Disney Plus not affecting Netflix subscribers yet, analysts say - Business Insider

Netflix shareholders have spent the better part of 2019 fretting over the launch of multiple new streaming competitors including Disney Plus. According to data from two Wall Street analysts, since the launch of Disney Plus about 10 days ago, the service has yet to have a material impact on Netflix subscribers. Disney Plus got off to a stronger-than-expected start last week amassing more than 10 million sign-ups less than 48 hours after launching, boosting Disney's stock price by about 6%. Watch Netflix and Disney trade live on Markets Insider. Disney Plus was once a looming threat keeping Netflix investors up at night. Now, the service is here — and two Wall Street analysts have data suggesting the streaming giant could be just fine. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson conducted a survey of 1,700 domestic Netflix subscribers and found that while interest in Disney Plus has increased, it doesn't appear to be to the detriment of Netflix. “We have not seen an increase in the percentage of Netflix subscribers who expect to cancel Netflix in favor of Disney+,” Olson wrote in a note to clients on Friday. The level of Netflix subscribers who have shown interest in canceling the service in favor of Disney Plus has stayed at a consistent mid-single-digit percentage, Olson added. “In other words, most existing Netflix subscribers appear to be trending towards multiple streaming video subscriptions,” he concluded. Olson is one of many Netflix bulls on Wall Street. He currently has an “overweight” rating and $400 price target on the streaming giant's stock. Mark Kelley, an analyst at Nomura, is less bullish on Netflix but shares a similar sentiment regarding the effect of Disney Plus. “Despite Disney+'s strong launch, Netflix's domestic app download trends remain within historical bounds even with YoY growth deceleration from the prior week,” Kelley wrote in a note to clients Friday, citing data from Sensor Tower. According to the figures, in the week after Disney Plus was released, Netflix app downloads rose 4% from the same period last year. But Kelley, who has a “neutral” rating and $330 price target for the stock, also highlighted that while Netflix appears to be weathering the impact of Disney's streaming launch, the market is still in the “early innings” of the flood of oncoming competition. “We think that investors will remain cautious until reported results tell the same story. We remain Neutral on Netflix, given concerns around valuation and capital intensity,” he added. Disney Plus got off to a hot start last week after amassing more than 10 million sign-ups just 48 hours after launch, sending Disney's stock price charging 6% higher. Subscriber fatigue, or the concept that consumers will purchase only a limited number of streaming or other types of subscriptions, has been a rising concern for Netflix investors in anticipation of new competition from the likes of Disney and Apple.