Netflix beats expectations -- is the stock a buy?

I've got to give management credit. They're keeping the business running smoothly even in the face of a terrible recession. Netflix obviously is still figuring out how to remain relevant in a media world that is increasingly going digital in terms of distribution paradigms, but for now, consumers continue to enjoy the company's convenient rental model, one that offers strong competition for Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI). And the stock has been strong recently. I was a bit bearish on the company back in October when I took a look at Netflix's Q3 report. I said that I would rather wait until the stock went down before buying. Well, it did go down a few bucks I think at the time, but, after bottoming out at the 52-week low, the stock rose, retested the bottom, and then rose again, all the way to a recent high of $33.57.

I'm going to offer the same perspective after the Q4 numbers: wait for a pullback before entering. I have no idea if the pattern will repeat itself (it's obviously impossible to predict short-term stock movements), but it probably wouldn't hurt to be careful about buying after a run-up when we have all kinds of potentially negative macroeconomic data on the way.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change without notice.