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Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Up 45% This Year, Analysts See Further Upside
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is among the 13 Best Big Name Stocks to Buy Now. Last week, two Wall Street analysts lifted their price targets for the stock, suggesting that it could continue to see growth ahead. The company's shares are already up by over 45% year-to-date. A home theater with family members enjoying streaming content together. On June 20, Pivotal Research raised its price target for Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) to $1,600 from $1,350, while reiterating a Buy rating for the stock. The analysts cited confidence in the company's market dominance and robust valuation metrics as the reasons behind the adjustment. Jeffrey Wlodarczak said the following in a client note: 'Our positive Netflix investment view remains unchanged. Netflix remains underpenetrated globally, offers an extremely compelling price-to-entertainment value boosted by their ad-supported offering.' The firm noted that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)'s scale remains a critical competitive advantage. They also expect the company to benefit as rivals offload premium library content. On the same day, analysts at Wells Fargo also lifted Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)'s price target to $1,500 from $1,222, representing a 16% upside potential from its current trading value. The overall sentiment around the stock remains bullish, with Wall Street analysts having a consensus Buy rating for the stock. While we acknowledge the potential of NFLX as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Can Netflix Stock Hit $1,600 in 2025?
Once a luxury, streaming video became even more of a staple during the pandemic and has remained so ever since. With viewers demanding more content for less cash, platforms offering a compelling price-to-entertainment ratio have thrived. Add in the growing acceptance of ad-supported tiers, and the economics get even more attractive for both companies and subscribers. Netflix (NFLX), the original streaming juggernaut, has continued to evolve. Its global reach, relentless content engine, and strategic pivot toward ad-supported offerings have once again caught the market's eye. Wall Street is doubling down, with Pivotal Research analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak recently reiterating a "Buy" rating and lifting his price target to a Street-high $1,600. Wlodarczak views Netflix as 'underpenetrated globally,' with strong growth ahead driven by pricing power and rising ad revenue. Super Micro Computer Just Struck a Deal with Ericsson. Should You Buy SMCI Stock Here? CEO Jensen Huang Just Sold Nvidia Stock. Should You? Broadcom Just Got a New Street-High Price Target. Should You Buy AVGO Stock Here? Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! Netflix has already put on a show this year, jumping 43% year-to-date (YTD). Still, around 25% upside remains if NFLX stock can hit Pivotal's mark. Does the streamer still have some gas left to hit those highs before the year wraps? Founded in 1997, Netflix evolved from DVD rentals to an international streaming behemoth with a $533 billion market capitalization. Transforming entertainment through artificial intelligence (AI) driven personalization, it leads the on-demand content race, captivating millions worldwide and keeping users consistently engaged and loyal. Strategic plays — like the 2022 ad-supported tier and 2023's password-sharing crackdown — paired with live events have strengthened Netflix's moat. In the streaming wars, Netflix still holds the crown. NFLX stock has charted an impressive path of its own since going public. After soaring during the pandemic-fueled streaming boom, the past five years brought plenty of twists, yet shares are still up 168%. More recently, the mega-cap streamer's shares have rallied more than 200% in just two years, with a 91% jump in the past 52 weeks alone, blowing past broader market gains. Netflix even reached an all-time high of $1,282.57 on June 24. Strong subscription growth, resilient revenue, and perceived immunity to global shocks keep Wall Street leaning bullish. With shares on a tear, NFLX stock doesn't come cheap, priced at 48.63 times forward earnings and 13.44 times sales. But that premium feels earned. With bold bets on content, ad-supported streaming, live events, and even gaming, Netflix is building a fortress. Its strategy is paying off, turning valuation skeptics into believers as new revenue streams gain serious momentum. Netflix delivered a confident beat in the fiscal first quarter of 2025, silencing skeptics with a performance that hit all the right notes. On April 17, the streaming titan reported revenue of $10.5 billion, up 12% year-over-year (YOY). EPS surged 25% to $6.61, crushing estimates by more than 16%. Operating income jumped 27% to $3.3 billion, and operating margins widened to an impressive 32%, a clear sign Netflix knows how to scale without losing control of its costs. The company's core metrics remain rock-solid — strong engagement, healthy retention, and stable plan preferences. Price hikes landed well, boosting revenue without denting satisfaction. Its ad-supported tier adds resilience, especially in price-sensitive markets. With over 300 million paid households and growing global content investment, Netflix's footprint continues to expand across regions like the U.K., Mexico, and Korea. Interestingly, Netflix chose not to share subscriber numbers in Q1, a deliberate pivot to focus on financial health and engagement. Updates on subscriber numbers will now come occasionally. Plus, amid