I wonder if there will be a flurry of last-minute gift subscriptions to Netflix this Christmas.

After all, it's a gift you can buy online, so you can get it as late as Christmas morning for that surprise guest. It doesn't cost much: Prices start at $7.99 a month. And Netflix, which delivers TV programs and movies to your home by DVD and over the Internet, can save the recipient money: It lets them cut back on cable—or dump it altogether.

These are boom times for Netflix. It's been one of the big winners from the recession. Last quarter's revenues were 31% higher than a year earlier. Earnings were up 35% and had doubled since the summer of 2008.

In the last year alone, the stock has rocketed from $57 to $184. By my rough calculations, based upon filings from earlier this year, chairman and chief executive Reed Hastings may be sitting on stock-option gains approaching $300 million.

So if the Netflix subscription service is a good deal, is that the same for the stock?