Roku Skyrockets on Opening Day of Trading, Jumps More than 50%

Megalith

Megalith

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Roku made its public debut with a bang: the company listed its $252 million IPO on the Nasdaq under the trading symbol ROKU today and saw that price skyrocket more than 50%. But although they made $398.6 million in revenue last year, up 25 percent from $319.9 million in 2015, the company still loses money, having posted a net loss of $42.8 million in 2016, steeper than the $40.6 million the year before.

In addition to sales of Roku players and TVs, the company has been expanding its advertising business. It's hoping to grow the number of hours streamed by each user, and monetize the hours through advertising, according to its prospectus. The IPO comes as more and more companies look to take a slice of the video-streaming market. Advertising giant Facebook has deepened its ambitions in video streaming, and Apple and Amazon debuted new high-definition streaming devices this month.
 
I've been watching that. Sold 20 of my 400 NVDA and bought 200 roku when it opened today.
 
Had a feeling this would happen. They are prime material for a hostile takeover/buyout. There's too many roku devices in the market to ignore that kind of penetration and the data it provides.
 
A sign of the times, weird times, that companies can lose millions for consecutive years and still have booming stock.
 
I really like Roku streaming devices - they are easy to use, pretty speedy, and not too expensive. I compare this to a new Apple TV (which I also own) - expensive, terrible remote, no real advantage over Roku unless you buy stuff from iTunes. The APple TV isn't terrible - but I do hate that remote (even though it gets lost in the couch cushions constantly).
Can Roku keep afloat? Lots of competition in this space. Amazon, Apple, Google, and countless others. Interesting.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Had a feeling this would happen. They are prime material for a hostile takeover/buyout. There's too many roku devices in the market to ignore that kind of penetration and the data it provides.
Click to expand...
That is what everyone is betting on in my opinion.

As an aside. Now the company has gone public I would expect banner ads on the Roku home screen very soon. With more to come.
 
I looked at it this morning and decided I should pay bills with $1000 instead of buying Roku stock. Oh well....
 
I was really happy with the previous versions of Roku, but starting at 4 I was nothing but disappointed. I felt the fan was unnecessary due lacking hardware selection; my speculation was crappier SOC's for better price point. Performance was really lacking too. i wanted some instant interfacing response and buffering. Even though I always used Ethernet and higher end model's I felt I was not getting what I wanted. Luckily, a Christmas sale was at Best Buy for the Shield TV and remote $150, and found the best purchase for a streamer. I was thinking how I wanted this [shield] to run Roku software. But nVidia is starting to surpass the Roku in so many ways. I admit at first it lacked a bit in support, but as of now it has just enough for most, and a little more to offer for some. I contemplated nVidia buying out Roku just for the very reason to free themselves of Google TV, and become the ultimate streamer. Their software and channel selection with the perfect hardware......
 
Only 50%? :rolleyes:
Sorry, I'm used to cryptocurrency :whistle:
Stocks move soooooo slow. I'm more into high risk insane gain investing. Although it might be too late now. The golden time was back in mid 2016 - feb 2017. Those who hoarded crypto back then are millionaires (some are billionaires) by now.
 
I have two Roku3's for my kids televisions. They're horrible, cheap-looking and slow. I use them for my kids tv's because they just happened to have them in the local shop, but they're not the best. I guess they are EoL now, but I don't think I would buy a Roku again. I use Shields on my main screens and they're infinitely superior, other than the recent borking of Youtube, but I think that's AndroidTV wide and not the fault of the box anyway.
 
davethehedgehog said:
I have two Roku3's for my kids televisions. They're horrible, cheap-looking and slow. I use them for my kids tv's because they just happened to have them in the local shop, but they're not the best. I guess they are EoL now, but I don't think I would buy a Roku again. I use Shields on my main screens and they're infinitely superior, other than the recent borking of Youtube, but I think that's AndroidTV wide and not the fault of the box anyway.
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The NVIDIA shield is designed to address a different audience. I would take the shield similar to the Nintendo Switch. It's really not a full console, but it's not a dedicated streaming device like the Roku either.

That said, the NVIDIA obviously plays games a ton better. But when it comes to streaming, the roku wins hands down with the number of channels, size, cost ($200 to $40), remote, and low power consumption.

