Netflix Shares Continue Slide Amid Analyst Concerns Over Password Crackdown

Wall Street is showing new anxiety about Netflix, with the streaming giant’s stock price continuing its recent slide on Friday. Netflix’s stock is down nearly 3% in early morning trading, a day after its share price dropped more than 8%, following a prominent analyst raising concerns on Thursday over its growth and amid a larger downturn for the market.

MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman published a research report on Thursday, warning that Netflix’s big subscriber growth, due in large part to its crackdown on password sharing, could be slowing down in the quarters ahead.

“It is likely Netflix has a few more quarters of strong subscriber growth driven by its content slate and ad-tier, but we do expect the benefits of the password-sharing crackdown to slow,” Fishman said.

Wall Street’s reaction comes as Netflix is trying to reframe how investors judge its performance, away from subscriber counts to focus more on profitabilty. The company said recently it will no longer report subscriber counts on a quarterly basis.

Netflix’s stock, after its 2.6% drop into early trading on Friday, was trading for $882.70 per share.

It hasn’t been a great month for Netflix, with its share price down 11% in the past 30 days, but some perspective is warranted. The company’s share price is still up 1% on the year, thanks to a big jump following its Jan. earnings report, showing Netflix added nearly 19 million subscribers in Q4 — a quarter that blew past what Wall Street analysts were projecting.

And longterm Netflix shareholders probably are not sweating too much lately, either, considering the company’s share price is up 46% since March 2024. Some analysts are more bullish on Netflix in the quarters ahead as well.

Guggenheim Partners, in a report led by Michael Morris following Netflix’s Q4 report, raised its 12-month price target from $950 to $1,100 per share. The Guggenheim report pointed to the return of popular shows like “Squid Game” and “Stranger Things” in 2025, as well as an expectation Netflix’s ad business will continue to mature, as reasons for optimism.

Netflix’s stock drop this week also comes as the market has taken a hit, as some investors have been wary of the impact of President Trump’s tariff plans; Friday’s jobs report also came in below analyst projections.

In other Netflix news, the company said this week it plans on spending $18 billion on content in 2025. And on Thursday, Netflix announced it was pushing further into live sports and would be streaming a fight between super lightweight champion Katie Taylor and featherweight world champion Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano on July 11.

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