economic questions during the Q1 earnings call, management remained calm. Co-CEO Greg Peters called business conditions stable, adding that entertainment has historically shown resilience in economic downturns. It was a rare moment of reassurance in an otherwise cautious earnings season. Looking ahead to 2025, Netflix anticipates a clear runway for growth. The firm projects revenue between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion, along with an operating margin of 29%. Fueled by strong subscriber momentum, strategic price lifts, and increasing ad revenue, the outlook is ambitious yet grounded. The company plans to keep viewers glued with a rich content slate while subtly extracting more value per user without hurting retention. At the heart of this push is the Netflix Ads Suite, its homegrown ad-tech platform. With ad-supported plans gaining traction, Netflix is quietly building the next pillar of its empire. Netflix is gearing up to drop Q2 earnings on July 17 after the bell. For the period, management estimates revenue to be around $11.03 billion and EPS at around $7.03. Wall Street is watching closely, expecting revenue to hit $11.04 billion while EPS is forecast to rise to $7.05. Looking further ahead, fiscal 2025 EPS is anticipated to grow by 27% to $25.32. The bottom line for fiscal 2026 is projected to reach $30.60 per share, up 20%. If these numbers play out, Netflix might just be scripting a blockbuster run beyond the charts. Pivotal's Jeff Wlodarczak sees Netflix gaining steam globally, lifting his price target by 18.5% to $1600. The bullish call was due to Netflix's knockout Q1, with strong subscriptions and rising ad-tier traction. Wlodarczak sees Netflix's brand and content library as global moats — sticky, valuable, and tough to replicate. More importantly, international markets still hold untapped upside, especially in emerging economies. The ad-supported tier is not just smart but profitable, boosting ARPU without losing affordability. With solid execution, even the $1 trillion market cap goal by 2030 doesn't look so far off. In addition to Pivotal, Wells Fargo raised its NFLX price target to $1,500 from $1,222, maintaining an 'Overweight' rating. Overall, Wall Street is leaning bullish on NFLX stock, but with a cautious foot on the brake and a consensus 'Moderate Buy' rating. Of the 45 analysts rating the stock, 28 analysts recommend a 'Strong Buy,' three suggest a 'Moderate Buy,' and the remaining 14 analysts give a 'Hold' rating. Meanwhile, the stock currently trades above the mean price target of $1,196.17. On the date of publication, Sristi Suman Jayaswal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Can Spotify Stock Hit $900 in 2025?
Valued at a market capitalization of $145 billion, Spotify (SPOT) offers audio streaming services worldwide. The tech stock went public in early 2018 and has since returned close to 400% to shareholders. Earlier this week, Pivotal Research raised Spotify's price target to a Wall Street-high of $900 (from $800), maintaining a 'Buy' rating and citing the company's dominant position in the premium audio streaming market. Robotaxis, Powell and Other Key Things to Watch this Week Make Over a 2.4% One-Month Yield Shorting Nvidia Out-of-the-Money Puts Is Quantum Computing (QUBT) Stock a Buy on This Bold Technological Breakthrough? Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now! The investment firm expects Spotify to reach 1 billion monthly active users from its current base of 700 million, projecting a 60% five-year compound annual growth rate in EBITDA, driven by pricing power, subscriber growth, and advertising expansion. Analysts highlighted Spotify's under-monetized advertising business and expansion opportunities beyond music into video, social features, and live programming. The valuation assumes a $175 billion enterprise value using discounted cash flow analysis with a 16x terminal EBITDA multiple for 2030. Let's see if you should buy SPOT stock at the current price. Spotify Technology reported robust Q1 results, demonstrating resilience amid global economic uncertainty. The audio streaming giant added 5 million net premium subscribers, reaching a total of 268 million subscribers, indicating 12% year-over-year growth and marking the second-highest Q1 subscriber addition in the company's history. Total revenue reached 4.2 billion euros, representing a 15% year-over-year increase on a constant currency basis, while premium revenue increased by 16%. Its advertising business showed encouraging momentum with 5% currency-neutral growth, benefiting from new automated features and programmatic tools that expanded advertiser participation from thousands to tens of thousands of active clients. CEO Daniel Ek emphasized 2025 as 'the year of accelerated execution,' highlighting significant operational improvements. Spotify's video podcast monetization strategy gained substantial traction through the Spotify Partner Program, which paid out over $100 million to creators in the first quarter alone. Video content engagement surged 44% year-over-year, with Gen Z users spending 81% more time consuming video content, demonstrating the format's appeal to younger demographics. Spotify's AI-first approach continues to yield results, with the AI Playlist now available in over 40 markets, enabling users to interact with the platform in natural language. These technological investments support Spotify's core strategy of maximizing user engagement and retention while expanding monetization opportunities. Emerging markets drove two-thirds of subscriber outperformance, with Latin America and Asia Pacific showing strong growth. This geographic diversification, combined with Spotify's flexible freemium