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ROKU Inks Deal With Walmart, Fuses E-commerce With TV Ads

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Roku (ROKU - Free Report) recently entered into an agreement with Walmart (WMT - Free Report) to make TV streaming the next e-commerce shopping destination. Roku shares are up 4.35% post-market, after it announced its partnership with Walmart.

Per this first-of-a-kind partnership, TV viewers can use their remote to purchase from a shoppable TV ad directly from Roku via Roku Pay.

According to the deal, Walmart will be the exclusive retailer, allowing streamers to purchase their product of choice. The order will also be fulfilled by the retail giant.

The agreement brings together Walmart’s unmatched ability to evaluate customer behaviors to scale commerce offerings and Roku’s purpose-built advertising tech stack to unlock the first-time pilot program that fuses entertainment with e-commerce transactions.

The move will provide customers with and an innovative shopping experience beyond QR codes and allow smooth checkout on their TVs.

Roku, Inc. Price and Consensus

 

Roku, Inc. Price and Consensus

Roku, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Roku, Inc. Quote

 

Company Has Bright Growth Prospects In the Long Term

Lately, Roku has been in the limelight due to the rumors of Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) being interested in acquiring the company. The combination does make sense in certain aspects. The company witnessed a rise in its share prices after Netflix’s Roku acquisition rumors.

Netflix announced its plans to launch an ad-supported version of its service earlier this year. The move, if executed, will require a huge investment from the streaming giant to develop the capability to deliver commercials to audiences and then sell that inventory to marketers. Roku has first-hand experience in this field, which can be helpful to Netflix.

Roku generates revenues from subscriptions and advertising, with the latter offering long-term potential for sustainable growth. It is also benefitting from the growth in advertising driven by monetized video ad impressions on the increasing popularity of The Roku Channel.

In the first quarter of 2022, Roku boosted revenues by 28% year over year to $733.7 million. Its platform revenues surged 38.7% year over year to $646.9 million, driven by higher content distribution and advertising revenue. These trends are likely to continue for Roku.

Roku currently operates in more than 20 countries, including Brazil, Mexico and the U.K. It has several streaming video services on its platforms, such as Disney+ and  AppleTV+. The company has been expanding its distribution partnerships. It recently added Discovery+ to its platform.

Notably, Roku renewed its distribution agreement with Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) recently. Per the agreement, customers will continue to access Prime Video and IMDB TV on their Roku devices. However, the terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Roku’s extensive reach via streaming gadgets and smart TVs makes it a logical partner for third-party streaming services, which is likely to drive its growth prospects further.

In the year-to-date period, Roku’s shares have tumbled 65.6% compared with the Zacks Broadcast Radio and Televisionindustry’s decline of 56.1% and the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector’s fall of 33.7%.

The company’s underperformance can be attributed to the major economic headwinds in the near term, including inflation and lower consumer demand impeding growth.

The reopening of the economies has depressed demand for the in-home entertainment market and global supply chain disruptions have resulted in shipping delays for the company.

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has excellent prospects in the addressable market and is anticipated to witness top-line growth in the long term, based on its user growth, international expansion and increase in sales.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here


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