Netflix added 7.05 million new subscribers in its fourth quarter — obliterating its forecast by 36 percent and driving shares of the video streamer to new highs.
Particularly impressive was the growth outside the US, which Wall Street thought would be slow and plodding.
The Reed Hasting-led company added 5.12 million international subscribers, well above the expected 3.75 million.
In the US, 1.93 million new subs were added, topping the 1.45 forecast.
The Los Gatos, Calif., company now has 93.8 million subscribers.
Investors, duly impressed, pushed Netflix shares up 8.2 percent in after-hours trading, to $144.16.
“It’s fundamentally a story of broad acceptance of internet TV,” Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings said.
Profits in the quarter grew 55 percent, to $66.7 million, or 16 cents a share, while revenue rose 36 percent, to $2.48 billion.
The financials were in line with analyst expectations of $2.47 billion for revenue and 13 cents for EPS. Shares are up 28 percent in the last year.
The quarter marked Netflix’s 10th year of streaming, prompting the company to comment: “The next decade will be even more amazing and tumultuous as internet TV supplants linear TV.”
It’s also the fourth year since Netflix launched original programming — an initiative that last year accounted for five of the Top 10 most globally searched TV shows.
Meanwhile, the 17 nominations garnered by Netflix’s original series for the Screen Actors Guild Awards are the most of any network.
Netflix believes its content is now strong enough for it to withstand any change in US net neutrality laws the new administration might entertain.
“We are now popular enough with consumers to keep our relationships with [internet service providers] stable,” it said.
Source: Netflix adds way more new subscribers than forecast | New York Post
