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Goldman Sachs raises its Netflix price target by $100 to the highest on Wall Street

Key Points
  • Goldman Sachs raises its price target to $490 from $390 for Netflix shares.
  • It is the highest target out of the 36 analysts who cover Netflix, according to FactSet.
Goldman Sachs gets even more bullish on Netflix
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Goldman Sachs gets even more bullish on Netflix

Goldman Sachs is getting more bullish on Netflix shares even after its stunning gains so far this year.

The firm reiterated its buy rating and increased its price target for Netflix shares to $490 from $390, representing 35 percent upside to Tuesday's close. It is the highest target out of the 36 analysts who cover Netflix, according to FactSet.

"We believe the growing content offering and expanding distribution ecosystem will continue to drive subscriber growth above consensus expectations. Based on the pace of both, we're raising our revenue estimates and price target," analyst Heath Terry wrote in a note to clients Wednesday.

Netflix is becoming a global media phenomenon, says analyst
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Netflix is becoming a global media phenomenon, says analyst

Netflix's stock closed up 4.4 percent Wednesday. Its shares are up nearly 90 percent this year through Tuesday, which is the second best performance in the S&P 500. The market value of the company has risen by approximately $96 billion in the previous 12 months.

The analyst predicts Netflix will add 32.5 million net subscribers in 2019 versus the Wall Street consensus of 26 million subscribers. Terry also cited the company's guidance to spend $2 billion in marketing for fiscal 2018.

"We believe Netflix's ability to spend significantly more on customer acquisition while still producing ~4pps of operating margin expansion for the full year, on our estimates, will allow the company to drive additional subscriber growth, particularly in markets where the company's brand presence isn't as strong as it is in the U.S.," he said.

— CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story.

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