Netflix on Wednesday announced its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011. The company noted $876 million in revenue, up 47% from the same quarter last year, and earnings per share of $0.73. Analysts had pegged the company to report revenue in the ballpark of $857.4 million and EPS of $0.54, Barron’s relayed. Netflix also said it added 220,000 new subscribers, a far cry from the 800,000 it lost during the third quarter, and now serves 21.67 million streaming customers in the United States. The company has 24.4 million U.S. customers signed up for DVD subscriptions and that figure jumped by 610,000 during the quarter.
Netflix serves 1.9 million international streaming customers and added 380,000 new subs during the quarter. “We are encouraged by the strength in acquisition that we are seeing, coupled with continued improvements in retention among our domestic streaming members,” the company said in a statement. “For Q1 to date, our domestic net additions for streaming are tracking close to our net additions in Q1 2010 of 1.7 million net additions. Given this trend, we are comfortable with our ability to continue to expand our domestic streaming contribution margin.”
