Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares are up more than 2.5 percent, and analysts from Cantor Fitzgerald say they expect the company’s fourth quarter earnings to be in-line with the consensus. Netflix has signed several exclusive content deals in recent weeks, which have helped raise the stock’s value. Among those deals are one with The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and another with Warner Bros.
The analysts are maintaining their Buy rating on shares of Netflix and set their target price at $110 per share. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is scheduled to release its earnings report next week, and current consensus for the report is an increase in revenue by 6.8 percent year over year to $935.1 million.
Cantor Fitzgerald analysts say they believe the company netted the addition of 5.1 million domestic streaming subscribers during the quarter. They also expect 26.8 ending domestic streaming subscribers, 8.1 million ending domestic DVD subscribers and 5.6 million ending international streaming subscribers. The analysts believe Netflix’s main area of growth is in international streaming subscriptions, and they expect the fourth quarter numbers to be almost double those of the company’s third quarter international streaming subscriptions, as the company launched services in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark in October.
They say “all eyes will be on” the company’s guidance for its 2013 subscriptions. Last year the company guided 7 million U.S. streaming net additions for the year and then reduced its initial guidance in the third quarter. Therefore, they believe the company will be more conservative with its predictions this year.
The analysts also note that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)’s first original series “House of Cards” is set to debut in February, they say if that series is successful it “would lend more credibility” to the company’s decision to start producing original programming.
