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Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Netflix's Need Is Apple's Opportunity

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By Tim Beyers, The Motley Fool

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Reed Hastings wants Netflix investing in more original series. And why not? House of Cards is already a success, and early signs point to a similarly strong showing for the horror series Hemlock Grove.

Trouble is, this sort of content doesn’t come cheap. In a manifesto posted to Netflix’s investor-relations site recently, Hastings confessed that original program development is “cash-intensive” and that producing more shows is likely to mean raising money from investors or partners:

As we expand Originals, they will consume cash. Since we are otherwise using domestic profits to fund international markets, we will raise capital as needed to fund the growth of Originals.

And that, Fool, is where Apple comes in. The Mac maker should be investing in Netflix original programming.

Source: Netflix.

How about an iPad with that?
It’s a rich opportunity. Netflix’s bulkier content portfolio led to hefty profits in Q1. Revenue rose 17.7% to $1.02 billion as the company turned an $0.08 per share loss into a $0.31 per share profit, after accounting for charges related to paying off debt. Wall Street was expecting just $0.18 a share. The stock promptly soared 20% on the news.

Why should Apple care? Math. Better TV apps means a better TV experience on the iPad, which means more reasons to buy an iPad, which means more iPad sales.

Or at least that’s how the market seems to be trending: iPad unit sales soared 65% and came in almost 1.5 million ahead of consensus estimates in fiscal Q2 versus a 7% year-over-year increase in iPhone sales. IDC is right — tablets are becoming an everyday item for American consumers, none more so than the iPad.

A natural partner
Apple and Netflix also share competitors. Consider Amazon.com and Google . Each sells individual tracks as iTunes does. They also offer music, books, and magazines in addition to streaming. Apple mutes their stores on its devices for this very reason.

Hulu isn’t a competitor, but management uncertainty makes partnering a risk. Redbox Instant would be an alternative as a development partner if executives had any interest in original programming. So far, they don’t.

Which brings us back to Netflix. Hastings needs Apple’s cash, and CEO Tim Cook has demonstrated a willingness to invest in ways the late Steve Jobs never would. Listen to how CFO Peter Oppenheimer described the company’s cash strategy in announcing fiscal Q2 earnings.

“We continue to generate cash in excess of our needs to operate the business, invest in our future, and maintain flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities,” Oppenheimer said in a press release. That, Fool, is how an investor talks when he’s searching for the next win.

Wait till Ringo hears about this
Starting a studio is probably out of the question given Apple’s litigious history with The Beatles. Any move to broaden the “Apple” brand in entertainment could get nasty in a hurry.

Yet Apple needn’t go that

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Market Minute: SeaWorld Goes Public, Valued at $2.5 Billion

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By DailyFinance Staff

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Jason Collier, AP

One of the biggest IPOs this year could make a big splash today. Theme park operator SeaWorld was priced at the high end of expectations, $27 a share. That values the company at $2.5 dollars.

Two out of three ain’t bad: That’s the scorecard from the three tech giants that reported quarterly results late yesterday.
Microsoft’s (MSFT) profit rose by a better-than-expected 19 percent to more than $6. Sales of server software and Xbox video games were strong, but newly booked revenue from Windows was essentially flat.

Google’s (GOOG) net rose 16 percent, also topping expectations. Revenue growth in its core advertising business was also strong.

But IBM (IBM) came up short of Street expectations and revenue was hurt by sluggish demand from corporate tech customers. It the first time IBM has missed the target since 2005. Separately, Big Blue is in talks to sell its huge server business to China-based Lenovo.

General Electric’s (GE) net rose 16 percent, in line with expectations. Revenue was flat, but a bit stronger than expected. GE is often considered a bellwether for the broader economy.

Blackstone Group (BX) has withdrawn its offer for Dell (DELL) after discovering the computer maker’s business is deteriorating faster than previously thought. That leaves only investor Carl Icahn as a possible rival to the bid from a group led by company founder Michael Dell to take the company private.

