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NFLX · Forward model · UCAN · Bull case

What has to happen in UCAN

Model as of

This page changes UCAN inside the complete NFLX model. Every other vertical, corporate programme and valuation assumption stays in the selected portfolio case.

NFLX forward model
Horizon
Consolidated fair value $87.23 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $8.16B 41% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $40.16B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

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.

UCAN

Basis quarter$5.43B
Final quarter$8.16B
Implied CAGR+8%
Final revenue mix41%

United States and Canada. $5,432M in the basis quarter, 43% of company revenue, +10% year over year - the slowest print in the nine-quarter history. The most penetrated region and the one where price, not membership count, is now the lever: the letter says Q2 carries only a partial-quarter effect from the recent US price change, so H2 still has pricing to collect. With no quarterly membership or ARM series after 2024 Q4, the driver is sequential growth on the disclosed regional line.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $5.07B Reported
2025 Q4 $5.34B Reported
2026 Q1 $5.25B Reported
2026 Q2 $5.43B Reported
Standard, standard-with-ads and premium membershipsAdvertising sold against the ads planExtra member add-ons
Sequential growth +2.1%/qtr decaying toward +1.0% Q2/Q1 was +3.6% on a price change. 2.1% is the slower step that lands the four regions on the $12.86B Q3 guide.
UCAN

Latest: $8.16B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q2 $4.30B
2024Q3 $4.32B
2024Q4 $4.52B
2025Q1 $4.62B
2025Q2 $4.93B
2025Q3 $5.07B
2025Q4 $5.34B
2026Q1 $5.25B
2026Q2 $5.43B
2026Q3E $5.57B
2026Q4E $5.70B
2027Q1E $5.84B
2027Q2E $5.97B
2027Q3E $6.10B
2027Q4E $6.24B
2028Q1E $6.37B
2028Q2E $6.50B
2028Q3E $6.64B
2028Q4E $6.77B
2029Q1E $6.91B
2029Q2E $7.04B
2029Q3E $7.18B
2029Q4E $7.31B
2030Q1E $7.45B
2030Q2E $7.59B
2030Q3E $7.73B
2030Q4E $7.87B
2031Q1E $8.02B
2031Q2E $8.16B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • Capex intensity means purchases of property and equipment plus cash content spend in EXCESS of content amortisation. Content amortisation stays inside operating expense, exactly as Netflix reports it; subtracting it again as capex would double count the largest cost in the business.
  • EBITDA margin is pre-corporate-overhead. 38.2% here less 4.0% corporate overhead is the consolidated 34.2%, which is the reported 33.4% operating margin plus property D&A of $100.5M. Netflix discloses no operating profit by region, so this is the company figure applied to the region.
  • Advertising is guided to roughly $3B for 2026 and is already inside this number. It is not broken out here because Netflix discloses no ads revenue line, no regional ads split and no quarterly ads series.
  • Terminal margin 41% is the company terminal, carried by the most mature region. Management moved full-year margin from 29.5% to a guided 31.5%; the 0.08 glide keeps roughly that 200bp-a-year pace and then slows.
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