Though Roku’s stock fell more than 15 percent after a disappointing earnings report Wednesday, CFO Steve Louden told Cheddar he is confident the company is positioned for success amid the ongoing streaming wars.
"We are the largest streaming platform in the U.S. and we have a neutral position amongst a lot of the different stakeholders within the ecosystem, which has served us well," he said.
Louden said Roku, a service that lets users access a variety of streaming services from one spot, is platform-agnostic, making it an "essential partner in the industry," noting that it will be an access point for both the new Apple TV+ and Disney+.
"If you’re a new service and you want to have a successful direct-to-consumer strategy, then you need to be on the number one platform in the U.S.," Louden said.
Though Roku’s stock was still down Thursday, Louden said he doesn’t worry about short-term fluctuations. In its Q3 earnings report, Roku noted users streamed 10.3 billion hours over the last quarter and reported a 50 percent revenue jump. Roku reported a loss of $26.5 million.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
