The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
31°F
Current Conditions
Mist
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Netflix outlook improves

A Netflix customer Mei Michelson holds up a DVD from the television series
The Spokesman-Review
A Netflix customer Mei Michelson holds up a DVD from the television series

Netflix Inc. continued to win over new fans in the first quarter, boosting the online DVD rental pioneer’s profit above analysts’ expectations and emboldening management to brighten its outlook for the rest of the year.

Shares of the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company surged more than 5 percent on the news.

Netflix said it earned $4.4 million, or 7 cents per share, during the three months ended in March. That contrasted with a loss of $8.8 million, or 17 cents per share, at the same time last year.

Boosted by an influx of nearly 700,000 new customers, Netflix’s revenue totaled $224.1 million, a 47 percent improvement from $152.4 million last year.

Netflix would have made even more money had it not been forced to adopt a new accounting rule that requires publicly held companies to deduct the cost of employee stock options from their profits. If not for that change, Netflix said it would have earned 10 cents per share.

The results surpassed the average estimate of 6 cents per share among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

The company’s first-quarter revenue was $3 million above the average analyst estimate.

•Spokane-based Sterling Financial Corp. announced Monday first-quarter earnings of $15.4 million, or 44 cents a share, down slightly from earnings of $15.9 million, or 45 cents a share, a year ago.

The parent company of Sterling Savings Bank reported a decline in income from its mortgage operations, reflecting a reduction in demand for mortgages. Sterling had income of $2.3 million from its mortgage banking operations in the first quarter, down from income of $5.4 million for that operation in the first quarter of 2005.

Still, total loan originations were $1.07 billion in the first quarter, a 30 percent increase over the same period in 2005.

Sterling had assets of $7.84 billion on March 31, a 12 percent increase from assets of $7.01 billion a year ago.

•Despite increased sales, Burger King’s parent company said Monday profits fell 18 percent for its first three quarters, mainly because of a cash payout to certain stockholders of the No. 2 hamburger chain ahead of its planned initial public offering.

Burger King Holdings Inc. reported net income of $37 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year, compared to $45 million for the same period a year earlier, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

•Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. posted a record first-quarter profit Monday and boosted its earnings forecast for the year amid a sales surge sparked by ongoing global demand for its hulking construction and mining machinery.

Caterpillar topped Wall Street’s expectations as earnings rose 45 percent to $840 million for the quarter that ended March 31, up from $581 million during the same period in 2005, when the Peoria-based company finished the year with record profit and revenue.

Profit per share was $1.20 for the January-March period, matching the company’s best-ever mark set in the last quarter of 2005 and up from 81 cents a share a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast profit of $1.05 per share.