Tag Archives: nflx

Facebook Passes 50-Day Test; Netflix, Illumina Break 2 Support Lines

Facebook ( FB ) tested a key level Tuesday morning but came out stronger. But Netflix ( NFLX ) and Illumina ( ILMN ) crashed through support levels on weak Q1 figures. IBM ( IBM ) gets an incomplete. MaxLinear ( MXL ) triggered a sell rule as well as breaking a support level. Facebook Facebook has been finding support at its 50-day moving average since April 11, when shares finished just below that key level. Since then the stock has closed above that support level. On Tuesday, Facebook shook off a morning dip to just above the 50-day to rally for a 1.7% gain at 112.29. On the upside, the next key level is a buy point at 117.09. Facebook releases earnings next week, with analysts expecting a 48% EPS gain, the third straight quarter of accelerating growth. Netflix Netflix late Monday reported an unexpected rise in Q1 earnings per share. Subscriber growth also topped expectations. But the Web-streaming giant expects net global-customer growth of just 2.5 million in Q2, which would be the weakest quarterly gain in two years . It also guided Q2 earnings lower. Netflix stock dived 13% Tuesday, crashing through its 200-day and 50-day moving averages in one fell swoop. (Netflix retook its 200-day line just last week). How do Netflix and IBM stack up vs. their rivals? Find out at IBD Stock Checkup Illumina Illumina late Monday gave Q1 preliminary revenue figures that were well below Wall Street estimates. The gene-sequencing tools giant sees Q1 sales up 6%, ending a 14-quarter string of double-digit growth. Illumina stock crashed 23.2% on Tuesday, back near two-year lows. Like Netflix, Illumina tumbled through its 200-day and 50-day lines. The stock on Monday topped its 200-day for the first time this year. IBM IBM revenue and earnings did top Wall Street forecasts late Monday, though sales have fallen for 16 straight quarters. Also, IBM’s implied Q2 EPS guidance appeared to be below analyst estimates. IBM stock fell 5.6% on Tuesday, undercutting its 200-day line intraday but closing just above that area. But IBM could easily retest the 200-day line in the coming days, with the 50-day only slightly below that. MaxLinear MaxLinear’s chip designs are used in video streaming. The stock cleared an entry point of 17.85 last month, rising to a 19.10 peak on April 4. But shares drifted lower since then. On Tuesday, the stock dived 10.2% to 15.86, triggering an 8% sell rule from that entry point and breaking through its 50-day moving average. It wasn’t immediately clear why the MaxLinear shares fell.

