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After plunging over 35% following the company’s first subscriber loss in over a decade, shares of streaming giant Netflix were hit with a wave of downgrades from Wall Street analysts on Wednesday, with the majority of experts warning investors not to buy the dip as Netflix’s plan to revive subscriber growth is likely to take years.
Investors may have a “long time to wait” before Netflix returns to growth, analysts say.
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Shares of Netflix plummeted over 35% on Wednesday morning after the company reported that it lost subscribers last quarter—for the first time in over a decade, which it blamed on password sharing and increased competition from rival streaming services.
Analysts have rushed to downgrade Netflix in the aftermath of the company’s lackluster first-quarter earnings report, with at least ten different Wall Street firms slashing their price targets for the stock.
Bank of America double-downgraded the stock and reduced its share price target to $300 from $605, while several other firms also slashed estimates by more than half, including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Pivotal.
While some analysts see promise in Netflix’s plans to crack down on password sharing as well as introduce a cheaper, advertising-supported subscription tier, they warn that implementation is still years away.
Although these plans to combat “rapidly disappearing growth” have “merit,” by Netflix’s own admission there won’t be any “noticeable impact” until 2024, which is “a long time to wait on what is now a ‘show me’ story ,” wrote Bank of America’s Nat Schindler, adding, “it will take a while for investors to believe Netflix can return to growth.”
“There’s not much to get excited about over the next few months beyond the new, much lower stock price,” according to JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth, while Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall said Netflix’s growth narrative is officially “dunzo for now.”