Why Netflix Stock Surged Higher on Thursday

Shares of Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) bucked the broader market downturn on Thursday, surging as much as 9.8%. As of 2:58 p.m. ET today, the stock was still up 8.9%.

The catalyst that drove the streaming pioneer higher were reports that a hedge fund has purchased millions of shares since the stock began plummeting late last week.

Pershing Square Capital Management, run by billionaire investor Bill Ackman, announced yesterday that the hedge fund had been purchasing Netflix stock hand over fist, amassing more than 3.1 million shares over the past week and making Pershing a "top-20 shareholder." Ackman cited an attractive valuation due to the recent "substantial stock price decline [that] was further exacerbated by recent market volatility."

Source Fool.com