Investing.com -- Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares jumped more than 13.5% in pre-market Thursday trading after it handily beat profit expectations as subscriber numbers rose.
The streaming giant reported earnings per share of $3.73 on revenue of $8.54 billion. Analysts expected EPS of $3.49 and revenue of $8.54 billion. The third quarter results beat Netflix’s previous guidance.
The company said paid subscribers rose 8.76 million in the third quarter, well above expectations for just over 6 million.
“The last six months have been challenging for our industry given the combined writers and actors strikes in the US,” Netflix said in a shareholder letter, noting that while the writers’ strike has ended, it continues to talk to the actors’ unions. “We’re committed to resolving the remaining issues as quickly as possible so everyone can return to work making movies and TV shows that audiences will love.”
For the fourth quarter, Netflix sees earnings per share of $2.15 and revenue of about $8.69 billion. The revenue growth is expected to be around 10.7%, after growing 7.8% in the third quarter.
The company said operating margin in the third quarter was 22.4%, slightly above its guidance, and it sees 2023 operating margin near the top of its range at 20%.
KeyBanc analysts upgraded shares to Overweight with a $510 per share price target.
"In our view, Netflix is entering 2024E a cleaner story as: 1) paid sharing appears to have changed Netflix's ability to reach the next ~250M subs; 2) operating profit and FCF are steadily ramping; and 3) buybacks should support a 25%+ EPS growth profile," they said in an upgrade note.
JPMorgan analysts hiked the price target to $480 per share on the Overweight-rated stock.
"We’re encouraged that NFLX is executing on Paid Sharing by converting borrower households, contributing to revenue acceleration to +12% FXN in 4Q, & we believe the forecast for similar net adds to 3Q +/- a few million should skew to the upside given more favorable seasonality in 4Q & a strong content slate," the analysts wrote.
Additional reporting by Senad Karaahmetovic