(Jakub Porzycki/Getty Images)

Netflix sinks despite flurry of Wall Street price target hikes

Analysts issued a number of bullish notes on the streaming giant after its second-quarter earnings beat, even as the stock traded lower on margin pressure.

Nia Warfield

7/18/25 10:32AM

Netflix’s Q2 earnings beat is getting a warm reception from analysts... even if the market doesn’t agree. Shares slipped about 5% on Friday morning after the streaming giant warned that second-half margins would be lower than the first half’s.

Still, the Street rolled out a slew of price target hikes on the stock as analysts leaned into the platform’s ad-tier traction, password crackdown momentum, and engaging content pipeline.

Wells Fargo

Price target: $1,560 from $1,500

Wells Fargo sees Netflix’s strategy clicking: recovering paid sharing revenue, scaling its ad tier, and expanding margins through a “flywheel” of reinvestment into content and tech. Analysts see the platform evolving into a much broader revenue engine.

Morgan Stanley

Price target: $1,500 from $1,450

Netflix remains a top pick at Morgan Stanley, which expects the platform’s new ad technology to nearly double advertising revenue next year. Analysts also see early adoption of generative-AI tools as a competitive edge in both content and product.

Jefferies

Price target: $1,500 from $1,400

Jefferies expects subscriber growth to continue, driven by password-sharing enforcement and steady gains in the ad tier. Longer-term growth is expected to come from price increases and improved monetization, alongside healthy free cash flow margins above 25%.

Piper Sandler

Price target: $1,500 from $1,400

Piper maintained its bullish stance, calling Netflix a defensive name with multiple upside drivers including advertising, higher prices, and a strong slate of content for the second half of the year. The firm also flagged the roughly $1 billion boost to 2025 revenue guidance as a sign of confidence.

UBS

Price target: $1,495 from $1,450

UBS called out Netflix’s widening content mix and investment boost in live programming as key to sustaining engagement. Analysts still expect most revenue growth this year to come from new subscribers. The firm also highlighted Netflix’s expectations that ad revenue will double this year.

JPMorgan

Price target: $1,300 from $1,230

JPMorgan reiterated its neutral stance, noting that Netflix’s 2025 outlook was helped by FX gains. The firm said subscriber additions in Q2 were weighted toward the end of the quarter, driven by strong content like “Squid Game” season 3 and other franchise shows.

Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

S&P 500 closes at record as tech heavyweights flex (besides Apple)

The Magnificent 7 did the heavy lifting, performing better than any S&P 500 sector ETF on Tuesday.

Matt Phillips

Oracle rips as backlog builds, but company misses on top and bottom lines

Oracle shares shot higher after-hours as the company reported a growing backlog, even though its fiscal Q1 results fell slightly short of expectations. The company reported:

Adjusted earnings per share of $1.47 vs. expectations of $1.48.
Revenue of $14.93 billion vs. expectations of $15.04 billion.

Shares were up 21% in after-hours trading, which is a pretty crazy stock move for a company with a market cap of more than $675 billion.

The market was likely impressed by a giant build in the company’s “remaining performance obligations,” or RPO, which is how the company measures the value of signed cloud computing deals that haven’t yet been reported as revenue. In a statement, CEO Safra Catz said:

“We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1. This resulted in RPO contract backlog increasing 359% to $455 billion. It was an astonishing quarter — and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build. Over the next few months, we expect to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”

Oracle Announces Fiscal Year 2026 First Quarter Financial Results

“We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1. This resulted in RPO contract backlog increasing 359% to $455 billion. It was an astonishing quarter — and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build. Over the next few months, we expect to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”

Matt Phillips

Robinhood rides index inclusion rally to record close

Robinhood Markets notched a new closing high Tuesday, as the crypto, stock, and options brokerage continued to ride a rally set off by the announcement that it would be added to the S&P 500 Index.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Robinhood appears to be benefiting from the so-called inclusion effect, a market phenomenon where companies that are added to major market indexes can see a price move as index funds — whose holdings must mirror the membership of the index — rush to buy the stock.

For what it’s worth, it seems like Robinhood will upon entry (effective prior to the market open on September 22) be the top-performing member of the index, as its roughly 220% gain this year is more or less double that of the current leader, Seagate Technology Holdings.

Luke Kawa

GameStop posts impressive Q2 results with big sales beat

Don’t call it a comeback!

GameStop is jumping aftermarket as the video games and collectibles retailer posted an impressive set of second-quarter results.

Net sales: $972 million (estimate $823 million).
Adjusted diluted earnings per share: $0.25 (estimate $0.16).

Note: these consensus estimates, compiled by Bloomberg, are from only two analysts.

The sales beat is particularly noteworthy, as the company had already done an exemplary job of expense control to help protect its bottom line. Revenues were up more than 20% versus the year-ago quarter, the biggest annual jump in sales since the company (and the world) was emerging from the pandemic in 2021.

The options market implies a move of plus or minus about 9.4% on earnings.

For a while, GameStop’s ability to generate positive net income was purely a function of the interest earnings on its substantial cash hoard. But now, GameStop has strung together five consecutive quarters of positive operating cash flows for the first time in its history!

This was the quarter when the company began to act on its bitcoin treasury strategy, raising money through the sale of convertible notes and using some proceeds to purchase the crypto asset.

Because of how much market value has been ascribed to potential for GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen to use its significant cash holdings to transform the company, the prospect of converting cash into bitcoin initially did not sit too well with investors following the announcement of this new strategic push in March.

Shares of the once-upon-a-time meme stock really didn’t get too much love during retail frenzies earlier in the summer, and were down about 25% year to date heading into this release.

As of the close of the quarter, its bitcoin holdings were valued at $528.6 million.

Western Digital Seagate Technology Rise to top of S&P 500

Data storage is so hot right now

A rapid turnaround in profitability helps explain how Seagate Technology and Western Digital have clawed to the top of the S&P 500 this year.

Matt Phillips9h