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Tag: NFLX

  • Apple, Trade Thaw Lift Stocks Toward New Highs

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    Easing trade tensions and a big gain in Apple shares helped drive stocks back toward records on Monday, the start of a heavy week of corporate earnings.

    Indexes opened with gains, with some investors saying sentiment was buoyed by President Trump saying he will soon meet with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Friday comments that he will meet with his Chinese counterpart in person this week. 

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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  • Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp Invests $327,000 in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

    Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp Invests $327,000 in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

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    Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp purchased a new stake in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 484 shares of the Internet television network’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

    A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Netflix by 80.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 45 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. VitalStone Financial LLC lifted its stake in Netflix by 933.3% in the 4th quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 62 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Netflix by 1,550.0% during the 4th quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 66 shares of the Internet television network’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Netflix during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO increased its holdings in shares of Netflix by 112.0% in the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 53 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

    Analyst Ratings Changes

    A number of brokerages recently commented on NFLX. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Netflix from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Netflix from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Netflix from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on Netflix from $700.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Netflix from $554.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $685.45.

    Get Our Latest Analysis on NFLX

    Netflix Stock Up 1.3 %

    Shares of NFLX opened at $701.35 on Monday. Netflix, Inc. has a 52 week low of $344.73 and a 52 week high of $711.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $301.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $659.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $631.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

    Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The Internet television network reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.74 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $9.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.53 billion. Netflix had a return on equity of 32.93% and a net margin of 19.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Netflix, Inc. will post 19.08 earnings per share for the current year.

    Insider Buying and Selling

    In other news, insider David A. Hyman sold 20,656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $605.13, for a total value of $12,499,565.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,128,159.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Netflix news, insider David A. Hyman sold 20,656 shares of Netflix stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $605.13, for a total transaction of $12,499,565.28. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,128,159.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory K. Peters sold 1,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.44, for a total value of $785,254.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,043,019.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,757 shares of company stock valued at $85,648,496 over the last ninety days. 1.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

    Netflix Profile

    (Free Report)

    Netflix, Inc provides entertainment services. It offers TV series, documentaries, feature films, and games across various genres and languages. The company also provides members the ability to receive streaming content through a host of internet-connected devices, including TVs, digital video players, TV set-top boxes, and mobile devices.

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    Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)

    Receive News & Ratings for Netflix Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Netflix and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.

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  • What to expect as Netflix, Disney and other big streaming names shift strategy

    What to expect as Netflix, Disney and other big streaming names shift strategy

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    Streaming customers are likely to see more familiar faces and less megabudget content in the coming year.

    Shifting consumer tastes and corporate strategies portend changes in programming, with artificial intelligence looming in the background, as major streaming services consider how to use technology and new forms of programming without escalating annual multibillion-dollar content budgets.

    “The big quandary is, how do we make [services] profitable? Things have shifted so dramatically and so quickly in how people consume,” Cole Strain, head of research and development at Samba TV, which tracks viewership of shows, said in an interview. “The streamers that find out what consumers truly want — they win.”

    Streaming services are facing some big choices, noted Jacqueline Corbelli, CEO of software company BrightLine. “The cost of the content and the length of the content war will force them to make some major decisions. They are trying to figure it out,” she said in an interview.

    “Great content has to be paid for, and investors want to see an increasingly efficient and profitable business,” she said, adding: “Right now the economics of these are at odds with one another.”

    This year’s prolonged Hollywood strikes, the prevalence of up-close-and-personal sports documentaries and the increased licensing of older cable-TV shows are the most tangible evidence so far of how content is evolving. Throw in cost-cutting, and customers of services like Netflix Inc.
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    Disney+ and Hulu, and Amazon.com Inc.’s
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    Prime Video are looking at a vastly different content landscape.

    What’s at stake? Streaming’s big guns continue to spend lavishly in the pursuit of engagement, which is the single most important metric in media. During its third-quarter earnings calls, Netflix said it would spend $17 billion on content in 2024, while Disney pledged $25 billion, including sports rights.

    “‘I think when it comes to creativity, quality is critical, of course, and quantity in many ways can destroy quality.’”


    — Disney CEO Bob Iger

    Complicating matters and raising the urgency is the pressure, particularly at Disney, to cut costs. The very future of blockbuster movies is also in doubt in the wake of box-office misfires such as “Wish,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and the latest Marvel entries, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.”

    “One of the reasons I believe it’s fallen off a bit is that we were making too much,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said at a recent employee town hall meeting in New York City. “I think when it comes to creativity, quality is critical, of course, and quantity in many ways can destroy quality. Storytelling, obviously, is the core of what we do as a company.”

    Also read: Disney CEO Bob Iger walks back comments about asset sales

    Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit last week, Iger acknowledged that “the movie business is changing. Box office is about 75% of what it was pre-COVID.” Noting the $7 monthly fee for a Disney+ subscription, he said the experience of viewing content from home on large TV screens is both more convenient and less expensive than going to the movie theater.

    Iger’s task is significantly more fraught than those faced by his rivals. He is in the midst of a turnaround at Disney aimed at making streaming profitable and is simultaneously fending off yet another proxy fight from activist investor Nelson Peltz.

    Part of Iger’s plan is to slash costs. Of the $7.5 billion Disney intends to save in 2024, $4.5 billion will come out of the content budget. Previously, the company was aiming at a $3 billion content cut out of a total annual reduction of $5.5 billion. Disney plans to spend $25 billion on content in 2024, down from $27.2 billion in 2023 and a record $29.9 billion in 2022.

    Read more: Bob Iger: ‘I was not seeking to return’ as Disney CEO

    What streamers have done so far hews closely to the classic TV model of producing original movies and series, broadcasting live sporting events and throwing in licensed content, or syndication. They’ve also displayed a willingness to place ads on their services after vowing not to (in the case of Netflix) and have managed to mitigate spending on pricey sports rights with behind-the-scenes content.

    Most prominently, Netflix has licensed older shows like USA Networks’ “Suits,” reintroducing the cast, including a then-unknown Meghan Markle, to solid viewership. “As the competitive environment evolves, we may have increased opportunities to license more hit titles to complement our original programming,” Netflix said in its third-quarter earnings statement. 

    During the company’s earnings call in October, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos pointed to the historic streaming success of “Suits.” “This continues to be important for us to add a lot of breadth of storytelling,” he said. “Our consumers have a wide range of tastes, and we can’t make everything, but we can help you find just about anything. That’s really the strength.”

    The success of “Suits” and of original sports programming, among several tweaks, indicates that consumers like what they see so far. Streaming additions at Netflix and Disney were significant — 8.76 million and nearly 7 million, respectively — during the recently completed third calendar quarter.

    Read more: Netflix’s stock jumps more than 10% on huge spike in subscribers, price hikes

    “There exist a lot of popular, good shows that people hadn’t seen before. HBO Max has licensed ‘Band of Brothers.’ ‘Yellowstone’ is on the CBS network after performing well on Paramount Global
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    Peacock,” Jon Giegengack, founder and principal of Hub Entertainment Research, said in an interview. “Consumers increasingly don’t care if a show is new, if they haven’t seen it before.”

    On the sports front, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have sidestepped expensive rights to live sporting events and instead produced docuseries such as Netflix’s “Quarterback” and “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and Amazon’s “Coach Prime” and “Redefined: J.R. Smith.” Amazon also continues to air “NFL Thursday Night Football.”

    Competition for eyeballs is tight with so many suitors — from Alphabet Inc.’s
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    YouTube to TikTok, both of which are developing long-form content — and viewers face “too many streaming options,” said Brittany Slattery, chief marketing officer at OpenAP, an advertising platform founded by the owners of most of the large TV networks.

    “There is a high churn rate, because consumers keep popping in and out of services because they can’t afford all these services,” Slattery said in an interview.

    Also see: Here’s what’s worth streaming in December 2023: Not much new, yet still a lot to watch

    Mark Vena, CEO and principal analyst at SmarTech Research, sums up the typical customer experience: “There are too many services for streaming. I will buy service for a month, watch a movie and then cancel.”

    Using technology for a new experience

    Major streamers are pinning many of their hopes on technology as a way to entice viewers and expand beyond the traditional TV model they’ve adopted. Strategies include mobile gaming (Netflix), gambling (Disney’s ESPN Bet) and shoppable media (Amazon).

    The biggest near-term change would bring ESPN exclusively to streaming, perhaps as early as 2025, although big games would probably be simulcast on network TV to retain older viewers.

    “Technology will be a major impetus for being in the winning circle,” said Hunter Terry, head of connected TV at global data company Lotame, pointing to Amazon’s shoppable-media strategy during Prime Video’s broadcast of an NFL game on Black Friday.

    The NFL game, the first ever on a Friday, featured QR codes of Amazon ads for direct purchases via mobile devices and PCs, contributing greatly to what the e-commerce giant said was its best-ever sales day — 7.5% higher than Black Friday 2022. The game drew between 9.6 million and 10.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen and Amazon, making it the highest-rated show on Black Friday for young adults (18-34) and adults (18-49).

    And what of generative AI, a major flashpoint in the writers and actors strikes that roiled Hollywood for months earlier this year? Creators feared generative AI would be used to produce low- and middle-brow entertainment without the need for writers, actors or production crew.

    The technology is as intriguing to streamers as it is vexing. Full-blown adoption would rankle creators as well as customers. There are also limitations: AI-created content is lacking in humor and original thought, said David Parekh, CEO of SRI International, a leading research and development organization serving government and industry.

    “The pressing question is, who goes first among the streamers and risks getting blowback from studios and consumers?” said Rick Munarriz, a contributing analyst at the Motley Fool who covers streaming-service stocks. “You don’t want to offend people, but there are tools to create ideas” at little cost.

    AI and machine learning are already being used to mine data to find out what resonates with viewers.

    “It is very hard to produce successful content,” said Ron Gutman, CEO of Wurl, which helps streamers and publishers monetize and distribute content, and which was recently acquired by AppLovin Corp.
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    for $430 million. “The market is so fragmented. The problem is connecting people to content.”

    Straight to streaming?

    Big-budget busts present another potential source of content, by salvaging unreleased movies, according to experts.

    The so-called dust-bin option is the natural successor to straight-to-video and straight-to-pay-per-view movies. There has been some precedent, with the release of Disney’s superhero hit “Black Widow” simultaneously on streaming and in theaters in May 2021.

    Will streaming services end up as the first stop for movies abruptly canceled before release? Candidates include “Batgirl,” which cost $90 million to make and was in post-production when Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.
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    pulled the plug.

    The same fate could also await two other shelved Warner Bros. movies, “Scoob! Holiday Haunt” and the completed “Coyote vs. Acme.”

    While the $90 million “Batgirl” is a tax write-off, there could be upside to “Coyote” and “Scoob!” if they went to streaming without a costly marketing campaign, said SmarTech Research’s Vena.

