Mad Hedge Technology Letter
May 3, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING TELEPHONE INDUSTRY)
(TMUS), (S), (NFLX), (T), (VZ), (CHTR), (CMCSA)
Tag Archive for: (NFLX)
Talk is cheap.
Do not believe half-truths that go against economic convention.
This was the case when T-Mobile (TMUS) CEO John Legere and Sprint (S) CEO Marcelo Claure popped up on live TV promoting affordability, elevated competition, and massive 5G infrastructure investments if the two companies joined forces in a $26.5 billion deal.
This was a case of smoke and mirrors. The speculative claim of adding 3 million workers and investing $40 billion into 5G development is just a line pandering toward President Trump's nationalistic tendencies.
They want the deal to move forward any way possible.
Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba (BABA), met President Trump at Trump Towers before his term commenced and promised to add 1 million jobs in order to curry favor with the new order.
Where are those jobs?
If this merger came to fruition, market players would shrink from 4 to 3 - a newly reformulated T-Mobile plus Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T).
Pure economics dictate that shrinking competition by 25% would create pricing leverage for the leftover trio.
Industry consolidation is usually met with accelerated profit drivers because companies can get away with reckless price increases without offering more goods and services.
Being at the vanguard of the 4G movement, America overwhelmingly benefited from lucid synergistic applications that fueled domestic job growth and economic gains.
Japanese and German players were hit hard from missing out in leading the new wave of wireless technology.
T-Mobile and Sprint wish to be insiders of this revolutionary technology and this is their way in.
In the past, T-Mobile jumped onto the scene with aggressively twisting its business model to fight tooth and nail with Verizon and AT&T.
It was moderately successful.
T-Mobile even offered affordable plans without contracts offering customers optionality and advantageous pricing.
It was able to take market share from Sprint, which is the monumental laggard in this group and the butt of jokes in this foursome.
The average cost of wireless has slid 19% in the past five years, and traditional wireless Internet companies are sweating bullets as the future is murky at best.
The bold strategy to merge these two wireless firms derives from an urgent need to combat harsh competition from the two titans Verizon and AT&T.
The merger is in serious threat of being shot down by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on antitrust grounds.
History is littered with companies that became complacent and toppled because of monopolistic positions.
Case in point, the predominant force in the American and global economy was the American automotive industry and Detroit in the 1950s.
Detroit had the highest income and highest rate of home ownership out of any major American city at that time.
Flint, Michigan, oozed prosperity, and the top three car manufacturers boasted magnanimous employee benefits and a tight knit union.
During this era of success, 50% of American cars were made by GM and 80% of cars were American made.
The car industry could do no wrong.
This would mark the peak of American automotive dominance, as local companies failed to innovate, preferring stop-gap measures such as installing add-ons such as power steering, sound systems, and air conditioning instead of properly developing the next generation of models.
American companies declined to revolutionize the expensive system put in place that could produce new models because of the absence of competition and were making too much money to justify alterations.
It's expensive to make cars but neglecting reinvestment yielded future mediocrity to the detriment of the whole city of Detroit.
The tech mentality is the polar opposite with most tech firms reinvesting the lion's share of operational profit, if any, back into product improvement.
Sprint got burned because it skimped on investment. It is in a difficult predicament dependent on T-Mobile to haul it out of a precarious position.
GM, Ford, and Chrysler met their match when Toyota imported a vastly more efficient way of production and the rest is history.
Detroit is a ghastly remnant of what it used to be with half the population escaping to greener pastures.
A carbon copy scenario is playing out in the mobile wireless space and allowing a merger would suppress any real competition.
To add confusion to the mix, fresh competition is growing on the fringes desiring to disrupt this industry sooner than later by cable providers such as Charter (CHTR) and Comcast (CMCSA) entering the fray offering mobile phone plans.
Google also offers a mobile phone plan through the Google Fi division.
The fusion of wireless, broadband, and video is attracting competition from other spheres of the business world.
The paranoia served in doses originates from the Netflix (NFLX) threat that vies for the same entertainment dollars and eyeballs.
Remember that AT&T is in the midst of merging with Time Warner Cable, which is the second largest cable company behind Comcast.
The top two in the bunch - AT&T and Verizon - are under attack from online streaming business models, and the Time Warner merger is a direct response to this threat.
There are a lot of moving parts to this situation.
