The “Tiger King” review page for true crime documentaries is displayed on a laptop.
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Netflix shares rose 15% on Wednesday to close short on an everyday high, a day after the company revealed in its Q4 2020 earnings report that it was buying back shares and surpassing 200 million subscribers for the first time.
This is the biggest jump since the company’s share closed at 19% on October 18, 2016.
“We went from a historic bear on NFLX to a card-bearing bull,” Wells Fargo analysts said in a comment to clients on Wednesday. The company also raised its price target to $ 700 per share, compared to $ 510. At least 15 other companies also met their price targets.
The video giant said it is expected to have a positive cash flow after 2021, which will help analysts make the case.
“We remain bullies about the NFLX story as NFLX provides consumers with an increasingly compelling unique entertainment experience on virtually every device, without ads at a relatively low cost,” Pivotal Research Group analysts said in a note Wednesday.
Netflix has benefited from the stay-at-home boom, as millions of daily entertainment in the comfort of their homes required millions. This probably helped raise his paid subscriber count to more than 200 million for the first time. It reached 100 million subscribers in 2017.
Netflix’s growth also comes as power wars continue, with competition from Apple TV +, Discovery +, Disney +, HBO Max from AT & T’s WarnerMedia and Peacock from CNBC’s parent NBCUniversal. ViacomCBS’s Paramount + will be launched in March.
“We still believe that the issue surrounding competition that hinders the long-term success of NFLX is being exceeded,” Jefferies analysts said Tuesday. “Some competitors will succeed, others will not, but the overall picture is that there will be several winners within the OTT stream space, and we expect the NFLX to remain at the top of the food chain.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.