In what may be one of the strangest news pieces I have heard in a while, streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) may be about to lose one of its biggest acts: the Duffer Brothers. If that name is not immediately familiar, then perhaps their property will be: Stranger Things. Perhaps even stranger than the things in question is who Netflix may lose to here. Investors took it in stride, though, and sent shares up fractionally in the closing minutes of Friday’s trading.
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Matt and Ross Duffer, the guys behind the runaway hit Stranger Things, may be landing a new deal at, of all places, Paramount (PARA). Yes, the studio that has been relentlessly flailing for months as people wondered if it could even pull off a merger successfully may be about to poach the makers of one of Netflix’s biggest properties. One of Paramount’s new goals is to become the “no.1 destination for the most talented artists and filmmakers in the world.”
Interestingly, the move might have been made possible from a completely different Netflix loss, as Cindy Holland—who helped get Stranger Things off the ground at Netflix—herself moved to Paramount, and is now the head of streaming therein. However, reports note that a deal between the Duffers and Paramount would also include theatrical-release feature films.
A Win in Animation
But Netflix may be about to make a serious surge in one respect: animation. Netflix animation has been a bit of a mixed bag of late. Some of it is great, some of it not so much, and in some cases it is both great and terrible depending on the season. Disenchantment, I look squarely at you here. But one series is proving to be a big winner for Netflix: the unlikely hero of Kpop Demon Hunters.
Not only is Kpop Demon Hunters the most viewed animated movie on Netflix right now, it is also the second most-viewed movie period on the platform. For a movie that has only been available since late June, that is no mean feat. Greenlight Analytics director of insights and content strategy Brandon Katz notes that this is Netflix’s “…first real, organic, mega hit animated franchise.” But what does Netflix do for an encore here? That answer may determine whether this is a long-term winner or a flash in the pan.
Is Netflix Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on NFLX stock based on 26 Buys, 11 Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 82.56% rally in its share price over the past year, the average NFLX price target of $1,394 per share implies 12.31% downside risk.
