Time Warner Cable Q1 Results Miss Estimates

(RTTNews) - Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), which recently terminated its merger proposal with cable television giant Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK), Thursday said its first-quarter profit declined from the prior year, amid a slight growth in revenues. Both earnings and revenues missed Wall Street estimates.

Attributable profit fell to $458 million from $479 million in the previous year. Earnings per share slid to $1.59 from $1.70. The company attributed the decrease to an increase in income tax provision and a decrease in operating income due to higher depreciation expense, partially offset by a decrease in interest expense.

Adjusted earnings per share were $1.65, while it totaled $1.78 last year. On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.88 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue rose 3.5 percent to $5.777 billion from $5.582 billion in the prior year, as a result of revenue growth at the Business Services and Residential Services segments. Analysts expected revenues of $5.83 billion.

Business Services revenue climbed 16.9 percent from last year to $781 million, primarily due to increases in high-speed data and voice subscribers and growth in cell tower back-haul revenue.

Residential Services revenue was up 2.1 percent at $4.662 billion on high-speed data revenue. Residential video net additions were 30,000, the first positive quarterly net additions since the first quarter of 2009, and Residential voice net additions totaled 320,000, the best quarter ever.

Adjusted Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization or OIBDA edged up 0.8 percent, driven by revenue growth, partially offset by a 5 percent increase in operating expenses.

Time Warner Cable Chairman and CEO Rob Marcus said, "By almost any measure, Q1 was our best subscriber quarter ever. We've made significant investments to improve our customers' experience and our operational performance, and they are paying off. We are a far stronger company than we were just five short quarters ago."

Last week, Cable television operator Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK) terminated its merger proposal with Time Warner Cable amid regulatory concerns.

The stock closed marginally lower at $157.86 on Wednesday, and rose around 1 percent in pre-market activity.