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Investing.com - Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) has guided for current-quarter earnings and revenue below analysts’ estimates, as the streaming music giant flagged the impact of negative currency effects and elevated payroll expenses.
Analysts have been keeping close tabs on the company’s profitability after it spent years focusing on bolstering user figures.
But Spotify has been grappling with increased costs, especially around personnel, with charges related to share-based compensation in its second quarter coming in at 115 million euros. Spotify said the charge was 98 million euros above its initial forecast.
Taxes tied to higher salaries and benefits have weighed on returns following a jump in Spotify’s stock price -- which has spiked by more than 53% so far this year.
Shares of Spotify dropped by more than 10% in early U.S. trading on Tuesday.
Despite recent cost-cutting initiatives, operating expenses in the second quarter increased by 8% versus a year ago, partially offsetting double-digit improvement in revenues at Spotify’s premium product segments.
Overall revenues for the quarter grew by 10% year-over-year to 4.19 billion euros, missing Bloomberg consensus forecasts of 4.27 billion euros. Operating income of 406 million euros was also below projections of 490.3 million euros.
For its third quarter, operating income is seen at 485 million euros on total revenue 4.2 billion euros, both disappointing Wall Street expectations.
Still, Spotify anticipates higher-than-expected monthly active users of 710 million during the period, while the group said it remains well positioned to "deliver growth" and improved margins in 2025.