Netflix
Netflix's "Sacred Games."
- SunTrust has upgraded Netflix from hold to buy with a $410 price target.
- Shares rose as much as 3% in early trading Friday following the report.
- Watch Netflix trade in real time here.
A Wall Street analyst suggested late Thursday to buy the dip in Netflix, and investors appear to have listened.
Shares of Netflix rose more than 3% Friday, to almost $350 apiece, following an upgrade from SunTrust analyst Matthew Thornton, who says new momentum in India is a good opportunity to get in relatively cheap.
"The stock pullback post the 2Q subs miss (which we attribute to '13 Reasons Why' and World Cup, as previewed) leaves us with ~20% potential upside from current levels," he said in a note to clients Friday.
"More important, our India study shows NFLX initial original series resonating quite well with interest in NFLX rising (including relative to competitors) into more originals coming."
Netflix sank as much as 14% last month following the streaming giant's second-quarter earnings report which showed it had added far fewer subscribers than Wall Street was expecting. Shares have rebounded a bit, but remain well off their $423 high set earlier this summer.
And while then fundamentals remain enough for SunTrust to upgrade the stock to "buy" from "hold," Thornton has lowered his price target to $410 from $415 - a 17% premium to where the stock was set to open Friday.
Buying the dip is a strategy that has become wildly popular over the course of the 9-1/2-year bull market in which equities have nearly constantly risen. Brief hiccups in a stock's price can present an opportunity to profit on shares that have already risen dramatically.
And SunTrust's research shows there's India leaves plenty of room for Netflix to grow, despite the hiccup on second quarter earnings.
"We are encouraged in India where search data shows NFLX initial original series resonating quite well and interest in NFLX rising on an absolute basis and relative to competitors," writes Thornton.
Netflix shares were up 77% this year through Thursday.
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