What happened
Shares of streaming service CuriosityStream (CURI +0.96%) popped 9% Friday as of noon EDT after a Wall Street analyst published a bullish opinion on the company. Even with today's pop, shareholders are still down 47% from 52-week highs.
So what
According to The Fly, an analyst with J.P. Morgan initiated coverage on CuriosityStream stock with a price target of $15 per share. This is significant for two reasons. First, this price target implies 36% upside from where the stock was trading at the time. But second (and perhaps a bigger reason the stock popped today) this analyst initiated coverage, potentially causing CuriosityStream stock to cross investors' radars for the first time. This brings new money into the stock, causing shares to rise.
Image source: Getty Images.
The bullish note is motivated by streaming-service industry trends. Pay-TV companies are losing subscribers at an alarming rate as consumers flock to streaming services in droves. Indeed, CuriosityStream reached 20 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2021, up 40% year over year and up an impressive 25% sequentially.
Now what
Even though CuriosityStream shareholders are still down big from highs, there are some promising signs with this business. Specifically, the company's ongoing user growth is encouraging. Consider that so far in 2021, it's spent 94% of revenue on sales and marketing. That's enormous spending and one of the primary reasons it has racked up a $26 million operating loss so far this year. However, at least that spending is paying off with subscriber growth.
