Two Audio Tech Stocks To Watch

With rumors Spotify will go public sometime soon and with Amazon AMZN launching a new online music streaming service Prime Music last week, now is the perfect time to examine a few tech stocks that will pose as a significant threat to these two audio tech companies. Found below are two of the popular stocks that directly compete against these two companies:    

Pandora (NYSE: P)

Pandora is an online music streaming service owned by Pandora Media, Inc. that has been trading on the stock market since 2011. From just $16, the company has more than doubled its share prices in February this year to $37 a piece. According to a US News report, Pandora has over 73.4 million active users. Pandora offers a free account for users with ads. Users who prefer a subscription without ads can opt for a paid membership worth $36 annually.

Pandora is still in “BUY” territory amidst fears of an impending internet bubble and despite facing difficulties in profiting from its subscribers (it only makes money from paid subscriptions and ads and has to pay artists and recording companies for royalties), according to several news sources. The company’s stocks closed at $27.68 on Thursday, up by 0.54 percent from its previous close. Pandora trades at an average volume ranging between 7.20 and 8.48 M. It has a market capitalization of 5.68B.

Audioboo (BOOM.L)

Audioboois a spoken word Saas-based (software-as-a-service) platform that is designed by London-based tech company Audioboom Group PLC.  The platform allows subscribers to cross-post and upload their content to social media sites, websites and mobile apps live through embeddable players and widgets. Partners of Audioboo can monetize on their content through pre- and post-roll advertising even on audio share on Twitter and Facebook.

The company stated it doesn’t earn profits from audio uploaded on the site. It makes money from paid subscriptions, however, from premium subscriptions of users who prefer to record and upload longer audio clips on the platform. 

According to the company’s website, Audioboom has over 2,000 content partners including “some of the biggest names in sports and media” such as the BBC, The Guardian, The Washington Post, ESPN Star, Star Sports, and very recently, Sky Sports and CBS.

Unlike Pandora, Audioboom is a small cap that trades at $5.00 per piece. It is poised for tremendous growth, however, at the rate it’s expanding (with over 80,000 new users per month). Audioboom trades at an average volume of 2.91 million and has a market capitalization of $23.33 million.

The number of online music listeners is expected to reach 1.7 billion by 2017, up from 767 million in 2013, US News reported. Paid subscribers of online streaming music platforms meanwhile are forecasted to rise to 125 million from 36 million.