5 Key Takeaways From Netflix’s Troubling Q1 Earnings Report

Netflix ( NFLX ) stock tumbled on Tuesday, a day after the Internet TV network posted mixed first-quarter results and gave disappointing guidance for the current quarter. Netflix shares were down 11%, below 97, in early afternoon trading on the stock market today . The stock fell below its 50-day moving average, a key technical support level. Late Monday, Netflix posted Q1 earnings per share that beat forecasts , but came up short on revenue. It earned six cents a share, up 20% year over year, on sales of $1.958 billion, up 24%. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for three cents EPS on sales of $1.965 billion. For the second quarter, Netflix is targeting earnings per share of two cents. It did not give a revenue estimate. Wall Street had been modeling Netflix to earn five cents a share, down 17%, on sales of $2.117 billion, up 29%. IBD Take: Netflix has often been a highly rated stock, though now its ratings are mixed. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company gained 6.74 million total streaming subscribers worldwide in Q1, topping its guidance for 6.1 million. It added 2.23 million streaming subscribers in the U.S. and 4.51 million in foreign markets. It ended the quarter with 81.5 million subscribers worldwide. What follows are five key takeaways from Netflix’s Q1 report. 1. Netflix Predicts Lowest Subscriber Gain In Two Years Netflix expects to add 2.5 million new subscribers in Q2, its seasonally weakest quarter. That would be its lowest new subscriber total in two years, even though Netflix has since rolled out its service worldwide, excluding China. Netflix projects that it will add 500,000 streaming subscribers in the U.S. and 2 million in international markets in Q2. Netflix faces increased subscriber churn in the U.S. as many longtime customers see a $2 increase in their monthly fee to $9.99 a month, starting next month. Over the last two years as Netflix adjusted its pricing, it grandfathered existing customers at the earlier rates. Meanwhile, Netflix’s international subscriber forecast for Q2 faces tough comparisons to the year-earlier quarter, when the company launched in Australia and New Zealand. 2. Netflix Will Roll Out U.S. Price Hike Gradually On a conference call with analysts to discuss Q1 earnings late Monday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that the company plans to roll out price increases over the rest of the year to those U.S. customers given generous grace periods. Currently, more than half of Netflix’s U.S. subscribers pay only $7.99 or $8.99 for the company’s most popular plan, now priced at $9.99 a month. The plan provides HD video streams to two devices at a time. Netflix ended Q1 with nearly 47 million U.S. streaming subscribers. “We will phase out this grandfathering gradually over the remainder of 2016, with our longest-tenured members getting the longest benefit,” the company said in a statement. “We are rolling this out slowly over the year, rather than mostly in May, so we can learn as we go.” 3. New International Markets Will Take Time To Develop Well-heeled, better-educated consumers fueled Netflix’s early growth in overseas markets. The streaming video leader first grabbed the low-hanging fruit: consumers who enjoy English-language content and have international credit cards. Getting the next group of consumers to subscribe will take more work, the company said. Netflix needs to add more content in local languages and new payment options, Hastings said. “Over the next couple of years, as we further localize, we’ll be able to see more opportunity,” Hasting said. Netflix will premiere its first French original series, “Marseille,” a political drama starring Gerard Depardieu, globally on May 5, and a new Japanese original series, “Hibana,” globally in June. Netflix also is working on “3%” in Brazil, “Suburra” in Italy, “Dark” in Germany, an as-yet-untitled period series in Spain, a second season of “Club de Cuervos” from Mexico and another Mexican original series starring Kate del Castillo called “Ingobernable.” Plus, it is producing a Japanese anime series, “Perfect Bones.” 4. Netflix Has No Interest In Buying A Movie Studio Netflix executives on Monday’s conference call said that they had no interest in bidding on several movie studios reportedly in play, including Viacom ( VIAB ) subsidiary Paramount and Starz ( STRZA ). “It’s been 15 years we’ve been public and 20 years existing, and we’ve done no M&A,” Hastings said. “So I think that probably speaks for itself.” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said Netflix is building its own production capabilities. Netflix has been successful growing its content production organically, so it doesn’t make sense to “juice it with M&A,” Hastings said. 5. Downloads Possible, But No Live Sports Or Virtual Reality Netflix is considering allowing customers in some markets with poor Internet infrastructure to download shows and movies for offline viewing. “We’ve been so focused on click-and-watch and the beauty and simplicity of streaming,” Hastings said. “But as we expand around the world, where we see an uneven set of networks, it’s something we should keep an open mind about.” But Netflix executives scoffed at the idea of offering live sports. They also said that virtual reality programming was not something the company is considering. VR for the consumer market likely will be focused on video game experiences for the foreseeable future, Hastings said. Bonus: Analysts React To Netflix Q1 Report At least 10 analysts cut their price targets on Netflix stock in response to the company’s Q1 report. Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein lowered his price target on Netflix to 123 from 140 but reiterated his outperform rating on the stock. The company’s second-quarter guidance suggests slower-than-expected international subscriber growth, Helfstein said. “The magnitude of the global launch in Q1 (to 130 new countries) makes a hyperlocal content strategy impractical in the short term,” he said in a report. “As such, it appears near-term momentum will slow as Netflix decides which countries to focus on.” Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak cut his price target to 145 from 155 but kept his buy rating. Netflix’s Q2 international guidance was well below expectations, he said. Wall Street analysts on average were looking for 2.8 million new international subscribers, vs. the 2 million that Netflix forecast. “We had frankly anticipated more pent-up demand in these international markets (even with an initially less appealing focus on English-language programming and international payments), and now it appears that in these new markets Netflix will need to first invest in new localized content/improved payment mechanisms to accelerate growth, which will take time,” Wlodarczak said in a report. FBR analyst Barton Crockett raised his price target to 104 from 100 and maintained his market perform rating. But he called the company’s international subscriber guidance “jarring.”

Netflix Stock Dives On Weak Subscriber Guidance For Q2

Netflix ( NFLX ) late Monday beat forecasts for first-quarter earnings and subscriber growth, but disappointed with weak subscriber guidance for the current quarter. Netflix stock fell 10% in after-hours trading following the earnings news release. During the regular session Monday, Netflix fell 2.8% to 108.40. The Internet TV service gained 6.74 million total streaming subscribers worldwide in Q1, including 2.23 million in the U.S. and 4.51 million in international markets. In January, Netflix said it expected to add 1.75 million U.S. streaming subscribers and 4.35 million international subscribers for a total of 6.1 million additional subscribers in the first quarter. It expected to end Q1 with 80.86 million total streaming subscribers, but its actual total was 81.5 million. For the current quarter, Netflix said it expects to add just 500,000 U.S. subscribers and 2 million international subscribers. That would be the smallest customer growth in two years. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company faces subscriber churn in the U.S. as a result of longtime customers seeing a $2 increase to their monthly fee to $9.99 a month. In the first quarter, Netflix earned 6 cents a share on sales of $1.958 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Netflix to earn 3 cents a share on sales of $1.965 billion in the first quarter. For the second quarter, Netflix is targeting earnings per share of 2 cents. It did not give a revenue estimate. Wall Street had been modeling for Netflix to earn 5 cents a share, down 17% year over year, on sales of $2.117 billion, up 29%, in Q2. In the Internet TV sector, Netflix competes with Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Hulu, Time Warner ‘s ( TWX ) HBO and others. On Sunday, Amazon ramped up the competition with Netflix by announcing a stand-alone subscription video service at a lower price. Amazon is now offering its Amazon Prime Video for $8.99 a month, a dollar less than Netflix’s standard streaming plan. Amazon Prime Video was previously available only as part of the online retailer’s $99-a-year Prime service, which offers free two-day shipping on millions of items. Amazon stock closed up 1.5%.