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Roku Inc. delivered better-than-expected earnings and revenue Wednesday, but its shares slipped in the extended session after active-account growth came up lighter than anticipated.
The company posted second-quarter revenue of $645 million, up from $356 million a year earlier, whereas analysts tracked by FactSet had been projecting $619 million. Roku
ROKU,
saw $113 million in revenue from its player business and $532 million from its platform business, which includes advertising and licensing.
Roku noted in its investor letter that it more than doubled monetized video advertising impressions relative to a year ago.
The company generated net income of $73.5 million, or 52 cents a share, versus a loss of $43.1 million, or 35 cents a share, a year prior. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting 13 cents a share in GAAP earnings.
The company had 55.1 million active accounts as of the second quarter, up 1.5 million from the first quarter. Analysts were anticipating 55.7 million active accounts. Viewing time was up 19% to 17.4 million hours relative to a year earlier, but the metric declined from 18.3 million hours as of the first quarter.
The trend reflected “pandemic rolloff as people decommit from TV and go outdoors,” Roku’s platform vice president Scott Rosenberg said on a call with analysts and reporters. Rosenberg added that he was “not concerned” given that Roku appears to be taking share from linear-television players, based on third-party data showing year-over-year declines in traditional viewership.
Shares were off 7.9% in the extended session.
For the third quarter, Roku anticipates revenue of $675 million to $685 million, while analysts were looking for $649 million. The company also gave a bottom-line GAAP forecast that ranged from a $3 million loss to a $7 million profit. Analysts had been projecting a $29 million net loss.
Roku sees an “uncertain operating environment” due to the pandemic and warned in its shareholder letter that supply constraints and elevated component costs will “worsen” in the second half of the year, “leading to increasing negative player gross margin.” The company expects the challenges to continue into 2022.
Roku’s status as a “scale player in terms of component purchases and manufacturing unit levels” means that the company is “faring better than most” but is still seeing “challenges on the cost side,” Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden said on the media call.
“Within the platform segment, monetization remains strong, and while there will be a slowdown in year-over-year growth relative to last year’s pandemic-driven acceleration, we expect continued significant growth in the second half of the year,” Roku noted in the shareholder letter.
The company pointed to success at the annual upfronts gathering in which media companies look to secure commitments from advertisers. Roku noted in its shareholder letter that it obtained commitments from all seven major agency holding companies and that it doubled the dollar value of commitments relative to a year ago.
Roku also disclosed that it closed the upfront commitments months earlier than it did in past years. “I think that’s an indication that streaming has arrived as a first-class citizen in the way brands think about allocating their annual budgets,” Rosenberg said on Roku’s earnings call.
Shares of Roku have gained 31.5% over the past three months as the S&P 500
SPX,
has added 5.7%.
