Netflix Q2 Earnings Won’t Help Its Stock Price
Netflix‘s second quarter 2026 revenue reached $12.56 billion, the streamer reported on Thursday. Its net income was $3.401 billion, which dilutes to 80 cents per share.
Wall Street predicted Netflix earnings per share (EPS) of 79 cents on revenue of $12.58 billion — both just a hair above what Netflix forecast for itself back in April.
Netflix guessed its Q2 revenue would come in at $12.574 billion. Internal estimates had the June quarter’s net income at $3.327 billion, which would dilute to 78 cents per share. At the time, the streamer highlighted how it will soon be leveraging new advancements in generative-AI to “improve the member experience” (and, almost certainly, the company’s monetization). Netflix also revealed its push into vertical video, which is underway. Price hikes boosted profits, and advertising — widely believed to be Netflix’s biggest future driver — continued its own growth.
Netflix is still licking its wounds some after losing an agreed-upon Warner Bros. acquisition to Paramount. The $2.8 billion breakup fee Netflix received, covered by Paramount, probably helped soften the blow a bit. Interestingly enough, Paramount Skydance’s own acquisition plans for the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery have just recently hit a snag — more than one, really. There is mounting opposition to the mega-merger among the creative community as well as politicians. Perhaps Netflix will consider re-entering the chat, or maybe Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters shift their M&A focus to NBCUniversal, soon to separate from Comcast. Or Netflix will just stay the course — all questions for the 4:45 p.m. ET quarterly earnings conference call with media analysts.
Shares in Netflix have been struggling and hit a 52-week low last month; NFLX stock closed Thursday’s trading day at $74.35 per share. Today’s earnings were reported after the closing bell — and then the stock sunk some more. As of this story’s publication, Netflix shares hit a low since September 2024. Netflix now projects its year-over-year revenue growth for the third quarter at 11.7 percent, a slower pace than it has seen in some time.
Second quarter programming highlights included season two of Beef, Harlan Coben’s limited series I Will Find You, and docuseries Michael Jackson: The Verdict. The Boroughs from the Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things) performed well but was swiftly canceled anyway. On the kids side of things, Danny Go! and Salish and Jordan Matter’s new series regularly appeared on the global top 10 chart. In terms of Netflix original films, Apex and Jennifer Lopez’s Office Romance were pretty big, and the kids watched Swapped, mostly.
More to come.
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