Boston, MA 02/06/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) reported high revenue and gain for the quarter ending in December but says more listeners demand increased costs. Shares of the company fell around 6% in aftermarket trading on Feb 5 after it closed at $35.83.
The online streaming music company expects earnings per share for 2014 to lie between 13 to 17 cents, whereas Thomas Reuters I/B/E/S reported analysts’ estimates to be 19 cents. While thinking Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) is seeking expansion, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, Michael Pachter said that the companys is clearly raising costs in advertisements to attract more and more customers.
CEO targeting more listeners
The assumptions were ascertained with Chief Executive Officer Brian McAndrews’ statement. He said that the company is on the move to spend aggressively to uphold audience growth this year. He said that they will be specially focusing on revenue growth and capturing more of the market share. Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) will be seen marketing on a larger scale and CEO is planning to increase the sales team’s workforce. They will also be looking into the expenses of licensing music.
Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), which is among the most popular streaming music service providers across the globe, has said that the number of active listeners declined last month. In December, there were as many as 76.2 million listeners, and this figure in January was reduced to 73.4 million. The general trend at the company however has been different from the present scenario, whereby, they have recorded a growth of 12% active listeners every year. The company seasonality to be the chief reason for the decline, and noted a 13% hike in listener hours to 1.5 billion as compared with the same time of the year in 2013.
Despite its huge popularity, Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) faces competition from many including Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iTunesRadio and Spotify. For the quarter ending December, the company reported 52% growth in revenue.
