The Netflix DVD-by-service will mail out its final discs Friday from its five remaining distribution centers, ending its 25-year history. — AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File ...

Netflix reports earnings after Thursday's close. Here is a closer look at what Wall Street expects will happen.

The company has come such a long way from those distant days of 1997 when Netflix (NFLX) was a mail-based DVD rental service.

The company has created a new app-- DVD Netflix -- for the millions of old timers who still utilize the antiquated DVD-by-mail service, which was launched before the discovery of streaming in 1998.