    Still, the long-term plans of streaming giants to meld tech to TV remains a ticklish task, said Wurl’s Gutman. “TV is a lean-back experience, not a lean-into technology medium,” he said. “People are looking at their phones while watching TV. It is a passive experience.”

    Tracy Swedlow, founder and co-producer of the TV of Tomorrow Show conference, said: “They’ve been burning a candle at both ends, investing in original content as well as licensing long-tail content such as ‘Suits’ and ‘Breaking Bad.’ Something has to give.”

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  • There’s a ton worth streaming in November 2023. So as prices rise, here’s how to avoid breaking the bank.

    There’s a ton worth streaming in November 2023. So as prices rise, here’s how to avoid breaking the bank.

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    November offers a false spring for streaming viewers.

    After a slow couple of months, there’s suddenly an abundance of top-tier shows on the way, but don’t be fooled — the streaming scene is going to be largely bleak in the coming months, until productions fully ramp up sometime next year following the strikes that have crippled Hollywood.

    Meanwhile, streaming costs keep rising (Netflix’s top tier is the first to cross the $20 barrier) and consumers are getting less for their money, with fewer new shows and smaller libraries, while streamers push subscribers toward ad-supported tiers that generate more revenue per user while providing a worse viewing experience. Still, all the ad-supported tiers cost less than $10 a month, meaning it may be time for budget-conscious consumers to suck it up and deal with commercials if they don’t want to break the bank.

    Read more: Netflix is raising prices to get you to watch ads, and it will probably work

    That’s why it’s even more important to examine which services you’re really willing to pay for. The days of subscribing to six streaming services — even though you might only regularly watch three — are over. But by adding and canceling services month to month, you can save money while still being able to watch your favorite shows (for example, instead of watching a 12-episode show that drops every week and paying for three months, subscribe for just one month once the show nears its end and binge it all at once).

    Such a churn strategy takes some planning, but it pays off. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month.

    Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget, rating the major services as a “play,” “pause” or “stop” — similar to investment analysts’ traditional ratings of buy, hold or sell, and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.

    Here’s a look at what’s coming to the various streaming services in November 2023, and what’s really worth the monthly subscription fee:

    Apple TV+ ($9.99 a month)

    The price of Apple TV+ has doubled in a little over a year, and in any other month, it’d be easy to argue it has priced itself out of the range of casual viewers. But Apple’s November lineup is so impressive that it’s actually somehow still a good deal.

    The alt-history space drama “For All Mankind” (Nov. 10) returns for its fourth season, with an eight-year time jump after Season 3’s shocking finale. The Mars colony is now thriving, but tensions are rising over the mining of mineral-rich asteroids. Toby Kebbell (“Servant”) joins the cast, along with Daniel Stern and Tyner Rushing, who join holdovers Joel Kinnaman, Krys Marshall, Wrenn Schmidt and Coral Pena. It’s a fantastic and frequently thrilling series, and arguably Apple’s best drama.

    And a challenger to that title is also coming back. “Slow Horses” (Nov. 29), the darkly funny thriller about a group of washed-up spies, returns for its third season. Gary Oldman stars as perpetually disgruntled spymaster Jackson Lamb, leading his team of misfits as they get dragged into an international conspiracy after one of their own is kidnapped. Based on the novels by Mick Herron, “Slow Horses” is smart and cynical, a terrific twist on traditional spy stories.

    Then there’s “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” (Nov. 17), an action-conspiracy series about a ragtag group trying to expose a secretive organization that knows the truth about Godzilla and other kaiju creatures terrorizing the planet. Kurt Russell stars with his son, Wyatt (who plays his dad in flashbacks), along with Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe and Kiersey Clemons. The series is intended to slide right into the MonsterVerse that includes “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Kong: Skull Island” and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” and for anyone who grew up watching monster movies, this could be a lot of fun.

    Apple
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    also has “Fingernails” (Nov. 3), a sci-fi romance movie starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson; “The Buccaneers” (Nov. 8), a “Bridgerton”-esque period drama based on the Edith Wharton novel about a group of rich American girls who hit London in the 1870s looking for suitable husbands; the holiday musical special “Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas” (Nov. 22); and a new version of the tear-jerking children’s classic “The Velveteen Rabbit” (Nov. 22).

    Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese’s critically acclaimed “Killers of the Flower Moon” should hit Apple TV+ within the next month or two, after it completes its theatrical run, and Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, his theaters Nov. 22. It, too, will stream on Apple at an as-yet-undisclosed date in the coming months.

    There are also new episodes every week of “Lessons in Chemistry” (finale Nov. 24), and “The Morning Show” (season finale Nov. 8). If that’s not enough, you could always catch up on “Foundation,” “Swagger,” “Platonic” or discover “Bad Sisters.”

    Who’s Apple TV+ for? It offers a little something for everyone, but not necessarily enough for anyone — although it’s getting there.

    Play, pause or stop? Play. Even though its price has soared, Apple is still cheaper than most, and it delivers value this month. (Remember, you can get three free months of Apple TV+ if you buy a new Apple device.)

    Hulu ($7.99 a month with ads, or $17.99 with no ads)

    After a fallow October, Hulu has a lot more to offer in November, continuing its strong year.

    FX’s “A Murder at the End of the World” (Nov. 14) was pushed back from an August release date due to the Hollywood strikes, but it should fit better in a colder season anyway. From Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, the producers of Netflix’s cult favorite sci-fi series “The OA,” the limited series is an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery set at a billionaire’s secluded, snowbound retreat in Iceland. Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) stars as an amateur detective while Clive Owen (“Children of Men”) plays the mysterious tycoon.

    A wintry setting also plays a key role in the fifth season of FX’s “Fargo” (Nov. 22), the latest installment in Noah Hawley’s noirish crime anthology. Juno Temple (“Ted Lasso”) plays a seemingly ordinary Midwestern housewife who’s not at all what she appears to be. She’s joined by an all-star cast that includes Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lamorne Morris and Dave Foley. Each season of “Fargo” is a quirky, violent delight, and this one looks no different.

    Also: Disney officially plans to buy remaining Hulu stake from Comcast

    Just to make things confusing, while both “A Murder at the End of the World” and “Fargo” are FX series, “Murder” will stream exclusively on Hulu, while “Fargo” episodes will first air on FX then stream a day later.

    In an interesting experiment, director Baz Luhrmann has recut his 2008 romantic drama “Australia,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and turned it into a six-episode miniseries — renamed “Faraway Downs” (Nov. 26) — using extra footage shot during the original filming. The movie flopped in theaters, but Luhrmann says it should work better as a miniseries, saying “episodic storytelling has been reinvigorated by the streaming world.”

    For more: Here’s what’s new on Hulu in November 2023 — and what’s leaving

    Hulu also has “Black Cake” (Nov. 1), a generations-spanning family drama based on the bestselling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson; “Quiz Lady” (Nov. 3), a comedy movie about estranged sisters, starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh; and a handful of sports documentaries, including “The League” (Nov. 9), about Negro League baseball, and “Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story” (Nov. 15), hosted by Keanu Reeves.

    Fresh off October’s addition of “Moonlighting,” Hulu is adding all eight seasons of another 1980s classic, “L.A. Law” (Nov. 3), along with a ton of holiday fare, including “Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights” and “Miracle on 34th Street” (both Nov. 1), and “Elf” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (both Nov. 23).

    And don’t forget the season finales of “Welcome to Wrexham” (Nov. 15) and “Goosebumps” (Nov. 17), as well as next-day streams of network shows such as “The Golden Bachelor” and “Bob’s Burgers.”

    Who’s Hulu for? TV lovers. There’s a deep library for those who want older TV series and next-day streaming of many current network and cable shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. If you’re on the ad-supported plan, it’s well worth it. But for the pricey, $18 ad-free plan, you may want to wait until December and see how some of these new series pan out.

    Netflix ($6.99 a month for basic with ads, $15.49 standard with no ads, $22.99 premium with no ads)

    Netflix just raised some prices again, but for most customers, it’s still a good value.

    The critically acclaimed royal-family drama “The Crown” (Nov. 16) is back for the first half of its sixth and final season (four episodes drop this month, with the final six coming in December). Events pick up in 1997 after the marriage of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) ends, as Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) reflects on her legacy. There’s already controversy over how it’ll handle Diana’s tragic death.

    Read more: Here’s what’s new on Netflix in November 2023 — and what’s leaving

    Netflix
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     also has “The Killer” (Nov. 10) a “slick but conventional” thriller movie from director David Fincher, starring Michael Fassbender as a hit man on the run; “Squid Game: The Challenge” (Nov. 22), a reality competition show putting 456 players through challenges inspired by the hit Korean drama (minus the murders, presumably); “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” (Nov. 17), an anime version of the graphic novels and cult-favorite movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (which is also coming Nov. 1); “All the Light We Cannot See” (Nov. 2), a critically panned miniseries about a blind French girl and a German soldier in the final days of WWII, starring Aria Mia Loberti, Louis Hofmann and Mark Ruffalo; Season 5, Part 2 of the popular small-town romantic drama “Virgin River” (Nov. 30); and “The Netflix Cup: Swing to Survive” (Nov. 14), Netflix’s first livestreamed sporting event, with teams of Formula 1 drivers and PGA stars in a match-play golf tournament from Las Vegas.

    There are also fresh episodes of “The Great British Baking Show” every Friday until its season finale Dec. 1.

    Who’s Netflix for? Fans of buzz-worthy original shows and movies.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause. “The Crown” and “The Great British Baking Show” are the top draws, but aside from those, there’s not a lot else to move the needle this month. However, if you can live with commercials, you can find value at $7.

    Paramount+ ($5.99 a month with ads, $11.99 a month with Showtime and no ads)

    Paramount+ has some interesting stuff in November. But is it enough to justify a subscription?

    “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” (Nov. 5), joins the streaming service’s extensive slate of shows produced by Taylor Sheridan, telling the story of one of the Wild West’s most overlooked real-life heroes: Bass Reeves (played by David Oyelowo), who was the first Black U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi and overcame countless hurdles in enforcing the law in the era of Reconstruction. A marksman with something like 3,000 arrests to his name, Reeves was purportedly the inspiration for the story of the Lone Ranger. Say what you will about Sheridan’s formulaic shows, but he knows how to make a good Western. This should be worth a watch.

    There’s also “The Curse“ (Nov. 10), an intriguing new Showtime series starring Nathan Fielder (“Nathan for You”) and Oscar-winner Emma Stone that puts a dark twist to an HGTV-like home-improvement show; and “Good Burger 2” (Nov. 22), a sequel to the 1997 cult-classic fast-food comedy starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.

    On the sports side, Paramount has NFL football every Sunday, Big Ten and SEC college football every Saturday, and a full slate of UEFA Champions League soccer.

    Who’s Paramount+ for? Gen X cord-cutters who miss live sports and familiar Paramount Global 
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      broadcast and cable shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause. There’s decent value with a couple of promising new shows, especially when factoring in Paramount’s live sports and vast library of movies and network shows.

