Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) shares are trading sharply higher following the close Wednesday after the streaming movie rental company beat low fourth-quarter expectations.

The company reported earnings per share fell 16 percent to $0.73, although that was better than the analyst estimate of $0.55.

Revenue rose 43 percent to $876 million, versus the consensus of $857.9 million.

The company added 220K subscribers in the quarter and now has total domestic subscribers of 21.67 million, up from 21.45 million in the third quarter.

The company added 380K international subscribers and now has 1.86 million total international subscribers. This is down from the 510K international subscribers added in the third quarter.

Looking ahead, the company sees a loss of $0.49 to $0.16, versus the consensus of a loss of $0.30. For the year, Netflix expects to post modest losses, versus the consensus of ($0.02).

"While contribution profit from domestic streaming will grow sequentially, it will not be sufficient to offset the sequential decline in DVD profits (~$50 million), and the sequential increase in our international losses (~$50 million), as well as cover our global G&A and Technology & Development costs."

Shares of Netflix last traded at $105, up 10.5 percent from Wednesday's close.

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