Although Netflix’s earnings pumped its stock higher, they highlighted one issue that will be important for the rest of the market. Many companies are about to feel the pain. The streaming company’s sales and earnings, disclosed late Tuesday afternoon, came in higher than expected, helping push the stock up 11% from before the results landed. Management’s financial guidance showed no signs that growth is slowing down, quite a feat for a company that produced $39 billion in 2024 revenue. Netflix forecast that 2025 revenue will land in a range with a midpoint of $44 billion, above the $43.5 billion it expected earlier, implying 13% year-over-year growth. On the surface, that looks like a slowdown from the 15.6% growth achieved in 2024, but that is because a rising U.S. dollar weighed on management’s forecast. The buck has risen against the euro, the yen, and other currencies as U.S. economic growth pulls

Netflix stock continued to rise on Thursday as its financial results allayed one analyst’s concern about the outlook for growth in subscribers, Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino upgraded shares of Netflix to Outperform from Peer Perform. He set a target of $1,100 for the price, implying a gain of 15% from the closing price of $953.99 on Wednesday. In afternoon trading, shares of Netflix were up 2.4% Thursday to $977.31, on pace for a record close, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock has now risen 75% over the past 12 months. Supino wrote in a research note late Wednesday that Netflix’s fourth-quarter financial results and 2025 guidance “buried our long-standing concerns about a deep slowdown after the 2023-’24 barrage of password sharing interventions.” Netflix introduced strict password-sharing rules in 2022 to stop people in different households from using a single account to watch shows such as Stranger Things

Don’t expect Netflix to go head-to-head with ESPN. Here’s where it could still shine in streaming sports. Netflix has been crushing it with one-off sporting events that have become must-see TV. So why isn’t it going all in on sports? Streaming brands have long thought of sports programming as one way to boost paying customers and keep them engaged. That seems to be working for Netflix (NFLX), as its blockbuster earnings report this week showed. The Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match that aired live on Netflix in November was the most streamed global sporting event ever, reaching 108 million viewers, the streaming service said. And 65 million people tuned into the NFL Christmas Day games on Netflix last month, making them the most streamed NFL games ever, according to the league. But don’t expect Netflix to try going head-to-head with ESPN (DIS) anytime soon. Netflix executives this week outlined a

One thing Netflix definitely has learned over its many years in show business is how to go out on a high note. The streaming giant added a record 18.9 million new subscribers during the fourth quarter. That was nearly double the number Wall Street expected and even well above the 15.8 million added to the company’s rolls in early 2020, when the onset of Covid locked the masses at home in front of their TV screens. It is also the last time Netflix says it will disclose its subscriber numbers — at least as part of its regular quarterly reports. Such a jump — coming during a period that included a second season of Netflix’s most popular TV series ever, two live NFL games aired on Christmas Day and a live boxing match featuring a 58-year-old Mike Tyson — naturally raises questions about sustainability. But Netflix co-chief executive Greg Peters