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Sonos Shares Jump as JPMorgan Suggests a Strategic Fit for Apple

Sonos Shares Jump as JPMorgan Suggests a Strategic Fit for Apple

(Bloomberg) -- Sonos Inc. rallied on Monday, with the stock extending a recent advance to a seventh straight session, the longest such streak in the speaker company’s history.

Earlier on Monday, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee suggested that Sonos could be a strategic acquisition target for Apple, though he noted that the prospect of such a deal was speculative and theoretical.

Shares rose as much as 8.5 percent, taking them to their highest level since November. Over the past seven trading days, the stock is up more than 20 percent. Despite the recent gains, Sonos remains down nearly 40 percent from a record close in August.

Sonos Shares Jump as JPMorgan Suggests a Strategic Fit for Apple

A spokesperson for Sonos said the company doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation. Apple didn’t immediately return a request to Bloomberg News for a comment.

JPMorgan wrote that the category of smart home speakers were among the industries with “the most strategic value,” for Apple, “providing potential growth opportunities to leverage services over a wider installed base.”

Apple is “currently lagging competitors in the smart home category,” JPMorgan wrote, referring to the company’s HomePod product line. Sonos, in contrast, has a “differentiated position as a premium home speaker system relative to Amazon Alexa and Google Home,” along with “strong loyalty among current customers and [a] robust international presence.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm

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