AT&T hopes to leverage new video content to extract digital ad revenue capturing margin gains.
Legere and Claure put on their fearmongering hats as they argued that this deal has national security implications and losing out to Chinese innovation is not an option.
This argument is ironic considering T-Mobile is a German company and Sprint is owned by the Japanese.
Sprint have been burning cash for years and this move would ensure the businesses survives.
Sprint's crippling debt puts it in an unenviable position and this merger is an all or nothing gamble.
Sprint has not invested in its network and is miles behind the other three.
AT&T has outspent Sprint by more than $90 billion in the past 10 years.
This is the last chance saloon for Sprint whose stock price has halved in the past four years.
However, T-Mobile sits on its perch as a healthier rival that would do fine on a stand-alone basis.
Consolidation of this great magnitude never pans out for the consumer as users' interests get moved down the pecking order.
Wireless stocks were taken out and beaten behind the wood shed on the announcement of this news as the lack of clarity moving forward marked a perfect time to sell.
There will be many twists and turns in this saga and any capital put to use now will be dead money while this imbroglio works itself out.
If the deal doesn't die a slow death and finds a way through, the approval process will be drawn out and cumbersome.
The ambitious deadline of early 2019 seems highly unrealistic even with the most optimistic guesses.
The outsized winner from a deal would be AT&T, Verizon, and the newly formed T-Mobile and Sprint operation.
If this new wave of consolidation becomes reality, pricing pressure on the business model would ease for the remaining players, particularly allowing more breathing room for the leaders.
Stay away from this sector until the light can be seen at the end of the tunnel.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quote of the Day
"Everything is designed. Few things are designed well." - said radio producer Brian Reed
Mad Hedge Technology Letter
May 2, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(FACEBOOK GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH),
(FB), (AMZN), (GOOGL), (NFLX)
Everyone and their mother was waiting for Facebook (FB) to fluff their lines, but they defied the odds by posting solid performance.
The data police can go back to eating doughnuts because it is obvious that regulation won't fizzle out the precious growth drivers that Mark Zuckerberg relies on to please investors.
I even begged readers to buy the regulatory dip, and I was proved correct with Facebook shares rebounding from $155 to $173.
The dip buying was proof that investors have faith in Facebook's business model.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal threatened to tear apart the quarterly numbers and place Facebook in the tech doghouse, but stabilization in Monthly Active Users (MAU) and bumper digital ad revenue growth was the perfect elixir to an eagerly anticipated earnings report.
Facebook showed resilience by growing (MAU) to 2.2 billion, up 13% at a time when attrition could have reared its ugly head.
The market breathed a huge sigh of relief as the Facebook beat came to light.
The battering that Facebook received in the press effectively lowered the bar and Facebook delivered in spades.
The unfaltering migration to mobile continues throughout the industry with mobile digital ad revenue making up 91% of ad revenue, which is a nice bump from the 85% last quarter.
Overall, Facebook grew revenues 49% YOY to $11.97 billion.
There is no getting around that Facebook is a highly profitable business due to the lack of costs. I should be so lucky.
Remember at Facebook, the user is the product.
Instead of paying for rising TAC (Traffic Acquisition Costs) as does Google (GOOGL) or the $8 billion outlay for Netflix's (NFLX) annual content budget, Facebook pours its money into improving its digital platform and advancing its ad tech capabilities.
However, moving forward, Facebook will have to cope with extra regulatory costs.
Facebook recently hired a legion of content supervisors at minimum wage to root out the toxic content roaming around on its platform.
Site operators have doubled to 14,000. This number gives you a taste why the large cap tech names are best positioned to combat the new era of regulation.
Doubling the staff of any business would be a tough cost pill to swallow.
Many companies would go under, but Facebook has the cash to mitigate the additional cost of doing business.
This defensive initiative casts Facebook in a better light than before like a superhero rooting out the evil villain.
Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg need to hire a better public relations team to ensure that Mark Zuckerberg isn't pigeonholed in mainstream media as the monster of tech.
The Amazon-effect is infiltrating every possible industry, and even the bigger tech names are coping with the Amazon (AMZN) spillage onto competitors' turf.
A risk down the line is Amazon's booming digital ad business nibbling away at Facebook's own digital ad model.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) remains robust with Facebook earning $23.59 per North American user, which is the most lucrative geographic location.
