Shares of Spotify Technology (SPOT) are up nearly 10% after the audio streaming company beat Wall Street forecasts with its first-quarter profit.
Spotify’s share price is up 8.5% in premarket trading on news of the Q1 earnings print despite user growth at the streaming platform missing forecasts.
Stockholm, Sweden-based Spotify reported a net profit of 197 million euros ($210 million U.S.), which equated to 97-euro cents per share. That result was much better than the 62-euro cents a share expected among analysts.
Spotify’s revenue in the year’s first quarter rose 20% to €3.64 billion, beating forecasts of €3.61 billion.
Spotify chief executive officer (CEO) Daniel Ek has called 2024 a “year of monetization” at the company known for its music and podcast streaming platform.
The company recently raised prices on individual streaming plans in the U.S. for the first time since 2011 and cut 17% of its workforce, equal to about 1,500 employees.
Monthly active users on Spotify rose to 615 million in Q1, up 19% compared with the same period a year earlier.
However, that growth missed Spotify’s own guidance for 618 million users. Premium subscriptions on the platform rose 14% to 239 million during Q1, matching analyst forecasts.
In terms of guidance, Spotify said that for the current second quarter it expects an operating profit of €250 million on revenue of €3.8 billion, with 631 million active monthly users and 245 million premium subscribers.
Prior to today, Spotify’s stock had increased 44% over the last 12 months to trade at $272.24 U.S. per share.
