Investors may be less willing to buy Netflix stock in two years as media companies such as Disney, Amazon and Apple will look to command a presence in the online streaming business, venture capitalist Gene Munster told CNBC on Thursday.
Movie watchers will likely subscribe to numerous streaming brands, but the Loup Ventures founder said he isn’t so optimistic about the equity’s long-term outlook, because it will need more “substantial upside.”
“The issue here isn’t about whether they have multiple subscriptions. The issue is more competition can have a negative impact on the multiple as investors think about different options,” Munster said on “Fast Money.”
Netflix has a price-to-earnings ratio of $122.04 as of Thursday, which shows how much investors are willing to pay per dollar of earnings.
Munster called Netflix’s subscription price increase earlier this week “impressive” because it is “coming from a sign of strength.” He said the sooner-than-expected price hike could be good in the near term, but he sees the future as less clear.
“Every time you do that, every time you take a step forward like that, it sets the bar even higher,” he said.
After the bell on Thursday, Netflix reported mixed results in its fourth-quarter earnings. The company beat on EPS — 30 cents versus 24 cents forecast — and subscription estimates, but it missed revenue projections by nearly half a percent.
Shares of the company dropped about 4 percent in extended trading.
