Pandemic Benefits Roku; Stock Up Post-Q1

The “unfortunate Covid situation was anything but” for connected TV and Roku, Pivotal Research Group's Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote investors Friday after Q1 revenue rose 79% year on year to $574.2 million. The pandemic accelerated direct-to-consumer streaming video subscriptions “while simultaneously delaying the launch of competitive products to the point that this appears to be arguably a two horse race between Amazon and Roku,” the analyst said. Roku added 2.4 million incremental active accounts, reaching 53.6 million total. Streaming hours grew 1.4 billion to 18.3 billion. Roku expects 2021 streaming hours per account higher than in 2020, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden on a Thursday call. The stock closed Friday up 12% at $317.