Roku shares surge as strong ad sales fuel Q4 revenue beat, in-line guidance

Investing.com -- Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU) shares soared more than 12% in premarket trading Friday as the company reported a smaller-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter, as revenue surpassed Wall Street estimates, helped by subscriber growth in its streaming platform business.

The company posted a quarterly loss of $0.24 per share, while analysts’ expectations were of a $0.42 loss per share. Revenue rose to $1.2 billion, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion.

The company's platform segment, which derives revenue from ad sales and subscriptions, grew 25% to $1.04 billion due to advertising activities, particularly from the political vertical. Excluding political advertising, the platform's revenue grew 19%.

Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2025, Roku expects revenue of $1.01 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations. For the full year, the company forecasts revenue of $4.61 billion, also matching analyst estimates.

The platform revenue's growth is expected to be 15% for the year. 

"Roku’s gaudy 4Q'24 platform revenue growth of +19% ex-political represents a second consecutive quarter of improved sales growth," Wolfe Research analysts commented. "With guidance for +15% platform revenue growth in '25, we expect rising investor confidence in Roku's 3P DSP ad sales strategy." 

"Looking forward, we see a longer-term story unfolding: as a public company, Roku is growing up," they added.

Pratyush Thakur contributed to this report.