diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/main.py b/lib/spack/spack/main.py
index 3b330c08d43..bc29b6f1f1e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/main.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/main.py
@@ -774,7 +774,7 @@ def _profile_wrapper(command, parser, args, unknown_args):
         pr.disable()
 
         # print out profile stats.
-        stats = pstats.Stats(pr)
+        stats = pstats.Stats(pr, stream=sys.stderr)
         stats.sort_stats(*sortby)
         stats.print_stats(nlines)