As earnings season ramps up, this week's roster of quarterly updates will importantly feature streaming service specialist Netflix (NFLX -0.63%). Investors will be looking for insight into some important catalysts that seem to be picking up steam recently.

The market's high hopes for the company as of late are in stark contrast to the sentiment one year ago, when shares were trading at less than half of their current value. Despite the stock's astronomical 153% rise over the past 12 months, analysts are extremely upbeat about the stock headed into its earnings report on Wednesday. Indeed, four analysts went out of their way last week to express their bullish view for shares. 

What analysts are saying

A handful of analysts raised their price targets for Netflix stock last week, with most of them rating the stock a buy (or equivalent). The four most bullish analysts come from UBS, J.P. Morgan, Citi, and Wedbush. UBS and J.P. Morgan analysts both lifted their 12-month price targets for the stock last week to $525 and $495, respectively, both emphasizing how the rollout of paid sharing has likely been materially positive for the company. Citi analyst Jason Bazinet, who has a $500 price target on the stock, says investors will likely also give attention to the company's nascent advertising business, which he thinks the company will provide an update on in during the earnings report.

Finally, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter reiterated that the stock remains on its "Best Ideas" list headed into the report; the lucrative combination of cracking down on password sharing and ramping up its ad-supported tiers simultaneously should help drive incremental cash flow for the company, Pachter predicts.

What to watch

Investors will definitely be looking at any updates management provides on the impact of new initiatives like paid sharing and the continued ramp-up of its advertising business.

The company's ad-supported tier, in particular, will likely positively impact subscriber and revenue growth. The ad tier helps subscriber growth because it makes the service affordable to people who previously were unwilling to pay the higher price tag the ad-free tiers command. Additionally, it helps revenue because of both the incremental subscribers it brings to the platform and the new revenue stream the company gets from ad sales.

Further, Netflix told investors in its first-quarter update that it was already pleased with the launch of paid sharing at the time, even though its rollout was limited. A broader rollout occurred during Q2 and likely had a substantially positive impact on revenue and subscriber growth. 

Not all analysts agree

Investors, however, should note that not all analysts are unanimous in their bullishness for the stock headed into the update. Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney said in a note to investors last week that he is concerned the market's expectations are too high. For this reason, he thinks the stock could take a hit when the company reports its second-quarter results. With this said, he is bullish on the stock long-term. 

While all of these analyst opinions are interesting, investors should be sure to do their own due diligence before they make an investment decision. Nevertheless, the sheer number of upbeat analysts going into the company's report is a good reason for investors to take a closer look at the streaming service company to see if it might make sense to add shares. After all, catalysts like paid sharing and advertising could morph into massive incremental revenue for the company over time.

Netflix will report its second-quarter results after market close on Wednesday, July 19.