Netflix Earnings Tops Wall Street, But Revenues Fall Short

(RTTNews) - Online-video streaming service Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Thursday reported a fourth-quarter profit that dropped from last year, as subscriber additions came in below expectations. Earnings for the quarter trumped Wall Street estimates, but revenues fell short.

Netflix added 8.84 million subscribers globally in the quarter, falling short of its forecast of 9.40 million, to end the quarter with 139.26 million subscribers. The company added 1.53 million customers in the U.S. during the quarter, below its estimates of 1.80 million. International subscriber additions were 7.31 million, below its expectation of 7.60 million.

Looking forward to the first quarter, Netflix expects to add 8.90 million memberships, with 1.60 million in the U.S. and 7.30 million internationally.

Los Gatos, California-based Netflix's fourth-quarter profit dropped to $134 million or $0.30 per share from $186.0 million or $0.41 per share last year. On average, 37 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.24 per share for the quarter.

Netflix's revenues for the quarter rose 37.4% to $4.19 billion from $3.29 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $4.21 billion for the quarter.

The video-streaming service provider said average paid streaming memberships rose 26% and average selling price increased 3% year over year.

Looking forward to the first-quarter, Netflix expects revenues of $4.49 billion and earnings of $0.56 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect earnings of $0.83 per share and revenues of $4.61 billion.

NFLX closed Thursday's trading at $353.19, up $1.80 or 0.51%, on the on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, slipped $13.63 or 3.86% in the after-hours trade.