It was seven months ago today that Apple (AAPL) shares hit their all-time high of $702; they closed yesterday at $392. That’s a drop of 44 percent.

And Netflix (NFLX) is hoping to build on the success of its “House of Card” series with a second original program. Today it begins streaming the entire first season of a gothic horror series, “Hemlock Grove.”

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/seaworld-IPO-stock-market-news/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

4 Billion Reasons Netflix Is Soaring

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By Anders Bylund, The Motley Fool

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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings got himself and his company into some trouble last summer. Hastings used his personal Facebook page to reveal the fact that Netflix users spent 1 billion hours in front of streaming videos in June. Critics said this information was valuable to shareholders and would have been more appropriate in a more traditional medium such as a press release or an SEC filing.

The SEC took a look, decided to allow social-media postings to carry investable information — and Hastings is back on Facebook again. This time, the news is that Netflix users streamed 4 billion video hours in the first quarter of 2013. Here’s the whole posting:

Source: Facebook.

If the billion-hour tidbit was material to investors, this posting shouldn’t be any less valuable. Converted into “more than 1.3 billion hours per month,” it’s at least a 33% increase in viewing hours on a global level compared with that market-moving note from last June.

So what do these billion-scale numbers really mean?

If viewer engagement has stayed constant over the past nine months, the figure would mean that Netflix grew its global subscriber base by more than 34%. That would be on the high end of Hastings’ subscriber guidance for the first quarter, which gets a full report in less than two weeks.

Or, with subscriber counts at the midpoint of official guidance ranges, you’d get a 3% increase in monthly viewing per user. That would help Netflix suppress the dreaded churn of users getting bored and leaving the service.

The truth probably straddles both dynamics, with a heavier lean on high subscriber numbers than increased engagement. I do expect churn to get guided down a bit as the slate of original Netflix shows makes its presence known. House of Cards is a hit, Hemlock Grove hooks into a suddenly red-hot horror-movie market, and Arrested Development comes with a fully developed fan base. And most of their eyeball-grabbing action falls in the second quarter.

Keep your eyes open for more of Hastings’ Facebook posts if the second-quarter report leaves you wanting more.

The tumultuous performance of Netflix shares since the summer of 2011 has caused headaches for many devoted shareholders. While the company’s first-mover status is often viewed as a competitive advantage, the opportunities in streaming media have brought some new, deep-pocketed rivals looking for their piece of a growing pie. Can Netflix fend off this burgeoning competition, and will its international growth aspirations really pay off? These are must-know issues for investors, which is why The Motley Fool has released a premium report on Netflix. Inside, you’ll learn about the key opportunities and risks facing the company, as well as reasons to buy or sell the stock. The report includes a full year of updates to cover critical new developments, so make sure to click here and claim a copy today.

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/14/4-billion-reasons-netflix-is-soaring-weekend/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is Netflix's Newest Show a Bomb?

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By Eric Bleeker, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Whether you’re an investor or a consumer, quite a bit has been going right for Netflix  in 2013. The company’s stock is up an impressive 87% so far this year, and its first major original programming, House of Cards, was met with fantastic reviews and quickly became Netflix’s most-watched programming upon its Feb. 1 premiere. 

Netflix’s big bet in the coming year is on original programming, and it hit the ball out of the park with House of Cards, yet big-budget original programming is a risky field. The gold standard of premium original programming, HBO, has had its share of successes, such as The Sopranos and Game of Thrones. Both of those shows have big ratings and nearly universal critical acclaim. However, HBO‘s successes come with misses as well. The network thought so highly of John From Cincinnati that it aired the show’s premiere after the series finale of The Sopranos. 

The big bet on that program was a spectacular failure; John From Cincinnati was cancelled the day after its first-season finale. Today, HBO thinks so lowly of the show that it’s one of the few original shows not available on HBO Go. 

The point being? Ambitious, big-budget original programming can be a hit-and-miss affair, especially when tackling tricky subjects that network television would never go for. Even the best in the business, HBO, has its share of absolute duds. With Netflix going 1-for-1 with ambitious original programs, will it succumb to the law of averages and release a dud?

