Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was one of the top streaming services for the longest time, but the stock has been absolutely crushed over the past year, raising many questions. One of these is if or when the stock will bounce back? One analyst ponders these answers, considering the arrival of the newest season of hit “Stranger Things.”

KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson notes that “Stranger Things” season 4 represents Netflix’s strongest debut, with 286.8 million viewership hours last week. This corresponds to 42% more hours than “Money Heist” season 5 and 48% more hours than “Bridgerton” season 2.

Patterson notes that investors should be cautious about interpreting Netflix viewership hours as factors like the subscriber base at the time of launch and number of episodes can distort series-to-series comparability. Thus, while “Stranger Things” had over 40% more hours viewed than the next most popular series, it is also true “Stranger Things” episodes were longer, which implies either less engagement or completions, he adds.

Ultimately, KeyBanc reiterated a Sector Weight rating on the shares, as the firm believes catalysts are unlikely to manifest meaningfully in estimates until the second half of 2023.

Netflix has been staring down the barrel of serious losses for more than year. Will things be turning around soon? Stranger things have happened.

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Shares of Netflix closed most recently at $192.91, in a 52-week range of $162.71 to $700.99. The consensus analyst price target is $331.45. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is down more than 61%, and shares are down about 68% year to date.

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