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Netflix stock soars alongside Nasdaq gains, ‘Wednesday’ scores record streaming debut

Shares of Netflix are surging thanks to gains in the Nasdaq and success of its new series "Wednesday."

Video Transcript

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- All right. Netflix is my play, a trending ticker on Yahoo Finance as the stock surging today with the NASDAQ, reacting to words from Jerome Powell. But I got to point out, I was watching the stock prior to Jerome Powell's speech, and it was already up 3%. Netflix in the news for several reasons this week. Here's a couple.

Addams Family-related show "Wednesday" debuted to record-breaking numbers, 341 million hours viewed. That tops "Stranger Things 4." Its theatrical release of "Knives Out 2-- the Glass Onion" raked in 15 million in a one-week limited release, just about 400 theaters, nothing-- 700 theaters, I think it was, nothing compared to the 4,000 that the Disney animated flick got.

Analysts believe that movie could have made more than $200 million in a wider global release. The shares up almost 9% today. And that's a really interesting discussion going forward, because Reed Hastings talked about it today with Andrew Sorkin at DealBook. And he said, look, we will probably do that again. Everybody is talking about "Knives Out 2." The whole world can see it December 23. He said, we are really about operating income. We're about making money and customer satisfaction.

He owned it. He's sticking to it. It sounds like they'll do it again, maybe a little wider. What do you think of the tactic?

- I think it's good. I think we're emerging into a new-- or we're finding a new norm post-pandemic. So we're experimenting-- or not we. I guess the Reed Hastings and co, they're experimenting with different types of release schedules. So I think it makes sense to experiment.

And if he's going to stick with his gut on this, go for it. I'm looking at the YFi Interactive. This is a year-to-date chart of Netflix right here. Have this huge down gap right here, haven't been able to fill it just yet. That down gap, by the way, in April-May, so still technically not looking that great. Do you have a comment there, Seana?

- Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what Netflix does in order to turn around that momentum. When you compare it to so many other streamers, it certainly isn't a Netflix-specific problem. We are seeing some of these issues, the saturation issue come up with some of the other competitors. Their big bet right now is gaming.

And I'm having a tough time seeing how that is going to play out. There's maybe some other areas that would have made a little bit more sense to me, at least at this point, for them to venture into rather than gaming. There, though, huge believers that they will be a leader in that space. It's hard to see, though, at this point.

- You know I want them to jump into sports.

- And that would make a lot of sense.

- I've been saying that for quite some time. Asked about that today at DealBook, and Reed Hastings said, well, ask me after we're the leader in the game sector, and then we'll talk about sports. So certainly, a lot of stuff to discuss at Netflix.

- Well, we've seen some big pivots from them before. Maybe another big one on the horizon here.