Good news for audio streamer Spotify (SPOT) investors, as it’s planning a significant ramp-up in quality. In fact, this will likely address some key shortfalls, as far as analysts are concerned. And that was good enough to send shares up fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
The word out of Spotify right now is that a “deluxe” version is afoot in the near term. The “deluxe” version will come as a new purchase, valued at $18 a month or possibly a bit less. This, in turn, will not only give current subscribers access to higher-end audio playback but also “a lot more control,” reports note.
This isn’t the first time that Spotify has promised such things; reports note that Spotify first announced hi-fi audio close to three and a half years ago. And there are plans for some “other things” that the company isn’t yet ready to bring up, which adds a little more mystique to the process.
Believing in the Future
Such changes would, indeed, address one of the firm’s key issues: Spotify sound compares weakly against several of its biggest competitors, including both Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL). Still, aside from that hiccup, Spotify’s monetization efforts seem to be rolling along nicely. There’s also a growing belief from analysts about a bright future for the firm. Indeed, Rosenblatt Securities hiked its price target from $396 to $399 per share and maintained a Buy rating on the stock. Several hedge funds also bought in on Spotify, themselves perhaps convinced that the new moves will bear fruit.
Is Spotify a Buy or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on SPOT stock based on 21 Buys, seven Holds, and one Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 136.82% rally in its share price over the past year, the average SPOT price target of $354.92 per share implies 6.02% upside potential.