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is a tool that Facebook has implemented into its platform and monitoring apparatus.
Removing damaging content preemptively is the order of the day instead of being blamed for harboring nefarious content.
One example of this use case has been targeting ISIS- and Al Qaeda-related terror content with 99% of inappropriate content removed before being flagged by a human.
Heavy investments in A.I. will make Facebook a safer place to share content.
Big events exemplify the strength of Facebook.
During the Super Bowl in February, around 95% of national TV advertisers were simultaneously posting ads on Facebook because of the viral effect commercials and posts have during massive events.
Tourism Australia is another firm that bought ads on Instagram and Facebook platforms during the Super Bowl.
The campaign was hugely successful with half the leads for Tourism Australia coming directly from Facebook.
Facebook acts as the go-to provider for quality digital marketing and this will not change for the foreseeable future.
Investors can feel comfortable that there was no advertiser revolt after the big data chaos.
Facebook is improving its ad tech, and new ad products will be introduced to the 2.2 billion MAUs.
For instance, Facebook developed a carousel of rotating ads on Instagram Stories, and advertisers will be able to share up to three video or photos now instead of one. If the user swipes up, the swipe will take them directly to the advertisers' websites.
The shopping experience is more personalized now with an updated news feed that will show a full-screen catalog to help the user find whatever is in their search.
Facebook will only get better at placing suitable ads that mesh with the users' interests or hobbies.
Investors must be cautious to not let macro-headwinds sabotage existing positions.
Facebook's underlying growth drivers remain intact, but the stock is vulnerable to regulation headline risk that caps its short-term upside.
There is also the possibility that another Cambridge Analytica is just around the corner, which would result in a swift 10% correction.
Next earnings report should be interesting because it will reflect the first quarter that Facebook has operated with higher security expenses and will go a long way to validating its business model in a new era of rigid regulation.
If Facebook does not fill in the moat around the business, then Facebook is braced to grow top and bottom line with minimal resistance.
The cherry on top was the additional $9 billion of buybacks giving the stock price further support.
Facebook is a long-term hold but a risky short-term trade.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quote of the Day
"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window." - said Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak.
Mad Hedge Technology Letter
April 25, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(FANGS DELIVER ON EARNINGS, BUT FAIL ON PRICE ACTION),
(GOOGL), (AMZN), (MSFT), (AAPL), (FB),
(DBX), (NFLX), (BOX), (WDC)
Alphabet (GOOGL) did a great job alleviating fears that large-cap tech would be dragged through the mud and fading earnings would dishearten investors.
The major takeaways from the recent deluge of tech earnings are large-cap tech is getting better at what they do best, and the biggest are getting decisively bigger.
Of the 26% rise to $31.1 billion in Alphabet's quarterly revenue, more than $26 billion was concentrated around its mammoth digital ad revenue business.
Alphabet, even though rebranded to express a diverse portfolio of assets, is still very much reliant on its ad revenue to carry the load made possible by Google search.
Its "other bets" category failed to impact the bottom line with loss-making speculative projects such as Nest Labs in charge of mounting a battle against Amazon's (AMZN) Alexa.
The quandary in this battle is the margins Alphabet will surrender to seize a portion of the future smart home market.
What we are seeing is a case of strength fueling further strength.
Alphabet did a lot to smooth over fears that government regulation would put a dent in its business model, asserting that it has been preparing for the new EU privacy rules for "18 months" and its search ad business will not be materially affected by these new standards.
CFO Ruth Porat emphasized the shift to mobile, as mobile growth is leading the charge due to Internet users' migration to mobile platforms.
Google search remains an unrivaled product that transcends culture, language, and society at optimal levels.
Sure, there are other online search engines out there, but the accuracy of results pale in comparison to the preeminent first-class operation at Google search.
Alphabet does not divulge revenue details about its cloud unit. However, the cloud unit is dropped into the "other revenues" category, which also includes hardware sales and posted close to $4.4 billion, up 36% YOY.
Although the cloud segment will never dwarf its premier digital ad segment, if Alphabet can ameliorate its cloud engine into a $10 billion per quarter segment, investors would dance in the streets with delight.
Another problem with the FANGs is that they are one-trick ponies. And if those ponies ever got locked up in the barn, it would spell imminent disaster.
Apple (AAPL) is trying its best to diversify away from the iconic product with which consumers identify.
