Netflix reports second-quarter 2026 earnings on Thursday, July 16, with a video interview for investors scheduled at 1:45 PM PST, according to Netflix Investor Relations. The company will release its Letter to Shareholders and conduct the interview in place of a traditional earnings call.

Three months ago, the company missed badly. On April 16, Netflix shares fell their sharpest amount in six months after second-quarter guidance fell short of what analysts expected, even though first-quarter revenue itself beat them Bloomberg. Reed Hastings also stepped down as CEO that day—a leadership change the company disclosed at the same time as the earnings report rather than announcing it beforehand.

The stock has not recovered. Shares closed at $73.53 on July 14, down from a 52-week high of $99.79 and down 21.26% for the year Macrotrends. That puts Netflix stock roughly 26% below its recent peak heading into Thursday's report, which investors will examine closely for signs of whether April's miss was a one-time event or the beginning of a deeper problem.

Management's April guidance calls for Q2 revenue of $12.57 billion, up 13.5% year-over-year, and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.78, up 7.7% year-over-year Simply Wall St. These are company forecasts issued in April—not independent analyst consensus—and that distinction matters now. The April guidance missed Street expectations then; Thursday's results will be judged first against these same company targets, not against what outside analysts think should happen.

On subscribers, analysts project Netflix will have 344.6 million total paid members by the end of Q2, up from 341.5 million at Q1's end—roughly 3.1 million new subscribers for the quarter The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix stopped giving quarterly subscriber guidance years ago, so this figure is an analyst estimate rather than a company target. The actual number may diverge depending on how Netflix frames its engagement metrics this time around.

Two other metrics are drawing analyst attention: how much the ad-supported tier contributes to overall revenue, and whether engagement is holding steady as a sign of churn risk in an increasingly crowded streaming market. Netflix has made the ad tier its main growth engine in recent quarters, so commentary on ad-revenue run-rate or how much advertisers want to spend could matter more than the headline subscriber count itself.

Hastings's departure adds another layer to how this earnings report will be read. His exit was disclosed the same day the stock was already absorbing weak guidance. Markets have had a full quarter to digest the succession question, but the company has not given updates on interim management structure or whether strategy will shift. Thursday's interview format—where sell-side analysts ask questions on camera—gives management its first extended public platform since April to address both the operational shortfall and the leadership change together.

Valuation matters as context. A stock down more than one-fifth year-to-date and roughly one-quarter from its 52-week high is already priced to assume some mix of slower growth, tighter profit margins, or a lower multiple of earnings relative to where the market valued Netflix at the start of the year. Thursday's numbers will matter less for whether revenue actually grows at the guided 13.5%—that bar was set in April—and more for what management says looking forward: full-year revenue outlook, how much money the ad tier can pull in going forward, and any color on how aggressively Netflix will spend on content given the broader consumer pressure on subscription budgets.

These figures are not predictions of what will actually print Thursday. They are what management said in April it expected. The stock has already priced in at least one major miss this year. The question worth watching is whether Thursday's actual results match what management guided or fall short again—not whether the guided numbers themselves look reasonable.