After newly appointed Netflix's (NFLX) CFO, Spencer Neumann, and VP Finance/IR and Corporate Development, Spencer Wang, hosted a well-attended meeting with sellside analysts, Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein says long-term margins can meet or exceed traditional cable networks based on global scale and 3P production fee savings, partially offset by higher local/regional content. The analyst also notes that other takeaways from the meeting include expected hundreds of millions of subs over time relative to 700M broadband homes and 1.7B HH's, analogy to Disney's (DIS) ESPN, content and marketing to grow slower than revenue, $15B cash content spent in 2019, median viewing hours to grow with short-term variability, and no plans to lower lowest-priced tier in U.S. Helfstein has an Outperform rating and $410 price target on Netflix's shares.

Canaccord analyst Maria Ripps downgraded Netflix to Hold from Buy with a price target of $585, down from $720.

Check out this evening's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly. HIGHER AFTER EARNINGSMetropolitan... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Netflix said in its quarterly letter to investors: "We have built a hard to replicate combination of a strong slate, superior recommendations, broad reach and intense fandom, which drives healthy engagement on Netflix. Improvement in these key areas is the best way to delight our members and continue to grow our business." The company added: "Net cash generated by operating activities in Q1 was $2.2B and free cash flow totaled $2.1B (both flat with Q1'23). During the quarter, we paid down $400M of senior notes with cash on hand and we repurchased 3.6M shares for $2B. We finished the quarter with gross debt of $14B and cash and cash equivalents of $7B. We're still forecasting full year 2024 free cash flow of approximately $6B, assuming no material swings in F/X, and cash content spend of up to $17B."

Pre-earnings options volume in Netflix is 1.1x normal with calls leading puts 5:4. Implied volatility suggests the market is anticipating a move near 7.3%, or $44.89, after results are released. Median move over the past eight quarters is 9.6%.

Netflix (NFLX) is scheduled to report its first quarter 2024 financial results and business outlook on Thursday, April 18. A video interview... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here