If you’d bought $1,000 of Netflix stock in 2011, how wealthy would you be today?
If you invested in Netflix back in 2011, even the company’s recent disappointing quarter wasn’t enough to hold back the stock’s overall upward trajectory over the past decade. The streaming giant’s stock has grown nearly fifteenfold over the last 10 years.
Indeed, a $1,000 investment in Netflix on April 20, 2011, would be worth $15,252 as of Tuesday, a gain of 1,425%.
That’s considerably more than the S&P 500 as a whole, which grew just 209% over the same period. It’s nearly double Google parent Alphabet’s 767% growth rate since 2011 and even outpaces Apple’s 1,134% growth.
In fact, few stocks have delivered as much return on investment as Netflix. The company has rolled out positive returns almost as reliably as it has produced exciting new content in recent years, building its user base from less than 50 million to 208 million.
Despite a first-quarter earnings report which fell short of expectations—Netflix took in a $1.7 billion profit but struggled to meet targets on subscriber growth—many investors see Netflix regaining its footing in the months to come.
In its letter to shareholders, Netflix cited Covid-19-related production delays for its “lighter content slate in the first half of this year,” but said it expects to continue producing content as it invests $17 billion into new and existing movies and shows this year.
Netflix, which since 2011 has relied on external financing to fund the billions of dollars it has spent building its content library with big-budget projects and deals, has said it expects to be cash-flow positive after 2021.
