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Spotify Technology SA’s revenue largely matched expectations in the fourth quarter, though the company delivered better user growth than anticipated.
The music-streaming company on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter net loss of €270 million ($292 million), or $1.40 a share, compared with a loss of €39 million, or 99 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts tracked by FactSet were anticipating a €1.28 loss on a per-share basis.
Spotify’s
SPOT,
revenue rose to €3.17 billion from €2.69 billion, while analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting €3.18 billion. Premium revenue was up 18% in the year, driven by subscriber gains, while ad-supported revenue was ahead 14%, buoyed by podcasting.
The company had 489 million monthly active users in the December quarter, above the 456 million posted in the September quarter. The FactSet consensus was for 478 million.
“MAU net additions reached a quarterly record-high of 33 million,” Spotify noted in its investor deck.
Shares of Spotify were rallying 5% in premarket action Tuesday.
Spotify reported 205 million premium subscribers, up from 195 million in the September quarter and ahead of the FactSet consensus, which was for 202 million. Spotify’s count of ad-supported monthly active users rose to 295 million from 273 million sequentially and exceeded expectations for 286 million.
For the first quarter, Spotify expects €3.1 billion in revenue, while analysts were anticipating €3.0 billion. The company also anticipates 500 million total monthly active users and 207 million premium subscribers for the period, while the FactSet consensus was for 491 million monthly active users and 205 million total premium subscribers.
