Tag Archives: nflx

Netflix Stock Downgraded As Risks And Spending Increase

Internet television service Netflix ( NFLX ) could be approaching saturation in the U.S. and might face execution issues in its global rollout, FBR analyst Barton Crockett said in a report Friday. Crockett downgraded Netflix stock to market perform from outperform and cut his price target to 100 from 125. At the same time, he upgraded streaming music service Pandora Media ( P ) to outperform from market perform with a price target of 16. Pandora was down 12% at 8 on the stock market today after posting disappointing Q4 results on Thursday. Netflix stock was up 1.2% to above 87 Friday. It hit an all-time high of 133.27 on Dec. 7. Crockett listed three main risks for Netflix: Slowing U.S. growth, international execution risks and cash burn. Netflix has missed its own goals for U.S. subscriber additions for the last two quarters. In the December quarter, it added 1.56 million U.S. streaming subscribers, bringing its domestic total to 44.74 million. At the start of the quarter, Netflix was aiming for 1.65 million new U.S. streaming subscribers. “Slowing subscriber growth is possible if the U.S. market nears saturation,” Crockett said. “Another risk is competition from other streaming (video-on-demand) providers, including Amazon ( AMZN ) Prime and Hulu, which also offer services with subscription-based models.” On the international front, Netflix is ramping its subscription offering into markets with more than 300 million broadband homes. “As this continues, execution risks include competition, content misfires and broadband service interruptions,” he said. Then, there’s the issue of cash burn. Netflix’s spending has accelerated as it has increased its production of original movies and TV shows. It’s expected to run a negative cash flow this year and next, he said. “Netflix could seek to raise more debt financing for this cash burn, stoking investor concerns about cash burn,” Crockett said. RELATED: Who’s Courting Pandora Media: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Spotify? Netflix Stock Value Too Compelling To Pass Up, Piper Jaffray Says .  

PayPal Halts Business With Some Netflix Content Unblockers

Much like code-makers and code-breakers are locked in a seemingly endless battle, Netflix ( NFLX ) has a perennial struggle of its own: virtual private networks, proxies and unblockers. And now it has dragged PayPal ( PYPL ) into the fight. VPNs, proxies and unblockers have legitimate uses, but they can also be used to fake the geographic location of Internet traffic, which lets Netflix customers watch content they’re not supposed to. “People will always try to find ways to get the content they want, no matter the technological barriers,” an unidentified Netflix spokeswoman told Wired . “We recognize that, and that’s why we are trying to offer our content to members globally at the exact same time.” Until recently, Netflix hasn’t much cared that, say, Canadian customers use VPNs to watch shows restricted to the U.S. But as the company begins to roll out its plan for world domination  (at least in video streaming), the situation appears to have changed . Cracking down on VPNs has some customers upset — especially ones in small markets like Portugal  — and threatening to cancel their subscriptions. And now PayPal has either decided or been pushed into terminating its business relationships with unblockers that help customers circumvent geographic content restrictions. It looks as though Canadian VPNs are being targeted  by PayPal for violating its terms of service, since video streaming Netflix America content from Canada violates copyright law. When asked for an interview with executives, a PayPal spokeswoman replied with the following statement: “As a global payments company, we have to comply with laws set by governments and regulatory agencies. PayPal does not permit the use of its service for transactions that infringe copyrights or other proprietary rights. This policy extends to services that unlawfully facilitate infringement by intentionally enabling access to copyrighted television shows or movies in places where distribution of the content is not authorized by the copyright owners. “In line with this policy, PayPal has recently discontinued service to certain businesses that actively promote their services as a means to circumvent copyright restrictions and violate intellectual property laws. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause our users.”

Why Facebook, Google, Amazon Are Best Positioned For Mobile

Loading the player… With the proliferation of smartphones has come the abundance of smartphone apps. A new report from Mizuho Securities says that Facebook ( FB ), Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google and Amazon ( AMZN ) are in the best mobile positions. Among Android apps, Mizuho says that Facebook continues to lead in terms of usage, with its family of apps dominating in nearly every major continent. Following the Facebook app in usage are Google’s Chrome browser, Google Search and YouTube. And the analyst also notes that Amazon is gaining share in mobile app installations. Facebook dropped below the key 50-day line in big volume Monday as the market sold off. Shares rallied off session lows Tuesday and briefly turned higher, but closed down 0.2%. Alphabet breached its 50-day line last week. Shares reversed off of a three-and-a-half month low on Monday. After an up and down session, Alphabet stock dipped 0.45% Tuesday on higher volume. Amazon lost support at the critical 200-day line last week and is now below the 500 price level. The stock is hitting its lowest level in five and a half months in fast turnover, closing down 1.2% Tuesday. Meanwhile, the other FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) stock, Netflix ( NFLX ), rose 3.4%, gaining for a second session in heavy volume. Netflix shares broke below the 200-day line last month. Image provided by Shutterstock .