Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $2.00 EPS

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $2.00, Zacks reports. Spotify Technology had a return on equity of 21.68% and a net margin of 8.46%.The firm had revenue of $5.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Here are the key takeaways from Spotify Technology’s conference call:

• Strong Q4 and cash generation. Revenue grew 13% to €4.5B, gross margin expanded to 33.1%, operating income was €701M, Q4 free cash flow €834M and year FCF a record €2.9B with €9.5B in cash and opportunistic buybacks.
• Record engagement and user growth. MAU net additions were the highest on record (now >750M MAUs), Wrapped drove ~300M user engagements and a company-record single day of subscriber intake.
• AI and product roadmap to boost personalization and retention. Spotify emphasized agentic experiences (Interactive DJ, Prompted Playlist), a unique language-to-music data advantage, and internal AI tooling (Honk) to accelerate development and user personalization.
• Ad-stack replatforming shows progress but ad growth remains modest today. Ad revenue rose ~4% (≈7% like‑for‑like excluding podcast optimizations), the new stack has attracted more advertisers and management expects stronger ad growth in H2 2026.
• AI-created music and content risks remain unresolved. Spotify is pushing an artist-first rights framework and metadata labeling, but warns of spammy AI uploads, rights/derivative complexities and competitive/legal uncertainty that could pose risks.

Spotify Technology Stock Up 18.1%

Spotify Technology stock traded up $75.23 on Tuesday, hitting $490.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,129,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,155,264. Spotify Technology has a one year low of $405.00 and a one year high of $785.00. The firm has a market cap of $100.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $541.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $626.11.

Institutional Trading of Spotify Technology

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SPOT. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spotify Technology during the second quarter valued at approximately $312,000. Jump Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Spotify Technology by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $869,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in Spotify Technology during the 2nd quarter worth $178,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Spotify Technology by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,707,000 after buying an additional 3,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust co acquired a new stake in shares of Spotify Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at $298,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Spotify Technology from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Spotify Technology from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Spotify Technology from $700.00 to $670.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays cut their target price on Spotify Technology from $700.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective on Spotify Technology from $860.00 to $760.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $724.16.

Key Headlines Impacting Spotify Technology

Here are the key news stories impacting Spotify Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: EPS and revenue beat — Spotify reported sharply higher adjusted EPS (about $5.16–$5.20) and revenue (~$5.3B), both topping Street estimates, which underpins the rally. Here’s What Key Metrics Tell Us About Spotify (SPOT) Q4 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Strong user traction — Monthly active users rose to ~751M (up ~11% YoY) and premium subscribers hit ~290M (up ~10% YoY), showing price increases haven’t materially dented growth and supporting subscription revenue momentum. Spotify pops 10% on strong user growth, earnings beat
• Positive Sentiment: Improved profitability and pricing power — Gross margin and operating-income improvements were highlighted (pricing + mix and cost control), and management guided Q1 profits above estimates, which supports a higher earnings trajectory. Listen to Conference Call
• Neutral Sentiment: Management change & tone — Founder Daniel Ek is moving to a new role while co‑CEOs emphasize 2026 as a year to “raise ambition”; investors will parse leadership shifts but the near-term focus is the earnings beat and guidance. Spotify expects profit above estimates as founder Daniel Ek moves to new role
• Neutral Sentiment: New features and product expansion — Spotify is rolling out behind‑the‑scenes content, video and audiobook initiatives that may broaden monetization long term but are incremental near term. Spotify has a new feature that takes you behind the scenes
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst target moves — Some price-target cuts (e.g., KeyCorp trimmed its TP) had pressured the stock into earnings day; most analysts retained buy ratings, so revisions are worth monitoring but not uniformly negative. KeyCorp price-target note via Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Ad-revenue softness — Management noted ad revenue is a weak spot this quarter; because ads are the main lever to monetize the large free base, slower ad recovery could limit upside to total revenue growth. MarketBeat summary / conference materials

About Spotify Technology

Spotify Technology is a digital audio streaming company best known for its on-demand music service and a growing portfolio of spoken-word content. Founded in Sweden in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and launched commercially in 2008, the company offers a cross-platform app that enables users to discover, stream and organize music, podcasts and other audio. Its primary consumer products include a free, ad-supported tier and a paid Spotify Premium subscription that provides ad-free listening, offline playback and higher-quality audio streams.