Shares of Roku are rising sharply after-hours following the company's Q1 guidance, with revenue range exceeding consensus expectations and the remaining forecasts being left mainly unchanged relative to outlook provided back on February 13.

GUIDANCE UPDATE: Roku stated that its Q1 revenue guidance is now seen in the range of $307M-$317M, which is up from "about $305M" that the company forecast on February 13th.  Roku is also guiding Q1 adjusted EBITDA in a range of ($23M) to ($18M), which is roughly in line with "about ($20M)" outlook issued previously.   The company is forecasting 39.8M total active accounts for Q1, which would be up from 36.9M reported in Q4, while its streaming hours total is set to rise 49% from last year to 13.2B.  For Q4 of 2019, streaming hours were reported at 11.7B, up 60% from Q4 of 2018.

OUTLOOK FOR FY20 WITHDRAWN, BUT SHELTER-IN-PLACE ACCELERATING NEW ACCOUNT GROWTH:  Roku is withdrawing its FY20 guidance to reflect the uncertainty around the business and economic impact of COVID-19, even though the company remains confident that its "offerings to consumers, content providers and advertisers will enable the company to deliver value".  The company is disclosing however that as "shelter-in-place" orders began to be rolled out in late March, Roku observed an "acceleration in new account growth and an increase in viewing. "   While the company has also announced that is would draw down $70M in revolving credit facility to boost liquidity in the event that "some marketers to pause or reduce ad investments in the near term", Roku CEO expressed confidence that its targeted TV ads will continue to make Roku offers "highly beneficial" to today's brands.

PRICE ACTION: In after-hours trading, Roku stock is up nearly 10% to around $106 per share.