Netflix reported a higher profit for the second quarter, beating Wall Street's estimates, as the company added subscribers to its video streaming service, though not as many as analysts expected.

Shares of Netflix fell 5 per cent in after-hours trading yesterday to $248.00, down from their earlier $261.96 close on the Nasdaq.

The video subscription service signed up 630,000 new streaming customers in the United States, in the middle of a forecast the company issued in April. The average expectation of Wall Street analysts was 700,000, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said.

Outside the United States, Netflix added 610,000 streaming subscribers in markets like Britain and Brazil.

The company reported 29.8 million US streaming customers at the end of June, and 7.8 million international streaming customers.

In the second quarter, the company’s revenue topped $1 billion for only the second time ever, totalling $1.07 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations. It reported earnings of 49 cents a share, beating the consensus expectations of 40 cents a share.

Netflix said it recorded net income of $29 million for the quarter, compared with $6 million in the same period a year earlier, when the company was spending heavily to push into foreign countries.

Agencies