If the first review of its newest series, Hemlock Grove, is any indication, while Netflix succeeded spectacularly with House of Cards, it still has some growing pains in becoming an original programming powerhouse. 

A dubious idea from the start
Hemlock Grove is the second of three major original programming gambles from Netflix in the first half of 2013. Like House of Cards, it features some high-paid talent. While House of Cards had Kevin Spacey as the main actor and David Fincher as director (he was also behind such films as Seven, Fight Club, and The Social Network), Hemlock Grove has Eli Roth attached to the director role and well-known actors such as Famke Janssen, who was in X-Men and GoldenEye. 

Like House of Cards, which cost a reported $100 million for two seasons, Netflix appears to be sparing no expense on Hemlock Grove. The first season was reportedly budgeted at $4 million per episode, pushing it above budgets for widely viewed broadcast programming. 

The problem with Hemlock Grove is that it’s coming from a niche background, yet angling for more conventional fare at the same time. Director Eli Roth’s background is focused around gore-fest horror fare like Hostel. That’s a genre with very limited commercial appeal compared with something like House of Cards’ genre of political thrillers, a known quantity that’s been a staple of broadcast programming across the past decade and appeals to a wide audience. The horror genre has seen some recent success with FX’s American Horror Story, but the genre remains a big risk with a limited yet very dedicated audience. However, Hemlock

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/13/is-netflixs-newest-show-a-bomb/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

What If Netflix Has a Flop on Its Hands?

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By Rick Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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Netflix is in a good groove these days.

Goldman Sachs bumped its target on the shares from $125 to $184 on Thursday, encouraged by Netflix’s widening addressable market — not just the 84.2 million U.S. homes with broadband connectivity, but the fact that Netflix is now a viable subscription option for those embracing Web-enabled mobile devices.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tooted his own company’s horn on Thursday, pointing out in a Facebook status update that the service delivered 4 billion hours of content through the first three months of the year.

Then we have a catalyst that has yet to play out. Hemlock Grove — the latest show that will be exclusively available on Netflix for the time being — begins streaming next weekend. After February’s wildly successful House of Cards, if Netflix can nab another magnetic property, it will be that much harder for folks to cancel subscriptions between programming lulls. Netflix will have proved itself worthy of scoring magnetic content, and the comparison’s with Time Warner‘s HBO will be even more apropos.

Is Netflix on the same level as HBO? Not exactly. As anyone knows who has seen House of Cards available as a DVD preorder on rival Amazon.com , Netflix is often merely paying for exclusive streaming rights or just the benefit of carrying a particular show first. If it’s a hit, it may very well be made available through other outlets down the line.

But what if we don’t get that far with these next shows? What if Hemlock Grove isn’t scary? What if Arrested Development‘s fourth season next month isn’t funny?

We may not be dealing with hypothetical questions here.

“Weird can be good, but this isn’t intentionally weird so much as it is plain bad,” reads a scathing Hollywood Reporter review of Hemlock Grove from Tim Goodman.

Let’s be fair here. Goodman also panned the similarly creepy American Horror Story, the sleeper gothic horror hit of 2011 where the Harmon family moved into a haunted house — and paid the price.

“Unlike the Harmons, watching what goes on in that house even once is enough to know better than to go back again,” he concluded.

He was wrong then. The show fared well on FX and went on to have a second season. Maybe he’s wrong this time, too. Then again, maybe it’s better for Netflix if Goodman is right. Netflix will have some duds on its hands. That’s inevitable.

Amazon is in the process of greenlighting a bunch of pilots. It will then see which ones are fit to bankroll complete seasons for based on the streaming audience’s initial reaction. However, even that hurdle won’t guarantee that Amazon won’t have some clunkers of its own.

