chart, bar chart: Growth ChoppinessAfter Netflix Inc.’s year got off to the slowest start in nearly a decade, executives dismissed concerns about sagging growth and reiterated their confidence in the streaming giant’s long-term prospects. The company has suffered a slowdown after pandemic lockdowns sent its membership soaring in 2020, but there’s still plenty of room of grow, Netflix said in remarks after posting its second-quarter results. And the industry remains in the relatively early stages of shifting from traditional television to streaming services, they said.

The company is also looking to new offerings such as video games to keep subscribers loyal. “Theres still a bit of choppiness to our growth,” Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann said in a pretaped interview with Nidhi Gupta of Fidelity Management. “Overall, the business is performing well.”

After shares initially tumbled 6.6% in the wake of Netflix’s earnings report, investors regained their confidence and sent the stock up more than 1% in late trading. The company added 1.54 million customers in the second quarter. While that was above the 1.12 million forecast by analysts — and Netflix’s own estimate of 1 million — it’s a far cry from the company’s previous growth.

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