https://wccftech.com/netflix-third-quarter-earnings-heavy-is-the-head-that-wears-the-crown/

For the third quarter of 2019, widely characterized by analysts as a lull before the proverbial storm for the company, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has reported solid growth numbers. Nonetheless, the company is expected to face significant headwinds in the coming quarters as several competitors debut their own content streaming services.

For the three months that ended on 30th September 2019, Netflix reported revenues of $5.25 billion which, in turn, marks an increase of 31 percent year-on-year but falls largely in line with expectations of analysts. Moreover, the company’s operating income more than doubled on an annual basis, coming out at $980 million. Similarly, the operating margin of Netflix increased by 670 basis points year-on-year to 18.7 percent. Crucially, the company added 6.8 million net subscribers this quarter against a forecast of 7 million subscribers. Nonetheless, this subscription number marks a healthy gain of 21.4 percent on annual basis. As a reference, Netflix added only 2.7 million net subscribers in the last quarter against an estimate of 5 million and, in the third quarter of 2018, the content streaming business added 6.1 million net subscribers. Additionally, the company reported a GAAP EPS of $1.47 against expectations of $1.05. Consequently, Netflix was able to beat EPS expectations by a whopping 40 percent. The streaming company has also indicated that it is concentrating on stemming its free cash outflow which came out at -$551 million in the third quarter versus -$859 million in the comparable quarter last year.