Online streaming giant Netflix is one of the top internet stocks across the globe. Shares of the media company have soared 125% in 2015, 13% in 2016 and 55% in 2017. The stock is already up over 80% in 2017. Shares of Netflix peaked to an all-time high of $423.21 last month and have since declined after it released its Q2 2018 earnings results.
Why Did Netflix Shares Decline Recently?
Though Netflix beat earnings estimates, it reported Q2 revenue below analyst projections. Netflix also added 5.2 million new subscribers in the second quarter, below estimates of 6.2 million in Q2. In the United States alone, Netflix added 700,000 subscribers which were below the estimated figure of 1.2 million.
At the end of Q2, Netflix had 130 million subscribers, an increase of 25% year-over-year compared to 104 million subscribers at end of the second quarter in 2017.
Has User Growth For Netflix Started To Decline?
In the last seven out of the nine quarters, Netflix has been able to beat user forecasts. The last time Netflix reported user subscription below estimates was in Q1 2017 when it added 5 million users, compared to a forecast of 5.2 million. What’s more, Netflix expects to add 5 million subscribers in Q3 including 650,000 in the United States. This indicates an addition of 4.35 million global subscribers.
Netflix has stated that its subscriber base can grow between 60 million and 90 million in the United States, indicating an addition of approximately 30 million subscribers at the high end of its projection. After significant expansion, Netflix now has approximately 57 million domestic subscribers. With this comes the hiccup – it has practically no room to grow subscribers if we take the conservative estimate of 60 million subscribers.
The company is also facing challenges by bigger players with more cash in hand such as Amazon Prime and Amazon Studios. Further, Disney is looking to launch its streaming platform in 2019.
Key Drivers For Netflix
Yes, Netflix’s stock has been negatively impacted post Q2 results. But Netflix’s growth story is far from over. The company expects revenue to grow by 33.6% in Q3 with earnings growth of 134%. Netflix again expects to add 5 million subscribers in Q3.
Netflix can approximately double its subscriber base to 250 million over the next 10 years, given the total available market. Netflix currently has 300 million user profiles across 450 million devices.
There are growth opportunities in emerging markets like India where Netflix has about 5 million subscribers compared to the market leader Hotstar which has 75 million subscribers. The Indian online streaming market is estimated to grow by 35% year-over-year. Netflix has been targeting market share by generating original content.
The first two seasons of Narcos scored massive hits while Sacred Games has also been popular among the Indian audience. Production on the first Arabic series Jinn has reportedly begun. Netflix will be spending around $8 billion in original content for 2018.
Though there are concerns over Netflix, the company’s revenue is still estimated to grow by 35.6% in 2018, 24.8% in 2019 and 21.6% in 2020. Comparatively, its bottom line or earnings is estimated to grow by 116% in 2018, 61.9% in 2019 and at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 62.5% over the next five years.
Does This Provide An Opportunity For Investors To Buy Netflix?
Although Netflix has generated spectacular returns over the last few years, potential investors might be wary about entering at current levels. However, the recent stock decline post Netflix’s quarterly results indicate that the stock is trading at a discount of over 10% to average analyst price targets of $377.60.
Out of the 40 analysts tracking Netflix, 60% of analysts (or 24 analysts) recommend a “buy” while 35% recommend a “hold” and only 5% recommend to “sell” the stock. Netflix has a high 12-month price target estimate of $503.
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