The iPhone company is ramping up its services and subscription business to combat waning iPhone demand.
Alphabet is charging hard into the autonomous ride-sharing business seizing a leadership position.
Netflix (NFLX) is doubling down on what it already does great - create top-level original content.
This was after it shed its DVD business in the early stages after CEO Reed Hastings identified its imminent implosion.
Tech companies habitually display flexibility and nimbleness of which big corporations dream.
One of the few negatives in an otherwise solid earnings report was the TAC (traffic acquisition costs) reported at $6.28 billion, which make up 24% of total revenue.
An escalation of TAC as a percentage of revenue is certainly a risk factor for the digital ad business. But nibbling away at margins is not the end of the world, and the digital ad business will remain highly profitable moving forward.
TAC comprised 22% of revenue in Q1 2017, and the rise in costs reflects that mobile ads are priced at a premium.
Google noted that TAC will experience further pricing pressure because of the great leap toward mobile devices, but the pace of price increases will recede.
The increased cost of luring new eyeballs will not diminish FANGs' earnings report buttressed by secular trends that pervade Silicon Valley's platforms.
The year of the cloud has positive implications for Alphabet. It ranks No. 3 in the cloud industry behind Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon.
Amazon and Microsoft announce earnings later this week. The robust cloud segments should easily reaffirm the bullish sentiment in tech stocks.
Amazon's earnings call could provide clarity on the bizarre backbiting emanating from the White House, even though Jeff Bezos rarely frequents the earnings call.
A thinly veiled or bold response would comfort investors because rumors of tech peaking would add immediate downside pressure to equities.
The wider-reaching short-term problem is the macro headwinds that could knock over tech's position on top of the equity pedestal and bring it back down to reality in a war of diplomatic rhetoric and international tariffs.
Google, Facebook, and Netflix are the least affected FANGs because they have been locked out of the Chinese market for years.
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud arm of Amazon blew past cloud revenue estimates of 42% last quarter by registering a 45% jump in revenue.
Microsoft reiterated that immense cloud growth permeating through the industry, expanding 99% QOQ.
I expect repeat performances from the best cloud plays in the industry.
Any cloud firm growing under 20% is not even worth a look since the bull case for cloud revenue revolves around a minimum of 20% growth QOQ.
Amazon still boasts around 30% market share in the cloud space with Microsoft staking 15% but gaining each quarter.
AWS growth has been stunted for the past nine quarters as competition and cybersecurity costs related to patches erode margins.
Above all else, the one company that investors can pinpoint with margin problems is Amazon, which abandoned margin strength for market share years ago and that investors approved in droves.
AWS is the key driver of profits that allows Amazon to fund its e-commerce business.
Cloud adoption is still in the early stages.
Microsoft Azure and Google have a chance to catch up to AWS. There will be ample opportunity for these players to leverage existing infrastructure and expertise to rival AWS's strength.
As the recent IPO performance suggests, there is nothing hotter than this narrow sliver of tech, and this is all happening with numerous companies losing vast amounts of money such as Dropbox (DBX) and Box (BOX).
Microsoft has been inching toward gross profits of $8 billion per quarter and has been profitable for years.
And now it has a hyper-expanding cloud division to boot.
Any macro sell-off that pulls down Microsoft to around the $90 level or if Alphabet dips below $1,000, these would be great entry points into the core pillars of the equity market.
If tech goes, so will everything else.
If it plays its cards right, Microsoft Azure has the tools in place to overtake AWS.
Shorting cloud companies is a difficult proposition because the leg ups are legendary.
If traders are looking for any tech shorts to pile into, then focus on the legacy companies that lack a cloud growth driver.
Another cue would be a company that has not completed the resuscitation process yet, such as Western Digital (WDC) whose shares have traded sideways for the past year.
But for now, as the 10-year interest rate shoots past 3%, investors should bide their time as cheaper entry points will shortly appear.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quote of the Day
"Technology is a word that describes something that doesn't work yet." - said British author Douglas Adams.
Mad Hedge Technology Letter
April 23, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(HOW NETFLIX CAN DOUBLE AGAIN),
(NFLX), (AMZN), (IQ), (ORCL), (MU), (AMAT), (CRUS), (QRVO), (IFNNY), (NVDA), (JD), (BABA), (MSFT)
The first batch of earnings numbers are trickling in, and on the whole, so far so good.
