Shares of streaming video service Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) soared in pre-market trade Tuesday, after J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth raised the 12-month price target on Netflix to US$328.
Shares surged 2.9% to US$298.30 in pre-market trading.
Anmuth reiterated his Overweight rating on Netflix while anticipating "strong" first-quarter results. The streaming giant is scheduled to report first-quarter results after the April 16 market close.
Continued growth, ongoing disruption of TV space
Netflix continues to expand and touts more than 117.5 million members in more than 190 countries who enjoy more than 140 million hours of TV shows and movies per day.
"Importantly, we believe [Netflix] will continue to drive and benefit from the ongoing disruption of linear TV, supported by an ever-expanding base of high quality original content, with NFLX adding more [subscriptions] in 2018 (25 million) than 2017 (23.8 million) and reaching about 200 million global subscriptions by 2021," Anmuth wrote in a note to clients.
J.P. Morgan pointed out that Netflix is “more insulated” from regulatory and data-privacy concerns than other large-cap technology stocks like Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).