Netflix Q3 FY2026: margin beats, revenue growth slows to 12.0%
This was a margin quarter, not a growth quarter: Netflix earned $0.87 a share against a $0.8388 consensus, helped by operating margin jumping to 34.6%. Revenue of $12.87 billion matched management's own forecast but grew only 12.0%. Read the scorecard for the beat, the guidance section for the deceleration, and the cash-flow discussion for the trimmed $12.0 billion free-cash-flow target.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowDiluted EPS of $0.87 beat the $0.8388 consensus by 3.7% and rose from $0.59 a year earlier. The driver was operating margin of 34.6%, up from 28.2%, which management attributes primarily to the timing of expenses. That is real money but not a repeatable engine — the Q4 guide already gives a chunk of it back.
Revenue came in at $12.87 billion, up 12.0% from $11.51 billion a year ago and in line with management's own forecast. UCAN is still the biggest block at $5.63 billion, or 43.7% of the total, with EMEA at $4.11 billion and APAC at $1.54 billion. The mix is shifting: the fastest reported growth this quarter was LATAM at 17.0%, not the US.
Q4 revenue is guided to $13.44 billion, growth of 11.5%, with an operating margin of 26.0% that includes a 120 basis point hit from headcount reductions. Full-year revenue is pegged at $51.1 billion, up 13.0%, with a 31.5% margin and operating income growth of 20% or more. The 2026 free-cash-flow target was cut to about $12.0 billion from $12.5 billion, and ad revenue to about $2.7 billion from roughly $3.0 billion.
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Figures on this page come from the company's original SEC filings. The analysis is generated automatically and checked against validation rules, but may still contain errors or omissions. Not investment advice. · Generated 2026-10-21
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