Spotify shares fall on revenue miss and weak guidance

Shares of Spotify fell 6% in premarket trading Tuesday after the company released second-quarter results that missed analysts’ estimates for revenue and offered weaker-than-expected guidance.

Here’s how the company did:

• Loss per share: Loss of 1.55 euros, not comparable to estimates
• Revenue: 3.18 billion euros vs. 3.21 billion euros expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv

Revenue was up 11% year over year from 2.86 billion euros ($3.16 billion). Spotify posted a loss per share of 85 euro cents in its Q2 2022 report. It said it expects to report total revenue of 3.3 billion euros for its third quarter, down from the 3.4 billion euros expected by analysts according to StreetAccount.

The music streaming company reported 551 million monthly active users for the quarter, up 27% year over year. There were 36 million net additions to monthly active users during the quarter. Spotify also reported 220 million paid subscribers, up 17% from a year ago.

In its first-quarter report, the company said it expected to add approximately 15 million new monthly active users in Q2, bringing its total to 530 million. It had also expected revenue of 3.2 billion euros and to report 217 million paid subscribers in the quarter.

Spotify posted a net loss of 302 million euros, widening from the 125 million euro loss it posted in the year-ago quarter.

Spotify is continuing to invest in advertising, and its ad-supported revenue grew 12% year over year. The company said podcast advertising revenue growth reaccelerated to more than 30% year over year.

On Monday, Spotify announced plans to increase the price of its Premium subscription offerings as much as $2, which translates to a 20% rise for some plans. The company said that the market landscape has “continued to evolve” since Spotify launched, and that the changes will help the company “continue to deliver value to fans and artists,” according to a blog post.

In the U.S., Spotify’s Premium Individual offering now costs $10.99, up from $9.99, and the price of its Premium Duo plan changed to $14.99, up from $12.99. The company’s Premium Family plan is now priced at $16.99, up from $15.99, and the Student offering costs $5.99, up from $4.99.

Spotify said in its report Tuesday that the price increases are expected to have “minimal impact” on the company’s total revenue in the third quarter.