Netflix breached its all-time high on Wednesday when it hit $131.24, beating its previous best of $129.84 on Aug. 6. However, the stock eventually closed below $129.
Enjoying investors’ and subscribers’ confidence
Such a jump in the stock is another indication of the streaming firm having a stellar year. The stock has been the top performer in the S&P 500 over the last 12 months and also year to date. Rival Amazon is in second place on both counts. Netflix has done well this year by acquiring attractive content such as ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder and exclusive content like Master of None, a social satire show by comedian Aziz Ansari which debuted on Netflix in November.
Netflix has enjoyed the confidence of investors and subscribers, and this helped it raise its subscription price by $1 in early October for its most popular streaming plan. It’s been seen historically that Netflix’s results have suffered whenever it raised prices. In October 2014, the streaming firm blamed the year-over-year drop in the subscriber growth on a similar $1 increase in prices.
As of now, it can’t be said if the streaming firm will witness a similar effect this time also. This year may not matter much as the streaming firm is already well ahead.
Netflix riding on momentum
Netflix’s rise can partly be attributed to pure momentum. Since the middle of November, the stock has been heading broadly higher. A report from Clearleap on Monday added further to the momentum. In a survey, Clearleap found that Netflix-like streaming services are now available in as many U.S. homes as cable TV.
What is interesting to note is that the stock is rising despite being engulfed by a sort of negative news. A few days ago, a security report claimed that hackers are selling lifetime access to Netflix accounts for just 50 cents. This again proves that the stock is riding on momentum, and traders do not expect it to move in the other direction any time soon despite its premium valuation. According to FactSet, the streaming firm is priced at around 346 times its earnings.
On Wednesday, Netflix closed up 2.87% at $128.97. Year to date, the stock is up by over 164%, while in the last one month, it is up by almost 20%.
