(Jakub Porzycki/Getty Images)

Netflix sinks despite flurry of Wall Street price target hikes

Analysts issued a number of bullish notes on the streaming giant after its second-quarter earnings beat, even as the stock traded lower on margin pressure.

Nia Warfield

7/18/25 10:32AM

Netflix’s Q2 earnings beat is getting a warm reception from analysts... even if the market doesn’t agree. Shares slipped about 5% on Friday morning after the streaming giant warned that second-half margins would be lower than the first half’s.

Still, the Street rolled out a slew of price target hikes on the stock as analysts leaned into the platform’s ad-tier traction, password crackdown momentum, and engaging content pipeline.

Wells Fargo

Price target: $1,560 from $1,500

Wells Fargo sees Netflix’s strategy clicking: recovering paid sharing revenue, scaling its ad tier, and expanding margins through a “flywheel” of reinvestment into content and tech. Analysts see the platform evolving into a much broader revenue engine.

Morgan Stanley

Price target: $1,500 from $1,450

Netflix remains a top pick at Morgan Stanley, which expects the platform’s new ad technology to nearly double advertising revenue next year. Analysts also see early adoption of generative-AI tools as a competitive edge in both content and product.

Jefferies

Price target: $1,500 from $1,400

Jefferies expects subscriber growth to continue, driven by password-sharing enforcement and steady gains in the ad tier. Longer-term growth is expected to come from price increases and improved monetization, alongside healthy free cash flow margins above 25%.

Piper Sandler

Price target: $1,500 from $1,400

Piper maintained its bullish stance, calling Netflix a defensive name with multiple upside drivers including advertising, higher prices, and a strong slate of content for the second half of the year. The firm also flagged the roughly $1 billion boost to 2025 revenue guidance as a sign of confidence.

UBS

Price target: $1,495 from $1,450

UBS called out Netflix’s widening content mix and investment boost in live programming as key to sustaining engagement. Analysts still expect most revenue growth this year to come from new subscribers. The firm also highlighted Netflix’s expectations that ad revenue will double this year.

JPMorgan

Price target: $1,300 from $1,230

JPMorgan reiterated its neutral stance, noting that Netflix’s 2025 outlook was helped by FX gains. The firm said subscriber additions in Q2 were weighted toward the end of the quarter, driven by strong content like “Squid Game” season 3 and other franchise shows.

Matt Phillips

44m

Tempus AI jumps on FDA clearance of AI-enabled tool to analyze cardiac MRIs

Tempus AI, a midcap medical diagnostics company that’s highlighted a push to incorporate AI technology into its products, surged on Thursday after announcing the FDA had issued a “510(k) clearance” of a new AI-enabled tool to analyze cardiac imagery from MRIs.

A 510(k) clearance — used for devices that are considered relatively low risk — essentially allows a product to be sold in the US.

While the company has never turned a profit, even on an adjusted basis, its sales are growing rapidly and the stock has had a great year, rising more than 160% in 2025.

For more on the company, check out our interview with its CEO, Eric Lefkofsky.

Tempus Receives U.S. FDA Special 510(k) Clearance for Updated Tempus Pixel Device

While the company has never turned a profit, even on an adjusted basis, its sales are growing rapidly and the stock has had a great year, rising more than 160% in 2025.

For more on the company, check out our interview with its CEO, Eric Lefkofsky.

Luke Kawa

Micron surges as Citi boosts price target to $175

Micron is on the move this morning, gapping higher and continuing to trade up double digits after Citi boosted its view on how much the shares can run.

Analyst Christopher Danely raised his price target on the memory chipmaking specialist to $175 from $150, while maintaining a “buy” rating. The average analyst price target of $151 has now been shattered by Micron’s rise today, and the stock is trading at its highest level since June 2024.

This continues Micron’s advance as OpenAI’s dogged determination to burn through cash to enhance its AI capabilities provides a broad lift to the space, punctuated by Oracle’s massive gain on Wednesday.

Call demand is running hot: just 13 minutes into the session, volumes are running at 106,157 compared to a 20-day average of 88,888.

Micron is slated to report quarterly results on September 23.

J. Edward Moreno

Centene rises after affirming full-year guidance

Centene soared in early trading after affirming its full-year guidance ahead of the Deutsche Bank 2025 Healthcare Summit on Thursday.

The company reiterated its expectation for adjusted diluted earnings per share to be approximately $1.75. At the conference, Centene executives also said they expect a higher percentage of its Medicare enrollees to be on more lucrative, top-rated plans next year, according to Bloomberg.

Earlier this week, UnitedHealth also reiterated its guidance and said it expects to have more top-rated plans in the coming year. The government rates insurance companies offering Medicare Advantage plans, and higher-rated plans are eligible for bonuses that can significantly increase a plan’s revenue.

Insurance companies that sell government-sponsored plans took a dive earlier this year amid unexpected rising costs. The recent announcements from both Centene and UnitedHealth may be a sign that the worst is behind them.

Max Knoblauch

Delta boosts its third-quarter sales outlook on improved travel demand

Delta Air Lines reaffirmed its full-year earnings outlook on Thursday, seeing US travel demand hold strong for the rest of the year.

Citing “improved demand trends,” the airline also elevated its sales forecast for the third quarter to an increase of between 2% and 4%. In July, it guided for 0% to 4% growth.

The move marks a turnaround from just five months ago, when Delta and many of its rivals pulled their full-year earnings outlooks as growth stalled on “broad economic uncertainty.” At the beginning of the year, Delta said 2025 had the chance to be its best fiscal year in a century.

After plunging earlier this year, Delta’s shares are essentially flat in 2025.

Hyunsoo Rim

Oracle’s rally briefly made cofounder Larry Ellison the world’s richest person, ahead of Elon Musk

Oracle pulled off one of the biggest rallies in its stock market history, as shares soared 36% on Wednesday after the company laid out a cloud business growth forecast that left analysts “blown away.”

What also went vertical, alongside the stock, was cofounder Larry Ellison’s fortune.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ellison’s net worth jumped by a record $89 billion to $383 billion, the biggest single-day gain ever, briefly overtaking Elon Musk’s fortune and making him, for a moment, the world’s richest person. Musk reclaimed the top spot by the end of Wednesday.

Yesterday’s remarkable gain means that Larry Ellison has now seen his estimated wealth increase by $191 billion year to date. That’s the equivalent of making $752 million a day, more than $522 thousand a minute, or $8,703 per second.