The stock price of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) surged by nearly 6 percent to more than $191 per share after an analysts raised its price target for the shares of the company due to the possibility that the number of subscribers of the online video streaming company will increase.
Pacific Crest Securities analyst, Andy Hargreaves boosted his price target for Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) to $225 per share from its previous price target at $160 per share. The price target is 20 percent higher than the existing stock value of the company. Hargreaves also maintained its outperform rating for the online video streaming company.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) still continues to offer DVD-by-mail rental service to its subscribers, which is already declining. However, the company concentrates on home and mobile entertainment. The company primarily generates revenue from subscribers streaming movies and TV shows to all-types of devices with high-speed internet connection.
According to Hargreaves, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) will be able to figure out ways to invest in original content using its database on the viewing habits of its subscribers. He also cited that it is the most effective way for the company to find out what type of contents it should buy from third parties to ensure that it will be attractive to large audience.
Hargreaves estimated the number of subscribers of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) in the United States will reach around 36 million and the number of subscribers abroad will increase to 17 million by the end of 2015. According to him, Netflix is “”the clear global leader in subscription streaming video.”
In an interview with CNBC, Hargreaves cited that the move of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX)’s HBO to adopt on-demand streaming model is beneficial for Netflix. He said, “We think that would be tremendously positive for Netflix and at the end of the day that certainly underlines our view here, which is we think there is a big paradigm shift. It’s a big move from everything live to on-demand, … and Netflix is essentially the best in the world, we think, at executing that model.”
“The breadth of content and increasingly the quality of the content that they have is unmatched by other premium services. HBO obviously has tremendous quality, and we think Netflix is heading in that direction in the quality and it has more breadth,” added Hargreaves.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the best performing stock in the S&P 500 Index this year. The stock price of the company almost doubled due to investors’ optimism on its future profitability. Over the 52-week range, Netflix traded at its lowest level at $52.81 per share to its highest stock value at $197.62 per share.
