The Roku Debate: Citron's Andrew Left Vs. Needham's Laura Martin

Roku Inc ROKU is becoming one of Wall Street's most hotly contested stocks and for good reason, given the stock's poor performance following its initial public offering and surging from $15.75 to north of $50 per share.

The Experts

Needham's Laura Martin (bull) and Citron Research's Andrew Left (bear).

The Thesis

Left said in a Tweet Tuesday that Roku is a bubble stock that could move "much lower" and questioned the rationale behind Martin's recent price target increase from $28 to $50. He followed up Wednesday as a guest on CNBC's "Halftime Report." According to Left, it's unlikely the analyst uncovered "something new" to justify nearly doubling the stock's price target, which implies an incremental $2.2 billion valuation.

While Roku may be at a disadvantage as it doesn't own or create its own content, the argument can be made that streaming video providers like Roku are becoming increasingly important, Martin said. For instance, Walt Disney Co DIS's decision to create its own over-the-top streaming platform "really helps Roku because it is an aggregator of all over-the-top channels."

"Unless this company is holding their IPO money in bitcoin, what has happened in the past three weeks?" Left said.

Martin ended the interview by saying Roku's stock "could quadruple."

Price Action

Shares of Roku were trading around $46.67 at time of publication.

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