I have already posted my previous analysis of Netflix as of July 2007. I have to say that I did not expect negative subscriber growth in their fiscal second quarter. Netflix has since lowered their prices and produced some positive subscriber growth. Blockbuster has faded from this market by raising some of their prices for Total Access. Blockbuster has also reduced marketing of their rent by mail program.
Netflix has now successfully fended off competition from Amazon, Walmart, and Blockbuster. Yet more competitors continue to present themselves. Apple recently announced that they are pursuing a digital rental program. In addition, overall growth in the DVD rent by mail market has been pretty weak this year, growing only from 8.8 million subscribers at year end 2006 to 10.1 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter. Because of the endless competition and the slowing growth of the DVD rental market, Netflix may not present the returns I had originally hoped for when purchasing their stock three years ago. (more…)