Netflix bulls have been rewarded this year, to say the least. With the stock’s more than 110 percent gain so far in 2018 and what some Wall Street analysts see as an unchallenged perch in the streaming space, Netflix is far outpacing the market and many of its peers in media.
But risks surround the high-growth stock. Ahead of Netflix’s quarterly earnings report set for Monday, Mark Tepper, president and CEO of Strategic Wealth Partners, identified what to watch for in the report and what he calls the stock’s biggest risk right now. Here’s what he told CNBC’s “Trading Nation.”
• When a stock is trading at more than $400 per share, with a trailing price-earnings ratio in the triple digits, and a gain of more than 100 percent year to date, the biggest question becomes at what point can the stock no longer realize that kind of extreme growth.
• In its upcoming earnings report, the company’s subscriber base is the metric to watch. Netflix expects to add 1.2 million subscribers domestically, and another 5 million internationally in the second quarter.
• When it comes to the biggest risk right now, it’s all about the prospect of its competitors upping the ante on its content’s quality. At this point, Netflix has been able to stay ahead of the pack with its content’s quality, but headwinds could arise if competitors like Hulu, Disney or Amazon Prime develop more original content.
UBS downgraded Netflix on Thursday due to its high valuation, but raised its price target to $425, implying roughly 3 percent of upside. Netflix closed down 1.2 percent on Thursday.
Bottom line: Ahead of Netflix’s earnings report on Monday, one money manager says the biggest risk to the stock is whether its competitors will up the ante on their original content.
Disclosure: Comcast, which owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal, is a co-owner of Hulu.
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