Sonos Stock Jumps 30% on Better-Than-Expected Sales, Growth in New Homes
Sonos shares soared 29.8% Thursday to close at $22.19 after a fiscal Q4 report showed higher-than-expected revenue, an $18.4 million profit and growth in new households. Revenue grew 16% year on year to nearly $340 million for the quarter ended Oct. 3, up 36% sequentially on strong demand for new and existing products, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley on a Wednesday investor call. For the year, revenue climbed 5% to $1.3 billion.
Q4 direct-to-consumer revenue jumped 67% year on year and 84% for the year, to 21% of total revenue from 12% a year ago, said CEO Patrick Spence. Spence cited a Futuresource report that said only 25% of audio hardware owners were comfortable buying audio products online before the pandemic. The company expects its DTC business to be flat next year as brick-and-mortar store sales pick up. “Physical retailers have also adapted,” said Bagley. “They are doing curbside pickup and delivery, and that continues to be an important channel for us,” she said: Sonos expects physical retail to be a "strong partner in '21.”
Sonos ran its first holiday promotion last week on the Move speaker, discounting earlier than it usually does, said Bagley, consistent with what “other partners and retailers are seeing.” She predicted “less back-end loading” this quarter than in previous holiday quarters.
Gross margin increased 530 basis points to 47.5% as the company was “largely exempt from tariffs,” except for a rate of 7.5% on component products in September and 25% on accessories throughout the quarter, said Bagley. Adjusted EBITDA increased 22% to a record $109 million, including $32 million in tariffs, of which Sonos will receive a refund of about $30 million, which will largely mitigate the ongoing impact of tariffs in fiscal 2021, she said. The company plans to have its production shift to Malaysia completed by summer as part of a plan to diversify manufacturing venues, Bagley said.
The company grew the number of new homes it’s in by 20%, ending the fiscal year with nearly 11 million households globally, at 2.9 products per home. Some 35% to 40% of Sonos’ annual product registrations come from existing customers adding another product to their system, said Spence; that percentage hit 41% this year on the launch of the Move speaker. The preloaded Sonos Radio, which launched as a free streaming service in April and last week added a premium $7.99-per-month tier (see 2011120051), is now the fourth most listened-to service on Sonos, Spence said.
Sonos speaker revenue was up 3% year on year due to the launch of new products. It was negatively affected by reduced orders from physical retail partners affected by COVID-19 and supply constraints as demand rebounded. Ikea sales slowed due to COVID-19 and its physical store closures, she said.
Sonos system products revenue increased 17%, driven by strength in the installer channel, but the Amp and Arc products are supply constrained. The company is investing in expedited airfreight shipments to better meet demand but will continue to be low on stock on key products in the current quarter, said Bagley. It expects to be fully stocked across all products by the end of fiscal Q2.
On a partnership with Disney -- offering six months free of Disney+ with a purchase of a qualifying Sonos speaker (see 2010050035) -- Spence said Sonos hopes to do more such deals: It “shows our intent to go to an even broader mainstream audience." The company will be selective with the brands it works with, he said.
Sonos doesn’t provide quarterly guidance, but it expects the holiday quarter to contribute “slightly less total revenue” as a percentage of the total fiscal year than last year, said Bagley. She said supply chain constraints are “a broader industrywide challenge” that aren't unique to Sonos. The company is feeling impacts from component and container availability, port congestion and higher shipping and logistics costs. Revenue guidance for fiscal year 2021 is $1.44 billion-$1.5 billion.