Netflix Investors Inexplicably Emptying Their Queues
by John Paczkowski
Posted on October 22, 2009 at 4:05 PM PT
Evidently, Netflix is as recession-proof as Hollywood. Reporting third-quarter earnings after market close Thursday, the DVD-by-mail pioneer posted net income of $30.1 million, up 48 percent from a year earlier, on revenue of $423.1 million. That’s 52 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting 46 cents a share on $419.9 million in sales.
And get this: Netflix (NFLX) added a net 510,000 subscribers during the period, 95 percent more than in the same three months last year. In fact, in the past year, Netflix has added 2.4 million subscribers, the most it has signed on in its 10-year history.
“Our business momentum is strong and our third-quarter performance keeps us solidly on course for a record 2009,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement.
Given that and the fact that Netflix beat estimates, it’s odd to see investors dragging the company’s shares down. Netflix fell 4.39 percent to 47.45 in after-hours trading.
