On Holding (ONON) experienced a significant surge in its stock price, climbing between 5% and 7% on Friday morning. This boost came after reports confirmed that French soccer sensation Kylian Mbappé would be joining the Swiss brand's foray into football, marking On Holding's first major push into cleats and match-day apparel. This move is seen as a direct challenge to established sports apparel giants like Nike, whose stock consequently slipped by approximately 1% on the news.
Despite the positive market reaction, On Holding shares had been under pressure throughout the year, trading near a 52-week low around $26, and were down about 40% year-to-date. While the endorsement by Mbappé is a major reputational blow to Nike, which he had worn since childhood, the financial impact on Nike, an approximately $54 billion company, is considered immaterial. For On Holding, the contract terms were not disclosed, and the company does not anticipate launching its first football boot until 2027, meaning the cost of the endorsement will hit the income statement well before any football-related revenue materializes. Analysts note that while Mbappé brings global attention to On Holding, it doesn't immediately address underlying business decelerations or guarantee profitable football sales.
Conversely, Netflix (NFLX) saw its stock fall by 4% after Wells Fargo downgraded its rating to Underweight from Equal Weight, slashing the price target from $80 to $57. Analyst Steven Cahall cited concerns over softening viewer engagement and a weaker slate of original series in the second half of 2026, leading to increased subscriber churn risk next year. Cahall projects a 21% year-over-year decline in viewing hours for Netflix’s Top 100 Originals in H2 2026, a metric historically tied to the platform's ability to command premium pricing.
This downgrade comes despite Netflix's Q2 2026 earnings report, which showed an EPS of $0.80, slightly beating the consensus of $0.79, but a slight revenue miss at $12.56 billion against a forecast of $12.58 billion. The stock was already down 22% year-to-date, indicating that a lot of negative sentiment had already been priced in. While Wells Fargo focused on declining engagement, Evercore ISI analyst Kutgun Maral maintained an Outperform rating with a $110 price target, highlighting record household penetration in Japan and multi-year highs in the U.S., particularly due to a rise in live sports viewing. The divergent analyst opinions highlight a debate over whether hours watched per subscriber or total households on the service is the more critical metric for Netflix's future.
