WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Netflix Inc. (NFLX) Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter profit that fell short of Wall Street estimates, despite revenues increasing 22% and beating expectations. The online-video streaming giant's subscriber additions trumped Wall Street's outlook, sending its shares up over 12% in the extended trading session.
Netflix added 8.51 million subscribers globally in the quarter, far ahead of its forecast of 6.00 million, to end the quarter with 203.66 million subscribers. The company added 0.86 million customers in the U.S. and Canada region during the quarter, while EMEA region subscriber additions were 4.46 million, LATAM were 1.21 million and APAC were 1.99 million.
For the first quarter, the company expects to add 6.00 million subscribers.
Los Gatos, California-based Netflix's fourth-quarter profit dropped to $542 million or $1.19 per share from $587 million or $1.30 per share last year. On average, 38 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.39 per share for the quarter.
Netflix's revenues for the quarter rose 21.5% to $6.644 billion from $5.467 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $6.63 billion for the quarter.
The video-streaming service provider said average paid streaming memberships rose 23% and ARPU was flat year over year.
Looking forward to the first quarter, Netflix expects revenues of $7.129 billion and earnings of $2.97 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect earnings of $2.10 per share and revenues of $7.02 billion.
NFLX is currently trading at $501.77, up $3.79 or 0.76%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $61.21 or 12.20% in the after-hours trade.
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