Netflix misses subscriber growth targets, but expects a big Q2

In worldwide markets, Netflix expects to add 2.60 million subscribers, above the average estimate of 2.09 million. That comes on the heels of Netflix’s biggest quarter for new subscribers ever.

In that time, Netflix has gained more than 72 million more subscribers.

Netflix shares were trading at $149.31, up 1.4 percent, at 7:30 p.m. – after adding 3 percent, to $147.25, in regular trading.

Indeed, Netflix’s flagship series, “House of Cards”, delayed the premiere of season 5 from the first quarter to the second quarter.

Before he signaled the interviewees to end the session, Hastings let us all in on how he sees the future of Netflix, a service that is streaming a little more than one billion hours of content per week. But starting this year, Netflix suggested, the primary metrics of its success will be revenue growth and global operating margins.

Netflix is on the verge of reaching 100 million members, but missed its new subscriber forecast for its latest quarter.

Netflix also predicts that the advent of digital distribution services such as Sling, Playstation Vue, DirecTV Now, YouTube TV and Hulu’s forthcoming service won’t have much of an impact on Netflix business. Internationally, numbers were also lower with 3.53 million users signing up, compared to the 3.65 million estimate and 3.7 million guidance.

Netflix says it plans to operate with about $2 billion in negative cash flow this year to aggressively grow its original content slate. The firm continues to insist that Netflix will remain focused on streaming video on demand and has no interest in adding ad-supported live streaming. “If you own Netflix because you think they are going to add subscribers globally, you’re still going to own it”. Analysts found that Los Gatos earned $178 million on revenue of $2.6 billion in the first three months but Netflix will make $482 million on revenue of more than $11 billion for the entire year.

“Investors ask us about Amazon’s move into NFL football”. The Internet television network reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.03.

Netflix’s marketing budget has almost doubled over the past few years from $607,186 in 2014 to a forecast of more than $1 billion this year. A year ago the firm spent a similar amount on marketing across its entire operation.