Netflix was dead man walking on Wall Street just a few months ago, after a price increase and aborted attempt to split its streaming and DVD businesses outraged customers and caused 800,000 of them to cancel their subscriptions. Since that time, Netflix has spent heavily on obtaining new subscribers and content, and announced that it added 610,000 new subscribers in the 4th quarter, alleviating many analysts’ fears that the company would soon implode.
The Surprise: Netflix reported earnings per share of $0.73, besting the consensus view of $0.55 by 33%.