Netflix surges late as sales, subscribers rise SA

Netflix surges late as sales, subscribers rise
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Netflix Inc. shares soared as much 33% in after-hours trading Wednesday as the company reported strong fourth-quarter results, highlighted by growth in its U.S. video-streaming subscribers.Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) said that for the quarter ended Dec. 31 it earned $8 million, or 13 cents a share, on $945 million in revenue. During the same period a year ago, Netflix earned $35 million or 64 cents a share on revenue of $876 million.
“My first impression is that they reported better-than-expected results on most metrics, and the guidance is also ahead of consensus,” said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee. Bhatia was referring to Netflix topping the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who had forecast the company to lose 12 cents a share on $934.7 million in sales.The results pushed Netflix’s shares up to $137.45 in after-hours trading, following a gain of 5.6% to close the regular market session at $103.26.

New U.S. video-streaming additions were a highlight of the quarter, as Netflix said it added 2.05 million subscribers, to end 2012 with 27.15 million such customers. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company had earlier said it expected to add between 1.3 million and 2 million domestic streaming subscribers in the quarter. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/netflix-surg...2013-01-23