model, positions the platform well during uncertain economic periods. Gross margin expanded 400 basis points year-over-year to 31.6%, while operating income reached 225 million euros. The company maintains a strong balance sheet with 8 billion euros in cash and short-term investments, providing substantial flexibility for continued investment in innovation. Looking ahead, Spotify expects Q2 revenue of 4.3 billion euros with 689 million monthly active users and 273 million subscribers. Management remains confident in long-term growth prospects, with Ek suggesting the potential for reaching 1 billion subscribers, emphasizing that consistent problem-solving and value creation will drive sustainable expansion in the global audio entertainment market. Analysts tracking Spotify stock expect revenue to increase from $16.3 billion in 2024 to $33 billion in 2029. During this period, adjusted earnings per share are expected to grow from $5.71 to $21.23. Moreover, free cash flow is forecast to improve from $2.37 billion in 2024 to $7.34 billion in 2029. If SPOT stock is priced at 40 times forward free cash flow (FCF), it could double over the next four years. Out of the 32 analysts covering SPOT stock, 19 recommend 'Strong Buy,' two recommend 'Moderate Buy,' nine recommend 'Hold,' one recommends 'Moderate Sell,' and one recommends 'Strong Sell.' The average target price for Spotify stock is $687, 3% below its current price. On the date of publication, Aditya Raghunath did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Forbes
21-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
As Shares Skyrocket, Will Creator Deals Drive Netflix's Next Growth Run?
(Photo by Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images) Netflix has been on an epic stock market run the past year, share prices up 81% to nestle comfortably above $1,200 apiece as it reaps the rewards of definitively winning the Streaming Wars of the past several years, with analysts setting target prices as high as $1,600. Give credit to management's willingness to pivot, after a disastrous Q1 earnings call three years ago, into ad-supported tiers, a password crackdown, videogame and live events/venues initiatives, and investments in local productions in 50 centers around the world. It's paid off massively for the company and its investors. This week saw Pivotal Research set a Street-high target price of $1,600 for Netflix shares. Netflix shares have skyrocketed the past 12 months, to north of $1,200 a piece But where does the streaming giant go from here if it wants to keep driving growth? The ad tier is launched, and growing slowly, but already bringing in higher average revenue per user than Netflix's traditional ad-free offerings. The password crackdown's boost to subscriber growth is likely largely exhausted, though we won't know going forward, because the company stopped r0utinely reporting subscriber adds before the last earnings call. In that call, the company said it added a whopping 13 million subscribers to puff the global total to 301 million, far larger than any competitor. So where to go to grow? Analysts have some thoughts, mostly about the vast collection of wildly diverse talent pumping out episodes on YouTube and other social media, receiving a share of ad revenue and otherwise monetizing their productions with merchandise, sponsorships, live events and other strategies. That approach has paid off massively for Alphabet-owned YouTube. Nielsen's The Gauge estimates more than 12% of total watch time is devoted to YouTube programming. Roku released stats that were even higher, as much as 18% of view time. Wells Fargo analysts released a note earlier in the week setting a $1,500 target price for Netflix, but suggesting it find ways to be a bit more like YouTube. Wells Fargo Sr. Equity Analyst Steven Cahall said Friday in a CNBC interview that YouTube content, which costs YouTube nothing on the front end, is increasingly grabbing view time with young and even middle-aged consumers. And that's exactly the kind of programming Netflix should be adding to its portfolio. 'Some of this very, very high value, professional short-form seems like a natural in-between where it still has a big impact on consumers but it's not quite the really short, mobile-native, user-generated content,' Cahall said. To grab some of that view time back, Netflix should take a page out of its own playbook from about a decade ago, when it cut nine-figure exclusive deals with prominent showrunners in traditional television such as Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, Cahall said. The splashy deals put the industry on notice about Netflix's ambitions to create high-quality premium content that could contend with anything on broadcast or cable. 'The argument here is they can do the same thing," Cahall said. 'They can go find these really large-scale creators who put a lot of content on YouTube, get a lot of views, and make a lot of money, and they can say, 'Hey, come to Netflix, you have the same size audience. We'll pay you money, and you don't have to take a risk on advertising.' Such deals will 'take money,' though nothing like those Rhimes and Murphy deals of a decade ago. More importantly, Cahall said, 'it's not the same risk profile.' The creators bring their own audience, and deep knowledge about how to connect with and nurture that audience, removing most of the risk of partnering with them. Certainly, there are plenty of big, long-time online creators who are producing good-quality content at remarkable velocity. In recent months, I've interviewed or moderated panels with leaders from such long-time venues as Smosh, Dhar Mann Studios, Buzzfeed Studios, and Dhar Mann CEO Sean Atkins, a long-time cable