A notorious short-seller pulls back on its bet against Netflix, saying international traction could boost the stock 20%

Daniel Strauss

November 8, 2019 6:03 PM

Andrew Left, the notorious short-seller who runs Citron Research, is pulling back on his bet against Netflix.

Orange is the new black

Citron tweeted on Thursday that new data suggest international traction will boost the stock by 20% to $350 per share.
Traders betting against Netflix lost $287 million in a single day in mid-October after shares surged 11% on strong earnings .
Watch Netflix trade live on Markets Insider .

A notorious short-seller is paring back a bet against Netflix , one of the most-shorted stocks on the US stock market.

Citron Research, which is run by Andrew Left , announced in a tweet on Thursday that its changing its bearish position on Netflix based on new data around international subscribers.

"After years of making "Elite" short calls on $NFLX Citron is going "Dark," the firm wrote in a tweet on Thursday. "New data shows Intl traction might be "The Mechanism" to take the stock back to $350. Long $NFLX into next Q is the real "Money Heist."

The $350 figure represents almost 20% upside from where Netflix shares trades on Friday.

The call also comes about three weeks after Netflix short sellers took a major beating following strong third-quarter results from the streaming giant.

Traders betting against the stock saw about $287 million in mark-to-market losses on October 17, the day after Netflix reported earnings.

While some of those positions might have been closed and losses recovered since then, the surge was still a shock for short sellers.

In early January, the streaming company's shares were trading above $330 a piece, and Citron said investor's were "as blind as Bird Box," referring to a Netflix movie starring Sandra Bullock. The firm predicted Netflix shares would fall back to the $300 level.

Left is perhaps best known for the series of prescient short-seller reports he wrote on Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which ended up coming under fire for the fraud he helped highlight. His tweets have been known to move a stock instantly .

Netflix's stock is up about 9.5% year-to-date.