Netflix’s stock is having something of a late-summer resurgence, erasing some of the losses it suffered after it reported a slowdown in subscriber growth during the second quarter.
Shares of Netflix stock have risen 15% since Aug. 17 to close at $364.58 Monday. While the stock is still 13% below its record close of $418.97 on July 9—shortly before it posted its second-quarter earnings—last week was the strongest week for Netflix shares in several months.
Netflix added 5.15 million net new subscribers in the second quarter, below the 6.27 million target forecast by Wall Street analysts. The disappointing subscriber growth came during a quarter when Netflix didn’t debut many of the hits that have drawn viewers in previous quarters. The news caused Netflix shares to lose 24% of their value during the next five weeks.
Part of the renewed sense of optimism may be coming from a slate of reliable favorites that are coming later in 2018. In the current and fourth quarters, Netflix will see the return of series such as Orange Is The New Black, Ozark, Daredevil, Narcos, and Making a Murderer, as well as new programs involving Simpsons creator Matt Groening and stars like Jonah Hill and Emma Stone.
Other developments are also buoying the stock. On Friday, SunTrust raised its rating on Netflix shares to buy from hold, noting that its analysis of web searches indicates a recovery in subscriptions and strong demand for original series in India.
And on Monday, Recode reported that Netflix had hired Rachel Whetstone, a tech PR veteran who had worked at Google and Uber, to oversee public relations at Netflix. Netflix hired Whetstone from Facebook, which has been seeing more than its share of PR nightmares.
Craig Johnson, Piper Jaffray’s chief market technician, said on CNBC Monday that the recent recovery in Netflix shares could continue. “We’d be a buyer of this stock,” Johnson said. “The primary trend is still up. This is just what I would define as a correction within the context of a longer-term uptrend.”
