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Netflix gains bullish calls as ad revenue growth outlook strengthens. (0:15) Goldman pressured after weaker net interest income and higher provisions. (1:30) Existing home sales falll as affordability and labor weakness weigh. (1:52)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast:
Our top story so far, with the pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) behind it and a recent price hike absorbed by subscribers, Netflix (NFLX) is emerging as a lower-volatility business with expanding advertising potential. Morgan Stanley and Wedbush both reiterated bullish views and raised their price targets.
Wedbush expects Netflix’s ad revenue to at least double to $3B this year, citing opportunities to expand partnerships, refine targeting, leverage AI and add more live content. Analyst Alicia Reese reiterated an Outperform rating and lifted her price target 3% to $118, pointing to pricing power and interactive ads as incremental growth drivers.
Morgan Stanley’s Sean Diffley also highlighted additional upside from advertising, alongside benefits from recent price increases and the end of the WBD pursuit. He said engagement continues to strengthen, with hours watched approaching 200B annually, supported by live and sports programming that drives “must-see” moments.
Diffley reiterated an Overweight rating and raised his price target 4.5% to $115, calling Netflix the dominant player in premium streaming content despite broader concerns about engagement growth.
Among active stocks, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) stock is under pressure after the Wall Street bank’s Q4 net interest income fell short and its provision for credit losses came in higher than consensus estimates.
The bottom line, though, exceeded expectations, helped by strong top-line results in its Global Banking & Markets division, which offset a Q/Q dip in Wealth Management revenue.
Looking to the economy, U.S. existing home sales were down 3.6% M/M to 3.98M, vs. 4.08M consensus and 4.13M prior (revised from 4.090M).
Pantheon Macro says the March numbers, which mostly will reflect sales initially agreed in February, suggest the soft labor market, slower population growth, depressed confidence, and stretched affordability all are suppressing the boost to the housing market from the earlier drop-in mortgage rates.
In other news of note and in the Wall Street Research Corner, Seeking Alpha identified a basket of U.S. dividend stocks that offer a compelling mix of income generation and financial strength.
All selected companies have earned dividend grades between B- and A+ across key factors such as yield, growth, consistency, and safety.
Among the stocks are Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Omnicom Group (OMC), First American Financial (FAF), Texas Instruments (TXN) And AbbVie (ABBV).
