Roku posts quarterly profit but disappoints on forecast

Content streaming services provider Roku Inc. (ROKU) beat analyst expectations in its fourth quarter 2017 results. The company posted revenues of $188.3 million, an increase of 28% year-over-year, driven by platform growth. Net income in the quarter amounted to $6.9 million or $0.06 per share.

Roku currently expects net revenues of $660 million to $690 million for FY 2018

During the fourth quarter, Platform revenues grew 129% to $85.4 million compared to the prior-year period. Platform comprised 45% of total revenues, up from 25% last year. Advertising sales made up approximately 75% of platform revenues in the quarter. Player revenues dropped 7% year-over-year to $102.8 million.

Active accounts totaled 19.3 million as of December 31, 2017. This represents an increase of 44% year-over-year. More than half of the new accounts in the fourth quarter came from licensed sources. In Q4 2017, total streaming hours came to 4.3 billion, up 55% year-over-year.

Trailing twelve-month ARPU in the fourth quarter increased 48% year-over-year to $13.78.

For full-year 2017, Roku posted total revenue of $513 million, an increase of 29% versus 2016. Platform revenues grew 115% to $225 million. The company posted a net loss of $63.5 million or $2.24 per share for 2017.

Outlook nothing to stream for

The TV streaming platform operator, which competes with the Netflix-Amazon Prime Video duo in content and the Apple TV-Amazon Fire TV duo in devices, posted a disappointing outlook for 2018.

Roku currently expects net revenues of $660 million to $690 million for the full year 2018 along with a loss of $40 million to $55 million. For the first quarter of 2018, the company expects total revenues of $120 million to $130 million with a net loss of $15 million to $21 million.

Roku believes the move to Home Entertainment Networks presents a significant opportunity. The company is optimistic about its voice assistant, Roku Entertainment Assistant, which is scheduled to launch this fall.

The entertainment services provider also believes there are plenty of avenues to grow engagement and reach in its Platform segment.