(LR) Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos attend the ‘Marseille’ Netflix TV series world premiere at Palais Du Pharo in Marseille, on May 4, 2016 in Marseille, France.
Stephane Cardinale | Corbis | Getty Images
After-hours, Netflix shares fell 11% after showing a big drop in numbers in its first-quarter earnings report. The company also said it would add only about 1 million subscribers in the current quarter.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings per share (EPS): $ 3.75, compared to $ 2.97, according to analysts’ Refinitiv survey
- Income: $ 7.16 billion, at $ 7.13 billion, according to Refinitiv
- Additions worldwide paid net subscribers: According to Factset, 3.98 million is expected at 6.2 million
“We believe that the growth in paid membership has slowed due to the large Covid-19 move forward in 2020 and a lighter content ladder in the first half of this year due to the delays in Covid-19 production,” Netflix said in its letter to shareholders.
Netflix has continued to hold its own against a host of competitors, including Disney + and Hulu, AT & T’s HBO Max, Apple TV +, Amazon Prime and Comcast NBCUniversal’s Peacock. The company said in its report that it does not believe that competition plays a role in the weak number of subscribers.
“We do not believe that the intensity of competition in the quarter changed significantly, or that it was a significant factor in the variance, as the forecast was in all our regions,” according to the report.
Netflix also expects the content to recover later in the year, following the production delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As we noted earlier, the production delays from Covid-19 in 2020 will lead to a slate in 2021 that weighs the second half heavier with a large number of recurring franchises,” the company said.
The company said production was resuming in almost all of its key markets. If it continues, Netflix has said it will spend more than $ 17 billion in cash on content this year.
The company’s revenue grew 24% year-on-year and was in line with the forecast for the beginning of the quarter, Netflix said. It also delivered a strong beat on earnings compared to Street estimates.
Netflix has also approved a repurchase program to buy back up to $ 5 billion in common stock, starting in 2021 without a fixed expiration date. The company is expected to start in the quarter.
This story unfolds. Please check for updates.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.