Today Netflix released their 1st quarter numbers with a shocking $1 billion in revenue. After everything was done and said Netflix had $53 million in net profit. Netflix has been pushed for higher pay outs to movie studios and paid out a lot for original content but still came away with a respectable 86 cents profit per share. Netflix beat both their estimate of 76 cents a share and the annalists prediction of 83 cents per share.
Netflix stock has been crushed in recent weeks as annalists have been very weary of the company. Fears over profitability and raising costs with a healthy fear of ISPs throttling their streams have pushed Netflix stocks lower. After today’s positive 1st quarter numbers Netflix stock jumped 0.80% or $2.75 to $348.49. Netflix is still down from their high of $445 just a few months ago.
Part of their first quarter numbers was an official announcement of a upcoming price increase. “Our current view is to do a one or two dollar increase, depending on the country, later this quarter for new members only,” said CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells. “Existing members would stay at current pricing for a generous time period. These changes will enable us to acquire more content and deliver an even better streaming experience.”
Netflix push for a price increase is most likely to bank roll more original content and a larger catalog of movies and TV shows in a effort to make the service more attractive to new customers. Netflix is already the leader in paid online video streaming second over all to only YouTube in hours of video viewed . Netflix lead competitors like Hulu and Amazon in subscribers and hours viewed.
See the full quarterly report here.