The controversy over podcaster Joe Rogan brought streaming giant Spotify unwanted attention earlier this year.
The company faced a buzz saw of anger after rocker Neil Young said it needed to choose between carrying him or Rogan. Young made the move in protest of COVID-19 misinformation spread on Rogan’s podcast.
Spotify chose to keep Rogan, who has a reported $200 million deal with the company.
But Real Money Columnist Paul Price says Spotify has a much bigger problem.
“Sure, Spotify is the world leader in streaming music subscriptions,” Price wrote on Real Money. “But SPOT has never come close to turning a profit so far. “
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True to form, when Spotify reported its latest results last month, it posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $41 million, or an adjusted 21 cents a share.
“Cumulative losses since its March 3, 2018 direct listing on the NYSE will likely have exceeded $1.25 billion,” Price wrote ahead of the results.
Value Line expects Spotify to lose another $95 million in 2022.
“The wild equity market environment of the past few years saw many stocks with negative EPS trade actively in both directions. Short-term traders love volatile shares simply for the opportunities to gamble on them,” Price wrote.
“What do you base your buys and sells on? Who knows? Trading can be fun and addictive even it makes no sense and has no rationality to it. SPOT’s average daily volume of about 2.9 million shares is quite impressive for such a high-priced stock.”
In the end, however, “I believe Spotify is un-investable for anyone but gamblers. Why should anyone want to own shares is company that just blew through $1.25 billion and is unlikely to reach break-even soon?”
