markets

2/14/25

Roku’s “outstanding” quarter, aided by strong political ad spending, sends shares soaring

Roku’s stock surged 14% in after-hours trading Thursday, after the streaming giant posted a smaller-than-expected Q4 loss of $0.24 per share, beating analysts’ expected $0.41 loss. Revenue rose 22% year over year to $1.2 billion, ahead of Wall Street’s $1.15 billion estimate, per Barron’s.

The earnings beat was driven by Roku’s main revenue generator, its platform business — consisting of ad sales and streaming subscriptions — which crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in Q4, up 25% from the previous year.

The company had an “outstanding advertising quarter,” according to CEO Anthony Wood, fueled by strong political ad spending during the election cycle as well as expanding partnerships with small and midsize businesses. In Q4, Roku’s ad business outperformed both the overall ad market and the OTT ad market in the US, the company said.

Streaming subscription revenue also climbed, with Roku reaching nearly 90 million global households and approximately 145 million people in the US, which represents more than half of the nation’s broadband households.

Once a pandemic darling as people flocked to its streaming services during lockdowns, Roku has reported quarterly losses since 2022 — yet in yesterday’s letter to shareholders, the company said it expects to deliver positive operating income for 2026.

Roku forecasts annual revenue above estimates on strong ad sales; shares jump

Roku forecasts annual revenue above estimates on strong ad sales; shares jump

The earnings beat was driven by Roku’s main revenue generator, its platform business — consisting of ad sales and streaming subscriptions — which crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in Q4, up 25% from the previous year.

The company had an “outstanding advertising quarter,” according to CEO Anthony Wood, fueled by strong political ad spending during the election cycle as well as expanding partnerships with small and midsize businesses. In Q4, Roku’s ad business outperformed both the overall ad market and the OTT ad market in the US, the company said.

Streaming subscription revenue also climbed, with Roku reaching nearly 90 million global households and approximately 145 million people in the US, which represents more than half of the nation’s broadband households.

Once a pandemic darling as people flocked to its streaming services during lockdowns, Roku has reported quarterly losses since 2022 — yet in yesterday’s letter to shareholders, the company said it expects to deliver positive operating income for 2026.

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Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

S&P 500 closes at record as tech heavyweights flex (besides Apple)

The Magnificent 7 did the heavy lifting, performing better than any S&P 500 sector ETF on Tuesday.

Bull by the horns

markets

8h

Oracle rips as backlog builds, but company misses on top and bottom lines

Oracle shares shot higher after-hours as the company reported a growing backlog, even though its fiscal Q1 results fell slightly short of expectations. The company reported:

Adjusted earnings per share of $1.47 vs. expectations of $1.48.
Revenue of $14.93 billion vs. expectations of $15.04 billion.

Shares were up 21% in after-hours trading, which is a pretty crazy stock move for a company with a market cap of more than $675 billion.

The market was likely impressed by a giant build in the company’s “remaining performance obligations,” or RPO, which is how the company measures the value of signed cloud computing deals that haven’t yet been reported as revenue. In a statement, CEO Safra Catz said:

“We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1. This resulted in RPO contract backlog increasing 359% to $455 billion. It was an astonishing quarter — and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build. Over the next few months, we expect to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”

Oracle Announces Fiscal Year 2026 First Quarter Financial Results

Oracle Announces Fiscal Year 2026 First Quarter Financial Results

The market was likely impressed by a giant build in the company’s “remaining performance obligations,” or RPO, which is how the company measures the value of signed cloud computing deals that haven’t yet been reported as revenue. In a statement, CEO Safra Catz said:

“We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1. This resulted in RPO contract backlog increasing 359% to $455 billion. It was an astonishing quarter — and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build. Over the next few months, we expect to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”

markets

8h

Robinhood rides index inclusion rally to record close

Robinhood Markets notched a new closing high Tuesday, as the crypto, stock, and options brokerage continued to ride a rally set off by the announcement that it would be added to the S&P 500 Index.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Robinhood appears to be benefiting from the so-called inclusion effect, a market phenomenon where companies that are added to major market indexes can see a price move as index funds — whose holdings must mirror the membership of the index — rush to buy the stock.

For what it’s worth, it seems like Robinhood will upon entry (effective prior to the market open on September 22) be the top-performing member of the index, as its roughly 220% gain this year is more or less double that of the current leader, Seagate Technology Holdings.

markets

8h

GameStop posts impressive Q2 results with big sales beat

Don’t call it a comeback!

GameStop is jumping aftermarket as the video games and collectibles retailer posted an impressive set of second-quarter results.

Net sales: $972 million (estimate $823 million).
Adjusted diluted earnings per share: $0.25 (estimate $0.16).

Note: these consensus estimates, compiled by Bloomberg, are from only two analysts.

The sales beat is particularly noteworthy, as the company had already done an exemplary job of expense control to help protect its bottom line. Revenues were up more than 20% versus the year-ago quarter, the biggest annual jump in sales since the company (and the world) was emerging from the pandemic in 2021.

The options market implies a move of plus or minus about 9.4% on earnings.

For a while, GameStop’s ability to generate positive net income was purely a function of the interest earnings on its substantial cash hoard. But now, GameStop has strung together five consecutive quarters of positive operating cash flows for the first time in its history!

This was the quarter when the company began to act on its bitcoin treasury strategy, raising money through the sale of convertible notes and using some proceeds to purchase the crypto asset.

Because of how much market value has been ascribed to potential for GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen to use its significant cash holdings to transform the company, the prospect of converting cash into bitcoin initially did not sit too well with investors following the announcement of this new strategic push in March.

Shares of the once-upon-a-time meme stock really didn’t get too much love during retail frenzies earlier in the summer, and were down about 25% year to date heading into this release.

As of the close of the quarter, its bitcoin holdings were valued at $528.6 million.

Western Digital Seagate Technology Rise to top of S&P 500

Data storage is so hot right now

A rapid turnaround in profitability helps explain how Seagate Technology and Western Digital have clawed to the top of the S&P 500 this year.

Matt Phillips10h

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