[boomfunky]

There could be other factors in play like the recent volatility in Netflix within the same sector, as well as the upcoming FOMC meeting tomorrow causing increased fear. Markets aren't always as accurate and efficient as some believe, and stock prices always become more volatile around earnings.

[jsnell]

All those other factors would have been priced in at the end of the day. The only new information since then would have been the earnings release. If the absolute numbers are better than expected, then maybe it's the relative numbers (as compared to Microsoft who also released earnings) that are worse than expected?

[boomfunky]

Completely true, it would be a combination of both. Clearly it didn't meet a lot of expectations indicated by the selloff, but selling could also be aggravated by a sell day in the Nasdaq/XLC and high impact economic events on the horizon. This is all conjecture from me, I am by no means a market expert, just offering a way to rationalize the above comment on how a good/"not that bad" earnings report can still result in a stock having a large selloff.

[pie420]

Also keep in mind that the "expected" are not the actual expected, but rather "publicly expected numbers that are freely given out and therefore useless". Investment firms have private expected numbers that are far more accurate, the publicly given out ones are designed to manipulate retail investors.