Netflix, Inc. Skyrockets After Smashing Earnings Estimates

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Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) released its latest earnings report after closing bell tonight, posting earnings of 12 cents per share. They never make it easy to locate the total revenue number, so that will come later. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 6 cents per share on $2.28 billion in revenue. In last year’s third quarter, the video streaming company reported earnings of 7 cents per share and $1.74 billion in revenue. Management had guided for about 5 cents per share in earnings.

Netflix beats expectations

The company reported $2.158 billion in streaming revenue, including $1.3 billion in U.S. streaming revenue and $853 million in international streaming revenue.  Analysts were expecting $1.31 billion in domestic streaming revenues and $842 million in international streaming revenues. They were looking for $133 million in revenue from the DVD business. Netflix’s outlook for streaming revenue for the third quarter was $2.16 billion.

The company added 3.57 million subscribers, marking a great recovery from the second quarter. In the U.S., It added 370,000 net new subscribers, while outside the U.S., it added 3.2 million subscribers. Netflix had a total of 86.74 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter.

Subscriber adds in focus

Subscriber growth has been a consistent worry for much of the year. Netflix management made some comments earlier this year about events such as the Olympics which could threaten subscriber numbers. They also said in the last quarter that all the media coverage about the un-grandfathering of subscribers who had been on the $7.99 per month plan weighed on the metric.

In the second quarter, Netflix added 1.69 million subscribers, coming up far short of management’s guide for 2.5 million adds. They had guided for 2.3 million net new subscribers in the third quarter, including 300,000 domestic subscribers and 2 million international subscribers. However, the company only added 160,000 domestic subscribers. The consensus estimate, according to FactSet, stood at 2.55 million adds.

Netflix updates guidance

Netflix management also provided guidance for the fourth quarter. They expect $2.344 billion in total streaming revenue and 5.2 million net adds.

Shares of Netflix soared in after-hours trades, climbing by as much as 19.47% to $119.23.

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