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NFLX · Forward model · Bull case

The Bull case, 20 quarters out

Model as of

Each segment is projected from its own operating driver, rolled up into consolidated cash flow, and discounted back to a fair value per share. The assumptions below are editable — change them and every number on this page moves with them.

Netflix reports ONE operating segment and FOUR regional revenue lines: UCAN, EMEA, LATAM and APAC. This model carries exactly those four. Every historical point is copied as reported - 2024 Q2 through 2025 Q2 from the Q2 2025 Exhibit 99.1, 2025 Q3 through 2026 Q2 from the Q2 2026 Exhibit 99.1 - and no quarter is estimated. The four lines sum to consolidated revenue within $1M of letter rounding in all nine quarters, so there is no plug line. What is deliberately NOT modelled: advertising, guided to approximately $3B for 2026 but never disclosed as a revenue line, by region or by quarter, and already inside these four numbers - a separate ads vertical would double count; any subscribers x ARPU decomposition, because Netflix stopped publishing quarterly paid memberships and ARM after 2024 Q4; and any regional profitability split, because no cost, operating income or content spend is disclosed by region. Segment EBITDA here is pre-corporate-overhead: 38.2% vertical margin less 4.0% overhead is the consolidated 34.2%, which is the reported 33.4% operating margin plus $100.5M of property D&A. Capex intensity of 6.6% is purchases of property and equipment (1.7% of revenue) PLUS cash content spend in excess of content amortisation ($4,928M less $4,311M); content amortisation itself stays inside operating expense exactly as Netflix reports it and is not subtracted twice. Tax 16.4% is Q2's effective rate - Q1's 19.3% is distorted by the WBD fee. 2026 Q1 EPS of $1.23 and net income of $5,283M contain that $2.8B termination fee and are not a run rate; the merger was terminated on 27 February 2026, so there is no acquired revenue or library to model. Shares are held flat at the 4,261.3M diluted count even though the buyback removed about 2.0% of the count year over year and $27.1B of authorisation remains - Netflix gives no share-count guidance, so per-share outcomes here are conservative. One known tension: flat per-region sequential rates land FY2026 at about $50.84B, roughly 0.3% under the low end of the guided $51.0-$51.4B, because the guidance midpoint implies a Q4 sequential step of about +5% that a constant rate does not reproduce; Q3 alone lands at $12,867M against the $12,860M guide. netCash is cash $9,099M plus short-term investments $29M less short-term debt $2,484M less long-term debt $11,826M, i.e. net debt of $5.18B. Reference price is the 2026-08-24 close from the house capture; the local profile price of $72.88 is stale.

NFLX forward model
Horizon
Fair value per share $87.23 +25% against $69.58
Terminal-year revenue $76.80B last four projected quarters
Enterprise value $376.91B $70.45B explicit + $306.47B terminal

The story is margin, not acceleration. Q3 is guided to a 33.2% operating margin against 28.2% a year earlier - roughly 500bp of expansion - and the full year to 31.5% against 29.5%, which management says implies 20%+ operating income growth. Content amortisation is guided to rise about 10%, well below revenue, and Sarandos frames that as deliberate discipline rather than underinvestment. What this case does NOT reach is a return to mid-teens revenue growth, and it does not assume the record buyback re-rates the multiple by itself.

NFLX REVENUE MODEL

Latest: $19.78B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q2 $9.56B
2024Q3 $9.82B
2024Q4 $10.25B
2025Q1 $10.54B
2025Q2 $11.08B
2025Q3 $11.51B
2025Q4 $12.05B
2026Q1 $12.25B
2026Q2 $12.56B
2026Q3E $12.92B
2026Q4E $13.27B
2027Q1E $13.63B
2027Q2E $13.98B
2027Q3E $14.33B
2027Q4E $14.68B
2028Q1E $15.03B
2028Q2E $15.38B
2028Q3E $15.73B
2028Q4E $16.08B
2029Q1E $16.44B
2029Q2E $16.80B
2029Q3E $17.16B
2029Q4E $17.52B
2030Q1E $17.88B
2030Q2E $18.25B
2030Q3E $18.63B
2030Q4E $19.01B
2031Q1E $19.39B
2031Q2E $19.78B
Scenarios

Where each case comes from

Bull case — primary sources

The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Bull column is what happens if they are taken at face value.

Ads flywheel case — primary sources

The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Ads flywheel column is what happens if they are taken at face value.

Valuation

From cash flow to fair value

The published model, discounted at 8.5% a year with an exit multiple of 6.0x on revenue. The horizon and sliders above do not change this walk.

Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters$70.45B
Terminal-year revenue$76.80B
Terminal-year EBITDA$29.56B
Exit multiple, on revenue6.0x
Terminal value$460.82B
Discounted at 8.5% a year, terminal value becomes$306.47B
Share of enterprise value from the terminal81%
Enterprise value$376.91B
Net cash−$5.18B
Equity value$371.73B
Shares4.26B
Fair value per share$87.23
Against the deployed price of $69.58, as of +25%

5x the terminal year's revenue. Today the equity is about $341B at $80.01 on 4,261.3M diluted shares, an EV of about $346B after $5.18B of net debt, or 7.2x trailing revenue of $48.37B and about 30x clean trailing EPS of ~$2.66 once the WBD termination fee is removed. The exit is a de-rate, and deliberately: a business growing 4-6% a year with a 40%-ish pre-overhead margin is a mature subscription compounder, not a 13% grower. There is no clean peer - Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery carry legacy linear assets and Spotify has a fraction of the margin - so the exit multiple is judgement rather than a comp. Move it before anything else: at 4x the answer is in the mid-40s, at 6x it clears the high 80s. The r40 analyst block shows a Buy consensus with a $94.04 average target across 51 analysts on a $70-$135 range, above this base case, which is what a higher terminal multiple buys you. Discount rate is 9%: cash-generative and lightly levered, but growth is decelerating and content spend is a standing obligation.

Read the other way round: at $69.58 the market is paying 4.5x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.

Quarter by quarter

The projected path

The published model's 20 quarters. The horizon and sliders above do not change this table.

Quarter UCANEMEALATAMAPAC Revenue YoY EBITDA Capex FCF R40 PV of FCF
2026 Q3E $5.57B$4.15B$1.64B$1.56B $12.92B +12% $4.76B $832M $3.29B +38 $3.22B
2026 Q4E $5.70B$4.26B$1.69B$1.62B $13.27B +10% $4.92B $836M $3.41B +36 $3.28B
2027 Q1E $5.84B$4.37B$1.74B$1.67B $13.63B +11% $5.07B $840M $3.54B +37 $3.33B
2027 Q2E $5.97B$4.48B$1.80B$1.73B $13.98B +11% $5.22B $846M $3.66B +37 $3.37B
2027 Q3E $6.10B$4.60B$1.85B$1.78B $14.33B +11% $5.37B $852M $3.78B +37 $3.41B
2027 Q4E $6.24B$4.71B$1.90B$1.84B $14.68B +11% $5.52B $859M $3.90B +37 $3.45B
2028 Q1E $6.37B$4.82B$1.95B$1.89B $15.03B +10% $5.67B $866M $4.01B +37 $3.48B
2028 Q2E $6.50B$4.93B$2.00B$1.94B $15.38B +10% $5.82B $875M $4.13B +37 $3.51B
2028 Q3E $6.64B$5.05B$2.05B$2.00B $15.73B +10% $5.96B $884M $4.25B +37 $3.53B
2028 Q4E $6.77B$5.16B$2.10B$2.05B $16.08B +10% $6.11B $894M $4.36B +37 $3.56B
2029 Q1E $6.91B$5.28B$2.15B$2.11B $16.44B +9% $6.26B $904M $4.48B +37 $3.58B
2029 Q2E $7.04B$5.39B$2.20B$2.16B $16.80B +9% $6.41B $916M $4.59B +37 $3.59B
2029 Q3E $7.18B$5.51B$2.25B$2.22B $17.16B +9% $6.55B $928M $4.70B +36 $3.61B
2029 Q4E $7.31B$5.63B$2.30B$2.28B $17.52B +9% $6.70B $940M $4.82B +36 $3.62B
2030 Q1E $7.45B$5.74B$2.35B$2.34B $17.88B +9% $6.85B $953M $4.93B +36 $3.63B
2030 Q2E $7.59B$5.86B$2.40B$2.39B $18.25B +9% $7.01B $967M $5.05B +36 $3.64B
2030 Q3E $7.73B$5.99B$2.46B$2.45B $18.63B +9% $7.16B $981M $5.16B +36 $3.65B
2030 Q4E $7.87B$6.11B$2.51B$2.51B $19.01B +8% $7.31B $996M $5.28B +36 $3.66B
2031 Q1E $8.02B$6.23B$2.56B$2.57B $19.39B +8% $7.47B $1.01B $5.40B +36 $3.66B
2031 Q2E $8.16B$6.36B$2.62B$2.64B $19.78B +8% $7.62B $1.03B $5.51B +36 $3.67B

Every row is projected. A year-over-year change is shown only where the quarter it compares against exists — an em dash means there is no comparable quarter, not a flat year.

Track record

Model revisions

Assumptions are marked to reality as each quarter prints. Every change is appended here, with the fair value the model produced at the time, so the model's own history stays visible.

DateFair value thenNote
2026-08-27 $65.83 Initial model. Four verticals on the disclosed UCAN/EMEA/LATAM/APAC revenue lines, nine reported quarters each, basis the June 2026 quarter at $12,560M. Opening sequential rates are calibrated so Q3 2026 lands at $12,867M against the $12,860M guide; FY2026 comes out at about $50.84B, marginally under the guided $51.0-$51.4B because a constant sequential rate does not reproduce the implied Q4 step.