Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall cut ratings on five companies and sounded the alarm about the prospects for consumer-electronics hardware companies.

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All of these will require the new S2 app that Sonos announced it will release to customers starting on June 8, which will introduce higher-res audio, a new UI and more. The new Sonos Arc retails for $799, while the Sonos Sub is priced at $699 and the Sonos Five will set you back $499; all three are available for pre-order directly via the Sonos website. This latest generation of Sonos soundbar succeeds the Sonos Beam, one the first of Sonos speakers to include support for Alexa after the introduction of the Sonos One in 2017.

Sonos (SONO) delivered earnings and revenue surprises of -77.78% and -17.37%, respectively, for the quarter ended March 2020. Do the numbers hold clues to what lies ahead for the stock?

After Spotify Technology SA (NYSE: SPOT) CEO Daniel Ek accused Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) of not being open-enough to third-party apps, Ek was criticized by the co-founder of speaker maker Sonos Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) for similar practices.What Happened Spotify's ecosystem is even more closed than that of Apple's according to John MacFarlane, co-founder of Sonos. MacFarlane tweeted on Wednesday, "Solid irony here." He elaborated, "Having worked closely with both Apple and Spotify, I would say it's more significantly more difficult to work within Spotify's "closed" ecosystem than Apple's." Ending the tweet on a conciliatory note he added, "Respect and appreciate both companies, but "open" Spotify is not."MacFarlane also provided the link to Bloomberg's interview with Ek in his tweet. The Spotify CEO said in the interview that there had been encouraging signs from Apple like allowing Siri to control music services other than Apple Music. He attributed the changes to an antitrust complaint his company filed against the tech giant a year earlier with the European Union.Why It Matters Sweden-based Spotify has also criticized Apple for taking a 30% cut of subscriptions and accused Cupertino of limiting app updates and barring functionality on Apple Watch. In its complaint to the EU Spotify claimed that Apple was a platform provider and a competitor, which gives it an incentive to put rival services at a disadvantage, reported Bloomberg.Ek revealed that restrictions put by Apple had "a big business impact." Apple's HomePod speaker still does not support third-party music apps such as Spotify, and the default music app on iOS and iPadOS cannot be changed. Apple is expected to allow third-party apps on HomePod this year.Ek made claims in the Bloomberg interview that Spotify is growing faster than Apple Music, and is twice its size, with three times the engagement.(NASDAQ: SPOT) Price Action On Thursday, Spotify shares closed 0.24% lower at $148.04. Photo by Markus Spiske on UnsplashSee more from Benzinga * Elon Musk Says Tesla Battery Patent 'Way More Important Than It Sounds' * Luxury Retailer Neiman Marcus Files For Bankruptcy After Reaching Agreement With Creditors * Delay In Delivering Coronavirus Masks To California Leads To 7M Refund From Chinese Manufacturer(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Sonos (SONO) possesses the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.

Shares of Nutanix Inc. are off 1.4% in Friday trading after Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall lowered his rating on the stock by two notches, to sell from buy. "While we continue to believe Nutanix has a solid technology offering, we are increasingly concerned about its ability to return to revenue growth while reducing opex/sales to maintain adequate cash on the balance sheet," he wrote. Hall worries about Nutanix's free-cash burn as well as revenue pressures if medium-sized businesses start pulling back. He lowered his price target to $15 from $47 in conjunction with the downgrade. Hall also double downgraded Sonos Inc. shares and downgraded Apple Inc. [S: AAPL] and Qualcomm Inc. shares by a single notch. Nutanix shares have lost 51% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has declined 15%.

Sonos introduces Sonos Arc, the premium smart soundbar that brings immersive, cinema-quality sound to homes around the world.

Goldman Sachs analysts double downgraded Sonos to sell, expecting demand in the speaker producer's industry to drop by half during the coronavirus shutdown.

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Sonos, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO) has released its financial results for the second quarter fiscal 2020 in a letter to shareholders available on the investor relations section of its website. To view the letter, please visit: https://investors.sonos.com/reports-and-filings/default.aspx

One of Apple’s best-known former designers is raising funds to launch a “revolutionary” new home audio system to rival Sonos and the iPhone maker’s HomePod later this year, according to several people familiar with the plans. Having spent more than 20 years working closely with Jony Ive in Apple’s design team, Christopher Stringer left Silicon Valley in 2017 to start his new venture, Syng, in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. Mr Stringer, who was born in Australia but grew up and studied in England, is named on more than 1,400 US patents, including for designs related to the iPhone, Apple Watch and HomePod.

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The company announced Tuesday the launch of Sonos Radio, which mixes curated stations with traditional radio. About half of all listening on Sonos speakers comes from radio, said Ryan Taylor, the general manager of Sonos Radio, and the company saw an opportunity to create a new revenue stream while building a “premium” experience for listeners. Among the features of Sonos Radio are original stations with hand-picked music.

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Sonos launches Sonos Radio, a free, ad-supported streaming radio service, exclusively available to customers in more than 10 million homes globally.

Sonos Inc. fell short of expectations in the March quarter as COVID-19 outbreak forced the closure of physical stores toward the end of March and complicated inventory-rebalancing efforts at one of Sonos’ large retail partners.

There are worse business models Sonos (NASDAQ: SONO) could choose to follow than the one set out in Roku's (NASDAQ: ROKU) playbook. Just as the streaming player maker created its own platform to allow viewers to watch video, as well as choosing to use it to subscribe to other video channels, Sonos is launching its own free-to-listen streaming service that can supplement services from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, and Spotify.

Zoom acquires some encryption expertise, Uber makes a big investment in scooters and we review the new 13-inch Macbook Pro. Keybase, whose encryption products include secure file sharing and collaboration tools, should give Zoom some security credibility as it goes through pandemic demand growing pains. A number of Zoom security issues have come to light in the last couple of months as demand has soared and exposed security weaknesses in the platform.

SONO earnings call for the period ending March 28, 2020.