Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

ROKU has been the subject of several other research reports. William Blair cut Roku from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Fox Advisors set a $157.00 price objective on shares of Roku in a report on Friday, July 17th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Roku from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Roku from $126.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Roku in a research report on Monday, June 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eighteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.25.

Roku Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of ROKU opened at $151.79 on Tuesday. Roku has a twelve month low of $78.53 and a twelve month high of $153.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.87 and a beta of 2.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $139.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.37.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Dan Jedda sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.56, for a total transaction of $857,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 71,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,715,854.40. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Mustafa Ozgen sold 10,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.00, for a total transaction of $1,467,936.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 19,185 shares in the company, valued at $2,762,640. The trade was a 34.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 162,452 shares of company stock worth $21,811,132. Corporate insiders own 13.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Roku

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Roku by 275.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,897,000 after buying an additional 1,897,407 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Roku by 229.5% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,038,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419,772 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Roku by 7,087.7% during the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,421,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,212,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401,664 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Roku in the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,808,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Roku by 1,320.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 834,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,967,000 after acquiring an additional 775,861 shares during the period. 86.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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

Roku Company Profile

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.