We are only three weeks into the new year, but we are already seeing some actions starting in 2021 on the right foot. This week is Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), opening high on Wednesday after the publication of explosive quarterly results.
The leading premium streaming service is not alone. Earlier this month, we saw Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (NYSE: SKT) and fuboTV (NYSE: FUBO) also escape recessions by painting a brighter picture of what 2021 will look like. Let’s review these three actions that are starting the new year with good news.
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Netflix
We are spending a lot of time at home. Streaming video has been an obvious beneficiary, and Netflix is a leader in this expanding niche. Netflix saw its popularity increase in the first half of 2020, adding 25.9 million to its growing audience of paid subscribers worldwide. In six months, it had almost as many net additions as the 28 million it joined in 2019.
Subscriber growth slowed in the second half of the year, but this was widely expected with Netflix pulling many of its annual members into the initial phase of the pandemic’s “on-site shelter”. Even so, it ended up exceeding its forecast of 6 million net additions in the fourth quarter. The 8.5 million net additions growth in the last three months of the year pushes the company’s global audience beyond 200 million.
The news gets even better. After five quarters of slowdown in revenue growth year on year, it sees line revenue accelerating. Your profit target is also well ahead of where analysts are. With Netflix now confident that it can go about its day-to-day operations without the need for outside funding, the market leader will continue to produce more content than anyone on the planet with money left over to buy back shares for the first time in a decade.
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Tanger Factory Outlet Centers
The operator of 38 factory malls had a challenging 2020 year with its stores temporarily closed and some of its tenants going bankrupt. He also suspended his payments in the spring of last year. As a real estate investment fund (REIT), Tanger must distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to investors. It promised to return to distributions in 2021 if it were on the path to profitability – and it didn’t take long.
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers declared a resumption of quarterly payments last week. The new payment from REIT at the discount mall is equivalent to a 5.3% yield at the close of Tuesday, but it is also half of what it was before pausing its distributions last year. Customer traffic is already at 90% of where it was a year ago, and its occupancy rate is expected to reach almost 92%. As you update your portfolio with top brands as renters, Tanger Factory Outlet Centers may be in even better shape than before the pandemic.
Image source: Getty Images.
FuboTV
Streaming services, including Netflix, are helping to entertain people, but where can cable cutters turn to live sports, broadcast news and major networks? Live TV streaming services are filling the void of expensive yet flexible platforms, and fuboTV has tried to differentiate itself from YouTube TV and Sling TV by emphasizing live sports. It offers around 40 sports channels among its more than 100 live networks.
FuboTV attracted two opponents, and one of them – Kerrisdale Capital, which is sold in shares with a $ 10 price target – pointed to third party data showing that the enrollment momentum has decreased in the last two months of 2020. FuboTV has increased your subscriber orientation twice during the quarter; was preparing investors for a fall?
Kerrisdale Capital may want to get its money back from a third-party data source that it was unable to allocate. FuboTV recently announced that it ended 2020 with 545,000 subscribers, well ahead of the 500,000 to 510,000 it expected in November and what was as low as a year-end target of 410,000 when the fourth quarter started. Revenue increased between 77% and 84% for the last quarter of 2020, accelerating from the still impressive 71% increase recorded in the third quarter.
Of course, there is still a long way to go before this new year comes to an end. Netflix, Tanger Factory Outlet Centers and fuboTV are doing a good job of starting 2021 on a winning note.