By the looks of Netflix stock's (NASDAQ: NFLX) paltry 1% gain over the past 12 months, some investors might mistakenly conclude that intensifying competition has stunted the underlying company's growth. But this is far from reality. 2019 was a record year for Netflix, featuring a 20% year-over-year increase in subscribers. This subscriber growth, combined with price increases, helped total revenue rise 28% year over year. Operating income for the year jumped even faster, climbing 62% year over year to $2.6 billion. To get a better look at the company's momentum and what management is saying about Netflix's prospects, check out the following three quotes from the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. Image source: Getty Images. Netflix is upbeat about its long-term growth opportunity First and foremost, investors should note management's continued confidence about the streaming-TV service's opportunity for continued growth even as new competition comes to market. CEO Reed Hastings explained that engagement trends on the platform remained strong despite the launch of new services from both Apple and Walt Disney during the quarter. [U]ltimately what drives our business is increasing member satisfaction and viewing. And what you also see in the US, what we saw across the board is that our viewing, our per membership viewing grew not just globally, but in the US through Q4 -- and [this] continues. So that bodes well for our long-term opportunity as long as we keep getting better. Why Netflix wants to remain ad-free Management also once again countered criticism from some industry watchers that the streaming service should launch a version of its service for a lower price (or for free) that is monetized through ads. In addition to noting that the company doesn't want to have to compete against big players in the ad industry, such as Facebook, Alphabet, and Amazon, Hastings simply argued that, by remaining ad-free, it is avoiding increased scrutiny advertising platforms often see -- and it is keeping its business model simple. [W]e think if we don't have exposure to that, the positive side is we're in a much safer place, we're not integrating everybody's data. We're not controversial that way. We've got a much simpler business model which is just focused on streaming and customer pleasure. So, we think with our model that we will actually get to a larger revenue, a larger profit, larger market cap... Free cash flow should improve despite aggressive content spending Finally, while it's been well documented that Netflix management believes it has reached peak negative free cash flow and that it expects its negative free cash flow to improve from negative $3.3 billion in 2019 to negative $2.5 billion in 2020, there's another narrative regarding this topic that deserves a closer look: Netflix believes it can move toward positive free cash flow without letting up on aggressive content spending. "And so we're on the glide path slowly toward positive free cash flow," explained Hastings. "We're excited about that, but that's not coming from shrinking back our content spending. That's coming from the increase in revenue and operating income." The Street may be overly focused on growing competition just as Netflix is hitting a key turning point in its business. Going forward, the streaming-TV giant will be able to invest heavily in blockbuster content while funding increasingly more of its expansion with cash from operations as opposed to tapping debt markets for capital. 10 stocks we like better than NetflixWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Netflix wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of December 1, 2019John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Daniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, and Walt Disney and recommends the following options: long January 2021 $60 calls on Walt Disney and short April 2020 $135 calls on Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source