Netflix shares fall on mixed quarterly results
FBN’s Deirdre Bolton reports on Netflix’s fourth-quarter earnings.
Netflix shares fell in after-hours trading on Thursday after the streaming giant reported mixed quarterly results, missing on quarterly revenue but topping expectations for subscriber additions and earnings.
The company posted fourth quarter revenue of $4.19 billion, slightly below Wall Street’s expectation of $4.21 billion. Quarterly earnings per share of 30 cents outpaced the Street’s projection of 24 cents, according to Refinitiv data. Wall Street also eyed a drop in the fourth quarter operating margin to 5.2 percent vs. 7.5 percent last year, citing the release of "so many titles launching in the quarter" as noted in the earnings release.
Free cash flow was negative $1.3 billion for the quarter as Netflix ramps up investments in original content.
Netflix added 8.84 million global paid subscribers in the fourth quarter, including 1.5 million in the U.S. market and 7.31 million in the international market. Those figures topped Wall Street's expectations and the company's own expectations. The company now has 139 million global subscribers.
For the first quarter of 2019, Netflix provided a quarterly revenue forecast of $4.49 billion. The company’s projected addition of 8.9 million global subscribers in the first quarter surpassed Wall Street’s projection.
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The earnings report came days after Netflix announced its largest price hike ever. The company’s most popular plan will cost $13 per month, up from $11.