Roku Surges To All-Time High After HBO Max Deal, Stock Gets New Street-High Price Target

Roku Inc ROKU finally reached an agreement with AT&T Inc. T to add HBO Max to Roku's streaming platform effective immediately.

The Analysts: Benchmark analyst Daniel Kurnos maintains a Buy rating on Roku's stock with a price target lifted from $300 to $410.

BofA Securities analyst Ruplu Bhattacharya maintains a Buy rating on Roku with a price target lifted from $360 to $380.

The Benchmark Thesis: Roku and HBO's agreement shouldn't come as a surprise although the addition of Peacock first was "somewhat perplexing," Kurnos said. Nevertheless, confirmation of a deal with HBO will help generate a "significant" upside versus expectations moving forward.

Roku should achieve an average Advertising Video On Demand (AVOD) average revenue per user (ARPU) of $18 in the fourth quarter and close to $20 in 2021, the analyst wrote. The math translates to total AVOD revenue growth of more than 90% year-over-year.

"The two recent deals are more meaningful than just the inventory they provide, as part of the prior bear thesis was centered on Roku losing negotiating leverage over time," the analyst wrote in a note.

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The BofA Thesis: Roku scored a victory by adding HBO to its platform as it will help generate new viewership, scale and revenue, Bhattacharya said. HBO benefits by gaining access to Roku's 46 million active accounts and 100 million people.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed although Roku will likely benefit from revenue share from HBO subscribers that were purchased on Roku's platform, audience development spend by HBO, and getting a share of Ad inventory if HBO launches an ad-supported platform next year.

ROKU Price Action: Shares of Roku hit a new all-time high of $352.12 early in Thursday's session. The stock was up 4.4% to $340.30 at publication time,