• by Wayne Friedman , June 13, 2023

Over the last six months Netflix continues to make gains in its business operations and with investors as legacy TV companies are seeing weaker financial metrics, with streaming at the center of the move.

Netflix stock is up 36% over the past six months to $433.34 -- the midday Tuesday price of its stock.

By comparison, other TV-network based companies -- largely moved by their premium streaming video business -- have seen weak or declining stock prices. Paramount Global is down 15% to $16.68, while Walt Disney is flat at $93.77 and AMC Networks has sunk 36% to $11.83.

Some have fared better -- including Comcast Corp. owner of NBCUniversal, up 11% to $40.90 -- while Fox Corp. is 5% higher to $33.46.

In addition to streaming concerns, analysts have concerns about basic traditional live, linear TV business, in terms of weak advertising and a possible recession on the horizon.

In the short term, analysts believe the current writers' strike  -- now a month old -- could boost financials and stock prices. There could be a curb on ever-rising programming costs. 

As streaming services ramp up, billions of dollars going to original programming has been a hindrance, yielding major net losses. The writers' strike could result in a sharp decline due to much original programming that is not in production. 

Coupled with this, Netflix recently could be looking to gain subscribers from its crackdown on password sharing.

Netflix saw nearly 100,000 daily sign-ups on both May 26 and May 27, according to Antenna, a research company that covers the subscription economy.

Since its decision to curb password sharing, Netflix had the four single largest days of U.S. user acquisition in four-and-a-half years.