Netflix’s better-than-expected earnings for its most recent quarter sent its market value up $10 billion overnight Tuesday.
Now, the maker of House of Cards and Orange is the New Black is valued at about $77.5 billion—making it even more valuable than HBO’s parent company Time Warner, the $76.8 billion television heavyweight behind Game of Thrones and Wonder Woman (the company also owns Warner Brothers).
The boost in Netflix‘s market value comes after the company said Monday it saw 5.2 million new subscribers this past quarter, a head above the 3.2 million anticipated by Wall Street. That sent shares up nearly 14% in trading Tuesday, despite the fact that Netflix’s earnings per share fell a penny below expectations at 15 cents a share.
Netflix has only risen above Time Warner’s market value once before in December 2015. That the company has surpassed Time Warner a second time is a testament to how much investors believe its potential to dominate the streaming space in the future.
As of 2016, Netflix is still making less than Time Warner, with revenue of $8.8 billion compared to Time Warner’s $29.3 billion. Meanwhile, while HBO had a global subscription base of 134 million in 2016, Netflix posted a lesser 94 million.
That’s not to say investors belief in Netflix is misguided. While HBO’s subscription growth rose about 2% in 2016 from a year earlier, Netflix’s grew 25% from a year earlier. And even though some investors have worried about Netflix’s international growth, the company revealed that for the second quarter, 80% of its new members were from outside the U.S.
That increase in international subscribers was thanks to Netflix’s heavy investments in original content, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note Tuesday.
“We believe the rapidly growing content offering, led by originals that in aggregate garnered 91 Emmy nominations last week, drove the stronger new sign-ups in [the second quarter],” Benjamin Swinburne of Morgan Stanley wrote.
Meanwhile, AT&T’s deal to buy Time Warner is still pending regulatory approval. AT&T offered to buy the company for $107.50 per share. Time Warner stock is currently trading at about $99.
