Netflix, like many other stocks, crashed after the opening bell Monday. But unlike the other tech stocks that rallied later in the day, Netflix’s stock closed significantly down for the third straight day.
A volatile Monday
Though Monday was unusual for quite a few stocks, for Netflix it was a cyclone. Netflix’s stock was more volatile than it usually is. The stock swung from being the worst performer in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to being the best, then back again to the worst. At one point of time, the stock was down as much as 18%, and later it was up around 5.5%. Eventually, the stock closed down 6.8% to $96.88.
In the past three trading sessions, the streaming firm’s stock has been the second-worst performer on the S&P 500, according to WSJ Markets data. Only four S&P 500 are in black after the last three sessions, and Netflix is not one of those.
Last week, on Thursday, Netflix’s stock was down 7.8% while of Friday the stock was down 7.6%. Then on Monday, the stock lost 6.8% more. Adding it up, we can see the streaming giant lost 20% of its value in just three trading days.
On Thursday, the downturn was triggered by a Sanford C. Bernstein report, which downgraded Disney and Time Warner from Outperform to Market Perform. The impact of the downgrade was felt by all the media stocks, but Netflix dropped more than other stocks.
Netflix still attractive
Despite the recent thrashing, Netflix is still up almost 100% this year, and trades at 218 times earnings. Analysts believe the stock has been riding high on the long-term growth expectations. “The weakness in the overall market reflects uncertainty about global growth prospects. Any company whose valuation is based on growth potential is going to be at a greater risk and see more impact from growth fears than others,” Guggenheim Securities analyst Michael Morris said.
However, Morris still believes Netflix offers an attractive value considering its long-term potential, even though it looks expensive on a relative basis. Owing to its accessibility and price point, Morris feels the streaming firm could still hit growth targets even at a time when global macroeconomic growth faces a slowdown.
As of around 9.35 AM ET Tuesday, Netflix shares were up around 8% at $104.36.
