SPOTIFY STOCK DIPS
AFTER Q1 REPORT
Spotify’s stock closed down 9.62% today after the company’s first quarterly report missed Wall Street estimates.
The stock, which closed at $170 on Wednesday, finished at $160.38 in a topsy-turvy Thursday session, dipping to $159.75 in after-hours trading.
Spotify released its Q1 results Wednesday, its first financial report as a public company. Notably, the company announced a new milestone of 75m premium subscribers. Here are a few other key takeaways.
The company saw a 26% year-over-year increase in revenue to about €1.14 billion (about $1.36b), the lion's share of this from premium subscriptions (€1.037b), up 25%, with €102m in ad-supported revenue (up 38%). Operating loss was better than guidance.
The streamery claimed 170m monthly active users (MAUs) at quarter's end, a 30% year-over-year spike, with 75m premium subscribers (+45%), in line with guidance. MAUs for the ad-supported tier numbered 99m (+21%).
Gross margin was 24.9%, also ahead of guidance.
For Q2, the House of Ek is expecting another big spike in premium subs (34-41%), MAUs ((28-32%) and total revenue (+10-29%). Expectations for the entirety of 2018 are unchanged; analysts expect subscribers to reach 150m by late 2020, which would be, um, frickin' awesome, near-term stock hiccups notwithstanding.
A release accompanying the results, available here, also touts improvements in the Spot's mobile ad-supported tier, the bargain Hulu bundle and more.
