Netflix Slips As Q1 Results Fail to Excite Investors

Netflix (NFLX:US) shares are trading lower on Wednesday after the company said it has pushed back its wider rollout of password-sharing crackdown actions. 

Analysts were hoping that password-sharing crackdown steps, announced in February, will help the company to increase the number of paying subscribers. 

“The launch in Q2 will be broad, including the U.S. and the bulk of our countries when we think about it from a revenue perspective,” said Co-CEO Greg Peters on Tuesday’s earnings call. 

Netflix said it added 1.75 million new subscribers, down from 1.95 million reported for the year-ago period and below the 2.30 million consensus. 

The streaming titan reported EPS of $2.88 on revenue of $8.16 billion, which compares to the consensus for earnings of $2.86 on revenue of $8.18 billion. 

Moreover, the company issued lackluster guidance for its second quarter. Netflix expects to report earnings per share of $2.84 on revenue of $8.24 billion, below the analyst consensus for a profit of $3.08 per share on revenue of $8.48 billion. 

Moreover, Netflix slashed its content spending plans as it looks to lash out $17 billion on new content in 2024.

Netflix shares now trade around 9% higher year-to-date after the most recent pullback. Rep. Michael McCaul announced several transactions in March that include the sale of Netflix shares in February.

It could be said that his timing was great given that the stock trades about 10% lower today relative to the first week of February when McCaul executed these transactions.