NFLX stock is trading at $300.02 as of 01:17 PM EDT.
Despite a Nasdaq index that is being weighed down by stock declines at Alphabet and Microsoft, Netflix stock (NASDAQ:NFLX) is once again flying high today. The stock is up 4.4% and has crossed the $300 per share level for the first time since a post-earnings decline in April.
Netflix Stock Movements
Netflix stock has increased by over 31% in the past month, primarily due to an easy earnings beat on October 18. Pivotal Research raised its rating on Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) from “Sell” to “Buy” and set a $375 price target for the stock. According to analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak, “we clearly carried our sell rating far too long and believe that the move higher in the shares post-earnings is likely to continue.”
Sales Forecast
He gives a long list of these reasons, one of which is that the company has raised its “obviously modest” forecast for net customer additions in 2023 from 5.5 million to 15 million, which is more than the consensus of 12.5 million.
Wlodarczak says that this is possible because “we expect to be successful at turning a meaningful number of effective pirates into paying customers or higher ARPU, and, to a lesser extent, the near-term subscriber benefits of launching an ad-supported service.”
He also says that Netflix seems like a great place for investors to put their money during a big slowdown in digital advertising because the company should be able to grow its currently small ad-supported tier no matter what.
On the other hand, he worries that during a recession, customers will switch to the less expensive ad plan, although that won’t likely happen until the second half of 2023 at the earliest.
Wlodarczak says, “We continue to expect that (co-CEO Reed) Hastings will try to sell NFLX as early as 2024 (most likely to MSFT, with regulatory approval in 2025 under a likely new administration).” This is noteworthy on the M&A rumor front. A 24% increase is implied by Pivotal’s $375 target.
With Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, its most recent smash hit, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) continues to rule streaming time, even though Nielsen says that YouTube is now the most popular streaming site. Read more on Why Is Netflix Stock Up Today?
Featured Image- Unsplash @ freestocks
Author Jowi Kwasu 
