Netflix lost out to Fox this week in the bidding for Roku, and the FoxOne fight now sits beside a 27% slide in Netflix shares over the last 2 months. For investors, the issue is no longer just one deal loss; it is whether Netflix can still buy growth while its stock trades under pressure and the next earnings call approaches.
Roku, Fox, and FoxOne
Roku is the latest missed target after Netflix also lost to David Ellison's Paramount in a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. That leaves Netflix with two failed acquisition pursuits in the same stretch, which narrows the room for management to argue that growth will come from deals rather than from the existing business alone.
The stock still fell 4% on Tuesday. It is down 16% year to date, while the S&P 500 is up 10% over the same period. Netflix shares are also trading below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages.
Reed Hastings and April
Reed Hastings officially stepped down as longtime chairman in April, the same month Netflix failed to raise its full-year 2026 revenue guidance range from $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion. The company also set full-year operating margin guidance at 31.5%, below the 32% analysts had modeled.
That is where the market’s read splits. Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan said, "We see Netflix's recent earnings report as supportive of the long-term thesis — compounded revenue growth, rising margins (while investing in content and platform initiatives) & the scope to return capital in an outsized way (relative to annualized free cash flow)," and added, "On this last point, we took it as a positive post the earnings report when Netflix announced a $25bn stock repurchase authorization. Against these long theses, the short-term debate is likely going to stay anchored on themes around engagement trends and the building blocks (user growth, pricing etc.) that underpin the company's Q2 revenue commentary."
July 16 earnings
Netflix is scheduled to report second quarter earnings on July 16 after the close of trading. The market will get its clearest update then on whether the company can reset the argument around growth, pricing, and how much capital it wants to return while the FoxOne bidding loss remains fresh.
Why Fox beat Netflix in the bidding for Roku is the open question that still hangs over the stock.
