SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix's fourth-quarter earnings soared six-fold as the Internet video service added another 2.3 million U.S. subscribers to burnish its status as one of the world's most popular entertainment outlets.

The financial results announced Wednesday topped analyst estimates, and Netflix basked in Wall Street's adulation. The company's stock surged $58.57, or more than 17 percent, to $392.30 in extended trading.

If the shares behave similarly in today's regular session, the stock will hit its highest level since Netflix went public nearly 12 years ago.

Investors tend to focus more on Netflix's subscriber growth because the widening audience provides the company with the means to negotiate the rights to show even more compelling content to show in the future.

“Internet video is catching hold,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press. “Consumers love that they can watch what they want when they want it. There is just a lot of consumer appetite for this.”

NEW YORK — Target says it will no longer be offering health care coverage for its part-time workers.The discounter is citing new options now available through health care exchanges under the Affordable Care Act.Target, based in Minneapolis, said the majority of its part-time workers who have been eligible for its health care insurance coverage don't enroll. In fact, less than 10 percent of its total employees of 361,000 take advantage of the part-time plan. It said it will stop covering the part-time workers beginning April 1.Other large employers including UPS are scaling back health coverage by dropping spouses from their employee plans if they are able to get insurance through another employer.