From DailyTech: Thus far 2015 has brought a series of key moral victories for the market's top streaming video service, Netflix Inc. (NFLX). CEO Reed Hastings' persistent promotion of net neutrality helped to rally the political momentum necessary for February's ratification of new open internet protections from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). And its detailed account of how Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) squeezed fees out of it by throttling customers to VHS-like speeds, proved a key rallying cry for opponents of the proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC). The monopolistic merger was sucessfully scuttled in April.
Now Hastings and co. have scored another win -- this time for hearts and minds of investors. On Tuesday the Los Gatos, Calif.-based media company announced [PDF] one of the biggest share splits in years.
The 7-to-1 stock split emphatically eases rising concern over the media company's sky-high share prices. Is red the new green? One thing's for sure -- this move has investors buzzing in a way that would make even the fictional Frank Underwood proud.
To put it in context, when Apple, Inc. (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook opted to execute a 7-for-1 split in April 2014, shares were trading around $525 USD/share.
Netflix shares? They had hit a high of $692.79 USD/share on June 10, and analysts were forecasting they could be anywhere from $720 USD (the high end of UBS AG's (SWX:UBSN) analyst estimates and estimates of analysts at the Bank of America Corp.'s (BAC) investment wing, Merill Lynch) to $950 USD (estimated by an analyst at BTIG, LLC).
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