Netflix Stock Hits High Price, But Analysts Say It’s Still Way Too Low
Netflix stock keeps rising and rising, but many analysts say it’s still not high enough.
Breitbart News is reporting that Netflix closed at a price of $628.50 per share on Tuesday, when an analyst from Pivotal Research Group, an equity research firm, raised the end-of-year stock price for Netflix (NYSE: NFLX) at $850 per share.
Pivotal’s Jeffrey Wlodarczak reevaluated Netflix’s international company growth from 78 million new customers internationally to 95 million paying subscribers, with overall subscribers rising from 138 million to 160 million.
It was recently announced that Netflix is negotiating to enter the Chinese market. Netflix is working with the Chinese media company Wasu Media Holding Co., led by Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma, to begin service to customers in China. If all goes as planned, this could mean Netflix would have access to the 90 billion Yuan (or $1.45 billion) market by the year 2018. Wlodarczak estimates China could mean another 13.5 million subscribers, and another 2.5 million subscribers to Netflix.
Netflix announced last month that the service had accumulated over 40 million customers at the end of the quarter. Netflix also announced that they are now producing over 320 hours of original programming with shows including House of Cards and Orange is the New Black series, which have garnered Netflix multiple Emmy awards.
According to Wired, Netflix have caught the attention of Apex Capital, who has announced that Netflix will become the next $100 billion tech company.
Wall Street seems to be resigned that Netflix soon will dominate the world. “Internet TV is growing around the world at incredible rates,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in Netflix’s earnings call last month. “And so we’re really propelled by that big macro trend.”
Even though Netflix has its eye on expansion and growth, the European community is reminding them to remember the already-established markets and improve the services soon. Their expansion has lead to over 20 million subscribers in over 50 markets, including New Zealand, Australia, and Cuba. Netflix has stated they would like to be in over 200 markets by 2017.
The European market is suffering from slow internet speeds, which is affecting the performance of Netflix in the European market. When asked by a German contingent if Netflix would devise a download option instead of streaming, Hasting gave an answer which amounted to “no.”
European Netflix customers are also dealing with smaller selection than customers in the United States. Some European customers are using VPN networks to access the American Netflix servers to change that. With poor service, choices, a European film community that is fighting back, and piracy issues, Netflix needs to address these issues and find resolution to keep the European market viable while expanding into the Chinese and South Korean markets.
[Image courtesy of Netflix Life]
