On September 29, Netflix fell 3.01% in regular trading, trading at $69.005/share, with turnover of $2.214 billion. The decline extends a broader selloff triggered by consecutive downgrades from two major investment banks within the span of a single week, compounded by persistent bearish positioning in the options market.
Wells Fargo on September 18 downgraded Netflix from Equalweight to Underweight and slashed its price target from $80 to $57, citing severe user engagement challenges. Analyst Steven Cahall noted that viewership fell 8% in the first half and projected that watch time for the platform's top 100 originals could plunge over 20% year-over-year in the second half, with operating margin forecasts for the coming years also trimmed. Days later, HSBC followed with a downgrade from Buy to Hold, cutting its target from $96 to $76, warning that YouTube is aggressively capturing market share through higher creator revenue splits and new episodic content features.
Meanwhile, the options market has been dominated by large-scale bearish flows, including a $7.21 million cross-term in-the-money put spread and a $4.24 million deep in-the-money put, reflecting sustained institutional hedging or directional bets against the stock.
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