Netflix’s stock rose more than 4% in aftermarket trading on Thursday after the entertainment giant’s first-quarter earnings results surpassed Wall Street expectations and the company reiterated its positive business forecasts despite historically low U.S. consumer confidence.
In its earnings release on Thursday, the company said, “Our revenue and profit growth outlook remains solid, with no change to our 2025 guidance forecast for revenue.”
Netflix’s confidence will likely encourage some investors, which have been pummeling some stocks, especially in the retail and apparel markets, amid extreme economic uncertainty ignited by the Trump administration’s escalating trade war with China.
Greg Peters, Netflix’s co-CEO, said on an earnings call that the company has been largely unaffected by that economic turmoil. While leadership is paying close attention to the economy, he said, “there is nothing really significant to note,” with customer retention levels remaining stable and engagement with Netflix’s shows staying strong.
Executives argued that Netflix is benefiting from entertainment spending often being less impacted during economic downturns. They also pushed the idea that the company’s wide range of subscription plans—including one with ads for $8 monthly—provides customers with flexibility if they want to save money. Advertising, a relatively new business for Netflix, may be somewhat vulnerable as marketers cut costs, they acknowledged. But the business is still a very small part of the company’s overall revenue, and new advertising tools make buying ads on the service more attractive to many advertisers, thereby offsetting any weakness, they said.
For the quarter, Netflix beat analyst expectations on both revenue and profit. Revenue totaled $10.54 billion compared with estimates of $10.51 billion, while earnings per share of $6.61 blew away analyst estimates of $5.71.
The earnings release marked the first time Netflix did not report quarterly subscriber numbers—a decision it explained in advance last year by arguing that subscriber numbers no longer tell the most meaningful story about the business, which now has various subscriber tiers and a growing advertising business.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the company is still confident in its five-year plan to raise its market cap to $1 trillion. Along the way, the company expects to double its revenue and triple its operating income by 2030. The streaming service also hopes to grow its ad sales business to $9 billion annually during that same time frame.
The company’s content wins in the first quarter were led by the breakaway miniseries hit Adolescence, which Netflix says is its third-most-watched English language series of all time.
In its last quarter of reporting subscriber numbers growth in Q4, Netflix said it had added more than 18.9 million members globally. The company also announced at the time that its standard plan would increase to $17.99 per month.
Netflix’s own version of the Amazon flywheel keeps spinning and, at least so far, a potential impending economic crisis hasn’t stopped it yet.
