Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX | NFLX Price Prediction) stock rose as it walked away from an $83 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery (NYSE: WBD) (There would also have been a spin-out of old media assets to be called Discovery Global). Netflix is off the hook now that Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ: PSKY) won a bidding war, which had pushed Netflix stock as low as $75. The news that Netflix would not be the winner of the war over the Warner assets helped move the stock up to $90. It is now ready to move back to $135, its price in June. That is a 50% surge.
What did Netflix look like last June? It had several analyst upgrades. Steven Cahall, a top-five-star-rated analyst at Wells Fargo, raised his target price by 23%. He saw several new shows coming. Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak raised his target 19%. He wrote in a note to investors, “Netflix remains underpenetrated globally, offers an extremely compelling price to entertainment value… and continues to generate solid subscriber growth.” Netflix stock was already sharply up for the year in anticipation of strong Q2 earnings and continued subscriber growth.
Just after the upgrades, Netflix announced that revenue rose 16% year over year in the second quarter to $11.1 billion. Diluted EPS rose from $4.88 to $71.9 for the same period. Operating margins grew from 27.2% to 31.5%. Netflix raised its forecast for 2025. Some of its shows posted record viewership. Advertising revenue continued to grow, indicating that Netflix has begun to move beyond its subscriber-supported model.
The Globe and Mail pointed out, “Netflix is widely viewed as the undisputed champion of the streaming wars.”
It is February 2026, and, aside from its abandonment of the Warner deal, very little has changed about Netflix since mid-year 2025. The company announced on January 20, “In Q4, revenue increased 18% year over year, and we crossed the 325M paid memberships milestone during the quarter. Operating income rose 30% year over year.”
Netflix is back. It is the top streaming company in the US, and perhaps outside the US as well. No other streaming service is in a position to take that place. And, there is no reason to doubt it will lose that momentum. Its management can go back to running the company.
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