Guggenheim downgrades Roku on increasing competition from Apple, Amazon - InvestingChannel

Guggenheim downgrades Roku on increasing competition from Apple, Amazon

Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris downgraded Roku (ROKU) to Neutral from Buy and lowered his price target for the shares to $72 from $77. The stock closed yesterday down 3%, or $2.04, to $68.60. Morris this morning also upgraded Facebook (FB) to Buy from Neutral with a $200 price target. Apple’s (AAPL) video product unveiled on March 25 represents an additional risk to Roku’s active user base, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Further, Amazon’s (AMZN) and Viacom’s (VIAB) greater pushes into advertising video on demand are also increasing competition on Roku, Morris contends. He adds that Roku CFO Steve Louden’s sale of 100,000 shares has also “shaken” his confidence in the stock. Nonetheless, the analyst’s view of the “strong” secular streaming and targeted video advertising tailwinds that the company is positioned to benefit from is unchanged.