    Max ($9.99 a month with ads, $15.99 with no ads, or $19.99 ‘Ultimate’ with no ads)

    It’s a very skippable month for Max.

    The Warner Bros. Discovery 
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     streaming service only has a handful of new originals to offer, including Season 2 of Issa Rae’s hip-hop comedy “Rap Sh!t” (Nov. 19), as Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (KaMillion) come to a crossroads on their road to fame; Season 2 of the biographical drama “Julia” (Nov. 16), starring Sarah Lancashire as iconic chef Julia Child as she and her husband return from France and face new challenges; “Bookie” (Nov. 30), a new comedy from Chuck Lorre (“Big Bang Theory”) and Nick Bakay about an L.A. bookie looking for new angles as the potential legalization of sports gambling threatens to upend his shady business; and Rob Reiner’s documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” (Nov. 11), delving into the life of the comedy legend.

    Also: Here’s everything coming to Max in November 2023 — and what’s leaving

    There are also a ton of holiday-themed shows from Food Network, HGTV and OWN; live sports on its free (for now) Bleacher Report tier that includes NBA and NHL games, college basketball and U.S. men’s soccer (Nov. 16 and 20); and new episodes of “The Gilded Age” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”

    Who’s Max for? HBO fans and movie lovers. And now, unscripted TV fans too, with a slew of Discovery shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. Max still has a great library, but the new offerings fall short. Even the ad tier isn’t worth it — try again another month.

    Amazon’s Prime Video ($14.99 a month, or $8.99 without Prime membership)

    “The Boys” spinoff “Gen V” ends its first season on Nov. 3, but fans of ultra-violent superheroes will be able to slide right into Season 2 of the hit animated series “Invincible” (Nov. 3), which returns to Prime Video after a two-and-a-half-year layoff. Based on the graphic novels by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, the very adult series picks up with Mark (Steven Yeun) still reeling from the revelations about his superhero father (J.K. Simmons) at the end of Season 1, while a new villain (voiced by Sterling K. Brown) appears on the scene. Annoyingly, Season 2 will be split in two, with four episodes in November and another four coming in early 2024.

    More: What’s new on Amazon’s Prime Video and Freevee in November 2023

    Amazon’s
    AMZN,
    +2.94%
     streaming service also has “007: Road to a Million” (Nov. 10), an “Amazing Race”-like competition series hosted by Brian Cox where nine teams of two endure James Bond-inspired challenges around the globe to try to win a big cash prize, and “Twin Love” (Nov. 17), a reality dating show involving 10 sets of identical twins split into two houses.

    Who’s Prime Video for? Movie lovers, TV-series fans who value quality over quantity.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s no a compelling reason to start a relatively pricey subscription now. That even goes for “Invincible” fans, who would be better off waiting until the second half drops and bingeing when all episodes are available. Splitting up eight episodes is ridiculous.

    Disney+ ($7.99 a month with ads, $13.99 with no ads)

    Tim Allen returns for Season 2 of “The Santa Clauses” (Nov. 8), as the jolly one continues his search for a successor. Eric Stonestreet joins the cast as the exiled “Mad Santa,” along with Gabriel Iglesias as Kris Kringle and Tracey Morgan as the Easter Bunny (because, of course!).

    Meanwhile, Lil Rel Howry, Ludacris and Oscar Nunez star in the new family comedy movie “Dashing Through the Snow” (Nov. 17), and Danny Glover will play Santa in the Disney Channel original film “The Naughty Nine” (Nov. 23).

    In non-holiday fare, Disney has three upcoming Doctor Who specials celebrating the iconic sci-fi series’ 60th anniversary. The first, “Doctor Who: The Star Beast” (Nov. 25), reunites David Tennant and Catherine Tate, as the Doctor and Donna Noble battle the villainous Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris), with the other two specials coming in December, when the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa of “Sex Education”) will be introduced.

    There’s also 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (Nov. 3), and new episodes of “Loki” (finale Nov. 9), “Goosebumps” (finale Nov. 17) and “Dancing With the Stars.”

    Who’s Disney+ for? Families with kids, hardcore “Star Wars” and Marvel fans. For people not in those groups, Disney’s
    DIS,
    -0.64%
     library can be lacking.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. After a recent price hike, there’s just not enough to justify a subscription (unless your kids will absolutely melt down without it).

    Peacock ($5.99 a month with ads, or $11.99 with no ads)

    It’s a pretty bleak month for Peacock originals, with only the reality dating spinoff “Love Island Games” (Nov. 1); “Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain” (Nov. 17), the first movie from the “SNL” comedy trio; and Season 2 of the Paris Hilton reality series “Paris in Love” (Nov. 30).

    It’s a bit brighter on the sports side, with Big Ten college basketball starting Nov. 6, Big Ten college football every Saturday, NFL Sunday Night Football and a full slate of English Premier League soccer, golf, motorsports and winter sports.

    And on Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), Peacock will stream the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the National Dog Show and an NFL game, as the 49ers play the Seahawks.

    Who’s Peacock for? Live sports and next-day shows from Comcast’s 
    CMCSA,
    +1.28%
     NBCUniversal are the main draw, but there’s a good library of shows and movies.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. The live-sports offerings are the only lure.

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  • Wall Street’s Q3 expectations have been all over the place. Now, a swing to profit growth is ‘likely’ — with a bigger rebound next year

    Wall Street’s Q3 expectations have been all over the place. Now, a swing to profit growth is ‘likely’ — with a bigger rebound next year

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    Wall Street spent much of this year getting more tepid on third-quarter corporate profits, with expectations for subdued growth giving way to expectations for a slight decline.

    But after results from a handful of companies soundly beat estimates in recent days, one analyst who tracks the ebbs and flows of earnings data says at least a slight profit gain for the quarter is more likely — with potentially double-digit percentage growth next year.

    FactSet Senior Earnings Analyst John Butters, in a report out Friday, said that of the 32 companies in the S&P 500 Index
    SPX
    that reported third-quarter results through Friday, 84% have reported per-share profits that were above Wall Street’s expectations, and he said they were beating those expectations by a greater degree than usual.

    The index collectively, so far, was putting up a third-quarter earnings growth rate of 0.4% — compared to estimates on Oct. 6 for a 0.3% decline. Most companies, he said, tend to turn in earnings results that beat estimates.

    “Based on the average improvement in the earnings growth rate during the earnings season, the index will likely report year-over-year growth in earnings or more than 0.4% for Q3,” he said.

    That assessment follows quarterly results from big companies like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Delta Air Lines, Inc.. Both the bank and the airline reported better-than-expected profits. JPMorgan
    JPM,
    +1.50%
    Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said U.S. consumers and businesses “generally remain healthy,” despite thinning pandemic-era savings, while Delta
    DAL,
    -2.99%
    pointed to enduring “robust” travel demand.

    More broadly, the quarter will be a look at how customers are faring amid still-high prices, an approaching holiday season and borrowing costs that could stay higher for longer. Recession pessimism has shown signs of easing. But Citigroup Inc.’s chief financial officer, Mark Mason, said on Friday that the bank expected a soft economic landing with a “mild recession” in the first half of 2024. However, he said such an outcome was “hard to call,” amid a strong job market.

    Financial forecasts tend to fluctuate as analysts digest real-life financial data. For now, they expect S&P 500 index earnings growth of 7.6% for the fourth quarter, and 0.9% for 2023 overall, according to FactSet. Next year, at the moment, looks better, with expected earnings growth of 12.2%.

    This week in earnings

    More names from the financial sector will report in the week ahead, following results from JPMorgan, Citigroup
    C,
    -0.24%
    and Wells Fargo & Co.
    WFC,
    +3.07%    .
    Reports from Morgan Stanley
    MS,
    -0.03%
    and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
    GS,
    -0.18%
    will offer more context on deal-making and market sentiment, while earnings from credit-card giants Discover Financial Services
    DFS,
    -1.47%
    and American Express
    AXP,
    -0.12%
    will get more granular on customer spending.

    More airlines, like United Airlines Holdings Inc.
    UAL,
    -2.76%
    and American Airlines Group Inc.
    AAL,
    -2.82%    ,
    will also report, providing more detail on whether revenge travel still has any life left. Earnings are also due from Johnson & Johnson
    JNJ,
    +0.33%
    and AT&T Inc.
    T,
    -0.62%    .

    In total 55 S&P 500 companies total will report quarterly results this week, including five from the Dow, according to FactSet.

    The call to put on your calendar

    Has Netflix become a utility? Hollywood’s writers will start returning to work, while talks with actors and studios have stalled. But the TV-and-film production limbo hasn’t been the only headache for streaming platform Netflix Inc., which reports quarterly results on Wednesday. The company will report amid greater pressure to boost profits, as the entertainment industry tries to find its footing in the streaming era. Ahead of the results, Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino recently expressed concern that Netflix’s
    NFLX,
    -1.53%
    ad-supported plan was slow to catch on with viewers. Bernstein analysts likened the company to a mature, durable “utility.” But they also compared the stock to a long-running TV show that, while still good, might be starting to bore its audience. Executives will be hoping for better a better reception from investors.

    The number to watch

    Tesla margins: When EV maker Tesla Inc. reports results on Wednesday, it will be “all about margins,” Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster said in note recently. Those results, and the focus on margins, will follow price cuts, and questions over profit growth and enthusiasm for Tesla’s
    TSLA,
    -2.99%
    new Cybertruck. And Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, in a research note, said the year ahead could be “volatile.”

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  • Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Price Target Cut to $500.00

    Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Price Target Cut to $500.00

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    Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX – Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by analysts at TD Cowen from $515.00 to $500.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the Internet television network’s stock. TD Cowen’s price target points to a potential upside of 38.43% from the stock’s current price.

    NFLX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Netflix from $350.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Netflix in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on Netflix from $490.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Netflix from $450.00 to $430.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Netflix in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $375.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $432.23.

    View Our Latest Stock Report on Netflix

    Netflix Stock Performance

    Shares of NFLX opened at $361.20 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $160.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.47, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $408.30 and a 200 day moving average of $393.16. Netflix has a 12 month low of $211.73 and a 12 month high of $485.00.

    Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The Internet television network reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $8.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.29 billion. Netflix had a return on equity of 19.76% and a net margin of 13.22%. Netflix’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Netflix will post 11.91 earnings per share for the current year.

    Insider Activity at Netflix

    In related news, Director Jay C. Hoag sold 4,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.24, for a total transaction of $2,091,776.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Jay C. Hoag sold 4,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.24, for a total transaction of $2,091,776.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Theodore A. Sarandos sold 55,386 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.10, for a total value of $23,876,904.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 117,714 shares of company stock worth $50,138,516 in the last ninety days. 2.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

    Institutional Inflows and Outflows

    A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NFLX. Baldrige Asset Management LLC raised its position in Netflix by 156.3% during the 1st quarter. Baldrige Asset Management LLC now owns 82 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new position in Netflix during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in Netflix by 8,700.0% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 88 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Group LLC raised its position in Netflix by 52.6% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 87 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners raised its position in Netflix by 80.0% during the 1st quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 90 shares of the Internet television network’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.95% of the company’s stock.

