NFLX shares could touch another all-time high today
Goldman Sachs just set the highest price target on Wall Street for streaming giant Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). The analyst in coverage boosted his price target to $490 from $390, foreseeing the company becoming cash flow positive by 2022, while expecting subscriber growth to continue to come in above expectations. This new price target represents an almost 35% premium to NFLX stock's Tuesday close of $363.83.
Of course, if the shares continue their recent upward trajectory, that target could be taken out sooner than expected. The security is already up close to 90% in 2018, touching an all-time high of $369.83 on June 5. Not to mention, NFLX has historically outperformed during the summer months. At the same time, the equity's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) hit 70 at yesterday's close, meaning it's technically overbought -- though that hasn't stopped it from rising 1.3% in electronic trading.
Options data suggests traders may be taking a cautious approach in the near term. For example, Netflix has a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.13, showing put open interest outweighs call open interest among contracts expiring within three months. Moreover, this reading ranks in the high 88th annual percentile, so such a put-skew is unusual.
Nonetheless, it's a good time to target near-term NFLX options. The FAANG stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) is just 36%, ranking in the bottom quartile of its annual range, which hints at lower-than-normal volatility expectations at the moment. Plus, Netflix's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 96 reveals a strong tendency to make moves bigger than the options market was expecting.