Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Roku from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Friday, August 7th. KeyCorp downgraded Roku from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up from $140.00) on shares of Roku in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citizens Jmp downgraded Roku from a “market outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Roku in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eighteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.25.

Roku Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROKU opened at $151.79 on Tuesday. Roku has a one year low of $78.53 and a one year high of $153.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $139.92 and a 200 day moving average of $117.37. The company has a market capitalization of $22.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.87 and a beta of 2.01.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.47. Roku had a net margin of 6.82% and a return on equity of 13.73%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Roku will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Matthew C. Banks sold 552 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.25, for a total transaction of $80,730.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,028.75. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Dan Jedda sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.87, for a total value of $1,007,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 79,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,504,276.81. This represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 162,452 shares of company stock worth $21,811,132. 13.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Roku

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Monetta Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Roku in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,072,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Roku during the second quarter valued at approximately $105,216,000. Ballast Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Roku during the 2nd quarter valued at $222,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Roku by 12.5% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 41,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,719,000 after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Roku during the second quarter valued at about $1,184,000. 86.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Roku News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Roku this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Positive analyst momentum: Zacks added Roku to its Rank #1 (Strong Buy) momentum list and highlighted favorable earnings-estimate revisions, suggesting improving expectations for the company’s near-term outlook. Why Roku Might Be Well Poised for a Surge Best Momentum Stocks to Buy for August 12
• Positive Sentiment: Broker support: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its Buy rating, providing additional backing for Roku’s growth strategy and recent operating performance. Rosenblatt Reaffirms Buy Rating for Roku
• Positive Sentiment: More free programming: Roku added six channels to its free live-TV lineup. Expanding content may improve user engagement, advertising inventory and the appeal of The Roku Channel, an important part of the company’s platform strategy. Roku Adds Six New Free Live TV Channels
• Neutral Sentiment: AI-content experiment: Roku launched Fairground TV, a 24/7 channel featuring programming and advertisements generated with artificial intelligence. The initiative could reduce content costs and create scalable programming, but its commercial reception remains unproven. Inside Roku’s Fairground TV Gamble
• Negative Sentiment: Quality and brand concerns: Multiple reports criticized Fairground TV as low-quality “AI slop.” Negative audience reaction could undermine Roku’s content credibility and raise questions about advertiser interest and user retention. The Guardian Reports on Roku’s AI Channel
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and risk concerns: A recent bearish analysis recommended selling alongside insiders and cited debt, execution risks and uncertainty surrounding potential Fox-related synergies. With ROKU trading well above its long-term moving averages and at a high earnings multiple, investors may be sensitive to disappointing growth. Roku Sell Alongside Insiders Analysis

About Roku

Roku, Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) is a technology company that develops and operates a proprietary streaming platform designed to deliver entertainment content to consumers via internet-connected devices and smart televisions. Since its inception in 2002 in California, Roku has focused on simplifying access to streaming services for viewers worldwide. The company’s platform enables users to discover, access and manage a wide array of over-the-top content from major streaming services, free ad-supported channels and niche providers.

At the core of Roku’s product lineup are a range of streaming players and sticks, which connect to televisions via HDMI and deliver the Roku OS experience.