Author: Chris Versace

Netflix’s ($NFLX) ad-supported subscription tier now reaches 250 million global users, the company announced at its Wednesday Upfront presentation, up from 94 million last year. (Netflix stopped reporting subscription numbers in Q1 2025.) 

Its ad-supported tier will debut in 15 new countries this year. 

Netflix also secured another five NFL games, including a Thanksgiving game the company had been publicly gunning for and a Week 1 match in Australia.

Other announcements included an aggressive push into advertising across new content formats. Ads will soon come to its recently launched vertical video feed, as well as its video podcasts—though it’s unclear whether ad-free subscribers will be exposed to these ads. New personalization tools will also debut to improve contextual targeting.

Position: The Pro Portfolio is long NFLX

This morning Visa ($V) published its updated look at the U.S. economy:

Over the last couple of months, we assumed the conflict would be short lived. This month we have once again revised this view and expect the conflict to last through early summer. While we think most of the upside to oil prices has subsided, it will likely take some time for traffic to begin moving through the Strait of Hormuz and for oil production to recover enough to rebuild global inventories. As a result, we now see oil and gasoline prices remaining elevated through at least Q3 of this year, resulting in higher inflation for longer. 

This revised set of assumptions has a few material impacts on our outlook for this year and next. For starters, we now see inflation peaking around 3.9 percent on a year-over-year (YoY) basis this quarter as measured by the PCE deflator. The duration of elevated oil and gas prices has also led us to upwardly revise core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, suggesting that higher energy prices will be passed on through other consumer goods as well. The good news is that the labor market still appears to be on solid footing. With higher headline and core inflation and job growth continuing, we no longer expect any interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year and expect only one 25-basis-point cut in late 2027. 

Higher inflation also has the effect of taking a bite out of consumer spending as real (inflation-adjusted) income growth is expected to reach stall speed towards the middle of this year, weighing on real consumer spending. We now expect the economy to grow 2.2 percent YoY this year, down from our estimate of 2.5 percent last month. Inflation pressures should ease next year, which should help lift real income growth once again, but only modestly. We are not expecting much change in next year’s growth outlook, with GDP likely expanding at the same 2.2 percent pace as this year.

In the back of Visa’s May report, on page 3, thumbing through its quarterly forecasts, we find the following:

Q1 2026 GDP: 2.0%

Q2 2026 GDP: 2.3%

Q3 2026 GDP: 2.3%

Q4 2026: GDP: 2.6%

Q1 2027: 2.1%

Q1 2026 CPI: 2.7%

Q2 2026 CPI: 3.8%

Q3 2026 CPI: 3.7%

Q4 2026 CPI:  4.2%

Q1 2027: 3.7%

Position: None

Underneath the pop we’re seeing the shares of Versant ($VSNT) we’re seeing things that confirm a few of our thoughts over at the Pro Portfolio.

First is the continued shift to digital content consumption, which has been highlighted rather nicely in the monthly data published in Nielsen’s The Gauge. While Cable commanded 24.5% of the market back in April 2025, as of February of this year that fell to 20.0%. Where did it go? Streaming, which accounted for 48.0% of TV viewing  as of February 2026.

The top three platforms?

Google’s ($GOOGL) YouTube with 12.7% of total U.S. TV viewing

Netflix ($NFLX) at 8.4%

Disney ($DIS) gets the bronze with 5.0%. 

Getting back to Versant, linear distribution revenue for its pay TV networks — which include CNBC, MS NOW and the Golf Channel as well as USA, E!, Syfy and Oxygen — was down roughly 7%.

Because advertisers look to spend where consumer eyeballs are, it’s not surprising to see Versant’s advertising revenue fell 5% year over year. 

Position: The Pro Portfolio is long GOOGL, NFLX.

Cisco ($CSCO) CEO on CNBC – There is a networking supercycle that is starting now.

Nice confirmation between the linkage of rising AI adoption and usage, and the demand for networking. 

As I pointed out recently, the autonomous driving market will be another tailwind for data center and networking given the amount of data that will be created, processed and consumed. 

Position: None

Retail sales in the United States increased 0.5% in April 2026 over the previous month.

Retail sales in the United States increased 4.90 percent in April of 2026 over the same month in the previous year.

Retail-only sales rose 5.2% year over year, with notable strength in non-store retailers:  +11.1%, the strongest month in February-April

Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & book stores: +13.4%

Gasoline stations: +20.9% (no surprise given the climb in gas prices)

Electronics & Appliances: +7.6%

Clothing & accessories: +5.5%

Food services & drinking places up 2.7%, a tad better than March but weaker than February.

Declines in furniture and department stores. 

Those figures are very good for the Pro Portfolio’s positions in Amazon ($AMZN), TJX ($TJX), and of course, Costco ($COST). 

Costco’s U.S. adjusted comp sales rose 8.0% – Clearly continuing to win consumer wallet share in the current environment, and poised to do so as consumers grapple with inflation headwinds. 

TJX reports next week, and tonight’s earnings from Ross Stores ($ROST) will help frame or possibly re-frame expectations. 

Position: TheStreet Pro Portfolio is long AMZN, COST, TJX. 

The shipments component of the Cass Freight Index fell 4.4% y/y in April, but rose 0.4% month over month (m/m), building on a 10.4% m/m gain in February and a 3.0% gain in March.

Per the good folks that publish the data, the normal seasonal trend would put the shipments component of the Cass Freight Index down just 1% y/y in May.

Positions: None.

JPMorgan is out with bullish comments on Netflix ($NFLX), reiterating its “Overweight” rating and $118 price target.

The action follows Netflix’s fourth annual advertising upfront. JPMorgan is positive on Netflix’s reach, content strategy, and improving advertising technology. And sees its upfront announcements demonstrating “progress towards building a scaled advertising strategy and highlight the view of Netflix becoming “Global TV.”

The Pro Portfolio recently added to its NFLX position at $88.64 on May 11. 

Position: TheStreet Pro Portfolio is long NFLX

A few more price target increases for Nvidia ($NVDA) ahead of its earnings report next week:

Cantor Fitzgerald takes its target to $350 from $300

UBS resets its at $275 from $245.

Position: TheStreet Pro Portfolio is long NVDA