Netflix stock pops. Why Citi is on the sidelines.
Netflix (NFLX) reported better-than-expected third quarter results, sending the streaming giant’s shares higher and fueling bulls' confidence. Citi managing director Jason Bazinet joins Seana Smith and Brad Smith on Morning Brief to explain why he’s staying neutral on Netflix stock. “The fundamentals were really good, so there's nothing really to pick out there. What I'm a little bit nervous about is what I would just call the sort of shifting bull case on the stock,” Bazinet tells Yahoo Finance, explaining that the bar keeps getting higher for the bull case of the stock with accelerating multiple expansion. “I just get uncomfortable when I start hearing that because when you have multiple expansion like that, you usually need an accelerating top line. And Netflix's top line is actually decelerating as we move forward. So they're going to do 15% growth this year. And they're guiding to 11% to 12% growth next year.” The analyst says another area of concern is engagement growth. “They talk about their engagement being up, but it was up only 1%, so the question is, they're spending a lot of money on content, but they're not getting the response function in terms of deeper engagement.”He adds, “It's really not a question of how much do they have to spend. I think it's more a function of, are they spending on the right things that will cause consumers to stay glued to Netflix, get those engagement numbers up, and then allow Netflix to take price.” To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
