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Netflix Shares Plunge 35% on Disappointing Paid Net Change in Q1

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares dropped around 35% Wednesday afternoon following the company’s reported Q1 results, highlighted by disappointing net additions and guidance.

EPS was $3.53 in Q1, compared to the Street estimate of $2.91. Revenue rose 9.8% year-over-year to $7.87 billion, compared to the Street estimate of $7.95 billion.

Paid net additions in Q1 were -200,000, significantly lower than the Street estimate of 2.5 million. These disappointing results marked the first time the company reported negative quarterly net additions in the last decade.

Following the results, around dozen brokerages downgraded the company, including Oppenheimer, which adjusted its rating on the company to perform from outperform.

According to the analysts at Oppenheimer, the UCAN streaming market is more saturated and filled with a multitude of services offering compelling content at lower-than-Netflix prices. This, according to the analysts, presents risk to back-half subscriber additions. The analysts also mentioned that the initiatives around password sharing and a potential advertising offering will probably take more than 12 months to develop.

The company provided its Q2 outlook, expecting EPS to be $3.00, slightly below the consensus estimate of $3.02, and revenue to be $8.05 billion, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.23 billion. Paid net additions are expected to be down by 2 million in Q2, significantly lower than the consensus estimate of a 2.4 million growth.