Yahoo Finance Netflix (NFLX) Expands International Content With Swedish Film
Netflix NFLX is expanding its international content portfolio with the launch of the Swedish drama thriller, A Day and a Half, set to be released on Sep 1.
The movie is directed by Fares Fares (of Westworld and Chernobyl fame), who also stars in the movie as police officer Lukas. The film stars Alexej Manvelov and Alma Pöysti in the lead roles.
Netflix’s international content pipeline also includes movies and shows in different languages, including Danish, German, Korean and Sami.
Netflix is set to launch six new Korean shows, See You in My 19th Life (premiering Jun 17), King the Land (premiering Jun 17), Behind Your Touch, Destined with You, A Time Called You (premiering in the third quarter of 2023) and Doona! (premiering in the fourth quarter of 2023).
Netflix, Inc. Price and Consensus
Netflix, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Netflix, Inc. Quote
Other notable additions to the portfolio include the Brazilian animated series Wake Up, Carlo!, the Thai series DELETE (Jun 28) and the Korean show Bloodhounds.
Strong Portfolio to Drive Growth
Netflix’s strategy to support communities in the regions it operates improves its footprint. Its ever-expanding foreign language content portfolio has been a major growth driver as the company continues to face stiff competition from the likes of Apple AAPL, Disney DIS and Comcast CMCSA in the saturated streaming market.
Netflix gained 1.75 million paid subscribers globally in the first quarter of 2023. It lost 0.2 million paid subscribers in the year-ago quarter.
At the end of the first quarter, the company had 232.5 million paid subscribers globally, up 4.9% year over year.
Netflix shares have gained 38.8% year to date compared with the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector’s rise of 8.5%. NFLX shares have also outperformed Comcast and Disney but underperformed Apple. Shares of Apple, Comcast, and Disney have returned 39%, 15.7% and 6.5%, respectively.
Netflix is benefiting from a diversified content portfolio, cheaper ad-supported plans and a password-sharing initiative. Hit shows like The Night Agent, The Glory, Full Swing and That 90s Show helped the company win subscribers in the first quarter of 2023.
Netflix’s ad-supported cheaper plans are gaining user attention. The company launched its ad-supported service on Nov 3, 2022, with the basic plan costing $6.99 a month in the United States.
Disney followed in the footsteps of Netflix to offer its ad-supported tier starting Dec 8, 2022. Its streaming service, Disney+, as of Apr 1, 2023, had 157.8 million paid subscribers compared with 161.8 million as of Dec 31, 2022.
Netflix recently announced its paid-sharing model in the United States, alerting members that their accounts cannot be shared for free with users outside their households. The company launched the paid sharing model in Canada, New Zealand, Spain and Portugal in first-quarter 2023.
Netflix’s strong content portfolio is expected to help it win new subscribers despite the negative impact of password sharing in the near term. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company currently expects second-quarter 2023 earnings of $2.84 per share. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2023 earnings is pegged at $2.79 per share, down by a couple of cents in the past 30 days.
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