    Netflix Company Profile

    (Get Free Report)

    Netflix, Inc provides entertainment services. It offers TV series, documentaries, feature films, and mobile games across various genres and languages. The company provides members the ability to receive streaming content through a host of internet-connected devices, including TVs, digital video players, television set-top boxes, and mobile devices.

    Recommended Stories

    Analyst Recommendations for Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)

    Receive News & Ratings for Netflix Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Netflix and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.

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  • How to maximize your streaming in October 2023, and why Netflix is all you really need

    How to maximize your streaming in October 2023, and why Netflix is all you really need

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    It’s time to churn, baby, churn.

    The streaming scene has changed significantly over the past year or so, and for the worse: more expensive, less new programming, smaller libraries of older shows. And it’s coming at a time when consumers are being increasingly pressed by higher costs on all fronts. Prices for Disney’s ad-free tiers are rising sharply in October, and Amazon will jack up prices early next year for those who don’t want to see commercials. So it’s time for consumers to once again reassess which services are really worth paying for.

    There are three options if you don’t want your monthly streaming bill to look like your old triple-digit cable bill: bundle (you can save significantly with a Hulu-Disney+ package, for example), move to cheaper plans with commercials (ugh) or just drop the services you watch least. Pick a maximum monthly price ceiling and stick to it — at this point, most people don’t need more than two or three services anyway.

    If you’re frustrated by paying more for less, and want to make a point, cancelling a service is the one way that companies will take notice. Streaming services hate churn (adding and dropping services month-to-month) because it lowers their subscriber base and forces them to raise their marketing costs to win you back. As a consumer, it’s really your only weapon.

    Don’t like how Max keeps removing older shows? Dump it. Finding yourself watching less and less Disney+? Ditch it. It’s satisfying, it’s economical and you can always sign up again in the future.

    One benefit of streaming services is they’re a lot easier to cancel than cable. With prices soaring, now’s the time to be brutal in winnowing your subscriptions. A churn strategy takes some planning, but it pays off. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month.

    Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget, rating the major services as a “play,” “pause” or “stop” — similar to investment analysts’ traditional ratings of buy, hold or sell, and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.

    Here’s a look at what’s coming to the various streaming services in October 2023, and what’s really worth the monthly subscription fee:

    Netflix ($6.99 a month for basic with ads, $15.49 standard with no ads, $19.99 premium with no ads)

    After a ho-hum past few months, Netflix
    NFLX,
    +0.33%
    is rolling out a more robust lineup in October. Which is nice, because no other streaming service is.

    After a two-year layoff, the French heist thriller series “Lupin” (Oct. 5) returns for its third season. Omar Sy stars as a master thief who’s now on the lam, and he carries the show largely on his charisma. It’s a fun one, and a welcome return for viewers.

    But the big-name show of the month is “The Fall of the House of Usher” (Oct. 12), from horror hit-maker Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass”). The miniseries, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story, combines Gothic horror with a modern twist, as the corrupt CEO of a family-owned and scandal-plagued pharmaceutical company is forced to face demons from his past as his family members keep dying, one by one, in increasingly gruesome ways. The sprawling cast includes Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish, Carl Lumbly, Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Mark Hamill, Henry Thomas and Mary McDonnell. This should be one to watch, if for nothing else than to finally see a Sackler-like family get their comeuppance.

    Also on the way: the seventh seasons of the raunchy animated adolescent comedy “Big Mouth” (Oct. 20) and the Spanish high school soap “Elite” (Oct. 20); “Pain Hustlers” (Oct. 27), a meh-looking satirical crime drama starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans as scheming pharmaceutical reps; and the nature documentary “Life on Our Planet” (Oct. 25), narrated by Morgan Freeman.

    More: What’s new on Netflix in October 2023 — and what’s leaving

    And you may have missed it, but Netflix snuck in a new season of “The Great British Baking Show” at the end of September. New episodes stream every Tuesday, and feature new co-host Alison Hammond, replacing Matt Lucas, who always seemed out of place.

    Who’s Netflix for? Fans of buzz-worthy original shows and movies.

    Play, pause or stop? Play. Between some good-looking new shows, fresh eps of the “Great British Baking Show” and recent additions such as “Sex Education” (though its final season is underwhelming) and HBO’s classic “Band of Brothers,” Netflix is once again a must-have.

    Max ($9.99 a month with ads, or $15.99 with no ads)

    After a dismal September, Max has a better October lineup, with Season 2 of the beloved pirate comedy “Our Flag Means Death” (Oct. 5), starring Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi as wildly different ship captains involved in a star-crossed romance; Season 2 of “The Gilded Age” (Oct. 29), Julian Fellowes’ “Downton Abbey”-esque costume drama set in 1880s New York high society, with a sprawling cast that includes Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Morgan Spector and Louisa Jacobson; and the fourth and final season of the DC superhero dramedy “Doom Patrol” (Oct. 12).

    Notably, Warner Bros. Discovery’s
    WBD,
    +1.59%
    Max is launching its live-sports tier — the unfortunately named Bleacher Report Sports — on Oct. 5, just in time for the MLB playoffs and upcoming NBA season. The add-on tier will be free for all subscribers through February, when its price will shoot up to $9.99 a month.

    Also: What’s new on Max in October 2023 — and what’s leaving

    This is also your last chance to watch a bunch of AMC shows that are getting a two-month promotional run on Max: “Fear the Walking Dead” Seasons 1-7, “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” Season 1, “Dark Winds” Season 1, “Gangs of London” Seasons 1-2, “Ride with Norman Reedus” Seasons 1-5, “A Discovery of Witches” Seasons 1-3, and “Killing Eve” Seasons 1-4 will all leave Oct. 31. Do yourself a favor and at least watch “Dark Winds.”

    One more hidden gem to discover: Season 3 of the British rom-com “Starstruck,” which landed Sept. 28. It’s utterly charming and unwaveringly romantic, with literal LOL moments and some of the most swoon-worthy banter in recent years. Catch up with all three seasons, it’s an easy binge that’s well worth it.

    Who’s Max for? HBO fans and movie lovers. And now, unscripted TV fans too, with a slew of Discovery shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. It’s an exceptionally weak month for streamers, but Max’s lineup — especially with the addition of live sports and its deep library — makes it one of the least weakest.

    Amazon’s Prime Video ($14.99 a month, or $8.99 without Prime membership)

    Prime Video has a fine lineup in October. Not great. Not terrible. But very OK.

    “Totally Killer” (Oct. 6) looks to be a cleverer-than-most spin on a horror trope, as Kiernan Shipka (“Mad Men”) stars as a 17-year-old who travels back in time to 1987 to stop a serial killer before he can start a slaying spree that terrorized her mother (Julie Bowen).

    Greg Daniels’ existential comedy “Upload” (Oct. 20) is back for its third season of rom-com exploits in a digital afterlife, thanks to uploaded consciousness. (Disclaimer: I liked Season 1, but can’t for the life of me remember if I ever watched Season 2, which doesn’t bode well, but perfectly fits this month’s “meh it’s OK” theme.)

    Meanwhile, Amazon’s
    AMZN,
    +0.90%
    free, ad-supported channel, Freevee, has the second season of “Bosch: Legacy” (Oct. 20), the “Bosch” spinoff starring Titus Welliver as a private investigator in L.A., while his daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz) charts her own path as a police officer. As gritty detective shows go, it’s solid.

    Prime Video also has a decent lineup of NFL Thursday Night Football; “The Burial” (Oct. 13), a funeral-home drama movie starring Oscar-winners Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones; all 11 seasons of the classic sitcom “Frasier” (Oct. 1), just in time for the reboot on Paramount+; as well as new eps every week of “The Boys” spinoff “Gen V” and the season finale of “The Wheel of Time” (Oct 6).

    See more: Everything coming to Amazon’s Prime Video and Freevee in October 2023

    It’s also a good time to dig into Prime Video’s extensive library, before commercials come early next year. In an obnoxious move, rather than add an ad-supported tier at a lower price, Amazon will subject all subscribers to commercials — unless they pay an extra $3-a-month ransom. Commercials will be especially annoying on Prime’s more cinematic series, so watch great-looking shows like “I’m a Virgo,” “Dead Ringers” and “The English” interruption-free, while you still can.

    Who’s Prime Video for? Movie lovers, TV-series fans who value quality over quantity.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause. There’s no a compelling reason to start a subscription now, but if you already have one, there’s probably enough to watch.

    Disney+ ($7.99 a month with ads, $13.99 with no ads, starting Oct. 12)

    After a hiatus of more than two years, Marvel’s “Loki” (Oct. 5) is finally back for its second season. The new season finds the eponymous god of mischief (played by Tom Hiddleston) bouncing across the multiverse in a battle for free will while trying to elude agents of the mysterious Time Variant Authority. Season 1 of “Loki” was one of Marvel’s better TV adaptations, and hopes are high that Season 2 can recapture that sense of chaotic fun. Owen Wilson returns as TVA agent Mobius, and Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) joins the cast, which also features Jonathan Majors as big bad Kang the Conqueror, which is… problematic. Disney is reportedly still planning for Majors to play a key role in “Loki” and the next phase of “Avengers” movies despite his arrest on assault charges earlier this year, which prompted troubling allegations of past physical and emotional abuse toward women. (“Loki” had already finished filming prior to his arrest.)

    Disney also has “Goosebumps” (Oct. 13), about a group of high school friends fighting supernatural forces as they uncover long-buried secrets about their small town in this series adaptation of R.L. Stine’s hugely popular series of spooky novels. (It’ll also stream on Hulu.)

    The “Star Wars” spinoff “Ahsoka” has its season finale Oct. 3, while ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” will stream every Tuesday.

    Who’s Disney+ for? Families with kids, hardcore “Star Wars” and Marvel fans. For people not in those groups, Disney’s
    DIS,
    +1.15%
     library can be lacking.

    Play, pause or stop? Pause. The price of ad-free Disney+ jumps by $3 a month starting Oct. 12 — how much do you or your family really want to watch “Loki” and “Goosebumps”? It’ll be worth it for some, but an opportune time to cancel for others.

    Hulu ($7.99 a month with ads, or $17.99 with no ads, starting Oct. 12)

    Hulu has been on a fantastic run since the start of summer, but all good things must end. And it happens to coincide with a $3-a-month hike to its ad-free subscription.

    October’s lineup is weak, and heavily weighed toward Halloween-themed fare, such as Season 2 of FX’s spinoff anthology “American Horror Stories” (Oct. 26); the Stephen King thrillers “Rose Red” (Oct. 1) and “The Boogeyman” (Oct. 5); the Starz horror series “Ash vs. Evil Dead” (Oct. 1); the body-horror movie “Appendage” (Oct. 2); and “Goosebumps” (Oct. 13), a live-action adaptation of R.L. Stine’s bestselling kids’ book series (which will also stream on Disney+).

