*By Kavitha Shastry*
Shares of Netflix surged after hours Tuesday after the company said it added nearly 7 million subscribers in its latest quarter, well more than what analysts were expecting.
The video streaming service added 5.87 million users internationally and nearly 1.1 million in the U.S. ー the company had originally forecast additions of 4.35 million and about 650,000, respectively.
Netflix ($NFLX) stock was up more than 15 percent after the results, rising to its highest level since July before its last earnings report, when it posted subscriber growth that fell short of estimates.
Analysts were closely watching how the company would grow in the face of increased competition, not only from streaming "stalwarts" like Hulu and Amazon's ($AMZN) Prime Video, but also from traditional media and telecom companies such as Disney ($DIS) and AT&T ($T) that are looking to combat the cord-cutting trend.
In its letter to shareholders, Netflix confirmed its commitment to original content, highlighting the recently-announced production hub in Albuquerque, NM, where it plans to spend $1 billion a year.
The company, which has not been shy about its strategy to test out a slew of projects without worrying whether or not they succeed, said, "We strive to offer a wide breadth of programming because we want to maximize the size of our membership base." Evidence of that seems clear in the 676 hours of original content that debuted during the quarter ー more than double what it produced a year before.
Netflix reported revenue of nearly $4 billion for the quarter, in line with analyst estimates, and earnings of $0.89 a share, well above expectations for $0.68.
The company said it expected to add 9.4 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, 7.6 million internationally.
Plenty of retailers and suppliers are reducing the variety of their offerings to focus instead on what they think will sell best. Many businesses have decided less is better, justifying their limited selection by asserting shoppers don’t want so much choice.
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