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Netflix ( NFLX ) stock surged on Wednesday after a series of positive analyst reports on the Internet TV service ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings report, scheduled for Monday after the market close. Netflix jumped as much as 4% in morning trading Wednesday. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Netflix shares were up 1.5%, near 109. On Tuesday, Netflix stock rose 4.2% and retook its critical 200-day line. Shares are up more than 35% since early February. BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield on Wednesday reiterated his buy rating on Netflix stock and raised his 12-month price target to 150 from 136. He also raised his Netflix subscriber growth forecasts and reduced his expectations for international losses. “We believe the cadence and consumer appeal of Netflix’s original/licensed content is leading to greater than expected global net subscriber additions,” Greenfield said in a research report. “The combination of a global shift to on-demand streaming video, an increasingly diverse slate of programming that appeals to all members of a household and best-in-class technology is propelling Netflix’s gross subscriber adds and reducing churn.” Greenfield is now forecasting Netflix to have 127 million global subscribers by the end of 2018 and, conservatively, 150 million by 2020. And those forecasts don’t include Netflix entering China, he said. Netflix ended 2015 with 74.76 million subscribers worldwide. Netflix Tops HBO In Consumer Survey In survey results released Monday by Morgan Stanley, consumers ranked Netflix as No. 1 for original programming, putting it above Time Warner ( TWX )-owned HBO for the first time in the six years it’s tracked consumer preferences in video services. Some 29% of survey respondents said Netflix was best in original programming, up from 23% last year, while HBO came in second place at 18% (compared with 31% last year), Morgan Stanley said. Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Hulu and CBS ( CBS )-owned Showtime were each near 5%. Late Tuesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson reiterated his overweight rating on Netflix stock, with a price target of 122. Piper’s spring survey of U.S. teenagers found that Netflix holds a massive lead in video services among young consumers. Netflix has a 64% usage share among teens, well ahead of competing services from Amazon and Hulu at 4% and 3%, respectively. But not all Wall Street analysts are sold on Netflix. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter on Wednesday maintained his underperform rating on Netflix stock with a 12-month price target of 45. Pachter expects solid Q1 results but says Netflix will see high subscriber churn in the U.S. in Q2 and Q3 as it institutes staggered price increases for longtime users. Dougherty analyst Steven Frankel reiterated his neutral rating on Netflix stock on Tuesday. Netflix’s “path to respectable profitability remains difficult to determine,” Frankel said. The company is spending aggressively on original content and international expansion, but needs to prove that it can ramp up profits to justify its valuation, he said. Scalper1 News
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