Netflix delivered a big earnings beat for the first quarter on Thursday, and its report looked a little bit different this time.
Gone were any specific numbers on quarterly subscription numbers, a change the streaming giant had previously announced.
The company’s revenue was $10.54 billion, slightly beating analyst expectations. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected revenue of $10.5 billion.
Operating income was $3.3 billion, higher than Bloomberg’s estimate of $3 billion. Earnings per share were $6.61, a big beat over analysts’ estimates of $5.68.
The streaming service’s shares were 4% higher in after-hours trading.
The company didn’t change its guidance for 2025. It still expects revenue of between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion for the year, as well as an operating margin of 29%.
Netflix has added more new subscribers than analysts expected in recent quarters, in part thanks to new policies aimed at reducing password sharing. That’s pushed many who might have been using credentials from a friend or family member to start paying for their own account.
Starting with Thursday’s report, though, Netflix is no longer providing quarterly updates on how many new subscribers it logged.
Instead, Wall Street analysts are looking for details about ad sales as well as Netflix’s plans for sports and creator content to judge how the company is doing.
Advertising has been one area where Netflix is trying to expand and compete with the likes of Amazon. Netflix launched its ad tech platform on April 1, it said in its earnings announcement on Thursday, and is “on track to roll it out in our remaining ads countries in the coming months.”
Ahead of a 4:45 p.m. presentation about the results, analysts were also looking for any effects from President Donald Trump’s trade war and rhetoric about other countries where Netflix operates, as some analysts had revised down their subscriber growth expectations for some countries outside the US in the lead-up to Thursday’s earnings report.
The service has big growth plans: Netflix is targeting a market cap of $1 trillion by 2030, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Netflix’s stock has outperformed the broader indexes and other major technology stocks so far this year.
Viewers are likely to keep watching Netflix programming — or even consume more of it — if the US slips into recession, some analysts have said.
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