Netflix Posts Biggest-Ever Quarterly Subscriber Growth

Netflix blasted past its own forecasts — and most of Wall Street's — by adding more than 5.8 million paying members between October and December 2016.

Accordig to USAToday, the streaming TV service also beat expectations for its fourth-quarter earnings performance with adjusted earnings of 15 cents and net income of $67 million. Wall Street had expected earnings of 13 cents with net income of $58 million, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Investors were impressed, driving the Net TV service's shares (NFLX) shares to a new high. The stock rose more than 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday to $144.80, a day after hitting a new intraday high of $135.40. As of Thursday trading, shares are up nearly 6%.

Netflix's total revenue of $2.48 billion, including $2.35 billion in streaming revenue, compared to analysts' forecasts of $2.5 billion. For the full year, Netflix had global streaming revenue of $8.3 billion, up 35% over 2015.

Netflix added 1.43 million new U.S. paying subscriber members during the last three months of 2016, beating its internal forecast of 1.15 million. During the same period last year, the company added 1.33 million. As for new international subscribers, Netflix added 4.39 million, compared to its forecast of 3.35 million paying subscribers. Last year, it added 3.49 million.

Overall, Netflix now has 89.09 million paying members worldwide, and by adding more than 7 million members total during the quarter, grew its membership to 93.8 million members globally.

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