Netlfix considers buybacks as they come back into favor

Netflix Inc. raised the possibility of share repurchases at a time when companies most actively pursuing them are back in favor. The streaming-video company said in an investor letter Tuesday that it “will explore returning cash to shareholders through ongoing stock buybacks,” as it did between 2007 and 2011. Netflix’s move followed an eight-month rally in the S&P 500 Buyback Index relative to the S&P 500. The ratio between these gauges climbed 15% through Wednesday after reaching its lowest level since January 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Disney is far from matching Netflix's business, shares

Walt Disney Co. has a long way to go to catch up with Netflix Inc., its biggest rival in video streaming. At 86.2 million subscribers as of Dec. 2, the Disney+ service had less than half of Netflix’s most recent total: 195.2 million, from Sept. 30. The gap between the companies’ stock performance since Disney+ debuted in November 2019 is similarly wide. Disney rose 29% for the period with a 14% gain Friday, a day after disclosing the subscriber count. The 13-month advance was far from Netflix’s 71% increase.

 

Years of Nasdaq beating S&P 500 may be at an end

Nasdaq stocks are in danger of losing their long-held status as U.S. market leaders, according to Michael Shaoul, chief executive officer at Marketfield Asset Management LLC. He raised the possibility in a report Thursday that tracked the ratio between the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 indexes. The ratio has fallen as much as 5 percent since July 25, when it peaked after rising 163 percent from a low in September 2002. Losses may mount, Shaoul wrote, because of concern about “future growth or profitability” for Apple Inc. and the four FANG stocks: Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Alphabet Inc., Google’s owner.