By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) reported Tuesday better-than-expected first-quarter results, but subscriber growth that fell well short of expectations and spooked investors.
Netflix fell 10% in after-hours trade.
Netflix reported earnings per share of $3.75 on revenue of $7.16B. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $2.97 on revenue of $7.14B.
The beat on the top and bottom line was cast aside by subscriber growth that fell short of Wall Street estimates.
Net adds were 3.98 million for the quarter, missing its own forecast of 6 million and consensus of around 6.3 million. The company pinned blamed on demand that was pull-forward owing to the pandemic impact.
"We believe paid membership growth slowed due to the big Covid-19 pull forward in 2020 and a lighter content slate in the first half of this year, due to Covid-19 production delays," the company said, adding that it still expects a strong second half with new seasons of its hits and solid films.
It won't get any better in Q2, with the streaming giant forecasting just 1 million net subscriber adds.
Netflix guided EPS for Q2 of $3.16 on revenue of $7.3 billion, that compared with Wall Street estimates for $2.68 on revenue of $7.38 billion.
Netflix shares are up 1% from the beginning of the year, still down 7.36% from its 52 week high of $593.29 set on January 20. They are under-performing the Nasdaq which is up 6.97% from the start of the year.
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