Netflix stock, up 49% this year, was hammered after the closing bell Monday when the company said it merely matched financial expectations in the first quarter, and then said it didn't expect to add many subscribers in the current period.
Netflix earned $13.4 million in the first quarter, up from $9.9 million a year ago on revenue that rose 7% to $326.2 million. The company ended the quarter with 8.2 million subscribers, 21% more than in the same quarter a year ago.
But while the company added a net 764,000 subscribers in the first quarter, it said it expects to end the current quarter with 8.3 million-8.5 million subscribers, translating -- at the low end -- to a gain of 60,000 this quarter.
Netflix, however, raised year-end guidance to 9.1 million-9.7 million subscribers, up 200,000 at both ends, but investors weren't impressed, and the stock was off as much as 15% in after-hours trading after rising 2% to $39.32 during the regular session.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings also said Monday that he has struck three more partnerships for delivering movies over the Internet to TV screens, like one announced in January with LG Electronics.
Hastings declined to name the companies, but said one is small, and two are large. His intent is to get the Netflix watch-instantly system into Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes, game consoles and TV sets so that movies can be easily viewed on-demand by Netflix customers on TV screens and not just computers, as is the case now.
The large partners should introduce products in the fourth quarter, while the small partner's product is expected sooner, Hastings said.
Hastings said Netflix's subscription growth should be strong enough to "aggressively fund" the watch-instantly service, which today boasts 9,000 movie and TV titles.
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