After reporting its fourth quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday, which showed better than expected results, Netflix (NFLX) is down in price. The stock took a slight hit after the report beat estimates, and it revised its Warner Bros bid.
The streaming giant reported revenue of $12.05 billion, more than Wall Street’s estimates of $11.96 billion, per Bloomberg consensus data, which matched the company’s own forecast. In the fourth quarter of last year, the company posted revenue of $10.25 billion. Additionally, Earnings per share came in slightly higher than expected at $0.56, versus the Street’s forecast of $0.55. That’s against Netflix’s forecasted expectation of $5.45, or $0.55 following the 10-for-1 stock split in mid-November.
In its shareholder letter, Netflix said engagement in the second half of the year was powered by a 9% rise in viewing of its original content, but offset by an engagement decline in its non-branded content. “This decrease primarily reflected a lower volume of licensed, second-run content across most regions following an elevated period of licensing during 2023-2024 as a result of the WGA strike, which temporarily shut down new production,” the company said in its letter.
Furthermore, Netflix has updated the acquisition terms for its Warner Bros. Discovery offer to an all-cash deal, replacing its initial $82.7 billion cash and stock agreement. The changes are designed to expedite the sale of WBD studios and streaming businesses. This “simplifies the transaction structure, provides greater certainty of value for WBD stockholders, and accelerates the path to a WBD stockholder vote,” the companies said in a press release.
Netflix (NFLX) stock had lost nearly 30% over the last six months. At press time, its trading at $87.26. NFLX is trading near the bottom of its 52-week range and below its 200-day simple moving average.