The Hot Stock: Netflix Tops S&P 500 With 19% Gain

Stream this: Netflix ( NFLX ) has gained nearly 20% today following its earnings release last night , making it the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 today. And it wasn't even close. Netflix jumped 19% to $118.79 today, well ahead of the S&P 500's 0.6% gain. The second-best best performer? Harley Davidson ( HOG ), which gained 9% to $$54.16. Netflix reported a profit 12 cents a share on sales of $2.29 billion, beating forecasts for a profit of 6 cents on sales of $2.28 billion. Citigroup's Mark May and Kenneth Dorell call the results "better than feared," to which we say "duh." They offer two reasons for Netflix's surge: