Roku Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) shares traded higher Friday, catching a bullish tailwind from Netflix Inc’s (NASDAQ: NFLX) historic $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD). Here’s what investors need to know.
- Roku shares are climbing with conviction. What’s fueling ROKU momentum?
What To Know: Friday’s surge could be driven by the aggregator thesis. As Netflix absorbs massive franchises such as Harry Potter and DC Universe to combat churn, the battle for viewer engagement intensifies. This war is fought on the TV operating system.
Roku, which recently reported a 17% jump in platform revenue and positive operating income in the third quarter, controls the gateway to these services. A stronger, content-rich Netflix drives higher engagement on Roku devices, fueling Roku’s high-margin video advertising business.
Furthermore, the merger chaos highlights Roku's stability. While Netflix and WBD face a difficult road in Washington regarding antitrust scrutiny and objections from rival Paramount Skydance, Roku remains a pure-play infrastructure bet.
Having already beaten third-quarter estimates with $1.2 billion in revenue and established a profitable trajectory for 2026, Roku offers investors exposure to the streaming boom without the regulatory risks or integration headaches plaguing the content studios.
ROKU Price Action: Roku shares closed Friday up 5.87% at $100.09, according to Benzinga Pro data.
From a technical perspective, Roku is currently trading approximately 1.4% above its 50-day moving average, suggesting a short-term bullish trend.
However, it remains approximately 18.3% below its 200-day moving average, indicating that while there may be short-term momentum, the longer-term trend could still be viewed with caution. This divergence between the short-term and long-term moving averages may signal a transitional phase for the stock.
How To Buy ROKU Stock
By now, you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Roku — be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.
Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.
If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading — either way, it allows you to profit from the share price decline.