Netflix: A Feel-Good Story

SAN FRANCISCO -- We interrupt another broad market selloff for this word about a stock that has now doubled in less than four months.

Even better -- it's a name that you know, there's no need to scour the over-the-counter lists or dry shipping sector to find this recent top performer.

It's Netflix (NFLX Quote), a company that looks increasingly well-positioned with its tried-and-true method of giving the public something of value at a price that it can (still) afford.

Shares of the online video-rental firm were up $1, or 2.8%, to $37.17 on Thursday, after the company trumpeted that is has topped the 10 million-subscriber mark. What's more, it has done so by adding 600,000 net subscribers (taking into account those that have left the service), since the beginning of 2009.

Do you know many companies that have added 600,000 of anything in the past few months?

Consider that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (NFLX Quote), which has revenue 7 times that of Netflix, said Wednesday it will add about 3.5 million subscribers in its current quarter. If you squint and call that 1.2 million additions a month, Netflix adding that half that amount in six-and-a-half weeks is eye-catching.

And Netflix isn't done growing: The company stood by its projection that it will end the first quarter with 10.1 million to 10.3 million subscribers and will have 10.6 million to 11.3 million subscribers by the end of the year.

The company made a bit of a buzz a couple of weeks ago when its fourth-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates, while the company offered a full-year forecast that didn't incite replications of Edvard Munch artwork.