After an unpopular hike in subscription fees tanked Netflix stock, the video streaming service has bounced back within a year.


NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix shares are trading at levels not seen since 2011, when it lost hundreds of thousands of customers after raising prices for people who wanted continued access to DVDs as well as its streaming service.

The company's stock jumped another 4% Wednesday to a 52-week high -- $243.40 -- and is up nearly 40% since the start of the month.

The cost of a company share is actually rising more sharply than the lead-up to the all-time high near $305 reached in July 2011, right before the change the subscription plan for which CEO Reed Hastings later apologized.


But Hastings never backed down on the new price plan, and Netflix pushed hard into the streaming side of the business. Shares have come roaring back from south of $53, where they labored just last summer.

The debate has begun all over again about how best to value a company that dominates the market while competition lurks all around it.


"We continue to believe that Netflix has achieved a level of sustainable scale, growth and profitability that isn't currently reflected in its stock price," analyst Mark Mahaney wrote this week.


