Netflix hits the mark again: Adds 4.9M subscribers in Q1, 62.3M in total

Netflix came through on its promise, boosting its subscriber base to 62.3 million this quarter.

Today Netflix shared earnings for the first quarter of 2015, revealing non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of $0.39 with revenue of $1.57 billion.

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Analysts estimated earnings at $0.69 per share with revenue of $1.57 billion. At the end of 2014, the company said it planned to increase subscribers by four million, which it did.

This quarter Netflix raised $1 billion in debt financing to buy and develop more original content, which has so far been a very successful area of investment for the company. Earlier this year, Kevin Spacey nabbed a Golden Globe for his performance in House of Cards, and Netflix won an Academy Award late last year for the documentary short The Lady in Number 6.

Building its original content reserves attracts new viewers in an increasingly flooded market. This quarter HBO launched its new content streaming service HBO Now on Apple TV, Direct TV’s SlingTV, and Optimum Online. Already Netflix is competing with Amazon Prime and Hulu, among other smaller services.

To combat the competition, Netflix has also been looking to new regional markets, like Cuba, where the service launched in February. Still, much of this quarter’s growth happened in the U.S., where Netflix added 2.3 million new members. Meanwhile, Netflix added 2.6 million subscribers internationally.

Investors have been pleased overall with Netflix’s progress. The company’s stock has risen to $474 a share, up from $323 a share at the end of last quarter.

That trend continued today, with Netflix shares up over 13 percent in after-hours trading.