Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) reported today its first-quarter revenue that was below analysts estimates as the cable operator added fewer subscribers to its high-speed data services.
The second-largest U.S. cable operator added only 143,000 high-speed data subscribers in the first quarter against 181,000 subscribers expected by analysts. The cable company lost 119,000 residential video subscribers in the first quarter compared to 91,000 that analysts had expected.
Net income for the company came in at 401 million, or $1.34 per share, in the first quarter, from $382 million, or $1.20 per share, a year earlier. Earnings were $1.41 per share, excluding some items. Revenue for the company was up 6.6 percent to $5.48 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.37 per share on revenue of $5.49 billion.
Revenue from the residential services grew by 4 percent to to $4.6 billion while business services revenue was up 25.2 percent to $537 million. Advertising revenues improved 8.1 percent to $228 million, and other revenues were up 62.3 percent to $99 million.
Satisfied with the impressive performance by the Business and Residential Services, Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt said “As a result, I remain very excited about the long-term prospects for this business.”
The company experienced a rise in the operating expenses mainly due to higher employee costs and video programming expenses, and also due to the costs associated with the company’s Los Angeles regional sports networks and costs incurred on behalf of other video distributors for selling advertising inventory.
Owing to rising programming costs and shift of users interest from cable-TV to internet, Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) and its larger rival, Comcast Corp (NYSE:CMCSA) have been focusing more on internet customers for growth.
In recent times, the cable operator has been focusing more on sports programming also. The company agreed to a 20-year deal in 2011, for $3 billion, to stream Los Angeles Lakers basketball games on its Sports channel.
For the first quarter, the cable company returned $855 million to shareholders. Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) repurchased $660 million or 7.1 million shares of common stock during the quarter. As of March 31, 2013, $1.6 billion remained under the company’s share repurchase authorization. The company paid $0.65 per share of common stock as a regular dividend, amounting to $195 million, during the first quarter of 2013.
The company’s share closed at $92.73 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
