Pershing Square USA, Ltd.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has taken a new stake in Netflix, while 24/7 Wall St. issued a 12-month price target of $177.27, implying 127.94% upside from the current price of $77.77. Pershing Square disclosed a Netflix position representing roughly 4.9% of Pershing Square USA's portfolio, despite Ackman's prior Netflix trade costing him $400 million in 2022. Netflix reported second-quarter 2026 revenue up 13.4% to $12.56 billion, EPS of $0.80 beating consensus, and operating margin expanding to 33.4%, with a record $4.7 billion in buybacks and $27.1 billion still authorized. The bull case of $190.54 rests on advertising revenue roughly doubling to $3 billion in 2026, while the bear case of $141.66 cites decelerating revenue growth and a 32.7% year-over-year drop in free cash flow. Netflix trades at 29 times earnings versus Spotify's 48 times on nearly identical revenue growth, and its return on equity of 42.76% far exceeds Disney's 12%.

Pershing Square held its first earnings call as Pershing Square Inc., with CEO Bill Ackman outlining plans for a new venture fund and steps to improve trading in Pershing Square USA Ltd. shares. Ackman said the firm's first planned new vehicle, Pershing Square Ventures, is targeted for a fall or year-end launch and would invest across a broad range of private companies, operating as a permanent-capital vehicle. He also said Pershing Square USA Ltd., or PSUS, was about 95% invested after raising $5 billion, and the company intends to add investment-grade debt with a target capital structure of roughly 15% to 20% debt to total assets. Ackman acknowledged PSUS shares traded at a substantial discount to net asset value of approximately $50 per share, calling the trading performance 'absurd' and promising a more comprehensive marketing effort. The firm also discussed transforming Howard Hughes into a 'modern-day Berkshire Hathaway' through its insurance subsidiary Vantage, and continues to evaluate potential transactions for its special purpose acquisition rights company, SPARC.

Wall Street finished the week higher, with the benchmark S&P 500 hitting fresh all-time highs, and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) added 1.16% from the previous week to close at $57.60. Among megacap stocks, Banco Santander led the winners, adding 4.26% to $14.70 after receiving Federal Reserve approval for its acquisition of Webster Financial. Berkshire Hathaway gained ahead of its second-quarter earnings release, while HSBC Holdings led the decliners, pulling back 2.53% to $103.73 despite reporting strong first-half results and updating its full-year guidance to include a roughly $2 billion savings target from reorganization. In the large-cap gainers, Blue Owl Capital advanced 15.24% after closing its European net lease fund with €1.6 billion in capital commitments, exceeding its original target, and Pershing Square added 13.82% ahead of its quarterly earnings. On the losing side, Hut 8 retreated 17.69% after missing revenue estimates, while mid-cap UWM Holdings dropped 29.67% and Sezzle fell 23.74% even after boosting its full-year guidance.