Netflix rises on strong subscriber growth, bets on higher customer sign-ups
Updates throughout
Oct 18 (Reuters) -Netflix NFLX.O shares rose 5.2% in premarket trading on Friday, after the streaming giant topped Wall Street estimates for new subscriber additions by more than 1 million and projected higher customer sign-ups for the December quarter.
Netflix on Thursday said it picked up 5.1 million new streaming subscribers in the third quarter, with its ad-supported service accounting for more than 50% of sign-ups in countries where it was available.
“Netflix is the one thing people can’t live without and its latest results are testament to its lasting appeal,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
The streaming platform projectedits customer additions for the December quarter - traditionally a strong period around the holidays - would outpace the September quarter. The second season of Korean drama "Squid Game" is scheduledfor release in late December.
Shares of Walt Disney DIS.N and Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O rose marginally.
"Peers in the legacy media space are losing money hand over fist, meaning Netflix can push its advantage in content creation while others can’t stomach allocating more capital," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.
Ads are also in the mix for 2025, and price hikes that have started in some markets have the potential to "squeeze more" from existing subscribers, he said.
At least eight analysts raised their pricetargets on the stock following results,bringing the median target to $750 from $706.38 according to LSEG data.
But while the customer additions outpaced forecasts, it was below the 8.76 million that Netflix picked up in the year-ago quarter.
The company has been trying to shift investor attention away from sign-ups to metrics including revenue growth and profit margins as the pace of subscriber growth mellows.
So far this year, Netflix's stock has risen about 41.2%, Disney has been up 6.9% while Warner Bros has shed about 31%.
Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru and Lucy Raitano in London; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Varun H K
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