Netflix stock sees bump after UBS upgrade

Netflix shares rose by 1.5% by market cap on Thursday after UBS analyst Eric Sheridan upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and raised his 12-month price target to US$410 from US$400.

The rise follows a winning streak throughout January, which has seen Netflix stock rise by over 24% to date.

The bump arrives after a downbeat 2018 where Netflix saw new SVOD entrants lay out their plans including Disney and WarnerMedia. This was in contrast to the streak it had experienced earlier in the year, which saw its shares jump by as much as 80% and its value surpass that of Disney for the first time.

The company is on the up again as it prepares for its 17 January quarterly results, which are expected to be positive after the streamer revealed a bump in subscribers for Q3.

Sheridan said: “We see the moat around Netflix’s global positioning widening and its long-term secular winner status remaining intact.”

Separately, Netflix is set to adapt New York Times bestsellers Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

Eric Heisserer (Bird Box) will adapt and serve as showrunner, writer and executive producer for the series, which brings together the stories and characters of the two novels.

The series reunites Heisserer with 21 Laps (Stranger Things), which produced his Oscar nominated film Arrival.

Pouya Shahbazian (the Divergent series) also serves as executive producer, along with Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Dan Cohen and Josh Barry for 21 Laps.

The eight-episode series is based on a world cleaved in two by a massive barrier of perpetual darkness, where a young soldier uncovers a power that might finally unite her country.