Netflix has more money to spend than anybody else on streaming content, because it can justify the content land grab as it spreads it around its 33.2 million streaming accounts worldwide. However, when a show falls

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/13/what-if-netflix-has-a-flop-on-its-hands/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Buying Netflix Stock Doesn't Have to Be Scary Stuff

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By Rick Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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Netflix wants to creep you out next week, but that’s a good thing.

Hemlock Grove — a new show with blood-curdling aspirations based on a Brian McGreevy novel and directed by horror guru Eli Roth — will stream exclusively on Netflix starting a week from Friday.

True to its “binge viewing” mantra, Netflix won’t string viewers around with weekly cliffhangers. All 13 episodes of the series will be made available at the same time. It’s a strategy that may have been criticized by industry analysts and television veterans with House of Cards in February, but viewers obviously don’t have a problem with dictating the pace of their content consumption.

Netflix stock is on fire these days, and the leading streaming service provider has to make sure that it has the programming to match.

The show is unlikely to make the same kind of Emmy-magnetic waves that House of Cards did earlier this year, but it’s hard to argue against the subject matter. American Horror Story has made Gothic horror trendy, and fans of Twilight may want to know that there are werewolves involved.

It remains to be seen how this busy slate of exclusive first-run programming on Netflix this year will fare. It doesn’t help that it no longer provides monthly churn metrics, so all we have to go on is the ultimate net growth of subscribers.

Netflix began the year encouragingly strong on that front with 33.2 million global streaming accounts.

Most of the original programming buzz has been generated by House of Cards and next month’s Arrested Development revival, but Netflix also has a few more shows along the lines of Hemlock Grove that could prove to be sleeper hits.

At a time when Netflix stock has more than tripled, the restored dot-com darling will need to make sure that it has more hits than misses along the way.

It’s not as if Netflix will lose ground to the competition if it whiffs here and there. After all, have you assessed the competition?

Time Warner‘s HBO is the premium platform that Netflix often drums up as its biggest rival, but it’s not a fair comparison. HBO has the quality proprietary content that Netflix craves, but the old-school model where costly subscriptions are tethered to even more expensive cable and satellite television plans prevent it from being a fast-growing service.

Amazon.com has the ambition — matching Netflix in terms of the streaming smorgasbord as a stand-alone offering — but its catalog remains vastly inferior to what Netflix has amassed over the years.

If Hemlock Grove is lucky, it will be as scary as the frightening lead the competition has let Netflix amass largely unchecked.

Research worth viewing
The tumultuous performance of Netflix shares since the summer of 2011 has caused headaches for many devoted shareholders. While the company’s first-mover status is often viewed as a competitive advantage, the opportunities in streaming media have brought some new, deep-pocketed rivals looking for their …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

A Frightening Way to Push Netflix Stock to New Highs

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By Tim Beyers, The Motley Fool

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Television audiences can’t seem to get enough of bloody murder, and Netflix is more than happy to oblige. The streaming sensation releases all 13 episodes of new horror series Hemlock Grove on April 19, just three days before releasing first-quarter earnings.

Unlike political thriller House of Cards, which earns a remarkable nine out of 10 stars over more than 26,000 ratings at IMDB, Hemlock Grove is a genuine chiller in which a Rust Belt town is paralyzed by an unknown werewolf lurking among them:

Sources: Netflix, YouTube.

Can actor and horror director Eli Roth deliver as Kevin Spacey and David Fincher have? Netflix stock jumped nearly 10% in the week following the Feb. 1 debut of House of Cards, a high bar. In terms of ratings, the show also purportedly rivaled the HBO hit Girls during this debut week.

Roth, meanwhile, is known for playing the “Bear Jew” in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and for directing profitable torture flicks Hostel and Hostel II for Lions Gate Entertainment . Hemlock Grove doesn’t appear to be as harsh, but it’s a sure bet Roth’s werewolf will have a sharper and bloodier bite than the shirtless lycanthropes featured in the Twilight films.

Netflix is also airing Hemlock Grove at an interesting time. AMC Networks is coming off yet another record-setting season for apocalyptic drama The Walking Dead, which drew 12.4 million viewers during its Easter Sunday finale. Shares of AMC are up more than 27% year to date.

