Thrashed for months be equity analysts, Roku received a boost Friday morning when Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris upped his target price for the company by $10 to $145 a share, citing international growth prospects. 

The result? Roku was still down over 1%, to under $124 a share, as of midday trading on the Nasdaq. That's about a fourth of what Roku was priced at when it peaked at around $473 a share back on July 19 of 2021. 

Also read: Roku Extends Deal to Support Amazon Prime Video, IMDb TV

Since that time, equity analysts have harshed on Roku's Wall Street buzz, noting its decelerating user growth following the quarantine portion of the pandemic, some missed guidance, and the increasing costs of making Roku devices, a supply chain issue that's also curtailed user growth. 

For his part, Morris has been in lock step with the Roku bears, downgrading his target price from $210 to $135 since Jan. 1. 

In his latest note to investors, however, Morris said Roku is in the "early innings" of its international growth and has plenty of runs to score ahead. 

Also read: Roku Torpedoed by Yet Another Equity Analyst, Says Streaming Company Is Done Growing in the U.S.

Notably, he estimates that 88% of the company's more than 60 million active users are in the U.S. Most of Roku's limited "international" presence is still in North America, he estimates, with 3% of usage occurring in Mexico and 2.7% in Canada. He postulates that 3.4% of usage occurs in the U.K. 

“We believe that Roku is structured for strong long-term international share gains, with current operating system market share and revenue contribution in the very early stages,” Morris wrote. " ... We expect the account mix to index significantly higher within [international] markets, particularly in Latin America and Europe, as Roku continues to actively scale those TV regions.”

For his part, Roku Co-Founder and CEO Anthony Wood seemed confident in Roku's international growth prospects when he spoke during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference last month, noting, "Once Roku enters a market outside the U.S., our share starts to grow."

Entertainment Studios, the independent TV producer and distributor headed by Byron Allen, has named Eric Gould as its new executive vice president of finance & chief investment officer.

Gould will work out of the Entertainment Studios headquarters in Los Angeles.

In his new position, Gould will oversee investments, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate finance for all of Allen’s Entertainment Studios media divisions, including: broadcast television syndication, advertising sales, all seven 24-hour cable television networks, the digital video-centric news platform The Grio, as well as theatrical motion picture co-productions and global distribution for Allen’s recently-acquired theatrical and digital movie distribution divisions Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures and Freestyle Digital Media.

Gould reports directly to Entertainment Studios founder, chairman, and CEO, Byron Allen.

“Eric Gould is an outstanding addition to our Entertainment Studios family,” Allen said in a statement. “Eric’s extensive financial investment experience makes him the perfect addition to our executive team as we continue to grow our global media company and aggressively pursue mergers and acquisitions.”

Gould has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial community and most recently served as a managing director and senior portfolio manager at Guggenheim Partners, where he was responsible for the investment development and strategies for approximately $20 billion of the firm’s $240 billion in client assets.

Prior to joining Guggenheim, he was the head of portfolio management at the Munich Re Group where he was responsible for the North American investment strategies. Before joining Munich Re in 2007, Gould was a senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at GE Asset Management where he headed the Structured Products Group. Prior to that, Mr. Gould spent six years at MetLife’s investment department where he managed structured products and real estate investments as well as analyzed M&A opportunities.

“I believe in Byron's vision for Entertainment Studios and see many opportunities for the company to expand its ever-growing media businesses,” Gould said in a statement. “The future of Entertainment Studios is brighter than ever and I am excited to join the team.”