BTW: Has NVIDIA given up on the shield? Weren't they supposed to close it out with no planned product to replace it? I don't see it marketed much like the Roku and I know the live game streaming revenues have been a disappointment to them.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
BTW: Has NVIDIA given up on the shield? Weren't they supposed to close it out with no planned product to replace it? I don't see it marketed much like the Roku and I know the live game streaming revenues have been a disappointment to them.
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They just released a slightly updated version with a smaller profile. You might be thinking of the Shield Tablet perhaps? I'm talking about the Shield-TV set-top-box. The processor's the same in the new one, which I was disappointed about, but the performance of them is still so far ahead of the competition that it's still the best option by far if you want a complete off-the-shelf tv streamer.

I don't even use mine really for gaming, I stream the odd game in my gym, but I have 4 of them and only one of them is ever used for that. They're just a hell of a lot snappier and slicker than the Roku's. The Shield starts up 4K content immediately. The Roku takes several seconds to start streaming. I've never seen the Shield require Plex to transcode, but the Roku's seemingly do it at random. Plex animations are immediate with zero input lag. Oh edit: The Roku's wireless is absolute shite.

Basically the Roku, or at least the Roku 3's I have, just don't have enough beef. At the time I think I paid about £130 each for them, they were brand new. A shield is about £188 now (with a controller and remote) and worth every penny, even if you strip out the gaming side, if you're into that.

edit: updated prices...
 
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I'm a huge Roku fan because I'm also an OTA/cord cutter. Roku's stand-alone media players are "meh", but their TVs are amazing compared to the competition! As they continue to partner with more and more TV manufacturer's, I think that's where Roku will end up.
 
davethehedgehog said:
They just released a slightly updated version with a smaller profile. You might be thinking of the Shield Tablet perhaps? I'm talking about the Shield-TV set-top-box. The processor's the same in the new one, which I was disappointed about, but the performance of them is still so far ahead of the competition that it's still the best option by far if you want a complete off-the-shelf tv streamer.

I don't even use mine really for gaming, I stream the odd game in my gym, but I have 4 of them and only one of them is ever used for that. They're just a hell of a lot snappier and slicker than the Roku's. The Shield starts up 4K content immediately. The Roku takes several seconds to start streaming. I've never seen the Shield require Plex to transcode, but the Roku's seemingly do it at random. Plex animations are immediate with zero input lag. Oh edit: The Roku's wireless is absolute shite.

Basically the Roku, or at least the Roku 3's I have, just don't have enough beef. At the time I think I paid about £130 each for them, they were brand new. A shield is about £188 now (with a controller and remote) and worth every penny, even if you strip out the gaming side, if you're into that.

edit: updated prices...
Click to expand...

Ahhh that explains it. When I bought our Roku 3's they were $100 which is about 74 GBP. Basically you Brits are getting the short end of the stick again when paying for electronics. (The same thing happens with projectors, tv's and many other consumer electronics.)
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Ahhh that explains it. When I bought our Roku 3's they were $100 which is about 74 GBP. Basically you Brits are getting the short end of the stick again when paying for electronics. (The same thing happens with projectors, tv's and many other consumer electronics.)
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The new Roku Ultra looks to be £135 in the UK, still cheaper than the Nvidia, but it doesn't do BBC iPlayer. It's so frustrating when things are messed up like that. I keep hoping HTML5 is going to come along and I can ditch all of these units for some nice linux mini-pc's connecting to my Plex Server with Netflix plugins and so on. The whole stupid DRM situation is such a ballache.
 
My purchase decision is whether to buy my last Roku or not right now. Once the suits come in and ruin how they run a what is effectively a very light-weight service on top of hardware, I suspect Amazon will probably be comparable with service with what I find is slightly better hardware which is so far somewhat hackable if that's your thing.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Had a feeling this would happen. They are prime material for a hostile takeover/buyout. There's too many roku devices in the market to ignore that kind of penetration and the data it provides.
Click to expand...

