Sometimes analyst calls are missed or are seen too late to be included in our daily summary of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades. That was the case with Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has initiated coverage of the movie and video subscription platform with an Overweight rating in a shift of analyst coverage from an Equal Weight rating.

What will stand out on top of this call is that Morgan Stanley is giving Netflix a $500 price target. That is not the highest target of all analysts, but it compares to a closing price of $430.26.

What stands out here is that the firm believes that Netflix can reach 55 million U.S. subscribers by the end of this decade. That is on top of the overseas market penetration, capturing about 10% of the 110 million broadband customers in the markets that Netflix is already in (with many more markets coming ahead).

While this outlook seems bullish, the reality is that it appears more than achievable. The success in Canada, Scandinavia, and the U.K. markets should lead to only that much more success in new markets ahead.

Netflix shares were trading up about 3% at $442 on almost 1 million shares shortly after the open on Tuesday. Its stock has traded in a range of $207.56 to $458.00 over the last 52-weeks.

ALSO READ: Our Take on Why Apple Should Just Acquire Netflix

For a comparison, Netflix has a consensus analyst price target of closer to $420 for the stock. The highest price target from any analyst is $525. These are some other calls we have seen of late:

• Evercore raised the stock to Overweight with a $500 target.
• Topeka Capital markets started it as Buy with $517 target.
• Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and raised the target to $500.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.