Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX) stock fell 0.79% (As on Oct 20, 11:47:58 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company added more subscribers than expected in the third quarter. The company has added 4.38 million new streaming subscribers in the September quarter. The analysts expected Netflix to add 3.78 million subscribers, vs. the company’s own forecast for 3.5 million. Netflix ended the third quarter with 213.56 million streaming subscribers worldwide. Netflix got a boost late in the quarter from the release of global hit series “Squid Game” from South Korea. The Asia-Pacific region was the largest contributor to membership growth in the third quarter. The region added 2.2 million subscribers, or half of the quarter’s total net adds. Other popular programming in the quarter included new seasons of “Money Heist” and “Sex Education” as well as Danish thriller “The Chestnut Man.” The company has reported profit of $1.45 billion, compared with $0.79 billion, in last year’s third quarter. During the quarter Netflix bought games developer Night School Studio to help build the group’s game development capabilities.

NFLX in the third quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $3.19, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $2.56, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 16.1 percent to $7.48 billion in the third quarter of FY 21, which is inline with the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $7.48 billion.

For the current quarter, Netflix is targeting 8.5 million new subscribers. Wall Street had expected 8.41 million additional subscribers in the December quarter, according to FactSet. For the current quarter, Netflix expects to earn 80 cents a share on sales of $7.71 billion. Wall Street had predicted Netflix earnings of $1.13 a share on sales of $7.66 billion in the fourth quarter, as per FactSet. The backloaded fourth quarter is expected to be the strongest in terms of viewing content (including series like The Witcher, You, Tiger King and Cobra Kai, and films such as Don’t Look Up, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep) but will result in greater content spending and operating margins collapsing from 23.5% to just 6.5%. Full-year cash flow is expected to be around breakeven, despite further outflows in the final quarter, with revenue seen rising 16% year-on-year to US$7.7bn. Netflix has begun testing its new video games offering in certain countries.