Netflix is growing faster than anyone expected

Netflix added far more customers over the holidays than Wall Street analysts expected, the company announced as part of its quarterly earnings. Netflix added 8.33 million net total customers in the fourth quarter of 2017, well above the estimate of 6.30 million additions.

The company’s shares were up 8 percent in after-hours trading, pushing Netflix’s market cap to over $100 billion for the first time.

While Netflix’s subscriber numbers were healthier than expected, the underlying financials were right on the money. Earnings per share came in at 41 cents, the same as a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate. Revenue was $3.29 billion, marginally above the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion.

The subscriber growth came both from Netflix’s US customers but also internationally. Netflix saw 1.98 million domestic net additions, and 5.05 million internationally.

Netflix is also raising estimates for the first quarter of 2018, despite competition in the streaming market heating up. Disney has announced plans to debut its own streaming service in the near future, and it also invested heavily in Netflix rival Hulu. Apple is spending ever-increasing amounts on original content, and live TV streaming services like DirecTV Now and YouTube TV are seeing healthy growth.

But at the same time, the market for streaming services is growing. Customers are ditching cable faster than ever, and Netflix is still the service of choice for cord-cutters.