- Prev. close
- $70.61
- Volume
- 7.8M
- Market cap
- $296.5B
Stock and sector context
Mediainflow- Sector comparison
- Netflix changed +0.86%. The 2 covered Media stocks in US averaged +0.77%, with estimated sector flow of inflow.
- Variables to watch
- Digital ad spendingSubscriber countsContent slate
- Risks to check
- -43% below the high, the downtrend may continue
- An ad spending slowdown
- Rising content costs
This compares price changes among covered stocks in the same market. It does not establish why prices moved. Variables and risks are sector reference lists.
Why a candidate
Match 73/100The match score marks how many conditions overlap on a 0 to 100 scale: the 52-week range, valuation metrics, price change and volume. It is not a probability of rising or a forecast return.
Today's read
Netflix scores 73 out of 100 on today's InverseOne match ranking, 2 of 30 in the US large-cap universe. The gap to its 52-week high is 75%. Today's move of +0.86% came with money flowing in, alongside the Media sector. Scores are estimates built from price and volume, a starting point for research rather than a trading signal.
Data basis: 2026-10-13 close, 10-14 00:20 KST updated, For reference only, not advice
Same-sector stocks, Media
StartupXO news featuring this company
Company research
Researched 2026-09-15 04:49 KSTNetflix bought back $4.71 billion of its own stock in the second quarter, its largest quarter of repurchases, while free cash flow over the same three months came to $1.53 billion.
Netflix earns its revenue from member subscriptions and advertising, and most of its cost of revenues is the amortisation of content it licenses or produces. Revenue in the second quarter of 2026 was $12.56 billion, up 13 percent on the year, with an operating margin of 33.4 percent. Cash from operating activities fell 28 percent to $1.74 billion, and the company pointed mainly to a $1,059 million increase in payments for content assets and $620 million of unfavourable changes in working capital. Share repurchases reached $4.71 billion, the most for any quarter, and $19.6 billion of content obligations are still off the balance sheet.
Key figures
- Second-quarter revenue
- $12.56bn
- Q2 2026
- Operating margin
- 33.4%
- Q2 2026
- Cash from operating activities
- $1.74bn
- Q2 2026
- Additions to content assets
- $4.93bn
- Q2 2026
- Share repurchases
- $4.71bn
- Q2 2026
- Total content obligations
- $25.11bn
- 2026-06-30
The most stock Netflix has bought back in a single quarter
The cash flow statement for the second quarter of 2026 shows $4.71 billion spent on share repurchases. That is 3.7 times the $1.27 billion of the first quarter and 2.8 times the $1.65 billion of the same quarter a year earlier, and the shareholder letter calls it the company's largest quarter of share repurchases. According to the quarterly report, 52,934,688 shares were bought in those three months. In April the board authorised a further $25 billion of repurchases, and $27.12 billion of capacity remained at 30 June. Free cash flow in the quarter was $1.53 billion, so repurchases came to more than three times that amount. Cash including restricted cash fell by $3.16 billion, from $12.27 billion at the end of March to $9.10 billion at the end of June. The diluted weighted-average share count went from 4,349 million in the same quarter a year earlier to 4,261 million.
Share repurchases and second-quarter free cash flow (USD m)
- Q2 2025 repurchases1654
- Q1 2026 repurchases1271
- Q2 2026 repurchases4714
- Q2 2026 free cash flow1525
Content payments ran $0.6 billion ahead of amortisation
Cash from operating activities in the second quarter was $1.74 billion, $679 million or 28 percent less than the $2.42 billion of a year earlier, even as net income rose from $3.13 billion to $3.40 billion. The quarterly report names a $1,059 million increase in payments for content assets and $620 million of unfavourable changes in working capital as the main drivers, partly offset by a $724 million increase in adjustments for non-cash expenses and a $276 million increase in net income. First-half working capital changes also include $729 million of non-routine payments made in connection with non-income tax assessments in Brazil for prior tax periods. On the cash flow statement, additions to content assets were $4.93 billion in the quarter, while content amortisation charged as an expense was $4.31 billion. A year earlier the two were almost equal, at $3.84 billion and $3.83 billion. The company explains that content it produces and owns needs cash upfront, because production costs are paid while the content is being made, well before it becomes available on the service and is amortised. Produced content still in production stood at $10.31 billion at 30 June, up from $9.21 billion at the end of last year. Operating margin slipped from 34.1 percent to 33.4 percent, which the company attributes to content amortisation growing faster in the first half of the year. For 2026 as a whole it expects cash content spend to be about 1.1 times amortisation.
