Netflix is rallying ahead of earnings

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Netflix.com Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings sits in a cart full of ready-to-be-shipped DVDs January 29, 2002 in San Jose, CA. The online DVD rental site has 500,000 subscribers who can rent, receive and return unlimited discs per month by mail.

• Netflix reports its first-quarter results after Monday's closing bell.
• Shares are trading up 1.44% in early action.
• Wall Street analysts are bullish ahead of the results.
• Watch Netflix trade in real time here.

Shares of Netflix are gaining ground ahead of earnings, trading up 1.22% at $315.46 a share.

The streaming-video giant is expected to have earned an adjusted $0.72 a share on revenue of $3.69 billion in the first quarter, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company forecast in January that it would add 1.45 million US and 4.9 million international subscribers during the quarter.

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Netflix CFO David Wells said earlier this year that the company expects to spend a staggering $8 billion on roughly 700 new original shows in 2018. In February, the company poached Ryan Murphy, the well-known Hollywood producer of "Glee" and "American Horror Story, from 21st Century Fox with a five-year contract worth $300 million. He starts in July.

"We continue to believe that Netflix is likely to report 1Q results above consensus expectations on the back of a strong content slate, newer distribution partnerships, and the initial impact of marketing investments," Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry said in a note to clients Wednesday.

And the majority of Wall Street agrees. Ahead of the results, 26 analysts have a "Buy" rating, 16 have a "Sell," and three have a "Hold."

Netflix has easily outpaced its big tech company peers in the so-called FAANG group in 2018 so far, rising 62.35 through Friday. The closest competitor, Amazon, is up just 22.35% in the same period.

Markets Insider