Spotify shares pop 10% after company reports first profitable year

Spotify shares climbed 10% Tuesday after the music streaming company recorded its first full year of profitability, closing the fiscal year with 1.14 billion euros in net income.

Here are the numbers from their fourth-quarter earnings report:

• Revenue: 4.24 billion euros vs. 4.19 billion euros expected by LSEG
• Earnings per share: 1.76 euros vs.1.99 euros expected from LSEG
• MAUs (monthly active users): 675 million vs. 664.3 million expected by StreetAccount

The Luxembourg-based company reported a 40% growth year-over-year for gross profit, rising 10% from the previous quarter. Operating income came in at 477 million euros, slightly below guidance.

The company said it paid a record $10 billion in royalties to the music industry in 2024, growth that’s likely to continue with the streamer’s new multi-year publishing agreement with Universal Music Group announced in January.

The deal will include new paid subscription tiers, bundles for music and non-music content and a direct license between the two companies for Spotify in the U.S. and multiple countries.

Spotify Wrapped continued to be one of the biggest user engagement drivers of the year, with the annual December listening analysis helping deliver year-over-year growth.

The company said its 35 million net growth of MAUs was a fourth-quarter record. MAUs were up 5% since last quarter and 12% for the year.

Spotify reported net income of 367 million euros in the fourth quarter, $1.81 per share, an improvement from the previous quarter and well above the net loss of 70 million euros from the year-ago quarter, a loss of 36 cents per share.

Fourth quarter revenue of 4.24 billion euros was well above the 3.67 billion in revenue from the same quarter a year ago.

Looking forward, the company said it expects to add 3 million MAUs in the first quarter, with 2 million of those premium paid subscribers. The company’s first-quarter revenue guidance of 4.2 billion euros was above the LSEG-surveyed analyst expectation of 4.17 billion euros.

Spotify stock is up over 20% year to date.