Why Streaming Stocks Could Be the Big Winners in the Bear Market

The coronavirus pandemic and the "stay-at-home" orders that have followed have led to a number of changes in Americans' daily lives. Office workers and students stuck at home have relied on video calling for classes and conference calls. Americans have stockpiled goods like food, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies, and have relied on grocery delivery services to bring them their orders.

And demands for home entertainment have soared, as people look for a distraction from the monotony of life at home during a pandemic. No sector is benefiting from that last trend more than streaming services.

Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) just announced that first-quarter streaming hours are expected to jump 49% from the previous year to 13.2 billion. Based on the 39.8 million active accounts it had at the end of the quarter, users streamed an average of 3.6 hours a day of entertainment, the company's highest figure in at least a year. By all indications, video consumption jumped toward the end of the quarter; management said the effect of "sheltering at home" led to an acceleration in new account growth and viewing hours.

Source Fool.com