Roku Stock Spirals Further Despite New 4K HDR Device Upgrades

The stock of streaming devices manufacturer and online media content aggregator Roku has emerged as Friday’s biggest premarket loser after dropping by over 4% just a day after releasing new devices. Streaming platform Roku recovers slightly then tumbles

The stock had on Thursday slightly recovered from a double-digit tumble recorded on Wednesday but has now wiped out those gains. After closing Thursday at $133.76, the streaming platform has fallen to $127.50, a fall of nearly 5%. Roku"s stock price movements | Source: Yahoo Finance

Wednesday’s rout came after telecommunications conglomerate Comcast unveiled an offering that threatens Roku’s dominance in the US streaming platform market. But the continued fall seems to suggest the market might have been unimpressed with the new streaming devices lineup that Roku just unveiled ahead of the holiday shopping season. Smaller sleeker streaming devices

While making the announcement, the streaming platform said its new lineup of devices are meant to appeal to as wide a customer base as possible with the prices ranging between $29.99 and $99.99. Some of the changes that have been made include reducing the size of the entry-level device Roku Express and offering enhanced picture quality in the higher-priced Roku Ultra. Roku is also updating its operating system

The streaming device maker has also announced a software update for its gadgets. The software update will see the Roku operating system offer new features for searching and discovering content.

Additionally, the streaming services firm is rolling out new voice features on its operating system allowing users to among others search for movies using movie quotes. Voice search has also been enhanced with the new software update.

But Wall Street says BUY…

Roku’s drop during Friday’s pre-market session comes despite analysts at Guggenheim Partners raising the price target for the stock. On Wednesda,y Guggenheim increased its 12-month price target for Roku to $170 while maintaining a BUY rating.

The Wall Street firm predicated this on Roku’s international expansion efforts as well as a growing menu of streaming services. The streaming platform’s stock price has grown by nearly 300% since the start of the year and earlier this month hit a record high of $170.97. It is now down by roughly 25% since that record high. This article was edited by Samburaj Das.