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Goldman Sachs: Wall Street keeps underestimating just how fast Netflix is growing

Key Points
  • Goldman Sachs believes Netflix's subscriber growth will continue to soar, forecasting 30 million net adds in 2019 versus consensus estimates of 25 million.
  • Analyst Heath Terry reiterates his buy rating on shares as well as a 12-month price target of $470, implying 23 percent upside.
  • "Analyst forecasts continue to understate the company's future growth, both near and long term, in our view," the Goldman analyst says.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Wall Street analysts are underestimating Netflix's potential user growth over the next several years as the company turns its focus to a far larger global market, according to Goldman Sachs.

As Netflix's audience transitions from in-home television viewing toward out-of-home mobile viewing, the subscriber pool should skyrocket in large emerging markets like India, analyst Heath Terry told clients Tuesday.

"Despite Netflix outperforming consensus estimates for net subscriber additions for the past five years, analyst forecasts continue to understate the company's future growth, both near and long term, in our view," the Goldman analyst wrote in a research note.

Though the Los Gatos, California-company missed big on subscriber growth in the second quarter, Netflix has topped user projections in four of the last five quarters.

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Goldman believes that trend is likely to continue. It forecasts 30 million net adds in 2019 versus consensus estimates of 25 million.

Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating on shares as well as a 12-month price target of $470, implying 23 percent upside over the next year.

The stock was down slightly Tuesday, trading above $380 a share.

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