Netflix has transformed from a scrappy, heavily indebted streaming upstart into one of the most profitable media businesses in the world. Over the past decade, revenue has grown at roughly 21% per year, operating margins have expanded from the low single digits to nearly 30%, and the company has steadily paid down the debt load that once made investors nervous. The most recent quarter — ending June 30, 2026 — shows this trajectory continuing in force, with margins pushing above 33% and the balance sheet in the healthiest shape it has ever been. For long-term investors, the headline story is a business that has largely solved its content-cost problem and is now converting revenue growth directly into cash profit at a rapid clip.
Snapshot & Big Picture
Netflix's fiscal year 2025 closed with $45.2 billion in revenue and an EBITDA of $13.7 billion — figures that would have seemed implausible just five years ago when revenue stood at $25 billion. The company's operating model has inflected decisively: the years of burning cash to fund an ever-expanding content library are giving way to a flywheel where scale, pricing power, and an ad-supported tier are all pulling in the same direction. Debt-to-equity has fallen from nearly 2x in 2018–2019 to just 0.54x at fiscal year-end 2025, and the current ratio has held comfortably above 1x for most of the past five years, signaling solid near-term liquidity.
| Fiscal Year | Revenue | EBITDA | Operating Margin | Net Margin | Debt / Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $6.78B | $368M | 4.5% | 1.8% | 1.07x |
| 2016 | $8.83B | $437M | 4.3% | 2.1% | 1.26x |
| 2017 | $11.69B | $911M | 7.2% | 4.8% | 1.81x |
| 2018 | $15.79B | $1.69B | 10.2% | 7.7% | 1.98x |
| 2019 | $20.16B | $2.71B | 12.9% | 9.3% | 1.95x |
| 2020 | $25.00B | $4.70B | 18.3% | 11.0% | 1.47x |
| 2021 | $29.70B | $6.40B | 20.9% | 17.2% | 0.97x |
| 2022 | $31.62B | $5.97B | 17.8% | 14.2% | 0.69x |
| 2023 | $33.72B | $7.31B | 20.6% | 16.0% | 0.71x |
| 2024 | $39.00B | $10.75B | 26.7% | 22.3% | 0.63x |
| 2025 | $45.18B | $13.66B | 29.5% | 24.3% | 0.54x |
Latest Quarter Snapshot (Q2 2026)
The most recent data — from the 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 — is more current than the annual figures above and offers the clearest read on where Netflix sits today. Revenue for the quarter came in at $12.56 billion, with an operating margin of 33.4% and a net margin of 27.1%. EBITDA reached $4.29 billion in a single quarter. The current ratio of 1.14x reflects adequate near-term liquidity, and the debt-to-equity ratio declined further to 0.47x, its lowest level in the data set. Gross margin was 19.7% on a reported basis for the quarter — note that annual gross margin figures were not available in the 10-K filings provided.
| Metric | Q2 2026 |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $12.56B |
| EBITDA | $4.29B |
| Gross Margin | 19.7% |
| Operating Margin | 33.4% |
| Net Margin | 27.1% |
| Current Ratio | 1.14x |
| Debt / Equity | 0.47x |
Profitability
The profitability trend across the full eleven-year annual data set is one of the more compelling stories in large-cap tech. Operating margin started at just 4.3% in 2016, climbed steadily through the mid-teens as content investment peaked, dipped briefly in 2022 (to 17.8%) amid subscriber headwinds and currency pressures, then resumed its climb — reaching 29.5% in 2025 and extending to 33.4% in the most recent quarter. Net margin followed the same arc, from under 2% in 2016 to over 24% in 2025. EBITDA growth has been similarly linear and accelerating: from $437 million in 2016 to $13.7 billion in 2025, a roughly 31-fold increase over nine years. This is a business that has passed through its heavy investment phase and is now harvesting the returns of that spending.
Financial Health & Capital Expenditures
Netflix's balance sheet strength has improved markedly. Debt-to-equity peaked near 2x in 2018–2019 — when the company was borrowing heavily to fund content — and has since fallen to 0.54x at fiscal year-end 2025 and 0.47x in Q2 2026. The current ratio has generally stayed above 1x since 2020 (it briefly dipped below 1x in 2019 and 2021), suggesting the company can comfortably meet near-term obligations.
Capital expenditure intensity is low and relatively stable, which is notable for a company of this scale. Annual capex ranged from $91 million in 2015 to $688 million in 2025 in dollar terms, but as a share of revenue it has stayed in a tight band of roughly 1–2% throughout the entire period. In 2025, capex was $688 million, or 1.5% of revenue. In Q2 2026, capex was $219 million, representing 1.7% of revenue — consistent with the multi-year range. This low capital intensity is a core structural advantage: unlike traditional media or industrial businesses, Netflix does not need to reinvest heavily in physical infrastructure to grow. Most of its "capex" is office and technology spend, while content — its primary cost — flows through the income statement and streaming rights amortization rather than traditional capex. The stable and modest capex-to-revenue ratio over a decade suggests reinvestment needs are unlikely to become a meaningful constraint on free cash flow generation.
| Period | Capital Expenditures | Capex / Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2015 | $91M | 1.3% |
| FY 2017 | $173M | 1.5% |
| FY 2019 | $253M | 1.3% |
| FY 2021 | $525M | 1.8% |
| FY 2023 | $349M | 1.0% |
| FY 2024 | $440M | 1.1% |
| FY 2025 | $688M | 1.5% |
| Q2 2026 | $219M | 1.7% |
Growth
Revenue growth across every measurable window is robust. The 10-year CAGR of nearly 21% reflects the company's full transformation from a $6.8 billion DVD-and-early-streaming business to a $45 billion global platform. Even the more recent 3- and 5-year windows — which capture the tougher post-pandemic period — show a sustained ~12.6% annual growth rate, indicating that growth has moderated from hyperspeed but remains well above what most large-cap companies achieve at this revenue scale.
| Window | Start Year | End Year | Start Revenue | End Revenue | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Year | FY 2022 | FY 2025 | $31.6B | $45.2B | 12.6% |
| 5-Year | FY 2020 | FY 2025 | $25.0B | $45.2B | 12.6% |
| 10-Year | FY 2015 | FY 2025 | $6.8B | $45.2B | 20.9% |
The near-identical 3- and 5-year CAGRs (~12.6%) suggest Netflix has settled into a steadier growth regime after the explosive early expansion years. The gap between the 10-year figure (20.9%) and the more recent windows is not a warning sign — it simply reflects the math of compounding from a much smaller base. What matters more is that a business approaching $50 billion in revenue is still growing revenue double-digits annually while simultaneously expanding margins. That combination is rare.
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