Pacific Crest Says Netflix International Growth Not Priced In To Shares

 Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will grow its non-U.S. subscriber base at a rate 20 percent faster than Wall Street expects and hit the 6 million mark by year-end, one analyst said Tuesday. 

The streaming video company plans a big expansion in Europe in the second half, and Pacific Crest’s Andy Hargreaves sees an accelerating rate of acceptance there.

At December 31, 2013, Netflix had 31.7 million paid domestic streaming members, up 26 percent and 9.7 million internationally, up 134 percent. The international figure rose to 13.8 million at mid year.

Netflix is rolling out service in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. It already operates in the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Hargreaves says the Wall Street consensus calls for Netflix to add less than five million new international subscribers this year, but he’s calling for six million.

The market research firm IHS reportedly estimated last week that Netflix will add between five and six million international subscribers this year. IHS expects the figure will rise to eight million by 2018, CNET reported last week.

“There’s a massive global opportunity for subscriber growth that isn’t fully captured in the share price,” Hargreaves said in a note maintaining an Out Perform rating and $530 target.

Netflix fell $0.23 per share recently to $480.70.

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