    Non-horror shows include new seasons of Fox’s “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and “Bob’s Burgers” (all Oct. 2), and Season 2 of the comedy “Shorsey” (Oct. 27), the “Letterkenny” spinoff series about minor-league hockey that has a surprising amount of heart to go with its absolutely filthy dialogue.

    For more: What’s coming to Hulu in October 2023 — and what’s leaving

    As an added bonus, all five seasons of ABC’s 1980s detective-agency rom-com “Moonlighting” (Oct. 10), starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd, will stream for the first time ever (legally at least). If I remember correctly, there were some really high highs but also some really low lows — but it’ll be worth checking out, for nostalgia if nothing else.

    There are also new eps every week of “The Golden Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” the season finale of “Only Murders in the Building” (Oct. 3) and the series finale of “Archer” (Oct. 11). And if you missed it, all three seasons of “Reservation Dogs” are there and just begging to be watched, or rewatched. (It’s about as perfect as a TV series could ever be, and the recently concluded Season 3 is the best thing I’ve seen this year.)

    Who’s Hulu for? TV lovers. There’s a deep library for those who want older TV series and next-day streaming of many current network and cable shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. If you’re on the ad tier, this month might be tolerable, but it’s certainly not worth $17.99.

    Paramount+ ($5.99 a month with ads, $11.99 a month with Showtime and no ads)

    Twenty years after ending its 11-season run (with 37 Emmy wins), the classic sitcom “Frasier” (Oct. 12) is back. Sort of. Kelsey Grammar returns in this revival as the pompous Dr. Frasier Crane, who’s moved back to Boston to be closer to his adult son (played by Jack Cutmore-Scott), who doesn’t necessarily want him there. The cast is mostly new, though Bebe Neuwirth (as Frasier’s ex-wife Lilith) and Peri Gilpin (his radio producer Roz) will reportedly guest star. David Hyde Pierce (Niles) and Jane Leeves (Daphne) will not return, however, which is a bummer since that’s where much of the original show’s laughs came from (John Mahoney, who played Frasier’s father Marty Crane, died in 2018). The jury’s out on this one — while in theory, it could be a refreshing update to a nostalgic favorite, the trailer is not encouraging.

    Paramount+ also has “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” (Oct. 6), a creepy prequel to the 2019 horror reboot; “Fellow Travelers” (Oct. 27), a decades-spanning queer love story starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey; and Showtime’s courtroom drama “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” (Oct. 6), the late director William Friedkin’s last film, starring Keifer Sutherland, the late Lance Reddick and Jake Lacy.

    That’s on top of a live-sports lineup that includes SEC and Big Ten college football on Saturdays, NFL football every Sunday and UEFA Champions League soccer matches.

    Who’s Paramount+ for? Gen X cord-cutters who miss live sports and familiar Paramount Global
    PARA,
    +0.62%
     broadcast and cable shows.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s a good football lineup, at least.

    Apple TV+ ($6.99 a month)

    It’s another slow month for Apple
    AAPL,
    +0.30%    ,
    highlighted by the miniseries “Lessons in Chemistry” (Oct. 13), based on Bonnie Garmus’ bestselling novel. Brie Larson stars as a woman in the 1950s whose dreams of becoming a scientist are scuttled by male chauvinism, and instead becomes the host of a TV cooking show, where she inspires housewives and fights the patriarchy. Apple is getting a reputation for getting big-name stars for prestige-type series, only for the shows to fizzle out and quickly be forgotten (like “Mosquito Coast,” “Hello Tomorrow” and “Dear Edward,” for starters). I have yet to see any marketing for this series, and it would not be a surprise for someone to ask six months from now: “Wait, Brie Larson was in an Apple show?”

    There’s also a new documentary from Errol Morris, “The Pigeon Tunnel” (Oct. 20), about the life of spy-turned-writer David Cornwell, aka John le Carré; and “The Enfield Poltergeist” (Oct. 27), a four-part docuseries about the supposed real-life haunting that inspired “The Conjuring 2.”

    Apple’s biggest title will be on Oct. 20 in movie theaters, with the wide release of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the spectacular-looking historical drama about a series of mysterious killings of Osage tribal members in Oklahoma in the 1920s, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro. There’s no streaming release date yet, but expect it to land on Apple TV+ after its theatrical run, possibly in November but more likely in December.

    There are also new episodes every week of “The Morning Show,” “The Changeling” (season finale Oct. 13) and “Invasion” (season finale Oct. 25).

    Who’s Apple TV+ for? It offers a little something for everyone, but not necessarily enough for anyone — although it’s getting there.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. Apple’s had a great year, but there’s just not a lot on right now. But there’s good stuff coming in November (Season 4 of “For All Mankind”) and December (Season 3 of “Slow Horses”).

    Remember, you can get three free months of Apple TV+ if you buy a new iPhone, iPad or Mac. Strategically, if you buy an iPhone 15, and wait a bit to redeem the free trial, you’ll want it to extend into January.

    Peacock (Premium for $5.99 a month with ads, or $11.99 a month with no ads)

    It’s all about horror and sports for Peacock this October.

    On the scary side, there’s Season 2 of the werewolf rom-com “Wolf Like Me” (Oct. 19), starring Josh Gad and Isla Fisher; “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (Oct. 27), a horror movie based on the videogame about a troubled security guard who starts working the night shift at a cursed pizza parlor, starring Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard; and the true-crime anthology “John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams” (Oct. 13).

    On the sports side, Peacock has the Rugby World Cup (through Oct. 28), NFL Sunday Night Football, Big Ten and Notre Dame college football, English Premier League soccer, and a full slate of golf, motorsports and horse racing.

    Meanwhile, the “John Wick” prequel miniseries “The Continental” ends Oct. 6.

    Who’s Peacock for? Live sports and next-day shows from Comcast’s
    CMCSA,
    -1.16%
     NBCUniversal are the main draw, but there’s a good library of shows and movies.

    Play, pause or stop? Stop. The live-sports offerings are the only lure.

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  • Hollywood writers strike declared over after boards approve new contract with studios

    Hollywood writers strike declared over after boards approve new contract with studios

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    LOS ANGELES — Leaders of the screenwriters union declared their nearly five-month-old strike over Tuesday after board members approved a contract agreement with studios, bringing Hollywood at least partly back from a historic halt in production.

    The governing boards of the eastern and western branches of the Writers Guild of America and their joint negotiating committee all voted to accept the deal, two days after the tentative agreement was reached with a coalition of Hollywood’s biggest studios, streaming services and production companies. After the vote they declared that the strike would be over and writers would be free to start on scripts at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

    Late-night talk shows — the first to go dark when writers walked out on May 2 — are likely the first shows that will resume. Scripted shows will take longer to return, with actors still on strike and no negotiations yet on the horizon.

    The writers still have to vote to ratify the contract themselves in early October, but lifting the strike will allow them to work during that process, the guild told members in an email.

    After Tuesday’s board votes, the contracts were released for the first time to the writers, who had not yet been given any details on the deal, which their leaders called “exceptional.”

    The three-year agreement includes significant wins in the main areas writers had fought for — compensation, length of employment, size of staffs and control of artificial intelligence — matching or nearly equaling what they had sought at the outset of the strike.

    The union had sought minimum increases in pay and future residual earnings from shows of between 5% and 6%, depending on the position of the writer. The studios had wanted between 2% and 4%. The compromise deal was a raise of between 3.5% and 5%.

    The guild also negotiated new residual payments based on the popularity of streaming shows, where writers will get bonuses for being a part of the most popular shows on Netflix
    NFLX,
    -1.44%    ,
    Max and other services, a proposal studios initially rejected. Many writers on picket lines had complained that they weren’t properly paid for helping create heavily watched properties.

    The writers also got the requirement they sought that shows intended to run at least 13 episodes will have at least six writers on staff, with the numbers shifting based on the number of episodes. They did not get their desire for guaranteed staffs of six on shows that had not yet been ordered to series, settling instead for a guaranteed three.

    Writers also got a guarantee that staffs on shows in initial development will be employed for at least 10 weeks, and that staffs on shows that go to air will be employed for three weeks per episode.

    On artificial intelligence, the writers got the regulation and control of the emerging technology they had sought. Under the contract, raw, AI-generated storylines will not be regarded as “literary material” — a term in their contracts for scripts and other story forms a screenwriter produces. This means they won’t be competing with computers for screen credits. Nor will AI-generated stories be considered “source” material, their contractual language for the novels, video games or other works that writers may adapt into scripts.

    Writers have the right under the deal to use AI in their process if the company they are working for agrees and other conditions are met. But companies cannot require a writer to use AI.

    Still-striking members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists returned to the picket lines earlier Tuesday for the first time since the writers struck their tentative deal, and they were animated by a new spirit of optimism.

    “For a hot second, I really thought that this was going to go on until next year,” said Marissa Cuevas, an actor who has appeared on the TV series “Kung Fu” and “The Big Bang Theory.” “Knowing that at least one of us has gotten a good deal gives a lot of hope that we will also get a good deal.”

    Writers’ picket lines had been suspended, but they were encouraged to walk in solidarity with actors, and many were on the lines Tuesday, including “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner, who picketed alongside friend and “ER” actor Noah Wyle as he has throughout the strikes.

    “We would never have had the leverage we had if SAG had not gone out,” Weiner said. “They were very brave to do it.”

    The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios in negotiations, chose to deal with the longer-striking writers first, and leaders of SAG-AFTRA said they had received no overtures on resuming talks. That’s likely to change soon.

    Actors also voted to authorize their leadership to potentially expand their walkout to  include the lucrative videogame market, a step that could put new pressure on Hollywood studios to make a deal with the performers who provide voices and stunts for games.

    The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists announced the move late Monday, saying that 98% of its members voted to go on strike against videogame companies if ongoing negotiations are not successful. The announcement came ahead of more talks planned for Tuesday.

    Acting in videogames can include a variety of roles, from voice performances to motion capture work as well as stunts. Video game actors went on strike in 2016 in a work stoppage that lasted nearly a year.

    Some of the same issues are at play in the video game negotiations as in the broader actors strike that has shut down Hollywood for months, including wages, safety measures and protections on the use of artificial intelligence. The companies involved include gaming giants Activision Blizzard
    ATVI,
    -0.05%    ,
    Electronic Arts
    EA,
    -1.13%    ,
    Epic Games, Take 2 Productions
    TTWO,
    -0.99%
    as well as Disney
    DIS,
    -1.19%
    and Warner Bros.′
    WBD,
    +0.28%
    videogame divisions.

    “It’s time for the videogame companies to stop playing games and get serious about reaching an agreement on this contract,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement.

    Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for videogame producers, said they are “continuing to negotiate in good faith” and have reached tentative agreements on more than half of the proposals on the table.

