Spotify's quarter beat expectations on subscribers and margins: premium subscribers rose 9% and gross margin hit a record 33% versus 31.6% a year earlier; Q4 guidance of 820 million euros operating income is above estimates, though whether those gains continue is the open question.

Let's now turn our attention to Spotify. What is your opinion? Those stocks are rising. There are investors who are praising the company's performance following its quarterly results .

Spotify's overall performance is better than expected in terms of subscriber growth, and profit margins look good.

When the figures are converted to dollars, earnings per share appear to have been erratic at $2.85 . But the fourth-quarter forecast points to higher operating income and premium subscribers than Wall Street had anticipated here.

As we know, the last quarter often doesn't matter when it comes to what Wall Street is looking for. We are looking for clues about the future direction from here with regard to subscribers, as the number of paid users has exceeded the company's guidelines, and the number of monthly active users has increased by 11% to reach 788 million.

The number of premium subscribers grew by 9% to reach 306 million. So subscribers are willing to pay to get Spotify here.

Paid subscriptions remain the main driver of revenue, representing about 90% of sales, I should say. This applies at all levels. Premium revenues rose by 17%, and advertising revenues jumped by double digits.

They achieved a record gross profit margin, Nicole. In this regard, they reached a record high of 33%, up from the previous year when it was 31.6%.

Therefore, they keep more dollars as revenue after covering the cost of providing services here. The question is whether those gains will continue. Wall Street seems to expect so, based on how stocks are reacting now, which is twice as much as we saw in premarket trading.

Regarding the outlook for the fourth quarter, they are forecasting operating income of 820 million euros, that is the expectation. They are forecasting a gross profit margin of 33.8%, which is slightly higher than estimates, Nicole.