Shares of Netflix Inc. got a boost Thursday, after the streaming video giant’s credit rating was lifted out of “junk” territory at Moody’s Investors Service, matching S&P Global Ratings’s move more than a year ago. The rule of thumb is, if at least two of the major credit-rating agencies rate a company’s credit as investment grade, then that company’s credit is “officially” considered to be investment grade.
Moody’s said late Wednesday that it raised the rating on Netflix’s
NFLX,
+2.13%
senior unsecured notes to Baa3, which is the lowest investment-grade rating, from Ba1, which is the highest speculative grade, or “junk”, rating. The rating outlook is “positive,” which suggests the next rating move is likely to be another upgrade. “Moody’s anticipates that growth in subscribers from the recently launched ad supported service will be gradual but steady and provide a strong long-term opportunity for revenue growth given the mass audience potential and shrinking ad avails in the linear television ecosystem,” Moody’s credit analysts wrote. Also read: Netflix could be seeing ‘significantly stronger’ user growth amid password crackdown. The stock rose 1.6% in afternoon trading, putting it on track to close at a six-week high. The rating agency said it expects Netflix to remain the “leading direct-to-consumer subscription-video-on-dem …