So get ready to get scared. Especially if you’re among the brave souls shorting Netflix stock right now.

For further analysis of how Netflix is changing entertainment, tune into our newest premium research report, in which we take you inside Netflix’s entertainment empire and tell you what the streaming sensation is really worth, and whether the stock deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report now by clicking here.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, contentByline: “Tim Beyers”, contentId: “cms.29353”, …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

These 5 Stocks Are Off to a Great Start in 2013

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By Anders Bylund, The Motley Fool

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As we ease our way into April, the first quarter of 2013 is in the books. Here are some of the market‘s best performers so far, and why I think they will or won’t keep soaring the whole year long.

Will these rocket rides blast even higher in 2013 — or run out of fuel?
Image source: NASA.

The safest bet
Movie distribution expert Netflix jumped 104% in the first three months. The stock came into 2013 with rock-bottom performance expectations but blew skeptics away with a fantastic first-quarter report.

Subscribers have largely forgotten about the brand-damaging Qwikster debacle, and the international expansion program is building up a head of steam. Moreover, the House of Cards original-content experiment bowed to fine reviews and appears to set Netflix apart from other online film services, much like the premium cable networks jockey for position with Emmy-winning dramas.

The original content project continues with horror series Hemlock Grove in April, starring Famke Janssen and Bill Skarsgard under the guiding hand of genre master Eli Roth. Then there’s low-budget comedy Bad Samaritans and high-concept prison dramedy Orange Is the New Black, not to mention the reboot of cult series Arrested Development. These titles should help Netflix attract fresh subscribers, and the overseas expansion will keep Netflix growing for years to come.

Netflix shares may seem expensive right now, given the earnings-sapping costs of rapid expansion. But make no mistake: Netflix is cheap even at $200. If nothing else, the stock will pop again next January, with another holiday season under the bridge. This January bounce was no accident.

The housing experts
The housing market is suddenly booming again, at least in comparison with the miserable years between 2008 and 2012. This rebound has created a number of strong gainers on the market.

Online house-hunting service Zillow has gained 97% so far. The site enjoyed a 47% year-over-year increase in unique users, and management set expectations even higher for the next quarter.

Private mortgage insurer MGIC Investment soared to the tune of 86%, and rival Radian Group jumped 75%. Both companies crushed earnings estimates in March, and Barclays upgraded them to a “buy” rating. Bad loans from the subprime bonanza are fading away just as the market for new housing stabilizes. Owning these stocks seems less risky these days.

That being said, fellow Fool Sean Williams worries that MGIC‘s recapitalization plan will destroy shareholder value while its debts pile up sky-high. It’ll take a dramatically stronger housing market to make these issues go away, not the gradual return to health we’ve seen so far. It makes sense to lump Radian and Zillow into the same booming-but-risky category until further notice. Don’t invest money in these tickers that you can’t afford to lose, in case the rosy projections don’t pan out.

The bigger they are …
Here’s a shocker. There are 3,077 stocks on the U.S. markets …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Movies & TV

Eli Roth Brings Hemlock Grove to WonderCon

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On the heels of their successful launch of House of Cards, Netflix continues a run of original content — including the upcoming new season of Arrested Development — with Hemlock Grove, a new horror series executive produced by Eli Roth. The story begins with the murder of a teenage girl, and a whodunnit that involves many in the town of Hemlock Grove… and possibly even some non-human suspects.

Set to debut all 13 episodes on April 19th, Hemlock Grove will be coming to WonderCon with a panel on March 29th attended by much of the cast. Roth will be joined by Brian McGreevy, who wrote the novel Hemlock Grove is based on, and their fellow executive producer Lee Shipman, and cast members Famke Janssen (X-Men), Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible II), Bill Skarsgård (Anna Karenina), Landon Liboiron (Terra Nova), Penelope Mitchell, Freya Tingley, Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), and Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica).

Continue reading…

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Movies