Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) recent HBO Max retreat may signal good things to come for competitor Netflix (NFLX) — at least according to one media analyst.

"[WBD] needs to be very focused on driving free cash flow and deleveraging," Lightshed Partners' Rich Greenfield told Yahoo Finance Live in a new interview, referencing the company's reported $3.42 billion loss in the second quarter.

"To them, that means embracing theaters and making sure they make as much money on every film," the analyst continued, explaining that "putting movies directly on streaming is essentially betting on the future" as it doesn't lead to the same financial returns as the traditional box office model.

"Are they embracing theaters because it's the right thing to do? Probably not. They're embracing movie theaters because, financially, it makes the most sense for them."

Greenfield surmised that the updated strategy is "a pretty good buy signal for Netflix."

He added, "Seeing the HBO Max pullback should give investors a lot of confidence about Netflix over the course of the next 12 months."

Warner Bros. Discovery expects to see 130 million global streaming users by 2025. It ended the second quarter with 92.1 million total subscribers, up about 1.7 million from the first quarter.

For context, Netflix boasts just over 220 million global subscribers to date.

'We can't find an economic case for direct-to-streaming films'

On Thursday's earnings call, CEO David Zaslav signaled that the company will be cutting back on HBO Max original content in favor of the box office.

"We can't find an economic case for direct-to-streaming films," Zaslav said when asked why the studio pulled two films slated for an HBO Max release — "Batgirl," starring "In The Heights" star Leslie Grace, as well as "Scoob!: Holiday Haunt."

"The emphasis will always be on theatrical," the CEO maintained — a stark contrast from predecessor Jason Kilar, who heavily invested in producing live-action and animated films directly for HBO Max.