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Netflix (NFLX) stock pops after the streaming giant reported better-than-expected third quarter results. Bullish investors are calling for a price hike, but Citi managing director Jason Bazinet remains skeptical. Bazinet sits down with Morning Brief Hosts Seana Smith and Brad Smith to discuss whether Netflix can pull off a price increase at current engagement levels. The bulls “were looking at sort of all of the streaming competitors that Netflix has that all (have) taken up prices right, because they're all trying to generate some modicum of profits in their streaming business. And so the buy side said, well, Netflix will take prices up too, because everyone else is,” Bazinet says. Other streaming service providers, including Disney+ (DIS), Comcast's (CMCSA) Peacock, and Warner Bros.' (WBD) Max, have recently raised prices. “Netflix will only take prices up if engagement is up,” the analyst says, noting that in aggregate levels engagement growth is “sort of flat.” He says, “Whether they take prices, it's going to be a function of how good their content is and whether they can get the engagement numbers up, not where their competitors are taking price.” Bazinet tells Yahoo Finance he doesn’t believe Netflix has the ability to raise prices at this point given ad-tier engagement numbers. “People want cheap Netflix, and they're willing to endure the ads. And so the sub-growth is not a function of a ringing endorsement on the part of consumers saying, ‘I love this.’ What they're saying is ‘I love the price more than I love the content.’ And that's what's required to get the marginal net add into the ecosystem: low price.” To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
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