Nothing like a few good words from a stock analyst to help drive share prices higher on Wall Street. Media distribution company Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Tuesday saw its fortunes rise as investors took Credit Suisse analyst John Blackledge's report, titled "Don't Stop Believing" to heart.
Blackledge said Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) recent foray into streaming media--it last month announced it would give its Amazon Prime members free access to stream several thousand catalog titles as a perk-didn't really mount to much of challenge to Netflix.
Blackledge did, however, say he believed a key to the company's growth would be expansion into international markets, something Netflix has little experience in, aside from its push into the Canadian market last year. Netflix executives have, however, indicated that the service is doing well enough in Canada that it's caused them to strongly look into other international markets... and to make plans that include at least one expansion this year. Blackledge said with an expected one international market launch per year through 2016, it would have a global subscriber base of some 69 million.
Blackledge didn't stop at labeling only Amazon a non-threat, however. The analyst also said Facebook's experiment with video on demand, in tandem with Warner Bros., wasn't "material competition to the Netflix streaming service" because à la carte rental hasn't dented Netflix's profits, and the trial appeared to be a one-off.
For more:
- see this report
Related articles:
Netflix Q4 earnings: 20 million subscribers; revenue of $596 million
Netflix forecast: 23.7 million subscribers by end of 1Q2011; revenues to $717 million
Netflix lands 'day-after' deal with CBC
Netflix set to launch its Canadian streaming video business