Additions to content assets and content amortisation (USD m)
- Q2 2025 cash spend3836
- Q2 2025 amortisation3832
- Q2 2026 cash spend4928
- Q2 2026 amortisation4311
The $2.8 billion that arrived after the Warner Bros. deal fell through
On 4 December 2025 Netflix agreed to acquire the streaming and studios businesses of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO, and the agreement was amended on 19 January 2026. On 26 February Warner Bros. Discovery notified Netflix that a revised proposal from Paramount Skydance was a superior proposal, and Netflix replied the same day that it would not seek to revise the agreement. On 27 February Warner Bros. Discovery terminated the agreement, and Paramount Skydance paid the $2.8 billion termination fee to Netflix on its behalf. The company recorded the fee under interest and other income in its first-quarter income statement. First-quarter interest and other income was $2.85 billion and net income was $5.28 billion; in the second quarter the two figures were $52 million and $3.40 billion. The bridge commitment and credit agreements arranged to finance the deal terminated automatically the same day, and the company says nothing had been borrowed under them. Quarterly free cash flow fell from $5.09 billion in the first quarter to $1.53 billion in the second. The shareholder letter says the second quarter included higher cash tax payments due in part to the termination fee. The company expects free cash flow of about $12.5 billion for 2026.
Free cash flow by quarter (USD m)
$11.9 billion of content payments due within twelve months
Content obligations totalled $25.11 billion at 30 June, up from $24.04 billion at the end of last year. Of that, $3.9 billion sits on the balance sheet as current content liabilities and $1.6 billion as non-current content liabilities, while the remaining $19.6 billion has not yet met the criteria for recognition and is not on the balance sheet. At the end of last year that off-balance-sheet portion was $18.4 billion. By expected timing of payment, $11.94 billion is due within one year, $9.55 billion after one year and through three years, $3.00 billion after three years and through five years, and $623 million after five years. The company leaves out obligations for future titles whose quantity or fees are not yet known, and says these could come to roughly $1 billion to $4 billion over the next three years. Short-term and long-term debt together came to $14.31 billion, of which short-term debt was $2.48 billion, up from $999 million at the end of last year. Principal and interest due on its notes over the next twelve months is $3,149 million. On 22 July the company issued $1 billion of 5.250% senior unsecured notes due 2036, and said it intends to use the net proceeds to repay its 4.375% senior notes due 2026 at maturity and for general corporate purposes.
Expected timing of content obligations as of 30 June 2026 (USD m)
Common questions
- How much did Netflix receive in termination fees from Warner Bros. Discovery, and where does it show up in the results?
- $2.8 billion, recorded under interest and other income (expense) in the first-quarter 2026 income statement. Paramount Skydance paid it on behalf of Warner Bros. Discovery when Warner Bros. Discovery terminated the merger agreement on 27 February.
- How far apart does the company expect cash spending on content and amortisation to be this year?
- The company expects cash content spend for 2026 to be about 1.1 times content amortisation. In the second quarter, additions to content assets were $4.93 billion against amortisation of $4.31 billion, about 1.14 times, whereas a year earlier the two were almost equal.
- How much share repurchase authorisation does Netflix have left?
- $27.12 billion as of 30 June 2026. The board authorised an additional $25 billion in April, and the company bought 52,934,688 shares in the second quarter.
Sources
- 1.Second-quarter 2026 shareholder letter (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) US Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR, as of 2026-07-16
- 2.Second-quarter 2026 quarterly report (Form 10-Q, period ended 30 June 2026) US Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR, as of 2026-07-17
- 3.Current report on termination of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger agreement (Form 8-K) US Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR, as of 2026-02-27
- 4.Current report on the senior unsecured notes offering (Form 8-K) US Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR, as of 2026-07-22
Reference information compiled from public material. Not investment advice; decisions and their consequences rest with the investor.
See research on other stocks →Talk about this stock
Today's talking points
- It sits low in its 52-week range (10).
- It is 75% below its 52-week high.
Three months out, which way do you see it?
Nobody has answered yet. Sign in to be the first.
These are answers picked by members, not investment advice.
These figures are reference estimates built from price and volume: a starting point for narrowing down ideas, not a buy or sell signal.