Netflix Shares Surged: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of movie maven Netflix (NAS: NFLX) were getting rave reviews from investors today as they rose as much as 11% in intraday trading after an analyst upgrade.

So what: Susquehanna analyst Vasily Karasyov upped his view on Netflix's stock, taking it from negative to neutral. The meat of the view is that the drop in the stock price has taken out a lot of the potential bite from downside risk at the company. Or in other words, things may not look stellar for Netflix at the moment, but the stock reflects that.

Now what: Analyst actions can often be a good reason for investors to take another look at a stock, but it's important to remember that an analyst's view doesn't change the fundamentals of the company. In the case of Netflix in particular, Karasyov may give longtime Netflix bears an excuse to tune back into the story to see whether they believe the now-lower stock price does make it a more attractive investment. At the same time, a neutral rating from a Wall Street analyst is hardly a ringing endorsement.

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