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STAX analyzes retail investor stock positions and trading activity from Schwab’s client accounts to illuminate what investors were actually doing and how they were positioned in the markets each month.

The February score represents the biggest month-over-month percentage gain since late 2020.

“The trading behavior we saw among our retail clients tells a clear story: the AI-driven panic that rattled the markets in February was likely overblown and, more than anything, may have represented an opportune time to pick up some names that had taken a perhaps unfair beating,” said Joe Mazzola, head trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab.

Last month, more affluent and older investors led the buying activity among Schwab clients. Popular names bought include Amazon.com (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA (NVDA), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), and Netflix (NFLX).

Names net sold included Meta Platforms (META), Apple (AAPL), Verizon Communications (VZ), Costco Wholesale (COST), and AT&T (T).

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The research firm views the final outcome as a “pyrrhic victory” for Paramount and expects the Netflix stock to recoup losses in the days ahead.

Wells Fargo noted that the combined Paramount and WBD would generate much of its earnings from an increasingly challenged linear ecosystem and faces the crucial challenge of deleveraging while investing in an increasingly crowded video market.

“PSKY’s successful effort to capture WBD may leave equity holders in a precarious spot… While PSKY is stronger with WBD, shareholders are highly exposed to valuation… If PSKY derates (say on recession or AI), then equity holders get compressed,” the research firm said Monday.

However, they are optimistic about the streaming prospects of Paramount+ and HBO, which would make up about 3% of U.S. TV engagement time, still below Disney (DIS) and Netflix.

“We think culturally PSKY is creative-centric and will be an environment for HBO to thrive. The near-term risk is that combining the 2 services, which is what needs to happen to reduce churn, will also cannibalize some revenue,” Wells Fargo said.

On Netflix, the research firm believes the streaming pioneer will be aggressive with content growth and capital allocation, especially in sports.

“We viewed WBD as a form of accelerating content investment: save on future years’ spend by pulling it forward into 1 big deal for known IP + brands like HBO. Still, we think WBD was NFLX’s opportunistic Plan B, and now it’s back to Plan A: invest for growth,” Wells Fargo said.

With an NFL renewal upcoming, Wells Fargo thinks Netflix could go for 10-20 games per season at an annual cost of ~$500M to $1B.

Paramount was resumed at “underweight.” Before the rating restriction, Wells had assigned it “equal weight.” Netflix was resumed at “equal weight” and had an “overweight” rating prior to the restriction.

PSKY has a price target of $10, a 16.6% downside; NFLX has a PT of $105, a 6% upside.

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After adding another $42M from international showings, the film celebrated an $88 million global launch in total, the biggest for an original animated film since “Coco” came out in 2017.

But it wasn’t all good news for big studio fare at the multiplex: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s R-rated reimagining of the Bride of Frankenstein story is flailing. A Warner Bros. (WBD) release, “The Bride!” starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, debuted to an estimated $7.3M from 3,304 domestic locations. It cost around $80M to produce, not including marketing and promotion expenses.

The two movies were hardly competing with one another for viewers—one being a PG-rated family pic, the other an audacious, R-rated, genre-blending ride. “Hoppers” arrived to a slew of good reviews, while critical responses to “The Bride!” were mixed to negative and its audience scores weren’t much better.

The win for the environmentally-themed comedy “Hoppers” was much needed for Disney and Pixar following last year’s “Elio,” which was Pixar’s worst opening ever. The studio’s only major successes lately have been sequels and franchises, while “Hoppers” is a win for original fare. It also opened higher than 2023’s “Elemental,” which eventually went on to become a sleeper hit (“Elio” did not).

“Hoppers” had a reported $150M production budget and opened in 4,000 locations. Directed by Daniel Chong, the movie is about a 19-year-old environmentalist who infiltrates the animal world in the body of a beaver. It features the voices of Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm and Kathy Najimy.

“Hoppers” got a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 75% “definitely recommend” from PostTrak polling and an A CinemaScore, suggesting it should have a long and profitable run in theaters.

“This is a fantastic original film from the incredible team at Pixar, and it’s wonderful to see audiences coming out with their friends and families to enjoy it together,” said Alan Bergman, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, in a statement. He also congratulated the filmmaking team on “a tremendous launch.”

“The Bride!” had a bit of a bumpy path to theaters, with edits being made after reportedly poor test screenings. Its release date was pushed back from September, possibly to give it some space versus Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” which played in theaters last fall before hitting Netflix (NFLX).

