Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) received a big downgrade from analysts at Jefferies, who now say the stock’s valuation “looks stretched.” Shares of Netflix soared earlier this week after the company’s latest positive earnings report. Now analysts are beginning to question how much higher the stock can go before it becomes overvalued.
In a report issued to investors this week, Jefferies analysts downgraded Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) from hold to underperform and increased their price target from $130 to $160 per share. They note that revenue, subscriber growth and guidance were pretty much in line with consensus, and the company was able to improve its margins because of the lower cost of revenue. However, their concern is that this trend will not be sustainable.
They point out that Netflix raised its debt yet again, which is a big concern as its liabilities rise. They said they downgraded the stock because it now trades at about 300 percent over the $54 September trough. Like other analysts, those at Jefferies are also concerned about the high costs of securing content. They also point out that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)’s continuing addition of new original series brings “new levels of creative risk.”
They remind investors that the company’s international streaming business is still not profitable, even as it tries to expand into even more international markets. They said expanding into new areas is more difficult because the company has to renegotiate deals with content providers to build libraries almost from scratch in each new geographic area.
Also Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has only $1 billion in cash, compared to its liabilities of $5.7 billion. The company’s free cash flow remains negative.
As of the moment of this writing, shares of Netflix were down 0.24 percent.