A spectacular earnings season will further cement tech's position at the vanguard of the greatest bull market in history.
The bull case for technology revolves around two figures indicating "RISK ON" or "RISK OFF".
The first set of numbers from Netflix (NFLX) emanated sheer perfection.
Netflix has gambled on its international audience to drive its growth and unceasing creation of premium content to reach these lofty targets set forth.
It worked.
Consensus was that domestic subscription growth had peaked, and Netflix would have to lean on overseas expansion to beat earnings estimates.
American subscription growth knocked it out of the ballpark, beating expectations by 480,000 subscriptions. The street expected only 1.48 million new adds. The 1.96 million shows the American online streamer is resilient, and the migration toward cord-cutting is happening faster than initially thought.
International adds were pristine, beating the 5.02 million estimates by 440,000 million new subscribers.
Content is king as Netflix has proved time and time again (we notice that here at Mad Hedge Fund Trader, too). Netflix plans to fork out about 700 original series in 2018.
By 2023, Netflix could grow its subscriber base to close to 400 million. The potential for international advancement is immense considering foreign companies are playing catch-up and cannot compete with the level of Netflix's content.
The earnings report coincided with Netflix announcing a forceful push into Europe, doubling its allocated content-related investments to $1 billion.
All of Netflix's estimates take into consideration that it is shut out of the Chinese market. Ironically, the Netflix of China, named iQIYI (IQ), just recently went public on the Nasdaq.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud-arm of Amazon (AMZN), revenue numbers are the other numbers that are near and dear to the pulsating heartbeat of the bull market.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, penned a letter to shareholders that Amazon prime subscribers blew past the 100 million mark.
The positive foreshadowing augurs nicely for Amazon to surprise to the upside when it reports earnings next week on April 26.
Expect more of the same from cloud companies that are overperforming.
The few glitches in tech are minor. It is mindful to stay on the right side of the tracks and not venture into marginal names that haven't proved themselves.
For instance, Oracle (ORCL) had a good, not great, earnings report but shares still cratered after CEO Safra Catz dissatisfied analysts with weak cloud forecasts of just 19%-23% growth.
The street was looking for cloud guidance over 24%. Oracle is still being punished for its legacy tech segments.
The chip sector got pummeled after several chip manufacturers announced weak supply order from Apple.
This is hardly a surprise with Apple slightly missing iPhone estimates last quarter by 1%.
Chip stocks such as Lam Research (LRCX), Micron (MU), and Applied Materials (AMAT) look like affordable bargains. They should be seriously considered after share prices stabilize buttressed by support levels.
The outsized problem is that hardware suppliers have headline risks because of large cap tech's preference toward vertically integrating.
Along with price efficiencies, vertically integration aids design aspects and streamline product production time horizons.
This is not the end of chips.
Consumers need the silicon to generate and extract all the data coming to market.
Particularly, Apple (AAPL) went over its skis trying to push expensive smartphones to a saturated market when all the rip-roaring growth is at the low end of the market.
Apple still managed to sell more than 77 million iPhones, but the trade war rhetoric will deter Chinese consumers from purchasing American tech products. Until now, Apple has counted on China as its best growth prospect. The administration had other ideas.
Any noteworthy Apple supplier has gotten punched in the nose, but crucially, investors must stay out of the SMALLER chip players that rely on narrow revenue sources to keep them afloat.
Bigger chip companies can withstand the shedding of a few revenue sources but not Cirrus Logic (CRUS).
(CRUS) shares have been beaten mercilessly the past year sliding from $68 to a horrifying $37.74 today.
(CRUS) produces audio amplifier chips used in iPhone devices, and weak iPhone X guidance is the cue to bail out of this name.
The company extracts more than 75% of its revenues by selling audio chips used in iPhone devices. Ouch!
Last quarter saw horrific performance, stomaching a 7.7% decline in revenues due to tepid demand for smartphones in Q4 2017.
Cirrus Logic provided an underwhelming outlook, and it is not the only one to be beaten into submission behind the woodshed.
Apple has signaled to its suppliers that it will view production in a different way.
Imagination Technologies, a U.K. company, was informed that its graphic chips are not needed after 2018.
Dialog Semiconductor, another U.K.- based operation, shared the same destiny, as its power management chip was cut out of the production process, sacrificing 74% of revenue.
