Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is set to release its earnings report after the closing bell today, analysts at Wedbush released their expectations for the company ahead of that report. Analysts’ consensus for today’s report is a loss of 12 cents per share on $935 million in revenue. Analysts at Wedbush say they expect Netflix to report a loss of 10 cents per share on $926 million in revenue.
Netflix’s guidance called for revenue between $919 and $943 million and earnings per share between a 23 cent loss to earnings of 4 cents per share. Wedbush analysts said they expect Netflix to grow its net domestic streaming subscriber guidance by at least $1.75 million on the high end. For the fourth quarter they expect about 1.7 million adds.
Wedbush analysts said it appears as if Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is dropping more content than it is adding, which they say will limit “the company’s long-term growth and profitability potential.” They believe the December deal for exclusive content from The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was probably “expensive” and simply replaced its less expensive nonexclusive deal with Starz, which came with almost double the content. They believe Netflix will drop more content this year as the Warner Bros. deal announced this month will come into effect.
They believe since Carl Icahn has been quiet on shares of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) recently, he might have unwound his stake in the company. They note that he had no comment “when Netflix received a Wells Notice, and shares have approached the reasonable takeout target he proposed when he first went public.”
Analysts at Wedbush are maintaining their Underperform rating and their $45 price target on shares of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). Shares of Netflix rose 2 percent in Wednesday morning trading ahead of the company’s earnings report.
