Netflix gushes to $205 a share on wowee Q3

Netflix continued to rack up betterthan-expected subscription growth — powering its shares to an all-time high in after-hours trading.

The video streamer on Monday reported that it added 5.3 million subscribers in the third quarter — nearly 1 million more than expected — pushing its total customer base to 109.3 million.

The news sent Netflix shares to $205.30 in extended trading — up more than 100 percent over the past year.

In addition, investors cheered the company’s commitment to original programming.

Earnings per share of 37 cents topped analyst expectations of 32 cents. Revenue climbed 30.3 percent, to $2.99 billion, just ahead of the $2.97 billion expected by a consensus of analysts.

CEO Reed Hastings characterized the quarter as “steady growth” — propelled by new and continuing mustsee releases like “13 Reasons Why,” “Narcos,” “Orange Is the New Black” and “Stranger Things.”

Five years into its original-programming initiative, Netflix said its “future lies in exclusive original content that drives both excitement around Netflix and enormous viewing satisfaction for our global membership and its wide variety of tastes.”

As a result, the company reiterated that the $7 billion budgeted for original content this year would be boosted to $8 billion in 2018.

The better-than-expected results do not include the $1 to $2 monthly price increases Netflix announced earlier this month.

Those increases are likely to render Netflix’s fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $3.3 billion “conservative,” according to Mark Mahaney of RBC Capital Markets.