The entire stock market is getting closer to new highs, but a handful of stocks including Roku, Cronos Group and Qutoutiao have already risen over 40% in 2019. Why exactly did these three gain so much? Let’s take a closer look.
Roku: up 85%
Video is just streaming these days, and Roku is one of the platforms of choice. Users either buy the company’s equipment or have one of the many smart TVs that Rokus OS has. Revenue rose 45% to $742.5 million in 2018, and Roku expects to generate over $1 billion in revenue in 2019.
By now, 27.1 million active users are streaming via Roku, 40% more than a year ago. These users streamed 7.3 billion hours, 69% more than last year. People are using Roku more and more as a gateway to streaming. Of course, the average revenue per user of Roku also increases.
Qutoutiao: surged 52%
Qutoutiao may not be known to all investors, but its mobile content platform is gaining importance in China. With Qutoutiao, users can group articles and short videos into custom feeds, supported by AI algorithms. Founded less than three years ago, Qutoutiao has become the second most popular mobile content aggregator in China every month and every day.
Qutoutiao went public for $7 less than eight months ago, and in its first quarterly report as a public company, the company showed what kind of growth it is capable of. Revenues increased 520% in the third quarter of 2018, but read, 520%, to $142.3 million. Average daily active users have risen 229% to 21.3 million, and the average user spent 56 minutes on the platform last year for an average of 34 minutes a day.
UBS and Deutsche Bank analysts downgraded the stock in February after the heavy rally, so Qutoutiao has a lot to prove.
Cronos Group: rallied 41%
Cannabis stocks were in high demand last year and the Canadian Cronos Group closed the year by selling a 45% stake in the tobacco giant Altria for $1.8 billion in December. The free sale of cannabis in the home country as well as the changes to the US Farm Bill have helped to push up the still very few cannabis stocks.
Business is booming. Revenue rose 186% in the third quarter, a significant slowdown from the pace at the beginning of the year. And Altria plays an important role. Altria has experience in tobacco sales and regulatory issues. One can get the idea that the big, sluggish Altria is attached to Cronos, but the time will come when Altria can do a lot for the young cannabis partner.
