Netflix Climbs 50% in Two Months and Now Outruns Price Targets

(Bloomberg) -- There’s Netflix Inc., and then there’s everyone else in 2018. The stock is up more than 50 percent through the first two months of the year after shattering subscription-growth expectations.

That jump easily makes it the best performer among the so-called FAANG’s this year. Amazon Inc. is in the rear-view mirror with a mere 30 percent return. Among members of the S&P 500, CSRA Inc. -- an IT-solutions and professional-services provider that’s in the process of being acquired by General Dynamics Corp. -- was the only company within 20 percentage points as of Tuesday’s close. Netflix is certainly familiar with the winner’s circle. It led the S&P 500 in total return in 2013 and 2015.

Feeling like you missed out? You’re not the only one. But before you go out and buy indiscriminately to alleviate those feelings of regret, consider this: Netflix stock is trading at the highest premium to its analyst consensus target price in almost five years.

That’s not to say the stock can’t keep flying higher. Subscriber growth has been robust across the globe, adding customers in the U.S., Europe and throughout Latin America. That’s due in part to the company’s hits such as “Stranger Things.”

Or analysts may raise their target prices.

--With assistance from Gilbert Xu and Rob Golum

To contact the reporter on this story: Brandon Kochkodin in New York at bkochkodin@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dick Schumacher at dschumacher@bloomberg.net, Melinda Grenier

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.