Men made up a slight majority of the audience for “The Bride!” at 53%. The movie currently carries a “rotten” 59% on Rotten Tomatoes and a lackluster C+ CinemaScore. Only 43% of that audience said they would “definitely recommend.”

And it doesn’t seem like international audiences will be much help: It made only $6.3M outside of the U.S. and Canada, bringing its global debut to $13.6M.

“Unfortunately, we came in light,” said Jeffrey Goldstein, who oversees domestic distribution for Warner Bros., in a text message. “We have a tailored approach to our slate, investing strategically in talent, IP and original storytelling. It spans genres and budget levels and allows us to back bold, distinctive filmmakers … and sometimes things just don’t work out.”

Warner Bros.’ other recent release, “Wuthering Heights,” meanwhile, has surpassed $213M globally. And next week, the studio, which is staring down new ownership under Paramount (PSKY), is expected to sweep the Oscars between “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners.”

“We’re coming off an incredible run of nine No. 1 openings in a row, and in an increasingly ‘risk-averse’ business like ours, we believe the business is better served with studios taking bold swings on originals like this one,” Goldstein said. “Even the 1927 Yankees had 44 losses that season.”

Paramount’s “Scream 7” landed in second place in its second weekend with $17.3 million, down a whopping 73% and bringing its domestic total to $93.4M and its global total to $149.5M . Sony’s “GOAT” came in fourth place with $6.6M while “Wuthering Heights” rounded out the top five with $3.8M.

“When there’s this many holdovers in the top 10, it says we haven’t had enough horsepower in the newcomers to really get things moving,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends.

But he anticipates that will change when the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi adventure “Project Hail Mary” hits theaters on March 20.

With final domestic figures being released Monday, the following list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore (SCOR):

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Seeking Alpha analysts Justin Purohit and Eugenio Catone weigh in.

Justin Purohit: With the Warner Bros. (

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InterPositive develops AI-powered tools and consists of a small team of engineers, researchers, and creatives. Affleck will also join the company as a senior advisor.

The move comes in the aftermath of the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) against Paramount Skydance (PSKY), in which the David Ellison-led media company emerged victorious and agreed to pay Netflix a $2.8B termination fee.

Netflix is expected to invest up to $20B this year in films and series and to support new studio deals, live events, and gaming.

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President Trump snapped up between $600K and $1.25M worth of Netflix (NFLX) debt in January, according to a new White House disclosure spotted by The Hollywood Reporter. The Netflix (NFLX) debt purchases added to the prior $500K to $1M

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The movies and entertainment giant gained 25.2% in the preceding six sessions. The stock has added over 5% in the year.

NFLX is up 19% over the past one month.

Netflix abruptly withdrew from its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in late February, many in Hollywood were caught off guard.

Most recently, Netflix announced that it is expanding its Ads Suite to give brands more options to buy and measure ads, with a focus on better targeting, frequency management, and scaled reach on its ad-supported plan.

“Management’s disciplined approach avoids integration risk, preserves balance sheet strength, and positions Netflix for gradual, compelling standalone improvements,” pointed out a recent Seeking Alpha analysis.

Looking at Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating, NFLX has a Buy rating with a score of 3.1 out of 5. The company received A+ in the prospect of profitability, while it received D- in valuation.

Turning to the Wall Street community, 36 analysts gave NFLX a Buy and above rating. 11 analysts have given the stock a Hold recommendation, while one recommended Sell.

Seeking Alpha analysts are positive and see the stock as a Buy.

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Analysts at the research firm believe the company remains a healthy organic growth story, driven by a combination of strong content, global subscriber growth, continued pricing power, and an early-stage/under-monetized ad tier.

They think the company’s ad-supported tier should further expand its subscriber base while driving high-margin incremental revenue.

“NFLX’s ad revenue grew more than 150% in 2025 & is expected to double to ~$3B in 2026, and we believe the business has continued momentum led by improvements in targeting & measurement,” the research firm said in its March 2 note.

They also expect continued strong FCF generation and anticipate elevated share buybacks in 2026, driven by the $2.8B termination fee from Warner Bros. (WBD) and a currently opportunistic share price.

For Netflix, AI should drive improved content discovery and personalization and better advertising solutions and measurement, which would ultimately reduce content production costs, JPM said.

“We believe storytelling and talent will remain critical moats, ultimately better insulating NFLX from AI disruption risk compared to transactional business models,” JPM said Monday.

NFLX has a price target of $120, implying an upside of nearly 42%.

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Sources told the news outlet that EU concerns regarding divestments

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