Rebecca Day

The level of spending at fuboTV is “well above what investors believe is warranted,” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Wednesday, saying the company has “a lot to prove,” He cited fuboTV’s Q4 buy of Molotov (see 2112080030), saying the French live TV streamer’s subscription average revenue per user (ARPU) is less than half that of fuboTV: “It is clear that FUBO management believes the French market is an immense opportunity, and as the year progresses, our skepticism may fade, but for the time being, we question whether the opportunity was worth the high price paid for the Molotov business.” Over the last three weeks of 2021, 3 million Molotov viewers generated $211,000 in ad revenue, or 7 cents per viewer, Pachter said, calling it "a tiny fraction" of fuboTV’s North America ARPU. The virtual MVPD continues to build its subscriber base while growing revenue through value-added products, improving ad targeting and leveraging the sports betting opportunity, Pachter said. Wedbush expects fuboTV to drive betting activity from its existing subscriber base by using excess ad inventory, home screen banner ads and in-app mobile promotions. “We remain believers in the fuboTV model” and “if given enough time, management will prove its strategy right,” said the analyst, pegging a “break-even point” in 2025 on a 3 million subscriber base. FuboTV is due to report Q1 earnings Thursday.

Hunter Douglas introduced the third generation of PowerView smart shades, previewed at ProSource's spring summit in March (see 2203100042) that are said to make quoting, specifying and installing smart window treatments easier for custom integrators. The company responded to integrator feedback to help them take on more shading projects, streamline installation, reduce truck rolls, maximize profitability and increase homeowner satisfaction, said Scott Stephenson, director-product, motorization. The latest series is scalable for any size project or budget and has an associated app. The third-gen shades communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy for further operating range, reliability and two-way communication, said the company. The PowerView’s gateway acts as a range extender and allows shades to integrate with third-party control systems from Control4, Crestron Home and Elan, enabling full two-way shade control. The shades have enhanced natural language processing for more speaker-specific commands and can integrate with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa to allow users to control shades with simple voice commands. Users can also control or schedule their shades to move individually or in a group from the app or a redesigned Pebble remote, the company said.

Vivint lowered the bottom end of its full-year 2022 free cash flow guidance due to uncertainties in a “challenging economic environment, rising interest rates, and continuing global supply chain constraints,” said Chief Financial Officer Dale Gerard in prepared remarks Tuesday. Free cash flow guidance is now $50 million-$77 million vs. February guidance of $67 million-$77 million, he said.

Logitech shares touched a 52-week low Tuesday at $62.32 after the company shaved revenue guidance for fiscal 2023 and reported a 20% Q4 net sales decline for the quarter ended March 31. Q4 revenue set a new high at $1.23 billion after 76% growth a year earlier. Shares closed 3.1% lower Tuesday at $64.28.

Roku hardware revenue plunged 19% in Q1 to $86.8 million as higher component pricing and shipping and logistics costs curbed TV sales, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden on a Thursday earnings call. TV unit sales are below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, creating “a headwind” for the industry, he said.

Amazon shares hit a 52-week low Friday at $2,432.50 before rebounding somewhat later in the day after the company's Thursday Q2 guidance was below analysts’ expectations. Amazon forecast net sales will grow 3%-7% over Q2 2021 to $116 billion-$121 billion, with operating income ranging from a $1 billion loss to $3 billion. Shares closed 14% lower Friday at $2,485.63.

After reporting record Q2 FY ’22 revenue, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned on a Thursday earnings call of continued COVID-19-related supply constraints and silicon shortages that are expected to dent June quarter revenue by $4 billion-$8 billion. That’s “substantially larger” than the company experienced in the March quarter, and the impact will be across most categories, he said. The company didn’t give June quarter revenue guidance.

A Q3 rate hike helped push SiriusXM's average revenue per user in Q1 up 9% year on year to $15.53, said management on an earnings call Thursday. Quarterly revenue grew 6% to $1.7 billion, despite lower auto sales due to supply chain disruptions.

Monthly Spotify premium users grew 15% year on year in Q1 to 182 million, despite 1.5 million accounts suspended in Russia, said the company Wednesday in its quarterly earnings release. Net subscriber growth was ahead of plan, helped by adds in Latin America and Europe.

The 50-50 Charter Communications-Comcast joint venture to develop a national streaming platform on branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs lacks a brand name. The venture, announced Wednesday, will give consumers a “world-class user experience and navigation designed to simplify the search experience, all the top apps, a voice remote and more choice in the streaming marketplace,” a Charter spokesperson emailed Wednesday. The companies “have nothing to share regarding the brand of the JV at this time,” he said. The closing of the joint venture is subject to customary closing conditions, the companies said.