Cablevision Q3 Profit Tops View, Revenues Match

(RTTNews) - Telecommunications and media company Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) reported Friday a profit for the third quarter compared to a loss last year, reflecting a significant income from discontinued operations. Income from continuing operations also grew despite customer losses as revenue per customer increased.

Earnings per share from continuing operations topped analysts' expectations, while quarterly revenues matched their estimates.

The company noted that operating results of Bresnan Cable and Clearview have been reflected as discontinued operations for both the periods.

"Cablevision continues to enhance the overall Optimum experience for our customers with improved products and a superior level of service. At the same time, we have taken a number of steps to improve our financial performance and strengthen our balance sheet," President and CEO James Dolan said in a statement.

The Bethpage, New York-based company reported net income of $294.60 million or $1.10 per share for the third quarter, compared to a net loss of $3.79 million or $0.01 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Income from continuing operations for the quarter soared year-over-year to $59.32 million or $0.22 per share from $3.79 million or $0.01 per share. On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.11 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net revenues for the quarter grew 1.8 percent to $1.57 billion from $1.54 billion in the same quarter last year, and matched seventeen Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $1.57 billion.

Telecommunications services net revenues for the quarter increased 1.8 percent to $1.49 billion, with operating income declining 5.7 percent to $272.47 million.

Cable Television net revenues increased 1.8 percent to $1.41 billion, mainly due to higher data rates, higher video revenues and increased advertising revenues. Cable advertising revenue grew 8.8 percent.

During the latest quarter, the segment recorded total customer losses of about 78,000 and video customer losses of about 112,000 compared to the year-ago quarter. High-speed data customer losses were only 1,000 and voice customers losses were 3,000 from the prior-year quarter.

However, average monthly revenue per video customer or RPS, improved 5.4 percent to $164.61 from the year-ago quarter.

Lightpath net revenues also grew 1.7 percent from the same period last year to $82.65 million. Net revenues at the cable operator's 'Other' segment also increased 2.0 percent from the year-ago period to $87.62 million.

On Wednesday, Cablevision's board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share on each outstanding share of both its Class A and Class B stock, payable on December 13 to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 22, 2013.

"We expect that the investments we are making in the business will yield results as we move forward," Dolan added.

In Friday's regular trading session, CVC is currently trading at $15.87, up $0.24 or 1.54% on a volume of 0.23 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $13.21 to $20.16.