netflix inc added more subscribers than expected in the final quarter of 2022 sending shares higher in late trading thursday even as founder reed hastings prepared to step down from the chiefexecutive role he has maintained since the company’s inception netflix nflx announced that hastings would become executive chairman while chief product officer greg peters moves up to coceo joining ted sarandos “since reed started to delegate management to us greg and i have built a strong operating model based on our shared values and likeminded approach to growth” sarandos said in a letter to shareholders “i am so excited to start this new chapter with greg as coceo” the company revealed on thursday fourthquarter revenue of 785 billion compared with 771 billion a year ago earnings were 55 million or 12 cents a share down from 607 million or 133 a share last year the decline was due to a 463 million noncash charge related to debt held in europe executives said wall street analysts tracked by factset had estimated revenue of 786 billion on earnings of 55 cents a share shares increased more than 6 in afterhours trading immediately following the release of the results after closing with a 32 decrease at 31578 the videostreaming company reported that it added 77 million subscribers in the final three months of the year analysts had expected 458 million according to factset netflix will no longer offer guidance on that statistic which has typically moved netflix shares more than any other metric in october netflix executives predicted the company would add a net 45 million subscribers in the fourth quarter as it bounces back from a lull in growth netflix reported losses in subscribers for the first two quarters of 2022 prompting leaders to unveil an adbased service in november for customers who want to pay less and plans to crack down on password sharing “while much of the sell side and buy side focus of late has been the advertisingplatform launch we actually think disclosure will be limited as will the impact on estimates” wells fargo analyst steven cahall said wednesday in a note that raised net add estimates by 300000 to 48 million and fourthquarter revenue projections to 79 billion from 78 billion “instead we think password sharing is the bigger catalyst near term” netflix’s results come in the wake of increasingly bullish research notes at least two analysts this week raised their price targets on netflix shares citing a weaker us currency truist analyst matthew thornton jacked his target to 339 from 210 while maintaining a hold rating and ubs’s john hodulik lifted his price to 350 from 250 for more in netflix’s unpredictable finale the focus is on financial estimates “we view netflix as one of the most durable businesses in our coverage as subscription lowcost entertainment with littletono exposure to advertising still very smallnew in 2023 or other highly cyclicalmacro sensitive revenues” truist’s thornton wrote “while there could be some pressure on churn and gross adds as households tighten budgets we think this should be at least partly offset by increased cordcutting going 100 streaming from more expensive linear tv bundles” optimism is not universal however barclays analyst kannan venkateshwar expected netflix to add roughly half the new subscribers executives had forecast 27 million based on a drop in app downloads netflix’s stock has plunged 37 over the past 12 months the broader sp 500 index spx has declined 13 over the last year