Tune Into Potential Profits With The Sector Pure-Play MUSQ Global Music Industry ETF (MUSQ)
Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) generated headlines in the pre-market hours as the company revealed its much-awaited second-quarter earnings report. Ahead of the disclosure, SPOT stock suffered from a strongly bearish trend despite an implied robust upside based on analysts' price targets. Therefore, the Q2 print represented an opportunity for the audio streaming service to respond.
The results were exactly what the company needed. Spotify generated earnings of 274 million euros or about $298 million. The bottom-line print was equivalent to 1.33 euros per share, beating the analysts' consensus view of 1.05 euros per share. On the top line, sales hit 3.8 billion euros, which was in line with expectations.
Among the key highlights was growth in monthly active users (MAUs) reaching 14% to 626 million users. While this rally slightly missed the guidance of 631 million, it should be noted that premium subscribers saw a year-over-year increase of 12% to 246 million. This performance beat the consensus estimate by 1 million. Also, advertisement-supported revenue saw a lift of 13% to 456 million euros. The business expansion stemmed from music streaming and podcasts.
On Monday, SPOT stock finished the session at $295.45, up slightly from Friday's close. However, during Tuesday's pre-market session, Spotify shares reached $336, representing growth of nearly 14%.
The MUSQ ETF: While Spotify constitutes a major component of the wider audio-content industry, it's not the only player in town. Several other entities – including YouTube Music under Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), which will soon release its quarterly report – offer viable exposure. However, it's difficult for retail investors to acquire multiple securities in the ecosystem, which is where the MUSQ Global Music Industry ETF (NYSE:MUSQ) comes into play.
As Benzinga noted earlier this year, the thematic exchange-traded fund "provides concentrated exposure to the complete music ecosystem, covering streaming, content and distribution, live music events and ticketing, satellite and broadcast radio, equipment and technology, and artificial intelligence. The fund holds multiple stocks that encompass the variety of companies and technologies the music industry is dependent upon."
Currently, the only broad-based pure-play ETF covering the global music industry, the key advantage of the MUSQ fund is diversification. While Spotify is one of the top holdings of the ETF, it's not the only position. Indeed, SPOT stock represents 3.88% of MUSQ's net assets. Alphabet stock comprises a higher portion of the holdings at 5.8%.
Additionally, MUSQ brings other core components of the music industry to investors in a convenient package, including the content realm – via names like Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE:TME) – and in-person performance, particularly through Live Nation Entertainment Inc (NYSE:LYV).
Therefore, no one entity can determine the entire trajectory of MUSQ, affording investors the benefit of market risk distribution.
The MUSQ Chart: On Monday, the MUSQ ETF finished the session at $24.52, gaining nearly 1% against Friday's close. The fund appears to have hit a near-term bottom on June 24, steadily gaining sentiment since that session.
- Given Tuesday's blistering pre-market performance of SPOT stock, it's possible that MUSQ may see a noticeable bump higher.
- While the ETF has been trading lower between the end of December to the June 24 trough, the fund's trajectory appears to be rounding out.
- A U-shaped recovery could be in play, especially given Spotify's strong quarterly results.
- Encouragingly, MUSQ trades above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which serve as common barometers of market health.
Featured photo by javier dumont from Pixabay.
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