Citron Research Thinks Netflix Is Headed Back to $300

Citron Research Thinks Netflix Is Headed Back to $300 ## Netflix stock 2019 started on a solid note for Netflix (NFLX). In January so far, the stock has gone down in only one session out of total eight. As of January 10, the stock was already up 21.3% month-to-date before its fourth-quarter earnings release scheduled for next week. Many analysts, including from Goldman Sachs and UBS, have expressed their optimism on the stock in the last couple of weeks. In contrast, Citron Research seems to have a different view. Let’s take a look. ## Citron Research’s view Today, Citron Research said on Twitter that Netflix “investors at this level as blind as Bird Box. Market cap up $45 bill in 12 days or 12 $DWA / 12 $LGF / 10 $ROKU / 5 Hulu.” Citron was talking about Netflix’s surging market capitalization with its stock price rally. As of January 10, its market cap was at $141.6 billion as compared to about $102.0 billion on December 24. Seemingly slamming Netflix bulls, Citron added that Netflix “to trade back to $300.” On Thursday after the market closed, UBS analyst Eric Sheridan upgraded the stock to “buy” from “hold” and raised his price target on the company to $410 from $400. Last week, a Goldman Sachs analyst also expressed optimism on the company. ## Could it hurt the stock? Despite Citron’s negative views, investors’ high expectations for the upcoming earnings and the majority of Wall Street analysts’ positive views on Netflix could keep its stock positive in the near term. However, a weaker-than-expected earnings report next week or weaker 2019 guidance could hurt investors’ sentiment and erase these gains. As of Thursday closing, other tech stocks (SPY)(QQQ) Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), NVIDIA (NVDA), Facebook (FB), Roku (ROKU), and Microsoft (MSFT) were up 10.3%, 3.2%, 8.8%, 10.0%, 31.1%, and 2.0%, respectively, month-to-date while Apple (AAPL) has lost 2.5%. Meanwhile, Chinese companies Baidu (BIDU) and Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) have seen 6.1% and 7.6% gains, respectively, in January so far.