TV veteran, said he gives a few tours a week of the company's extensive production studios in Burbank, Calif., just a couple of miles from the studio lots of Warner Bros., Disney and NBCUniversal. There's an 'oh, sh--' moment on the tour for most of the folks, Atkins said, when they see Dhar Mann's operations are sprawling enough to need the same golf carts to get around the grounds as on the traditional studios. At last week's StreamTV Show conference in Denver, I interviewed Trey Kennedy, an Oklahoma-based comedian who started telling six-second jokes on the long-gone social-video site Vine. Kennedy has long since migrated to TikTok and YouTube for his humor, building an audience big enough that he cut a deal with Hulu for a one-hour comedy special released in January. He has a national comedy tour set for the fall. Also at The StreamTV Show, I interviewed Laura Martin, managing director and sr. internet & media analyst for Needham & Co. To her mind, the 100-plus exhibitors and dozens of niche networks on display at the conference are largely ignored by Wall Street because they're not able to compete at a big enough scale with the two companies that matter most, Amazon and YouTube. Amazon's links between advertising and directly selling those advertised products to its couple of a hundred million or so Prime Video subscribers make it one powerful path for the future of video. And YouTube has married oceans of user-generated content with television's highest-value programming, the NFL, which is available through YouTube TV. 'On the content side, they're sort of blurring the lines, we sort of think that's where the world is going writ large,' Martin said. Wall Street looks at the smaller players and wonders, 'Why aren't you talking about short-form, omni-device and influencers, plus -premium content. There's a real disconnect." Martin said both Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery are stuck in a 'distracted' place. Paramount is trying to negotiated a lawsuit settlement directly with President Donald Trump over alleged 'election interference' for editing a Kamala Harris interview last fall on 60 Minutes. The delays in settling that suit are in danger of putting controlling shareholder Shari Redstone's National Amusements in default before it can complete an $8 billion sale to a group led by David Ellison and Skydance Entertainment. WBD, meanwhile, announced last week that it would go ahead with a widely expected split of the company, putting its legacy cable channels such as CNN, TNT, TBS, and Discovery in one unit, along with most of WBD's $34 billion in debt and a share of the spun-off Studios & Streaming unit. That latter group would include the Max (soon to be renamed HBO Max) streaming service and WBD's production studios for film, TV and games. Shepherding that split to reality will leave WBD leadership distracted for a year, Martin estimated, then will have to wait another year before doing any deals, because of tax-minimization strategies. 'I think it's the wrong strategic move,' Martin said. 'We're not going to be talk about either of those companies for the next two or three years." That leaves a 'competitive set' of serious streaming players of just four: Netflix, Amazon, Alphabet/YouTube, and Disney. 'The question will be if Disney is too small to compete,' Martin said. 'Its (market valuation) is $200 billion, Netflix is $500 billion and the rest are more than $2 trillion.' For Netflix, grabbing more content from YouTube's stable might just be a way to keep driving growth, and perhaps even slightly slowing the YouTube juggernaut, mostly by being a bit more like what YouTube has become.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pivotal Research lifts Spotify target to Street-high $900 on long-term growth bets
-- Pivotal Research raised its price target on Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) to a Wall Street-high $900, citing a shift in its valuation horizon to the end of 2026 and optimism over the company's expanding user base, monetization efforts and long-term earnings potential. The new target, up from $800, implies a nearly $175 billion enterprise value for the audio streaming firm. Pivotal maintained its Buy rating, saying Spotify remains the dominant premium audio platform with room to grow beyond music and podcasts into areas like video, social features, and live programming. Spotify has around 700 million monthly active users and is on track to reach 1 billion, according to the note. The firm forecast a five-year EBITDA compound annual growth rate of 60%, backed by pricing power, subscriber growth, advertising expansion, and product innovation. Pivotal said Spotify's advertising business remains under-monetized, but improvements driven by AI and new formats could lift margins and user engagement. The analysts also noted that in a weakening global economy, Spotify, like Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), offers a competitively priced form of entertainment. Valuation was based on a discounted cash flow model using a 16-times terminal EBITDA multiple for 2030 and an 8% discount rate. Risks to the outlook include the concentration of power among major music labels, content cost inflation, potential backlash from controversial podcasts, macroeconomic uncertainty, M&A execution, and rising competition. Shares of Spotify have rallied sharply this year, amid profitability and product expansion. Related articles Pivotal Research lifts Spotify target to Street-high $900 on long-term growth bets Truist raises Etsy price target as Q2 revenue tracks ahead of expectations Sina: Liu vows innovation after 'five-year decline,' targets travel Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