To top it all off, Apple just announced it plans to manufacture its own MicroLED screens in Silicon Valley, expunging its alliance with Samsung, Sharp, and LG, which traditionally yield smartphone screens for Apple. And Apple plans to make its own chips, phasing out Intel's chips in Apple's MacBook by 2020.
Qorvo (QRVO), Apple's radio frequency chips manufacturer, also can be painted with the same brush.
Apple was responsible for 34% of the company's total revenues in 2017.
Weak iPhone guidance set off a chain reaction, and the trembles were most felt at the bottom feeder group.
Put Infineon Technologies (IFNNY) in the same egg basket as Qorvo and Cirrus Logic. This company installs its cellular basebands in iPhones.
FANG has split into two.
Netflix and Amazon continue producing sublime earnings reports, and Apple and Facebook have hit a relative wall.
It will be interesting if the government's harsh rhetoric toward Amazon amounts to anything.
One domino that could fall is Amazon's lukewarm relationship with the US Postal Service.
Logistics is something the Chinese Amazon's JD.com (JD) and Alibaba (BABA) have successfully adopted. Look for Amazon to do the same.
However, I will say it is unfair that most tech companies are measured against Netflix and Amazon, even for Apple, which earned almost $50 billion in profits in 2017.
It is insane that companies tied to a company that prints money are reprimanded by the market.
But that highlights investors' pedantic fascination with pandemic growth, cloud, and big data.
Making money is irrelevant today. Investors should be laser-like focused on the best growth in tech such as Amazon, Netflix, Lam Research, Nvidia (NVDA), and Microsoft (MSFT), which know how to deliver the perfect cocktail of results that delight investors.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quote of the Day
"$500? Fully subsidized? With a plan? That is the most expensive phone in the world. And it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard. Which makes it not a very good email machine." - said former CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer on the introduction of the first iPhone.
Mad Hedge Technology Letter
April 19, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(HOW ROKU IS WINNING THE STREAMING WARS),
(ROKU), (FB), (AMZN), (NFLX), (GOOGL), (BBY), (DIS)
The whole digital ad industry dodged a bullet.
Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg's wizardry on Capitol Hill will stave off the data regulation hyenas for the time being.
One company in particular is perfectly placed to reap the benefits.
The Facebook of online streaming - Roku (ROKU).
Roku is a cluster of in-house, manufactured, online streaming devices offering OTT (over-the-top) content in the form of channels on its proprietary platform.
The company has two foundational drivers propelling business - selling hardware devices and selling digital ads.
It pays dividends to be entrenched at the intersection of two monumental generational trends of cord cutters' mass migration to online streaming, and the disruption of the digital ad revolution that is shaking up traditional media giants.
The percentage of American homes paying for an online streaming service ripped higher to 55% of households, which is up from 49% the previous year.
This $2.1 billion per month spend on streaming service is specifically as a result of access to premium content at an affordable price relative to traditional cable bundles.
Roku is a microcosm of the healthy climate for quality technology stocks in 2018.
It is among countless other firms that leverage large-scale data or cloud tools to capture profits.
Roku is best of breed of smart TV platforms and is in the early stages of robust growth.
This year will be the first year Roku's ad revenue surpasses hardware sales, indicating strong platform growth.
Roku pinpointed building account user growth, top-line gross revenue, and enhancing the platform capabilities as ways to move the business forward.
This year will also be the first year Roku posts an overall profit.
Active accounts grew 44% YOY to 19.3 million.
Roku offers consumers a cheap point of entry selling its Roku express box for only $29.99.
Its device is even free with a two-month purchase of Sling TV, which is the best online substitute to a legacy cable package. It has two sets of unique bundles available, charging $20 per month and $40 per month.
Once the Roku home screen populates, users can choose content through a la carte streaming options.
There is no monthly fee to operate Roku, and the device is used primarily by millennials.
More than 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds watch TV from online streaming, according to a Pew survey.
The quality and easy-to-use interface aids user navigation across the ecosystem.
It's the most convenient avenue to subscribe to multiple online streaming services all on one platform. It entices finicky users with extra mobility - those who love to jump around to different services based on particular upcoming content loaded up in the pipeline.
Many of these services offer no contract, cancel-anytime models that millennials love rather than the "old-school" rigid rules of cable providers that mostly charge a cancellation penalty of $300.