    So far this year, U.S. consumers have spent $34.9 billion on videogames, consoles and accessories, according to market research group Circana.

    The threat of a videogame strike emerged as Hollywood writers were on the verge of getting back to work after months on the picket lines.

    The alliance of studios, streaming services and producers has chosen to negotiate only with the writers so far, and has made no overtures yet toward restarting talks with SAG-AFTRA. That will presumably change soon.

    SAG-AFTRA leaders have said they will look closely at the writers’ agreement, which includes many of the same issues, but it will not effect their demands.

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  • These 20 growth stocks are worth considering on a pullback, says Citi

    These 20 growth stocks are worth considering on a pullback, says Citi

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    Citi has released a list of 20 large-cap growth stocks that it says present opportunities in the event of a pullback.

    “Our call since early summer has been to hold Growth and look to buy on pullbacks,” Citi analyst Scott Chronert said in a note released Monday, adding that Citi has had a tactical preference for cyclicals. “However, on the heels of the strong Cyclicals surge during June and July, and our upwardly revised S&P 500 target of 4600, the messaging has been to buy on pullbacks more broadly,” he wrote.

    Citi also notes that the Russell 1000 Growth Index
    RLG
    has sold off more than 6% from its mid-July high, although two-thirds of the stocks in the index are down 10% or more, with one-third down more than 20%. “This sets up for interesting intermediate to long-term stock selection opportunities,” Chronert said.

    Related: Preorders for the iPhone 15 have begun, and here’s a sign they’ve been ‘solid’

    The analyst acknowledged that there is still a risk of economic softening ahead, if not a recession. “Yet, the argument that Growth stocks can show fundamental resilience during periods of broader economic weakening is a theme that we have considered for several years now,” he said.

    Set against this backdrop, the analyst firm has compiled a tech-heavy list of 20 stocks that have a buy rating from Citi, have at least 75% of market cap assigned to growth, according to Russell, and have experienced a decline of 10% or more from year-to-date highs since March 31. Other common characteristics of the stocks include consensus estimates of free cash flow per share above March 31 levels and free cash flow per share within or above market-implied five-year-forward estimates.

    Tech heavyweights Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +0.74%
    and NVIDIA Corp.
    NVDA,
    +1.47%
    are on the list, along with Pinterest Inc.
    PINS,
    -2.47%    ,
    Lam Research Corp.
    LRCX,
    +0.24%    ,
    Teradata Corp.
    TDC,
    +0.36%    ,
    Datadog Inc.
    DDOG,
    +0.09%    ,
    MongoDB Inc.
    MDB,
    -0.73%    ,
    HubSpot Inc.
    HUBS,
    +0.18%
    and KLA Corp.
    KLAC,
    +0.79%    .
    The other stocks cited by Citi are Lockheed Martin Corp.
    LMT,
    -0.18%    ,
    DraftKings Inc.
    DKNG,
    -1.44%    ,
    Las Vegas Sands Corp.
    LVS,
    -0.98%    ,
    Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.
    CMG,
    -0.85%    ,
    Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    +1.31%    ,
    TKO Group Holdings Inc.
    TKO,
    -1.93%    ,
    Rockwell Automation Inc.
    ROK,
    +1.09%
    and Paycom Software Inc.
    PAYC,
    +0.45%    ,
    and healthcare stocks Bruker Corp.
    BRKR,
    +1.04%    ,
    Insulet Corp.
    PODD,
    -0.66%
    and Intuitive Surgical Inc.
    ISRG,
    +1.75%    .

    Related: Will Nvidia stock be like Apple or Cisco in the AI era?

    Shares of Apple, which recently launched its iPhone 15, are down 5.5% in the last three months. Shares of chip maker NVIDIA are up 2.8% over the same period, while Lockheed Martin is down 8.9% and DraftKings is up 8.6%. Las Vegas Sands is down 21.8% and Chipotle is down 8.8%, while Netflix is down 7.8%.

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  • Hollywood writers reportedly near deal with studios to end strike

    Hollywood writers reportedly near deal with studios to end strike

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    Hollywood writers and studios are reportedly near an agreement to end one of the months-long strikes that have brought production of TV shows and movies to a halt.

    Citing sources close to the negotiations, CNBC reported Wednesday night that the two sides were close to a deal following a face-to-face meeting earlier in the day. The sides are reportedly optimistic that an agreement can be finalized Thursday. However, the report also said the strike could drag on through the end of the year if a deal is not reached.

    Separately,…

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  • What’s worth streaming in September 2023? Here are your best bets amid slim pickings.

    What’s worth streaming in September 2023? Here are your best bets amid slim pickings.

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    Looking to spend your entertainment dollars wisely in September? Watch Hulu and read a book or two.

    That pretty much sums up a hugely underwhelming lineup from streaming services, which burned through their best shows in the spring and have little to offer for the start of the traditional fall TV season. That’s not to say there aren’t a handful of promising shows — there are — but is one decent new show per service worth the price of multiple monthly subscriptions? Almost certainly not.

    It’s…

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  • Disney looking to crack down on password sharing, following Netflix’s lead

    Disney looking to crack down on password sharing, following Netflix’s lead

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    ““We are actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family.””


    — Disney CEO Bob Iger

    Pour another one out for streaming freeloaders.

    Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    -2.14%
    has been cracking down on account-sharing, and now Walt Disney Co.
    DIS,
    -0.73%
    is likely to follow suit.

    Bob Iger, the media giant’s chief executive, said Wednesday that the company was “actively exploring” how to tackle the fact that many streaming subscribers on Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ share passwords and accounts with loved ones.

    “Later this year, we will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms on our sharing policies, and we will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024,” he said, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense/Sentieo.

    See also: Disney posts smaller streaming loss, will hike prices for Disney+ and Hulu

    Whereas Netflix suggested that it could be housing 100 million global account borrowers, Iger declined to put a number on Disney’s own base of password sharers, “except to say that it’s significant.”

    “What we don’t know, of course, is as we get to work on this, how much of the password-sharing, as we basically eliminate it, will convert to growth” in subscribers, he said. “Obviously, we believe there will be some, but we’re not speculating.”

    Read: The long-simmering rumor of Apple buying Disney is resurfacing as Bob Iger looks to sell assets

    The company plans to “get at this issue” next calendar year, and the initiative could have some impact on Disney’s business in that period.

    “It’s possible that we won’t be complete or the work will not be completed within the calendar year, but we certainly have established this as a real priority, and we actually think that there’s an opportunity here to help us grow our business,” Iger continued.

    Disney is making a big push to improve the financials of its streaming business, after spending the stay-home pandemic era focused on raw subscriber growth. Now the company is targeting streaming profitability by the end of fiscal 2024, and it just announced a new round of price hikes in pursuit of that goal.

    Don’t miss: Disney is raising prices on Hulu and Disney+ again. Here’s how much you’ll soon pay.

    “We grew this business really fast, really before we even understood what our pricing strategy should be or could be,” Iger commented. In the past six months, the company has started to pursue a pricing strategy “that’s really aimed at enabling us to improve the bottom line, ultimately to turn this into a growth business.”

    Netflix is farther along in its efforts, and it’s won praise from Wall Street for them. Executives at the streaming giant indicated early success with Netflix’s broad password-sharing crackdown, though it will take time for the impact to fully manifest in the company’s financials.

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  • Dow posts longest winning streak in nearly 6 years; Nasdaq slumps over 2%

    Dow posts longest winning streak in nearly 6 years; Nasdaq slumps over 2%

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    U.S. stocks finished mostly lower Thursday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 dragged down by disappointing earnings, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for a ninth straight day for its longest winning streak in nearly six years.

    How stocks traded

    • The S&P 500
      SPX,
      -0.68%
      fell 30.85 points, or 0.7%, to close at 4,534.87.

    • The Dow
      DJIA,
      +0.47%
      rose 163.97 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 35,225.18. The winning streak is its longest since a nine-day run that ended on Sept. 20, 2017, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

    • The Nasdaq Composite
      COMP,
      -2.05%
      ended at 14,063.31, down 294.71 points, or 2.1%.

    What drove markets

    After lagging behind the S&P 500 and Nasdaq for most of the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed over the past two weeks. The blue-chip gauge is now heading for its longest streak of daily gains since Sept. 20, 2017, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

    It’s the latest milestone as value stocks and other lagging sectors of the market appear to be playing “catch up,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth adviser and market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management, during a phone interview with MarketWatch. Although the Dow’s year-to-date gains are still well behind those of the S&P 500, with the blue-chip gauge up 6.6% since Jan. 1, FactSet data show.

    On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at their highest levels in nearly 16 months.

    “We’re finally seeing the rotation to value,” he said. “The Dow is playing catch up with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.”

    See: Stock-market bubble trouble? Check out the 3-year view on Nasdaq, S&P 500 returns.

    Technology stocks were lagging following earnings from Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    -8.41%
    released late Wednesday, which showed that revenue fell short. Shares fell 8.4%.

    Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    -9.74%
    shares fell 9.7% after the electric vehicle maker beat Wall Street expectations for its second quarter but not in the blowout fashion that some market observers were expecting.

    “Netflix missed sales estimates and issued lower-than-expected Q3 guidance, while Tesla’s results showed shrinking profitability with squeeze on margins,” said Henry Allen, strategist at Deutsche Bank.

    Semiconductor shares also took it on the chin, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index
    SOX,
    -3.62%
    falling 3.6%. The drop came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. 
    TSM,
    -5.05%
    topped second-quarter earnings expectations but reported margins that contracted, while providing a somewhat downbeat outlook.

    Meanwhile, shares of IBM Corp.
    IBM,
    +2.14%
    and Johnson & Johnson
    JNJ,
    +6.07%
    drove the Dow higher after both companies beat earnings expectations.

    Bad news for Netflix seemed to infect other megacap technology names, as Alphabet Inc. Class A
    GOOGL,
    -2.32%
    and Alphabet Inc.
    GOOG,
    -2.65%
    retreated, as did shares of Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    -1.01%
    and Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    -2.31%
    after the latter hit a record this week.

    Investors also digested earnings from American Airlines Group Inc.
    AAL,
    -6.24%
    and Blackstone Inc.
    BX,
    -0.61%
    which reported before the opening bell. After the close, investors will hear from Capital One Financial Corp.
    COF,
    -2.52%    ,
    CSX Corp.
    CSX,
    -0.27%
    and First Financial Bancorp
    FFBC,
    -0.54%    ,
    along with a few others.

    In U.S. economic data, weekly jobless benefit claims data showed the number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell to a two-month low. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed’s gauge of manufacturing activity came in at negative 13.5 in July, up from 13.7 during the prior month.

    Existing home sales fell in June, while leading index of economic indicators dropped 0.7% in June, falling for the 15th month in a row.

