Roku adds 20% after saying it expects to be profitable in fourth quarter; Prompts an upgrade

Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) reported solid third-quarter results and offered guidance for this quarter.

Third-quarter loss per share of $2.33 was worse than the analyst estimate of -$1.96. Revenue for the quarter came in at $912 million, ahead of the consensus estimate of $855.1 million.

The stock was boosted after Roku said it expects to record an adjusted Ebitda of $10 million in the fourth quarter, which is a surprise given that analysts were expecting a loss of $57.6 million.

Shares rose nearly 20% in pre-open Thursday trade.

Revenue is expected at $955 million, in line with the consensus of $956.8 million.

“We remain cautious amid an uncertain macro environment and an uneven ad market recovery,” the company said in a press release.

“As we indicated earlier, we remain committed to positive Adjusted EBITDA for full year 2024, with continued improvements after that.”

Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein said the upside was primarily driven by cost efficiencies.

"While still early, now integrated with >30 programmatic partners driving "meaningful" sequential revenue improvement."

Pivotal Research analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak saw enough in the report to raise his recommendations on ROKU shares to Hold.

"At current price levels indicated in the pre-market we view ROKU as reasonably valued," the analyst said.

By Senad Karaahmetovic

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