cents per share, an improvement from a net loss of $78.3 million, or 55 cents per share, during the same quarter last year.
As of the end of 2024, Roku had 89.8 million streaming households, marking a 12% year-over-year increase. Beginning next quarter, the company will discontinue reporting this metric as it streamlines its earnings reports to prioritize revenue and profitability figures.
Roku also saw an 18% year-over-year increase in streaming hours during the fourth quarter and remains focused on growing ad demand through “deeper third-party platform integrations,” according to its earnings release.
“Advertising is a big part of our business, and so a big focus for us in our strategy is to continue to grow demand by working with third-party partners,” Wood said. For the first quarter of 2025, Roku is forecasting net revenue of $1 billion and a gross profit of $450 million.