Netflix will not hold a traditional earnings conference call after it reports its second-quarter financials on July 22. Instead, it will hold a video discussion moderated by a CNBC reporter and a Wall Street analyst.
“In lieu of our regular earnings call, Netflix chief executive officer Reed Hastings and chief financial officer David Wells will host a live video discussion about the company’s financial results and business outlook,” the online streaming giant said in an advisory. “The discussion will be moderated by Rich Greenfield, BTIG Research, and Julia Boorstin, CNBC, with questions submitted via email or Twitter.”
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Boorstin is CNBC’s media reporter. BTIG analyst Greenfield is known as one of the most outspoken Wall Street entertainment industry analysts.
Netflix didn’t detail the exact format of the discussion but said that it would be open to investors. Traditionally, earnings conference calls feature only questions from analysts covering a company.
“Questions from investors should be submitted to rgreenfield@btig.com/@RichBTIG or Julia.boorstin@nbcuni.com/@JBoorstin,” Netflix advised. “The moderators will incorporate as many questions as time permits into the discussion.”
Greenfield launched coverage of Netflix in April with a “buy” rating and $250 price target. “If Everyone Now Loves Netflix, Why Shouldn’t We/You?” was the title of his report.
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“We have probably written more about Netflix over the past several years than any other company we follow,” the analyst said back then. “Yet, we have been scared to put a rating on Netflix given the disconnect we have often seen between its stock price and underlying fundamentals, resulting in extreme share price volatility.”
Explaining his bullishness, Greenfield said: “The improving Netflix price/value relationship, along with high-quality, proprietary original programming will drive better-than-expected subscriber growth and moderate churn (the more a subscriber streams daily, the lower churn should fall). We also believe Netflix’s content spend is now sufficiently high, where they should gain significant domestic streaming leverage, accelerating in 2014 and beyond.”
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
