What happened
Shares of streaming music company Pandora (P) jumped on Wednesday, following the company's better-than-expected second-quarter results. Shares rose as much as 23.1% but are up 16.6% at 1:35 p.m. EDT.
Pandora's gain was likely fueled both by its better-than-expected top- and bottom-line results and two rating upgrades on the stock from analysts.
So what
Pandora's second-quarter revenue was $384.8 million, up 2.1% year over year. Revenue was up 12% year over year when excluding the revenue from the Australia and New Zealand markets it exited last year and from Ticketfly, which Pandora sold to Eventbrite last year. The revenue beat a consensus analyst estimate for revenue of $372.8 million.
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Pandora's non-GAAP loss per share narrowed from a $0.21 in the year-ago quarter to $0.15 in Q2. On average, analysts were expecting a non-GAAP loss of $0.16 per share.
Also making headlines this week are rating changes for Pandora stock from analysts at Barrington Research and RBC Capital Markets. Both analysts upgraded their ratings on the stock to outperform.
Now what
In its second-quarter earnings call, Pandora CFO Naveen Chopra reminded investors that the company's strategic growth initiatives are expected to "build over the course of 2018 and beyond." Chopra added, "[W]e are still in the early stages of what we view as a long game."
That said, Pandora's third-quarter guidance painted an optimistic picture. Chopra said the company expects revenue between $390 million and $405 million in Q3. "Our revenue guidance reflects the fact that we project continued momentum in our subscription business, albeit at a moderated growth rate as we are no longer growing off a small revenue base," Chopra said.
The midpoint of this guidance range is above a consensus analyst estimate for revenue of $394.6 million.
