Netflix's 2Q earnings top analysts' views as Internet video service adds 3.3 million customers

Netflix's second-quarter earnings fell 63 percent as the Internet video service absorbed the costs of an international expansion that is boosting its subscriber growth far beyond investor expectations.

The Los Gatos, California, company Netflix earned $26.3 million, or 6 cents per share, in the second quarter. That was down from $71 million, or 16 cents per share, at the same time last year.

The earnings for the latest quarter were two cents per share above the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

The figures were adjusted to reflect a seven-for-one stock split that Netflix completed last week in an effort to make its shares more affordable to a larger pool of investors.

Before the second-quarter numbers came out Wednesday, Netflix's stock had more than doubled during the past year. The shares surged $9.36, or 9.5 percent, to $107.49 in extended trading after the release of the second-quarter report.

Revenue rose 23 percent from last year to $1.64 billion, in line with analysts' predictions.

Although it has been eating into the company's profits, Netflix's international expansion is increasing the popularity of its Internet video service.

Netflix added 3.3 million worldwide subscribers during the three months ending to end the period with 65.6 million customers. About 900,000 of the additional subscribers were signed up in the U.S., where Netflix now has 42.3 million customers.

_____

Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights.