(By Balachander) Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) surged 26.55 percent in extended trading after the online video-rental service company posted an unexpected quarterly profit and issued an upbeat outlook. Earnings and revenue topped market expectations.
The company reported EPS of 13 cents per share for the fourth quarter, compared with $0.64 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Netflix attributed the quarterly profit to contribution profit out-performance primarily in its domestic and international streaming segments.
Revenue rose 7.9 percent to $945 million.
Wall Street analysts, on average, expected NFLX to lose 13 cents a share on revenue growth of 6.70 percent.
The company reported 27.15 million total online subscribers in the U.S. in the quarter ended December, up from 21.67 million in the same period last year and 25.10 million in the prior quarter.
Looking ahead for the first quarter, NFLX sees total domestic subscriptions of 28.5 million to 29.2 million. It forecasts EPS of $0.00 to $0.23, better than analysts expectations of a loss of 7 cents. It expects net additions to be slightly higher than 1.7 million last year.
The stock, which has been trading between $52.81 and $133.43 over the past year, ended Wednesday's regular trading at $103.26.