It is shocking how far traditional media fell behind the curve, but they are in rapid catch-up mode now.
Remember that content is king, and the overall boost in content quality has really shaken Hollywood executives to their core.
The golden age of streaming continues unabated with a Netflix 2018 annual content budget of $8 billion.
Roku does not create original content and it desires no skin in the game.
Content is expensive, and Roku would rather become the best place to host it.
Netflix's 2017 total revenue was a staggering $11.69 billion in 2017, and content costs will easily surpass 50% of total revenue in 2018. Overnight, it has become one of the biggest players in Hollywood, as its presence at the Emmy Awards amply demonstrates.
Exorbitant content costs are the new normal in 2018, and Spotify has reason to moan about the cost of content being 79% of total revenue.
Heightened content costs are the main reason why firms relying on content creation lose money each year.
However, as the overall pie grows, there is room for the tide to lift all boats. Being the premier platform to host premium content is why Roku's business model is eerily similar to Facebook's hyper-targeting ad model.
They make money the same way.
The incessant demand for online streaming functionality and smart TV operating systems show no signs of waning with Amazon (AMZN) announcing a new partnership with frenemy Best Buy (BBY) to produce smart TVs with Best Buy's in-house TV brand Insignia.
This is the first time Best Buy has been afforded a direct route to Amazon customers.
Disney (DIS) is turning around its legacy company into an online streaming behemoth announcing its first foray into online streaming with ESPN+.
Disney has tripled down on online streaming, acquiring New York-based BAMTech in late 2017, a company focused on developing streaming technology and made famous by its production of pro baseball's MLB TV.
BAMTech exudes pure quality. Anyone who has used MLB TV streaming service understands the great end-product it offers consumers.
The outstanding success with MLB TV attracted new online streaming converts to BAMTech to execute the transition to online streaming, including the WWE, Fox Sports, PlayStation Vue, and Hulu.
HBO went to BAMTech in 2014, after botching its attempt at creating a reliable stand-alone streaming service.
Disney's BAMTech-produced online streaming service will come to market in 2019, and will certainly be available on Roku TV.
Expect new blockbuster hits to debut on this new streaming service, such as new versions of Star Wars.
It is the perfect stock to mutate into an online streaming service because it possesses amazing content especially through ESPN.
The announcement of ESPN+ levitated Roku shares by 10% because investors understand this is the first baby step to shifting more of its content online.
This was on top of the announcement that Stephen A. Cohen's Point72 Asset Management had acquired a 5.1% stake in Roku for about $14 billion.
Furthermore, every major streaming service that enters Roku's system is worth an extra 5% to 10% bump in share price because of the wave of eyeballs and digital ads that grow Roku's coffers.
It is certain that 2018 and 2019 will sway more cord cutters to adopt Roku TV as this cohort approaches 70 million in 2018 on its way to 80 million in 2019.
The critical growth lever is its digital ad business as it hopes to take home a slice of this $70 billion per year business that is 75% controlled by Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook.
Roku has made great strides with half of Ad Age's top 200 advertisers already on the Roku interface.
Roku is taking the playbook right out from under Facebook's nose, piling funds into further enhancing its ad-tech division.
The blood, sweat, and tears shed is showing up in the financials with ARPU (Average Revenue per User) rocketing by 48% YOY, and more than 65% of this gap up is attributed to digital ad revenue.
Total revenue was up 29% YOY to $513 million, and platform revenue grew 129% in Q4 2017 to $85.4 million.
It is estimated that ad revenue will surpass $300 million in 2018, up from around $200 million in 2017.
Roku expects total revenue to grow 32% in 2018, approaching $700 million.
Profit margins are thriving under the platform segment, pumping out a stellar 74.6% in gross margin.
Roku does not make money on the hardware. Its push into ad distribution will ramp up as its digital ad revenue beelines toward an expected $700 million windfall by 2020.
Roku has a fantastic growth trajectory relative to other tech companies. Heightened volatility will make sell-offs hard to swallow but give fabulous entry points into a budding business.
The fertile path of international user adoption has barely scratched the surface. However, Netflix's successful foray abroad will inject confidence that Roku will have no problem expanding to greener pastures overseas as domestic account growth is always first to mature.
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Quote of the Day
"AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. It is more profound than electricity or fire." - said Google CEO Sundar Pichai
