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Recent releases have garnered impressive viewership numbers. The recent launch of Happy Gilmore 2 broke viewership records with 2.9 billion minutes watched during opening weekend. It also had a massive hit with K-Pop Demon Hunters reaching 266 million views within 11 weeks.

Despite generating $41 billion in trailing-12-month revenue with more than 300 million paid households, Netflix continues to grow the top line at double-digit rates. Company guidance calls for revenue to be up 17% year over year in Q3.

Its margins don’t resemble a typical entertainment business. The company generated $10 billion in net profit over the last year, representing a margin of nearly 25%. Growing profits is a key driver of shareholder returns over time, and management is continuing to invest in ways that will make the company more profitable and valuable down the road.

One example of where it’s investing is advertising. This relatively new revenue stream is set to double this year, which reflects strong demand for the more affordable ad-supported plans. Netflix is offering incredible value that should sustain strong growth. There are tremendous opportunities for Netflix to drive growth across international markets and stretch its addressable market with interactive content and documentaries.

Despite the stock’s monster run, analysts are projecting 24% annualized earnings growth in the coming years. This should lead to excellent returns for investors.

Before you buy stock in Microsoft, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Microsoft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $600,550!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,116,616!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,032% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 192% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of October 20, 2025

John Ballard has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft and Netflix. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Got $5,000? 2 Tech Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Term was originally published by The Motley Fool