As earnings season unfolds, bank earnings are the highlight this week. Wall Street will get a better glimpse into how the recent failure of SVB Financial's Silicon Valley Bank and a bank run at some other regional banks impacted the broader financial sector.

But Netflix (NFLX -2.52%) may take center stage next week. The company is reporting earnings on April 18, and investors will be looking to see if the streaming-TV giant's financial results highlight stronger growth rates.

Many growth stocks, like Netflix, with businesses that benefited from increased internet usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, recently have seen their growth rates fall dramatically. There are several general reasons for this, including tough year-over-year comparisons, a return to in-person work, a rebound in travel, and revenue "hangovers" from a recent pull-forward in demand as people were spending more time at home. But investors are likely hoping these dragging factors on growth stocks are finally starting to fade into the rearview mirror, giving some of them stronger growth rates this year.

Here's what to expect from Netflix next week and why investors shouldn't get their hopes up for big growth just yet.

Management's guidance

After reporting a slowdown in its top-line growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 with revenue rising just 1.9%, management guided for a slight acceleration in Q1. Specifically, management guided for revenue to rise 3.9% year over year during the period.

Though an expectation for such small year-over-year growth may seem unimpressive, it's still important. To highlight why it's so important that Netflix's top line accelerates from its slow growth last quarter, consider the story that a further slowdown in growth would tell. It would suggest management's recent efforts to reaccelerate its business are in vain.

Fortunately, management believes its efforts will start to pay off this year. But it's going to take time for the initiatives to ramp up and help revenue grow rapidly again. So revenue and growth should accelerate, albeit slowly. The good news, however, is that management seems confident that a reacceleration is underway.

"We believe we have a clear path to reaccelerate our revenue growth: continuing to improve all aspects of Netflix, launching paid sharing and building our ads offering," Netflix management said in the company's fourth-quarter letter to shareholders.

With Netflix stock up 57% over the last six months, investors seem to be betting that management's efforts to reaccelerate growth are working. So revenue growth any lower than management's guidance could spark a sell-off in the stock.

Second-quarter guidance is key

Perhaps the most important indicator investors will be watching is management's guidance for its second-quarter revenue growth. Guidance for further acceleration could help support the recent bullish sentiment toward the stock. Further, it could signal potential improvement for some other internet companies -- particularly ones that benefited from similar trends during COVID-19 and have faced similar challenges since then.

A key item to watch, in addition to Netflix's reported revenue growth and its second-quarter top-line outlook, will be any commentary on the company's nascent advertising business. For the stock to live up to its current valuation, the company will need to continue growing its revenue at meaningful rates for the foreseeable future. A growing stream of revenue from Netflix's recently launched ad-supported tier is key to this thesis.

Investors should look to see if management shares how rapidly its advertising business is growing and, even better, how much revenue it's contributing to Netflix's business. Management has previously predicted that ad revenue could grow to "at least 10%" of revenue over time. Look for management to reaffirm this optimistic long-term view when it reports earnings next week.

Investors can tune into Netflix's first-quarter earnings report after the market close on Tuesday, April 18.