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Netflix Stock Surges Ahead Of Q1 Earnings Report Next Week

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.

Yahoo News Sites Attract British Tabloid Daily Mail: Report

Yahoo ( YHOO ) stock rose Monday as British tabloid newspaper Daily Mail reportedly confirmed its interest in the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Web portal, attracted to its news and media properties. The Daily Mail said that it is in preliminary talks with other investors to launch a bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, confirming a previous WSJ report out Sunday. Buying Yahoo’s media operations could help the Daily Mail establish a stronger presence in the U.S., where it launched a website in 2012, the WSJ  said. “Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily, we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders,” the WSJ said it was told by a spokesperson for DailyMail.com. Discussions are said to be at a very early stage. A bid by the Daily Mail could occur through a private equity partner acquiring all of Yahoo’s U.S. operation, according to the WSJ. After that, the Daily Mail would take over Yahoo’s news and media units, which include Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and Yahoo News, the report said. It’s also possible a private equity firm would acquire Yahoo and merge its media and news properties into a new company that would include the Daily Mail’s online properties, the report said. The Daily Mail has spoken with six private equity firms in regards to a bid, including General Atlantic, the WSJ said, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter. The Daily Mail & General Trust PLC is just one of an estimated 40 groups that have expressed interest in buying Yahoo. Yahoo sent a letter to possible buyers last month, asking them to submit bids. Some buyers might be interested in all or part of Yahoo’s core Web business, while others might want Yahoo’s stakes in China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ) or Yahoo Japan. Yahoo pushed back the deadline for bids to April 18 from April 11, according to media reports. Verizon Communications ( VZ ) is said to be planning to bid for Yahoo’s Web business and its holdings in Yahoo Japan, according to Bloomberg. Google, the main division of Alphabet ( GOOGL ), reportedly is considering a bid for Yahoo’s core business. Time ( TIME ); Japan’s SoftBank ( SFTBY ), the majority owner of Yahoo Japan; and several private equity firms also are kicking the tires, reports Bloomberg. Yahoo has also held meetings with IAC/InterActiveCorp. ( IAC ) and CBS Corp. ( CBS ), the WSJ said. One-time potential suitors including AT&T ( T ) and Comcast ( CMCSA ) have decided against bidding, Bloomberg reported.  Microsoft ( MSFT ), which failed with a hostile bid for Yahoo in 2008, also won’t bid, according to Bloomberg. Re/Code said last week that documents Yahoo provided to potential bidders predict the Web portal’s 2016 revenue will drop by close to 15% and its earnings by more than 20%. Yahoo has recently implemented layoffs and begun the process of selling itself and spinning off its hefty stake in Alibaba, and it is also in the midst of a proxy fight seeking to oust its entire board. Yahoo stock was up more than 1% in midday trading in the stock market today , near 36.50. Yahoo stock touched an eight-month high of 37.50 last week.

Twitter Tackles Facebook, Google, Yahoo To Win NFL Streaming Rights

Twitter ( TWTR ) made an end run around Facebook ( FB ), Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ) subsidiary Google, Verizon Communications ( VZ ) and Yahoo ( YHOO ) to capture digital rights to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, a deal Twitter announced early Tuesday. Now the real work begins, says Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. analyst James Cakmak. While “winning the deal is one thing, executing to optimize the product experience is another,” Cakmak wrote in an industry note. The NFL has streamed selected games in the past, but this is its first season-long streaming deal. It’s also a high-profile foray into live programming for Twitter. Given Twitter’s focus around live events and Twitter CFO Anthony Noto’s prior position as the NFL’s CFO, “We see this as an opportunity to leverage the Periscope acquisition and achieve success around live programming and promotion of the conversation around it,” Cakmak wrote. He added that “the $10 million price tag paid by Twitter is less than anticipated, considering Yahoo paid $20 million for a single game last season, which averaged slightly over 2 million viewers per minute. But at this price, we see this as the perfect option for Twitter, with very limited downside.” ‘Bold Moves’ Required By Twitter Stifel analyst Scott Devitt called Twitter’s latest hunt for new users “an aggressive and potentially expensive move by Twitter to reinvigorate user growth and engagement, but bold moves are required to turn the business, so we will wait to fully pass judgment.” The deal poses “no risk” for the NFL, since “it gets its check while continuing to broadcast on network TV and can go back to market in two years, offering streaming rights to the highest bidder, just like it is doing here on the heels of the one-off deal with Yahoo last year,” Devitt said in research note. Last season, Yahoo paid $17 million to stream a game from London and also broadcast on network TV in the teams’ home markets, according to Bloomberg. On U.S. television, NFL commands the highest per-game price for any sport, Bloomberg said. In the most recent broadcast deal, CBS ( CBS ) and Comcast ’s ( CMCSA ) NBC each paid about $45 million a game for five Thursday night contests for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, according to Bloomberg. Under the new deal, Twitter will live-stream the football games to the public for free at the same time they are being shown on NBC, CBS and the NFL Network, the NFL said in a statement. “This is about transforming the fan experience with football. People watch NFL games with Twitter today. Now they’ll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in the statement. Reports quoted Devitt as saying the digital rights Twitter attained also include the Sunday morning U.K. International Series, which in 2016 will pit the Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts in Week 4, the Los Angeles Rams vs. New York Giants in Week 7, and the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Washington Redskins in Week 8. Twitter stock rose last week on reports that MasterCard would be interested in working with social media services Twitter and Facebook to build up their payment services. Twitter stock was down a fraction in midday trading in the stock market today , near 17. Yahoo stock was down 2% midday Tuesday, and Alphabet stock was down almost 1%. Facebook stock was up a fraction. Twitter reported that user growth slowed for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q4 and guided its Q1 revenue below consensus estimates, raising concerns that usage may be peaking and prompting buyout rumors. Average monthly active users rose 9% year over year in Q4 to 320 million. Wall Street had expected 323 million. Growth has cooled from 18% in Q1, to 15% in Q2 and 11% in Q3. For 2016, eMarketer expects Twitter to generate $2.61 billion in worldwide ad revenue, down 11% from eMarketer’s earlier prediction of $2.95 billion.