View Full Version : Netflix shares could fall on streaming competition


PSound
04-21-09, 06:07 PM
Crazy and fast moving times in media distribution!!

Netflix may want to boost their investment in streaming even higher to counter the competitive threat of Hulu, YouTube, etc. It certainly would be more beneficial to spend money securing more titles and easing analysts concerns, versus seeing their stock drop to $34 a share!

Analyst: Company's subscriber growth might slow due to Hulu, YouTube

Netflix shares could fall as much as 30% as subscriber growth stemming from its "Watch Instantly" video-streaming service might be slowed by competing services from Google's YouTube and the News Corp.- and NBC Universal-owned Hulu, an analyst said today.

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Barton Crockett wrote in a note to clients today that Netflix investors should sell the stock because it's worth about $34 a share, far less than yesterday's closing price of $49.61. Crockett became the second analyst out of the 20 who rate the company to give it a "sell" rating, according to Thomson Reuters.

"Improvements in the Fox/NBC Hulu service, new and emerging Google/YouTube efforts and likely improvements in other online video services we believe will lessen the appeal of Netflix Watch Instantly, slowing subscriber growth at a time when tougher comparisons are also a headwind," Crockett wrote, citing YouTube's announcement last week that its television-show and movie-service includes partners such as Sony, CBS and MGM.

Netflix, which reports earnings later this week, has been augmenting its DVD-by-mail service with its video-streaming product and reached agreements last year to make its digital titles available for streaming through components such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 videogames consoles, TiVo digital video recorders and Blu-ray Disc players from Samsung and LG Electronics.

The company, which has estimated that subscribers for its DVD-delivery service will peak between 2013 and 2018, pegs its digital inventory at more than 12,000 titles, though blog HackingNetflix.com said last week that the number might be closer to 15,000.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6653150.html