Netflix Beats Q1 2012 Expectations, Reports Losses Of $.08 Per Share On $870 Million In Revenue

Netflix just released their Q1 2012 earnings report [PDF], and managed to beat analyst estimates by reporting losses of $0.08 per share on $870 million in revenue.

In the weeks leading up to the release, analysts projected a net loss of $0.27 per share on $866 million in revenue thanks to the company’s pronounced push for international growth.

That works out to a $5 million net loss for the quarter, though the brass are preparing themselves for better days to come. According to their release, CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells expect to return to global profitability next quarter, and are gearing up for their launch in a still-unknown new European market in Q4.

Perhaps more importantly, the company also reported that they picked up “nearly 3 million” new subscribers for their streaming business, a full 1.21 million of whom are international customers. This quarter’s bump also puts Netflix’s domestic streaming numbers at 23.41 million customers, falling right in line with the company’s expectations.

Netflix’s streaming selection took a substantial hit earlier this year when their four-year licensing deal with Starz finally expired, and it was feared that they loss of content could affect the growth of their streaming subscriber base but that doesn’t seem to have been the case — there has been “no discernible change in churn or viewing levels” since the deal expired.

That frankly comes as a bit of a surprise considering the strength of the Starz media porfolio, but apparently users ended up migrating toward Netflix’s remaining catalog of episodic TV. To that end, Netflix’s focus on original programming is becoming more an area for expansion rather than an experiment, though they’re still unsure whether or not they’ll ever spend more than the previously stated 5% of their content buy on the endeavor.

Considering Netflix’s focus on the streaming end, the company’s physical disc business (as you may imagine) hasn’t fared as well — the company posted a loss of 1.08 million domestic DVD customers in Q1, after having lost 2.76 million of them last quarter. If you’ve yet to sate yourself with Netflix’s financials, stay tuned — the company will be hosting an earnings call at 3PM Pacific/6PM Eastern, and we’ll keep you abreast of any juicy developments.