The Quarter in Brief
Netflix reported its third quarter of 2026, the three months ended September 30, after the US market closed on Tuesday, October 20. Revenue was $12.87 billion, up 11.8% from $11.51 billion a year earlier and almost exactly the $12.86 billion the company had forecast in July. Net income was $3.66 billion and diluted earnings per share were $0.87, against $0.59 a year earlier and above the company's own forecast of $0.82.
Analysts had expected about the same revenue and less profit: Financial Modeling Prep's consensus was $12.87 billion of revenue and $0.82 a share. Netflix reports only under US accounting rules (GAAP) and gives no "adjusted" earnings per share, so the comparison is on reported numbers. What set the quarter apart was the outlook rather than the results: Netflix now expects about $2.7 billion of advertising revenue in 2026, down from about $3 billion, and trimmed its revenue forecast for the year to $51.1 billion, while saying subscription revenue had done better than it expected.