What Happened?
Shares of streaming TV platform Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) fell 11.2% in the morning session after the company reported weak first quarter 2025 results: its revenue outlook for next quarter missed significantly, and it pulled its full-year guidance for advertising revenue, raising concerns about visibility into a core part of its business. On the other hand, Roku blew past analysts' EPS expectations this quarter. Still, this was a softer quarter.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Roku? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What The Market Is Telling Us
Roku’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 30 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Roku and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 9 days ago when the stock gained 9.2% as President Trump clarified that he had no intention of removing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a statement that helped calm markets. Earlier remarks had sparked fears of political interference in decision making at the central bank. With Trump walking back his earlier comments, investors likely felt more assured that monetary policy decisions would continue to be guided by data, not drama. That kept the Fed's word credible, and more importantly, gave investors a steadier compass to figure out where rates and the markets were headed next.
Adding to the positive news, the president made constructive comments on US-China trade talks, noting that the tariffs imposed on China were "very high, and it won't be that high. ... No, it won't be anywhere near that high. It'll come down substantially. But it won't be zero."
Also, a key force at the center of the stock market's massive two-day rally was the frantic behavior of short sellers covering their losses. Hedge fund short sellers recently added more bearish wagers in both single stocks and securities tied to macro developments after the whipsaw early April triggered by President Donald Trump's tariff rollout and abrupt 90-day pause, according to Goldman Sachs' prime brokerage data. The increased short position in the market created an environment prone to dramatic upswings due to this artificial buying force. A short seller borrows an asset and quickly sells it; when the security decreases in price, they buy it back more cheaply to profit from the difference.
Roku is down 15.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $62.97 per share, it is trading 36.4% below its 52-week high of $99.07 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Roku’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $506.26.
Do you want to know what moves the business you care about? Add them to your StockStory watchlist and every time a stock significantly moves, we provide you with a timely explanation straight to your inbox. It’s free and will only take you a second.