The brand name and collective user experience is far more valuable than the technology in the boxes. (if they had proprietary hardware, I'd feel that acquisition/buy out is imminent) And they've already licensed their software in other smart TVs, so I don't think the big panel manufacturers are eyeballing them either. A DVR manufacturer could really run with an integrated Roku/DVR box. But neither TiVo, Tablo or ChannelMaster have deep pockets or broad userbase. I would hate to see Roku in Cable Boxes or Sat Receivers. I would absolutely depise a media giant like Disney buying Roku.

jpm100 said:
My purchase decision is whether to buy my last Roku or not right now. Once the suits come in and ruin how they run a what is effectively a very light-weight service on top of hardware, I suspect Amazon will probably be comparable with service with what I find is slightly better hardware which is so far somewhat hackable if that's your thing.
Click to expand...

Although I've had Rokus since first gen (HD-XR, 2009), I haven't upgraded any of them since Roku 3 in 2014. High praise that a 3 y.o. box still gets the job done, but bad for sales and bottom line. I'll always have Roku for two reasons: VUDU/UV library access, and a superior MLB app. But I feel the FireTV is a much better STB, and it has been my go-to for a long time.
 
Shikami said:
I was really happy with the previous versions of Roku, but starting at 4 I was nothing but disappointed. I felt the fan was unnecessary due lacking hardware selection; my speculation was crappier SOC's for better price point. Performance was really lacking too. i wanted some instant interfacing response and buffering. Even though I always used Ethernet and higher end model's I felt I was not getting what I wanted. Luckily, a Christmas sale was at Best Buy for the Shield TV and remote $150, and found the best purchase for a streamer. I was thinking how I wanted this [shield] to run Roku software. But nVidia is starting to surpass the Roku in so many ways. I admit at first it lacked a bit in support, but as of now it has just enough for most, and a little more to offer for some. I contemplated nVidia buying out Roku just for the very reason to free themselves of Google TV, and become the ultimate streamer. Their software and channel selection with the perfect hardware......
Click to expand...
I just upgraded from an old 2XS that couldn't handle some channels to an Ultra. I had to ventilate the old one to keep it from freezing up. The new one doesn't have a fan, but runs much cooler than the old one.
 
Make sure to buy one with voice search instead of typing with the remote.
 
Saturn_V said:
The brand name and collective user experience is far more valuable than the technology in the boxes. (if they had proprietary hardware, I'd feel that acquisition/buy out is imminent) And they've already licensed their software in other smart TVs, so I don't think the big panel manufacturers are eyeballing them either. A DVR manufacturer could really run with an integrated Roku/DVR box. But neither TiVo, Tablo or ChannelMaster have deep pockets or broad userbase. I would hate to see Roku in Cable Boxes or Sat Receivers. I would absolutely depise a media giant like Disney buying Roku.
Click to expand...

Google and Apple have desperately been trying to get into the streaming device space. Their main competitor is roku. As the Roku kernel is based on embedded linux, a port to android shouldn't be that big a deal.

BTW: Love my Roku 3 also. I haven't had a reason to update it. But what will likely happen is the number of ads pushed will increase. You really don't have to update hardware if you have ad revenue which is basically free to push. Look at facebook. They don't sell anything but ad space. They could also require developers pay a licensing fee if they charge for their channel. (hulu, amazon, netflix, etc...)

But if ad revenue doesn't work, they will do a microsoft and prevent you from downloading channels which worked in the past to force you to update to new hardware. If they pull that bull crap I'm going to Kodi.
 
I've always used a Roku; they're great. But I don't think they have the brand loyalty, or that their technology isn't easily duplicated, to be worth a long term buy. I guess right now if you can get in early on any IPO and cash out in the first few days or week, great. Don't see the value though.
 
TwistedAegis said:
I've always used a Roku; they're great. But I don't think they have the brand loyalty
Click to expand...

Hard to say. You would wonder why people are so loyal to certain brands given how the automatically stop support and eol then. Yet people are.
 
Roku since yesterday morning

roku since yesterday.png
 
^^ been watching that. Seems I read upward of ten percent of the shares were short beginning of this month. So very good chance there is a short squeeze going on as they buy to close their position before it goes any higher.

In any event, I regret not pulling the trigger when it dropped below twenty.

[edit]
Buy a block at 19.5, not short the stock.
 
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