Mike Snider

USA TODAY

Netflix blasted past its own forecasts — and most of Wall Street's — by adding more than 5.8 million paying members between October and December 2016.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-streaming TV service also beat expectations for its fourth-quarter earnings performance with adjusted earnings of 15 cents and net income of $67 million. Wall Street had expected earnings of 13 cents with net income of $58 million, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Investors were impressed, driving the Net TV service's shares (NFLX) shares to a new high. The stock rose more than 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday to $144.80, a day after hitting a new intraday high of $135.40. As of Thursday trading, shares are up nearly 6%.

Netflix's total revenue of $2.48 billion, including $2.35 billion in streaming revenue, compared to analysts' forecasts of $2.5 billion. For the full year, Netflix had global streaming revenue of $8.3 billion, up 35% over 2015.

Netflix added 1.43 million new U.S. paying subscriber members during the last three months of 2016, beating its internal forecast of 1.15 million. During the same period last year, the company added 1.33 million. As for new international subscribers, Netflix added 4.39 million, compared to its forecast of 3.35 million paying subscribers. Last year, it added 3.49 million.

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During the quarter several of Netflix's original shows including "pretty powerful releases" such as Narcos, Luke Cage, The Crown and Gilmore Girls appealed to viewers globally, said Ted Sarandos, the company's chief content officer, during a conference call Wednesday with analysts. And new series The 3%, a Portuguese-language release filmed in Brazil, performed well and made "Netflix feel a lot more local" in Latin America, also attracted viewers in the U.S., as well, he said.

Overall, Netflix now has 89.09 million paying members worldwide, and by adding more than 7 million members total during the quarter, grew its membership to 93.8 million members globally (those numbers include members using the service on a trial basis before paying monthly fees). Overall, Netflix added 19 million new members globally, compared to 17.4 million in 2015.

The October-December quarter marked the 10th anniversary of Netflix's streaming debut — remember initially it rented DVDs — and resulted in Netflix's largest ever increase in net additions, the company said.

For the January-March 2017 quarter, Netflix forecasted slightly slower uptick of 5.2 million global additions, down from the 6.7 million gained in Q1 2016.

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CEO Reed Hastings described the quarter-to-quarter growth as having "some lumpiness" depending on when certain shows or movies are launched. "But the big picture is remarkably steady," he said. "We have a huge quarter like Q4 (and) this quarter, it's a little bit less. Think of it as this big adoption of Internet TV."

Netflix's performance was no surprise to BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield who, in a note to investors Tuesday, increased his forecast for Netflix's global growth in 2017 to 18.8 million new subscribers, up from 15.9 million, and increased the stock's target price to $170 from $130.

"Netflix’s content spend," he wrote, "is accelerating gross adds globally and reducing churn."

At CFRA Research, equity analyst Tuna Amobi agreed, maintaining a Buy rating, but upping the 12-month price target by $20 to $155 per share, in a note to investors Wednesday after the company released its earnings. Netflix should gain "continued international traction into '17, with increasingly sustainable profitability," he said, "aided by higher global pricing and subscriptions growth."

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.