Hard-hit Spotify stock rallies as streaming service adds 38 million users
By Steve Goldstein
Spotify profits jumped in the fourth quarter.
Corrects headline to fix the number of subscribers it added during the quarter.
Spotify Technology shares rallied after the streaming service on Tuesday recorded surprisingly strong profits and more paying customers.
Spotify said its fourth-quarter profit surged to EUR1.17 billion ($1.39 billion), or EUR4.43 a share, from EUR367 million, or EUR1.76 a share.
Revenue rose 7% to EUR4.53 billion, or 13% in constant currencies.
Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected earnings of EUR2.63 a share on revenue of EUR4.52 billion.
The U.S.-listed, Stockholm-headquartered firm said it added 38 million monthly active users - its total of 751 million beat a guided 745 million - with its 290 million premium subscribers topping the 289 million it had previously expected.
The profit growth also came on lower social charges, the term the company uses for payroll taxes on employee share-based compensation that tends to be quite volatile.
For the first quarter, it's expecting its subscriber base to total 759 million, with 293 million of them premium, but for gross margin to slip from the 33.1% it achieved in the fourth quarter to 32.9%. It's forecasting EUR4.5 billion in revenue for the quarter.
Spotify stock (SPOT) rose 11% in premarket trade, but has dropped 29% this year.
Goldman Sachs analysts led by Eric Sheridan said the results should be positively received, given the beats to fourth-quarter numbers and the 2026 outlook that roughly matched consensus. "SPOT had more recently become the focus of a series of debates around competitive positioning, industry unit economics and user habits all anchored around the scope for disruption from AI," they said.
-Steve Goldstein
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02-10-26 0800ET
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