Tom Rutledge, the chief executive officer of Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) said the company is still interested in “wisely acquiring subscribers” during a conference call after reporting its first quarterly profit in the more than three years today.
Rutledge made his remark after Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) failed to convince Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) to accept its merger proposal. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) won the bid to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45 billion in an all-stock transaction. He refused to comment regarding the deal between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
Three million Comcast subscribers
Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is planning to purchase some of the three million subscribers of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)—the largest cable company is planning to sell such number of subscribers to ease regulatory concerns over its transaction to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC).
The company is also considering the possibility of a merger with Cox Communications, a privately held cable company with 4.5 million television subscribers. The two companies engaged in a discussion regarding a potential merger, according to people familiar with the situation last year.
Quarterly results
During the fourth quarter of 2013, Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) reported $30 million net income of $0.35 earnings per share due to sales growth from its broadband business. Its revenue increased 12% to $2.14 billion. The company recorded $40 million losses or $0.41 losses per share in the same period a year ago.
The financial results of the company outperformed the $0.31 earnings per share consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts, but its revenue was slightly lower compared with their $2.16 billion expectation. Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) said its residential internet customers increased from 59,000 a year ago to 93,000.
Charter stock fell
The stock price of Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) declined almost 5% to $125.57 per share at the time of this writing around 2:19 P.M. in New York. According to Craig Moffett, founder of research firm, Moffett Nathanson LLC, investors were worried about the projected higher capital spending (approximately $2.2 billion) of the company. He said, “That’s putting some pressure on the stock. The earnings results are actually pretty good.”
