What to Expect When Netflix Reports Earnings

October 16, 2017 by Chris Lange

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results after the markets close on Monday. This online video streamer has been one of the most explosive stocks over the past few years. It was only a $10 stock five years ago, and now the price level is flirting with $200, and many analysts are calling for it go even higher.

Netflix has been one of the real standout stocks in 2017, beating out the big four of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet in terms of performance, despite the phenomenal year that these stocks have had. Year to date, Netflix is up over 60%, while over the past 52 weeks the stock has practically doubled.

Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.32 in earnings per share (EPS) and $2.97 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, it posted EPS of $0.12 and $2.29 billion in revenue.

Earlier this month, the company quietly said that it would raise the price for its monthly streaming service in the United States. Although the price increase isn’t that much per customer, it adds up over Netflix’s 104 million subscribers.

According to the deal, Netflix is raising the price for its standard tier service to $11 from $10, while the premium tier will be raised to $14 from $12. The basic tier service will remain at $8 per month.

This will affect new subscribers going forward, and current subscribers will receive the announcement on October 19.

Ahead of the earnings report, a few analysts weighed in on Netflix:

  • Aegis has a Hold rating.
  • JPMorgan has an Overweight rating with a $225 price target.
  • Goldman Sachs has a Buy rating with a $235 price target.
  • Citigroup has a Neutral rating and a $205 price target.
  • Sanford Bernstein has a Buy rating and a $230 target price.
  • Cowen has a Buy rating with a $215 price target.
  • Stifel has a Buy rating with a $230 price target.
  • Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and a $225 target.
  • Argus has a Hold rating.
  • MKM has a Buy rating and a $230 price target.
  • Buckingham Research has a Buy rating with a $214 price target.
  • Wedbush has an Underperform rating with a $180 price target.

Shares of Netflix traded at $200.85 early Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of just $197.21 and a 52-week range of $98.38 to $202.02.

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