Netflix Shares Fall After Big Q2 Subscriber Beat, as Investors Hoped for Bigger Bang From Password-Sharing Crackdown
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shares of Netflix were down more than 8% in early trading Thursday, coming after the streamer blew away estimates on subscriber gains for the second quarter — and analysts saying the company continues to be well positioned to weather Hollywood’s double actors and writers strike relative to its peers.
But investors had been anticipating a bigger bump from its new initiative to monetize password-sharing accounts. Note that Netflix’s post-earnings stock drop came amid high investor expectations leading into the Q2 report: Shares were up nearly 62% year to date in 2023.
Revenue for Q2 came in at $8.19 billion, shy of Wall Street’s $8.3 billion consensus expectations. And Netflix’s guidance for Q3 revenue of $8.52 billion also was less than the $8.9 billion average forecast by analysts.
The company added 5.9 million net new subs in the second quarter, more than double expectations, and said it expects to add about the same number in Q3.
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