    Companies in focus

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  • Netflix earnings bring big subscriber windfall, but stock gets dinged on light revenue forecast

    Netflix earnings bring big subscriber windfall, but stock gets dinged on light revenue forecast

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    Netflix Inc. wowed Wall Street with new subscribers Wednesday, but lighter-than-expected revenue and sales projections undercut the company’s stock in extended trading.

    Netflix
    NFLX,
    +0.59%
    reported that subscribers increased by a surprising 5.9 million in the second quarter of the year, blowing past analysts’ average estimate of 1.82 million. Netflix reported fiscal second-quarter net earnings of $1.49 billion, or $3.29 a share, compared with $3.20 a share in the year-ago quarter.

    Revenue improved to $8.19 billion from $7.97 billion a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average net earnings of $2.85 a share on revenue of $8.29 billion.

    For the third quarter, Netflix executives guided for earnings of $3.52 a share on $8.52 billion in revenue, while analysts on average were expecting earnings of $3.23 a share on sales of $8.66 billion.

    Free cash flow for the quarter was an eye-popping $1.3 billion, compared with about breakeven in the year-ago quarter.

    Shares dipped slid nearly 7% in after-hours trading immediately following the release of the results, after closing the regular session with a slight increase.

    Earlier Wednesday, the company ended its basic streaming plan in the U.S. ($9.99 a month) and U.K. for new and rejoining members in a move to press to add more subscribers to its ad-supported service ($6.99), which has accrued more than 5 million customers since its launch late last year. The news sent Netflix’s stock up 0.6% during the regular session.

    Read more: Netflix drops basic streaming plan in push for more users of ad-supported plan

    Netflix executives have hoped to goose their financial results with cheaper, ad-supported options and a crackdown on password sharing. In a letter to shareholders Wednesday, company executives said the success of paid shared accounts would be expanded to more countries.

    “We expect revenue growth will accelerate in the second half of 2023 as monetization grows from our most recent paid sharing launch and we expand our initiative across nearly all remaining countries plus the continued steady growth in our ad-supported plan,” Netflix executives wrote.

    In May, Netflix expanded paid sharing to more than 100 countries, which account for over 80% of its revenue. Now, it intends to “start to address account sharing between households in almost all of our remaining countries,” executives said.

    Expectations among investors heading into Netflix’s quarterly report were muted. The focus was on Netflix’s switch toward better monetization with an ad-supported service and a rolling crackdown on shared accounts. Analysts in particular were closely watching the performance of Netflix’s new “Basic with Ads” plan ($6.99 a month) and its effectiveness in stanching the defection of subscribers to competing services from Walt Disney Co.
    DIS,
    +1.27%
    and Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +0.71%    .

    Shares of Netflix have soared 62% so far this year, while the broader S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +0.24%
    has advanced 19%.

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  • Dow scores 6th day of wins to start busy week for earnings

    Dow scores 6th day of wins to start busy week for earnings

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    U.S. stocks finished at new highs for the year on Monday to kick off a busy week for corporate earnings, with the Nasdaq leading the way up. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +0.22%
    rose about 76 points, or 0.2%, ending near 34,585, based on preliminary FactSet data. The S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +0.39%
    gained 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite Index
    COMP,
    +0.93%
    closed up 0.9%. That was the Dow’s sixth straight day of wins and marked the highest close since April 2022 for all three major stock indexes, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Equities have rallied as the U.S. economy remains resilient in the face of sharply higher interest rates, keeping investors hopeful about a soft landing, instead of a recession. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that she doesn’t anticipate a U.S. recession, in an interview with Bloomberg television. After several big banks reported on Friday, second-quarter earnings results continue with Tesla,
    TSLA,
    +3.20%
    Morgan Stanley
    MS,
    +0.69%    ,
    Goldman Sachs
    GS,
    +0.31%    ,
    Netflix
    NFLX,
    +1.84%
    and more on deck.

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  • The nation’s biggest banks are gearing up for more consumer struggles ahead

    The nation’s biggest banks are gearing up for more consumer struggles ahead

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    JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon on Friday said the U.S. economy was basically doing OK, even if customers were spending “a little more slowly.”

    But with rivals like Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American Express Co. set to report quarterly results this week, recession agita still prevails.

    For evidence, look no further than JPMorgan’s
    JPM,
    +0.60%
    own quarterly results. The bank’s second-quarter profit blew past expectations, but it set aside $2.9 billion during the second quarter to cover potentially bad loans, amid concerns that more consumers could run into more difficulty paying their bills on time as higher prices manage to stick at stores.

    That figure was well up from $1.1 billion in the same quarter last year, although still far below the billions it stowed away when the pandemic first hit. Similarly, Wells Fargo & Co.
    WFC,
    -0.34%
    on Friday set aside $1.7 billion for loan losses in this year’s second quarter, nearly triple what it was a year ago.

    The figures underscore the anxiety over the second half of this year, when many economists expect the economy to tilt into a recession. However, for the 500 companies in the S&P 500 index, Wall Street analysts still expect profit growth.

    Any downturn could be exacerbated by the pressure investors have put on companies, potentially via more layoffs and money-saving technology, to keep prices high and cut costs to replicate the abnormally large profit-margin gains they put up in 2021 and 2022. Businesses have indeed kept prices high, at least for many basic necessities, in an effort to cover their own higher costs and to pad profits.

    When Bank of America
    BAC,
    -1.89%
    reports this week, the results will narrow the lens on lending and spending in the U.S. Results from Morgan Stanley
    MS,
    -0.50%
    and Goldman Sachs
    GS,
    -0.76%
    will fill in the gaps on trading and deal-making. American Express
    AXP,
    -0.49%
    will give a more detailed breakdown of what consumers are still spending their money on, after Delta Air Lines Inc.
    DAL,
    -2.35%
    — which has a partnership with AmEx — said that travel demand remained “robust.”

    Banks shoveled more money into their reserve stockpiles in 2020 to bulk up against the pandemic’s shutdown of the economy. A year later, they started releasing those funds as the economy reopened and recovered. FactSet expects the broader banking sector to plump up its cash cushion during this year’s second quarter to account for more late loan payments or potential defaults.

    In a report on Friday, FactSet said the 15 banking-industry companies in the S&P 500 Index tracked by the firm were on pace to set aside $9.9 billion to cover losses from souring loans in the second quarter. That’s more than double the amount set aside a year ago. And if that $9.9 billion figure, based on actual and projected financial figures, ends up as the actual figure at the end of the quarter, it would mark the highest since the beginning of the pandemic and the third highest in five years, according to FactSet data.

    “The U.S. economy continues to be resilient,” Dimon said in a statement on Friday. “Consumer balance sheets remain healthy, and consumers are spending, albeit a little more slowly. Labor markets have softened somewhat, but job growth remains strong.”

    However, he noted difficulties in JPMorgan’s investment banking segment. And he said consumer savings were slowly eroding as inflation endures.

    As the nation’s biggest bank, JPMorgan has flexed its financial muscle this year, swallowing up First Republic after that bank got into trouble. But as it consolidates power and influence, building thicker armor against shocks to the economy, its financial results might not always reflect the struggles of its smaller rivals, where difficulties are likely felt more acutely. Analysts at Raymond James said that while JPMorgan remained a “best in breed” bank, its outlook pointed to “heightened challenges for smaller banks.”

    See also: Jamie Dimon says U.S. consumers are in ‘good shape.’ This evidence may prove otherwise.

    This week in earnings

    For the week ahead, 60 S&P 500 companies, including five from the Dow, will report quarterly results, according to FactSet. Two big oil companies, Halliburton Co.
    HAL,
    -2.28%
    and Baker Hughes Co.,
    BKR,
    -0.95%
    will report, as oil prices fall from levels seen last year. Results from two transportation giants — trucking company J.B. Hunt Transport Services
    JBHT,
    -0.42%
    and railroad operator CSX Corp.
    CSX,
    -0.27%
    — will also be a proxy for how much people are buying things and having them shipped. United Airlines Holdings Inc.
    UAL,
    -3.42%
    and American Airlines Group
    AAL,
    -1.68%
    will also report.

    The call to put on your calendar

    Netflix results: Hollywood shutdown, ‘slow-growth’ expectations. Hollywood’s writers — and now its actors — have gone on strike, and Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    -1.88%
    reports second-quarter results on Wednesday. The streaming platform will likely face questions over how much content it has left in the tank, as the strike upends studio-production schedules and leaves viewers with vast expanses of reruns. Still, Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen said that the production standstill “may ironically drive even more viewers to streaming services.”

    The writers and actors argue that the studio industry — increasingly consolidated, increasingly publicly traded, increasingly oriented around a handful of film franchises — has profited immensely while skimping on things benefits and streaming residuals. But after a decade-long rise, and a recent shift in investor focus from subscriber growth to profit growth, Netflix has emerged as one of the biggest production powerhouses in the business. And after years of flooding customers with new films and shows, it’s trying to squeeze out sales via more boring ways: things like a password-sharing crackdown and ads.

    Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio at Synovus Trust Co., said Netflix still faced a plenty of streaming competition amid “muted” subscriber growth. But Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said investors should look at Netflix as a profitable, albeit more mature company.

    “We think Netflix is well-positioned in this murky environment as streamers are shifting strategy, and should be valued as an immensely profitable, slow-growth company,” Pachter said in a research note on Friday.

    “Even while the ad-supported tier is not yet directly accretive (we think it will be accretive over time), the ad-tier should continue to reduce churn and draw new subscribers to the service,” he continued.

    The number to watch

    Tesla sales. Electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc. also reports second-quarter results on Wednesday. And like streaming, some analysts say the fervor for EVs has faded.

    However, they also said that Tesla
    TSLA,
    +1.25%
    had so far been immune from the malaise. And even though Elon Musk remains preoccupied with Twitter — which now faces competition from Meta Platforms Inc.’s
    META,
    -1.45%
    Threads — Tesla’s second-quarter deliveries were far above expectations. Sales are expected to be big. And one analyst said that price cuts, which Tesla has used to capture more of the auto market in China, were likely “fairly minimal” during the second quarter. But some analysts wondered what the blowout delivery figures would mean for margins. And the industry, broadly, has increasingly tested the patience of profit-minded investors.

    “We’ve now seen a market where demand is constrained, capital has been tighter, and there is less tolerance for EV related losses,” Barclays analysts said in a note last week, adding that there was a “step back from EV euphoria.”

    Claudia Assis contributed reporting.

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  • How a hawkish Fed could kill a baby bull-market rally in U.S. stocks

    How a hawkish Fed could kill a baby bull-market rally in U.S. stocks

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    It is the notion that the Federal Reserve could deliver a hawkish jolt to markets even if it refrains from raising rates when its two-day policy meeting ends on Wednesday.

    There are concerns that such an outcome could spark a turnaround in U.S. stocks, especially if an uncomfortably strong reading on May inflation — due this coming Tuesday just as the Fed’s policy meeting is slated to begin — pushes the central bank toward something even more extreme, like delivering a rate increase on Wednesday despite intimating that it plans to abstain.

