Netflix Shares Plummet As Company Gives Disappointing Subscriber Forecast

Netflix Inc. saw its shares fall by a double-digit percentage after the company reported net income of $27.7 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with $23.7, or 5 cents a share, in the same period a year before. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected per-share earnings of 4 cents. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.96 billion, just below the FactSet consensus forecast of $1.97 billion and above the $1.57 billion that Netflix reported a year ago. Wall Street was anxiously awaiting U.S. subscriber-growth numbers, which came in higher than expected. Netflix added 2.23 million users in the U.S., compared with 2.28 million a year earlier, and 4.51 million internationally, which was a big bump-up from the 2.6 million international users it reported having added a year ago. Netflix expects subscriber growth to slow to 2 million international net adds in the second quarter, it said, which is well below analysts' expectation of 3.5 million additions. Netflix said it anticipates adding 500,000 users in the U.S. during the second quarter.