Netflix hits all-time high as it nears 100M members
Netflix has its plan and is sticking to it.
While competitors such as Amazon and Hulu dive into live TV, Netflix is standing its ground as the on-demand streaming leader in movies and TV series.
The Net TV company expects to add its 100 millionth member this weekend, and its shares hit an all-time high Monday after the company announced higherthan-expected subscriber growth in the April-June quarter.
The streaming video provider’s shares rose more than 1% to $149.25 after the company reported its first-quarter financials after the market’s close Monday.
Netflix said it added 4.95 million new subscribers in the January-March period, slightly below its projection of 5.2 million new subscribers. Netflix added 6.74 million in the same period last year.
Overall, Netflix added 1.42 million new U.S. and 3.53 million international subscribers, bringing its total subscriber base to 98.75 million.
The shift of some first-quarter content — including the fifth season of House of Cards (due May 30) — to the April-June period likely led to lower subscriber growth than expected in the first three months of 2017 but should result in better-than-expected growth in the second quarter, CEO Reed Hastings said in a letter to shareholders.
Netflix expects to add 3.2 million new subscribers during the current three-month period, nearly double the 1.68 million added last year.
Net income of $178.2 million surpassed expectations of the $165.82 million estimated by Wall Street analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Netflix’s net income during the same period a year ago was $27.66 million.
Adjusted earnings per share of 40 cents also surpassed the 37 cents analysts expected. Revenue of $2.64 billion, rose from $1.96 billion a year ago.
Helping boost its performance is Netflix’s growing international audience, which at 47.9 million
represents nearly half of all subscribers.
A sign of its expansion? This month, the company will expand beyond its 24 languages to add Thai and in the coming weeks will add Hebrew and Romanian.
“The opportunity provided to us by the growth of the global Internet is gigantic, and our plan is to keep investing as we increase membership, revenue and operating margins,” Hastings said.
Netflix faces increasing competition from Amazon, Hulu, YouTube and other streaming video entrants. Amazon recently won the rights to stream Thursday night National Football League games during the upcoming season.
But Hastings said the company remains focused on movies and TV series and doesn’t see live TV and Net-delivered pay TV “slim” bundles as detractors.
“Netflix is largely complementary to pay TV packages,” he said. “Our focus also is on on-demand, commercial-free viewing rather than live, ad-supported programming.”
At CFRA Research, equity analyst Tuna Amobi maintained a Buy rating and increased his price target to $160 per share based on Netflix’s “international upside and secular growth story,” despite the billions it is spending on content, he said in an investor note issued after the company’s earnings release.
Netflix continues to spend more than it brings in, with a planned $6 billion on content this year and more than $1 billion on marketing, Hastings says.
But competition for content could eventually become a problem for Netflix, said Michael Pachter, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, who has a $68 12-month price target on the stock.
In a sign of its expansion, the company will add Thai this month and Hebrew and Romanian in the coming weeks.