Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) continues to march to the beat of its own drummer. Despite posting mixed quarterly results and uninspiring guidance, the company continues to forge ahead on the digital front. It's reportedly in talks with DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) for streaming rights on its thin yet popular catalog of animated features. However, its biggest strides this week came overseas, where Netflix landed international streaming deals with Televisa and CBS (NYSE: CBS).

Televisa's popular Spanish-language soap operas will obviously play well as Netflix expands into 43 countries through Latin America and the Caribbean later this year. The CBS deal will make many popular CBS and Showtime shows available as streams in Canada and in Netflix's new territories down south.

After a strong launch in Canada late last year, Netflix has seen sequential declines in net subscriber additions there. More quality content is the smartest way to turn that trend around.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) posted better-than-expected quarterly results, highlighted by a 51% surge in net sales. Is everyone getting a Kindle?
  • Time to take the doughnuts public: Dunkin' Donuts parent Dunkin' Brands (Nasdaq: DNKN) launched at $19 on Wednesday and then popped at the open.
  • Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) hit new all-time highs this week as China's leading search engine blew past Wall Street's targets. Revenue climbed 78%, and net income surged 95% higher. Remember when stateside search engines used to crank out growth like that?
  • Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) is slashing 2,000 jobs, or a little more than 10% of its total global workforce. Black-and-Blue-Berry, anyone? BlackBerry pink slips? Let's hope that those being let go will be able to find jobs with the smartphone companies that are actually growing.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz