Pandora Media set to report more revenue growth

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PandoraInternet music streamer Pandora Media is on deck Tuesday afternoon with financial results for its fiscal Q4, which ended January 31st. A big percentage gain for revenues is pretty much a given, but profits remain elusive for the company, although its stock has been moving back up lately toward last year’s $16 per share IPO price.


The consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson/First Call is that Pandora will report revenues of $83 million, which would be up 74% from $48 million a year earlier. That’s slower than the 99% growth that the company reported for Q3, reflecting the company’s larger size, which means that big dollar gains look smaller on a percentage basis..

Ahead of the quarterly report, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan on Monday (3/5) raised his target price for the stock to $18. The stock had closed Friday (3/2) at $13.90. Rohan calls Pandora a “must-have tablet and connected device application” and notes that the company is building a local sales force in major markets to compete with AM and FM radio for local ad dollars. And while the analyst admits that it is difficult to put a valuation on the stock, he thinks the “strategic value of becoming a mobile advertising platform justifies a value of $4 billion or more.”

Rohan is one of the few analysts who believe that Pandora will report an actual profit for Q4. He’s looking for earnings of two cents per share. The consensus view is that EPS will be a negative two cents.