The future threat of Disney may be hanging over the company but Netflix has shown just how formidable it currently is by adding 9.6 million new subscribers in the first three months of the year, a record for a single quarter.
Of the record additions, the company reported 1.74 million US streaming additions, substantially up on analyst expectation, while there were 7.86 million new international streaming additions.
The streaming giant also reported earnings of $344 million, or 76 cents a share, up from 64 cents a share a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $4.5 billion, up from $3.7 billion in the same period last year. The results beat Street analysts’ projection of first-quarter earnings of 58 cents a share on sales of $4.5 billion, according to FactSet. Analysts also projected just 8.06 million new paying subscribers.
“To start off the year with over nine-and-a-half-million acquisitions, It’s a phenomenal start,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said.
Netflix said that it’s estimating a weaker Q2, estimating that second-quarter earnings will come in at 55 cents a share, That’s down from 85 cents a share a year ago and well below analysts’ estimates of 99 cents a share. It also only expects only 300,000 new paying subscribers in the US, compared to analyst expectations of 600,000+.
“Operating margin of 10.2% exceeded our beginning-of-quarter expectation as some spending was shifted from Q1 to later in the year,” Netflix explained in the letter to investors.
Netflix also said that it expects its free-cash flow deficit to be around $3.5 billion, as it continues to pay for new content. This is also due to “higher cash taxes related to the change in our corporate structure and additional investments in real estate and other infrastructure.”
The streaming giant also reported earnings of $344 million, or 76 cents a share, up from 64 cents a share a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $4.5 billion, up from $3.7 billion in the same period last year. The results beat Street analysts’ projection of first-quarter earnings of 58 cents a share on sales of $4.5 billion, according to FactSet. Analysts also projected just 8.06 million new paying subscribers.
“To start off the year with over nine-and-a-half-million acquisitions, It’s a phenomenal start,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said.
Netflix said that it’s estimating a weaker Q2, estimating that second-quarter earnings will come in at 55 cents a share, That’s down from 85 cents a share a year ago and well below analysts’ estimates of 99 cents a share. It also only expects only 300,000 new paying subscribers in the US, compared to analyst expectations of 600,000+.
“Operating margin of 10.2% exceeded our beginning-of-quarter expectation as some spending was shifted from Q1 to later in the year,” Netflix explained in the letter to investors.
Netflix also said that it expects its free-cash flow deficit to be around $3.5 billion, as it continues to pay for new content. This is also due to “higher cash taxes related to the change in our corporate structure and additional investments in real estate and other infrastructure.”
