Two catalysts may send shares of Netflix even higher in the months ahead, according to Bank of America. Analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich reiterated her buy rating on Netflix and hiked her price target by $200 to $1,000, implying more than 13% upside from Wednesday’s close. This comes as the stock has already soared more than 81% year to date. Netflix is also ahead more than 14% in the past month and nearly 27% in the past three. NFLX YTD mountain NFLX, year-to-date Reif Ehrlich sees last week’s boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul – which had 65 million live concurrent streams and 108 million total live viewers around the world – as a “knockout” opportunity for Netflix in live events. “The fight was the most-streamed sporting event of all time and an emphatic proof point of Netflix’s ability to aggregate global reach at scale for live events,” the analyst told clients on Thursday. “Despite the reported technical issues, we see this event as a positive for Netflix’s ambition in live/sports and also as it relates to the company’s ability to drive growth in advertising.” “The fight likely signals to sports leagues/promoters that Netflix can now deliver live viewership at a similar (if not greater) scale than linear television,” she continued. Broadcasting two NFL games on Christmas Day – one of which will feature a halftime performance by Beyoncé – and starting a 10-year contract with World Wrestling Entertainment’s “Raw” next year demonstrates Netflix’s ambition to more deeply pursue live programming. That, combined with its in-house ad tech platform, could spur even more upside, she said. “Live and advertising are complementary growth drivers, as more live programming drives additional high value, premium ad inventory,” Reif Ehrlich added. “Netflix’s ability to monetize this premium live inventory will be key to making advertising a multi-year growth driver.” Wall Street is mostly bullish on Netflix, with 32 of 48 analysts rating it a strong buy or buy, according to LSEG data. Most of the others (14) are neutral. Still, Netflix has an average price target of $787, implying about 11% downside from Wednesday’s close. Netflix gained 1.4% to ann all-time high of $896.40 in early trading Thursday.
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