Netflix May Be Cheap Enough to Tempt Buyers After Earnings Drop

Summary

Netflix Inc. NASDAQ: NFLX has been one of the weakest large-cap media and technology stocks over the past year, with shares still sharply lower in 2026 heading into its Q2 earnings report. Investors who hoped the report would reverse that trend may have to wait. NFLX sold off after delivering a mixed report. Netflix Today$68.95 -5.40 (-7.26%) As of 07/17/2026 04:00 PM Eastern52-Week Range$65.08▼$126.71P/E Ratio21.70Price Target$103.97 Netflix delivered a slight beat on adjusted earnings per share (EPS), with 80 cents per share coming in a penny above the estimate for 79 cents. But revenue of $12.56 billion came in slightly below the $12.58 billion expected. Get Netflix alerts:Sign Up Revenue was up 13% on a year-over-year basis, and the company’s operating margin came in at 33%. Both numbers were in line with the company’s prior forecasts. It’s being described as a report in which the company set a low bar and tripped over it. The bigger story may be that investors are deciding how to price the business that Netflix is today. Netflix Faces a New Reality Beyond Its FAANG EraBefore the Magnificent Seven, there were the FAANG stocks: Meta Platforms Inc. NASDAQ: META, Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL, Amazon.com Inc. NASDAQ: AMZN, Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ: GOOGL, and Netflix. These stocks were the darlings of the mobile and cloud computing buildout. At that time, Netflix was delivering organic growth on an epic level. So much, in fact, that Netflix took away password sharing and aggressively moved away from its ad-free programming tier, and consumers paid for the privilege. But the one thing that Netflix can’t seem to outrun is its competition. The company says that it “only” has about 5% of its total addressable market. On the surface, that sounds like a company trying to explain why it still deserves to be part of the cool club. But it could also be a reminder that consumers have many options. Moreover, content generation continues to be a major expense that is coming at a time wh...