BIG ‘NET’ LOSS

Netflix subs see slide

Shares of Netflix plunged more than 10 percent in late trading after the streaming giant reported a rare slowdown in subscriber growth.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company said it added 2.7 million subscribers in the quarter ended in June — down 2.3 million from its forecast of 5 million new viewers. The company behind “Orange Is the New Black” and “House of Cards” gained 5.5 million subscribers during the same time last year.

Netflix’s stock spiraled as much as 13 percent in extended trading on the dismal numbers, after closing down less than 1 percent, at $362.44.

The company blamed the disappointing subscriber growth on a lackluster show lineup — but Wall Street analysts pointed to the company’s decision to hike prices at a time when competition by rival streaming services is heating up.

The price hikes, which started in the spring, pushed the cost of a standard subscription to $12.99 a month, from $10.99, and to $8.99 a month, from $7.99, for a basic plan.

“The competition/price increase-related churn ‘wall of worry’ could take a few quarters to disprove,” said JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth, before adding that Netflix remains a good buy.

Netflix is raising prices at a time of intensifying competition for streaming eyeballs. In addition to existing rivals like Hulu and Amazon Prime, the company faces an flood of new products to be launched as soon as this year by deeppocketed rivals.

Disney, for example, plans to release a service that will include its vast archive of movies for the low price of $6.99 a month, while Apple and WarnerMedia are planning to enter the space in 2020.

Netfllix Chief Executive Reed Hastings (inset) insisted the competition was nothing to worry about.

“We don’t believe competition was a factor since there wasn’t a material change in the competitive landscape during the second quarter,” he told analysts and investors. “Rather, we think the second quarter’s content slate drove less growth in paid net adds than we anticipated.”

He said the company’s firstquarter subscriber growth was “so large,” with 9.6 million subscriber additions, that it may have contributed to the second-quarter slowdown.

Netflix ended the quarter with 151.6 million global subscriptions. It reported diluted earnings of 60 cents a share for the second quarter on revenue of $4.92 billion. Wall Street was looking for earnings per share of 56 cents on revenue of $4.93 billion.