Bloomberg
- Roku shares have soared more than 200% since their initial public offering in September to more than $ 45 apiece.
- Short seller Andrew Left’s Citron Research says the stock is a “total joke” and that it will slide back below $ 40.
Shares of Roku slumped as much as 2.5% on Tuesday afternoon following some downbeat commentary from short seller Andrew Left’s Citron Research. They have recouped those losses and are now higher by 2.45% at $ 47.66 apiece.
“Time to pop some real bubbles,” the firm’s Twitter account said. “$ ROKU, total joke.”
Roku shares have rallied more than 200% since their initial public offering in September. They climbed more than 25% combined on Monday and early Tuesday after Needham analyst Laura Martin compared the service to Netflix and raised her price target to $ 50 a share.
“Like Netflix, we view Roku as a pure-play on over-the-top (OTT) TV-viewing growth, but Roku has no content risk,” Martin wrote. “Recent announcements and press reports that Disney, Google, Amazon, etc. are launching new Over-The-Top services helps Roku but hurts Netflix.”
But Citron doesn’t agree, saying that Martin’s target was “irresponsible” and that its price should be much lower unless it “finds a way to stream a BTC.” The firm says RBC Capital Markets Analyst Mark Mahaney’s $ 28 price target is more in line with their thinking.
Left will be on CNBC’s Halftime Report on Wednesday to explain why shares will slide back below $ 40.
“This is not just a bubble, this is just plain ridiculous,” Citron tweeted.
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