Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) reported a surprise profit on Wednesday for its fiscal fourth-quarter, sending the stock up as much as 31 percent in after-hours trading.
Shares were trading at $135.02 after closing the regular session at $103.26. All told, NFLX gained more than 36 percent on the day.
Net subscriber growth in the period was above previous estimates with the company adding 2.05 million new domestic streaming customers in the quarter. The company said that it closed 2012 with 27.2 million U.S. online customers.
Previously, Netflix said that it expected fourth-quarter net subscriber growth of 1.3 million to 2 million streaming U.S. customers and could finish the year with up to 27.1 million subscribers.
Fourth-quarter earnings and revenue were also well above Wall Street consensus and the company issued upbeat guidance. Net income in the period was $0.13 per share versus consensus estimates which called for a loss of $0.13 per share.
Revenue in the period was $945 million which also easily beat Street consensus revenue expectations of $934 million.
Looking ahead to the fiscal first-quarter, Netflix said that it sees earnings per share of break-even to $0.23 on revenue of $1 billion to $1.03 billion. This is well-ahead of current consensus estimates of a $0.09 loss on revenue of $970 million.
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