Netflix shot past its all-time closing high on Wednesday (Dec. 2). The stock hit $131.24 shortly before 11 a.m., above its best close of $129.84 on Aug. 6. It was still up about 3.8% to just over $130 in early afternoon trading, but retreated below $129.
The intraday surge is the latest indication of Netflix’s stellar year. The company’s stock is the best performer in the S&P 500 over the last 12 months (up 150%), and since the start of 2015. Amazon, which closed at a high of $679.06 on Tuesday, sits in second place by both measures.
But back to Netflix. The company has continued to do well this year with content acquisitions (recent additions include ABC’s “How to Get Away With Murder”) and scored a critical success this fall with “Master of None,” a social satire and sitcom co-created by comedian Aziz Ansari that debuted on Netflix in November.
That Netflix is having such a strong year might help explain why the company was comfortable announcing a $1 price increase in early October for its most popular streaming plan. When Netflix has raised prices in the past, its results have suffered; in earnings last October, the company blamed a year-over-year decline in subscriber growth (and an ensuing 25% drop in its stock price immediately after reporting results) on a similar $1 increase in plan prices. It’s too soon to say whether the most recent hike will have comparable effects on the company’s results—but Netflix is so far ahead already this year that it may hardly matter.