Roku Rocks Where Snap Got Socked

Shares of Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) initially moved higher after the company posted blowout financial results shortly after Wednesday's market close. The pioneer in streaming video devices came through where Snap (NYSE:SNAP) wasn't able to a day earlier, delivering numbers that checked off all the boxes for growth investors.

Roku's net revenue soared 57% to $156.8 million, as a 96% surge in platform revenue was able to lift the 24% uptick in player revenue higher. Its earlier guidance called for just 36% to 46% in top-line growth. Roku also squeezed out a small profit, surprising analysts that were bracing for a shortfall. Snap also landed ahead of where the pros were parked, but that wasn't enough. Snapchat's parent company took a 7% hit on Wednesday.

This article originally appeared in The Motley Fool.

There's more to market-thumping returns than just beating quarterly targets on both ends of the income statement. Roku's platform is firing on all cylinders, coming through with double-digit percentage growth for both its audience base as well as its average revenue per user. A day earlier, it was Snap meeting just half of those two metric objectives, and down on Wall Street that can make all the difference.

Four Letter Words

Roku and Snap are more than just four-letter words belonging to companies that went public in 2017. They came in as hot stocks with heady growth prospects, but only Roku is managing to grow its business even faster than it was when it hit the market.

It's not a surprise to see that Roku shares have more than tripled since going public at $14 last year. Snap continues to languish below its IPO price of $17. They've been passing ships out of the gate.

Roku's platform is the driving force these days, now accounting for more than half of its revenue. There were 22 million active accounts leaning on Roku's operating system to stream video entertainment during the second quarter, 46% more than it had on its platform a year earlier. Folks are spending more time on Roku, and average revenue per user has risen by 48% over the past year. The two metrics combine to deliver the platform revenue that nearly doubled during the quarter.

Snap only got the monetization end right in the second quarter. The average revenue per user has risen 34% to $1.40 a month, roughly the same revenue per user that Roku is ringing up at $16.60 over the past 12 months. However, Snap's user base is going through some growing pains. Snap's daily active user count has risen just 8% over the past year, and it has actually declined sequentially.

Roku and Snap hit the market last year with lofty valuations and equally heightened expectations. Only Roku is getting the job done.

Rick Munarriz owns shares of Roku, Inc. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.