    The May consumer-price index is forecast to rise 4.0% for the year, down from a rise of 4.9%, while the core index, excluding food and energy prices, is seen easing to a rise of 5.3% from 5.5%.

    On the other hand, signs that the economy has weakened and inflation has continued to fade would help the Fed to justify skipping a rate increase in June — as several senior officials have suggested it will — while signaling that a potential hike at its following meeting in July could be the final increase for the cycle.

    “Softening U.S. data should support calls that a June skip could eventually turn into a July pause. Next week, most of the data is expected to remain weak or little changed: retail sales could be flat m/m, the Fed regional surveys should remain in negative territory, and consumer sentiment will waver,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, in emailed commentary.

    See: The Fed’s crystal ball on inflation appears off the mark again. Here’s comes another fix.

    Wednesday’s meeting comes at a critical time for the market. U.S. stocks have powered ahead for more than six months, with the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.11%
    having risen more than 20% off its Oct. 12 closing low, according to FactSet. Just this past week, the index exited bear-market territory for the first time in a year.

    The index is up 12% so far in 2023, reversing some of its 19.4% decline from 2022, its biggest calendar-year drop since 2008, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

    So far this year, highflying tech stocks have helped to paper over weakness in other areas of the market. This has started to change over the past two weeks, as small-cap and value-stocks have lurched suddenly higher, but there are fears that the Fed could hurt the most interest-rate sensitive technology names if Chairman Jerome Powell hints at rates rising higher than investors presently anticipate.

    The so-called “Megacap eight” stocks — a group that includes both classes of Alphabet Inc. stock
    GOOG,
    +0.16%

    GOOGL,
    +0.07%    ,
    Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +0.47%    ,
    Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    +4.06%    ,
    Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +0.47%    ,
    Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    +2.60%    ,
    Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    +0.68%    ,
    Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    +0.14%
    — have driven nearly all of the S&P 500’s gains this year, according to Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, who included his analysis in a note to clients.

    But since the beginning of June, the Russell 2000
    RUT,
    -0.80%    ,
    a gauge of small-cap stocks in the U.S., has risen more than 6.6%, according to FactSet data. The Russell 1000 Value Index
    RLV,
    -0.15%
    has also gained nearly 3.7% in that time. During this period, both have outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
    COMP,
    +0.16%    ,
    although the Nasdaq remains the market leader, having risen 26.7% since Jan. 1.

    Concerns about the Fed’s plans intensified this week after the Bank of Canada delivered a surprise interest-rate hike, ending a four-month pause. The BOC’s decision followed a similar move by the Reserve Bank of Australia, and partly as a result, U.S. Treasury yields rose and tech-heavy stocks tumbled, with the Nasdaq logging its biggest drop since April 25, according to FactSet.

    While small-caps held up amid the chaos, the reaction stoked fears that something similar might be in store for markets when the Fed delivers its latest decision on interest rates Wednesday.

    Consequences of a ‘hawkish pause’

    Stocks could be in for more turbulence if the Fed signals it plans to follow the BOC and RBA with a hawkish surprise of its own. And it wouldn’t necessarily need to hike rates to pull this off, market strategists said.

    Emerging signs of complacency in the market could complicate its reaction. That the Cboe Volatility Index has fallen back below 15
    VIX,
    +1.32%
    for the first time since before the arrival of COVID-19 is one such sign that investors aren’t worried enough about a potential selloff, said Miller Tabak + Co.’s Chief Market Strategist Matt Maley.

    Another analyst likened the potential fallout from a hawkish Fed to the bad old days of 2022.

    “If the Fed signals that rates will be going up again, the market playbook could read more like 2022 than what we have seen so far in 2023,” said Will Rhind, the founder and CEO of GraniteShares, during a phone interview with MarketWatch.

    Perhaps the biggest wild card is Tuesday’s inflation report. If the numbers come in hot, Powell and his peers could face pressure to hike rates without priming the market first.

    For this reason, Rhind believes investors are underestimating the likelihood of a hike next week, even as Fed funds futures currently see a roughly 70% probability that the central bank will stand pat, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

    And Rhind isn’t the only one. Leslie Falconio, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, says the Tuesday inflation report could be a make-or-break moment for markets, summing up fears expressed elsewhere on Wall Street in a recent note to clients.

    “We believe another rate increase is on the table, and that the CPI release on 13 June, a day before the Fed decision, will be decisive. In our view, another hike won’t have a material impact on the pace of economic growth,” Falconio said.

    What should investors watch out for?

    Assuming the Fed does forego a hike in June, there are a few key tells that investors should watch for to determine whether a “hawkish pause” is under way.

    Perhaps the most important will be how the Fed handles changes to its closely watched “dot plot.” A modestly higher median dot would send an unmistakable signal to the market that the Fed will continue with its campaign of tightening monetary policy, perhaps to the detriment of the market, said Patrick Saner, head of macro strategy at the Swiss Re Institute.

    “If the Fed skips but wanted to avoid the impression of the hiking cycle being done, it would need to include a revision of the dot plot. They could justify that with a more resilient GDP forecast and a higher inflation outlook. So I think it is the dots and then the statement that will be in focus,” Saner said during a phone interview with MarketWatch.

    Beyond that, whatever the Fed does or says will likely be viewed through the lens of economic data that is due out next week. In addition to the Tuesday inflation report, a report on May retail sales is due out Thursday, and a on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan will land on Friday. All these data points could influence investors’ impressions of the state of the U.S. economy, and their expectations for how the Fed will behave as a result.

    See also: Puzzled by the ebb and flow of recession worries? Then the MarketWatch weekly recession worry gauge is for you.

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  • Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown is imminent, but the writers’ strike may be causing a delay

    Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown is imminent, but the writers’ strike may be causing a delay

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    Netflix Inc. has teased the U.S. rollout of a password-sharing crackdown, but one analyst wonders if the ongoing writers’ strike is delaying the company’s plans.

    The streaming-media company has already started to clamp down on account sharing in other markets by limiting who can use accounts and charging more for additional access. JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth wondered if Netflix
    NFLX,
    +0.78%
    was rethinking a broader rollout at the moment, given the prospect of content interruptions.

    See more: Netflix delivers cliffhanger for investors as password-sharing crackdown is delayed

    “Paid sharing is effectively a price increase, w/paid members sharing their password receiving less value for the same price, or potentially paying more to add an extra member. And for borrowers who currently do not pay, paid sharing means either activating their own subscription or being added as an extra member, or losing access to NFLX,” he wrote in a note to clients.

    For that reason, “it’s possible that NFLX may not like the optics of implementing paid sharing while 11,500 WGA writers are on strike, w/production suspended or writing paused across at least a handful of NFLX titles including Stranger Things S5 & Emily in Paris S4, among others,” Anmuth continued.

    Netflix didn’t respond to a MarketWatch request for comment asking when paid sharing will roll out in the U.S., why it hasn’t rolled out yet, and if the delay was at all due to the writers’ strike.

    Opinion: Disney shows streaming wars are destroying all that was good about streaming

    The paid-sharing rollout is a critical element of Netflix’s financial story these days. Netflix estimates that some 100 million people were freeloading off of others’ paid Netflix subscribers, and Anmuth expected that Netflix would be able to get at least 30 million of those to start paying up, whether by becoming add-on members for existing accounts or new subscribers in their own right.

    For that reason, a continuation of the writers’ strike “could further postpone revenue & subscriber acceleration,” he wrote.

    See also: Streaming nirvana is about to become more expensive — and offer less content

    The writers’ strike also threatens to impact Netflix’s other hot initiative: its advertising tier. Anmuth noted that the company’s upfront presentation to advertisers, its first-ever, was turning into a prerecorded event, presumably because the company fears “heavy picketing and protesting” and “less availability of star talent.”

    “[U]ltimately, advertising is closely tied to paid sharing, w/borrowers likely viewing a $6.99 Standard w/Ads plan as a compelling low-priced option,” Anmuth wrote. “Therefore, ramp of the ad tier is also delayed if paid sharing is delayed.”

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  • Hollywood writers go on strike, saying they face ‘existential crisis’

    Hollywood writers go on strike, saying they face ‘existential crisis’

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    Hollywood writers are on strike for the first time in 15 years, halting production of TV shows and movies.

    The Writers Guild of America announced Monday night its boards unanimously approved a strike effective 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. “Picketing will begin tomorrow afternoon,” the WGA said in a tweet Monday night.

    The WGA said the decision was…

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  • Netflix is sending its DVD-by-mail business to the Blockbuster graveyard

    Netflix is sending its DVD-by-mail business to the Blockbuster graveyard

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    Netflix Inc. is ending the DVD-by-mail business that first made it a household name and took down Blockbuster Video.

    Netflix
    NFLX,
    +0.29%
    executives announced Tuesday afternoon that the company will ship its last red DVD envelopes on Sept. 29, after 25 years. The business has dwindled in the past decade from more than $900 million in revenue in 2013 to less than $150 million last year.

    “Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos said in a blog post titled “Netflix DVD — The Final Season.”

    Also see: Netflix stock falls after subscriber growth, earnings forecast miss. But it’s bouncing back on ad plans, shared-password crackdown in U.S.

    Netflix launched as a DVD-by-mail service in an era that relied on physical media such as the discs to watch television shows and movies at home. The DVD business at the time was dominated by Blockbuster, which relied on brick-and-mortar stores that rented movies for a few days and charged late fees if they were not returned on time.

    Netflix offered a different approach, allowing consumers to have a certain number of DVDs mailed to their home and return them at their leisure, which eventually led to the demise of Blockbuster. Eventually, the company began focusing on streaming media directly to consumers, and first offered that service for free to DVD subscribers.

    Co-founder and former Chief Executive Reed Hastings — who announced he was stepping down from that position three months ago — decided to pivot from the successful DVD business to focus on streaming, which wasn’t an easy transition. When he announced that Netflix would sever the DVD and streaming businesses in 2011, effectively doubling the monthly price for consumers who wanted both offerings, it became one of the biggest debacles in Netflix history as consumers raged and canceled their subscriptions.

    While the process was not easy — remember Qwikster? — Hastings’ vision for streaming services won out, with Netflix collecting roughly $31.5 billion in streaming subscription revenue last year, as the DVD business racked up $146 million. Some of the biggest names in entertainment and tech — Walt Disney Inc.
    DIS,
    +0.63%    ,
    Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +0.75%    ,
    Warner Bros. Discovery’s
    WBD,
    -1.79%
    HBO, and many more — have followed Netflix’s path, and established streaming as one of the most dominant forms of media consumption.

    For more: Netflix has changed drastically since its IPO —and is worth thousands of times more

    “Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming,” Sarandos wrote in Tuesday’s announcement.

    Netflix stock has also been a winner, despite a decline in late trading following earnings on Tuesday afternoon. Shares have increased more than 1,300% in the past decade, as the S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +0.09%
    has grown by about 167%.

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