With "Bloody Monday" seeing over 70,000 jobs eliminated by major corporations, any amount of good economic news can lift ones spirits.

For all you movie buffs out there, the rental business seems to be doing better than ever. Netflix, the company that sends DVDs to your mailbox every month and (legally) streams high-quality movies through its website and a myriad of home entertainment devices, is on the up and up.

The California-based rental company announced that its Q4 profits were up - way up - 45 percent compared to a year previous. the sharp increase wasn't expected by anyone, including Netflix executives. “Our October forecast of slowing growth turned out to be wrong,” said Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy during a financial conference call. “We continue to see strong momentum in our business, quarter to date.” Netflix shares jumped seven percent in after hours trading yesterday, and currently sit at $34.82 a share.

McCarthy credited the movie streaming feature of his company for the profits increase. Because so many people are now streaming movies through Roku boxes, Xbox 360 and other Netflix-enabled devices, fewer DVDs are being mailed out, which beings down costs considerably. McCarthy also revealed that Netflix will hit 10 million subscribers in the current quarter.

"Subscriber growth and the lower cost of customer acquisition were the headlines this quarter," Jefferies&Co. analyst Youssef Squali said. "Margin growth should be sustainable but the drop in (subscriber acquisition costs) is not likely longer term as online advertising starts rebounding."

As if there wasn't enough good news already, the company is also hiring, a distinctly different message than the plethora of layoffs yesterday. Also, to meet demand, Netflix is currently testing weekend shipping in certain markets. If such a feature was added for the entire user base, Netflix might redefine the Saturday night movie - if it hasn't done so already.