Time Warner Cable Q3 Profit Declines, Misses View

(RTTNews) - Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), which is being acquired by Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK) in a $45.2 billion deal, Thursday said the third-quarter profit declined from last year, despite a rise in revenues. The company's costs increased during the quarter, and it lost 184,000 video customers.

Net income attributable to shareholders fell to $499 million or $1.76 per share from $532 million or $1.84 per share in the third quarter of 2013.

Adjusted net income attributable to shareholders was $1.86 per share, while it totaled $1.69 per share last year.

On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.91 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the quarter grew to $5.714 billion from $5.518 billion in the previous year. Wall Street analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $5.75 billion.

Residential Services revenue edged up 0.8 percent to $4.615 billion as a result of an increase in high-speed data revenue, partially offset by decreases in video and voice revenue.

Time Warner Cable lost 184,000 video customers during the quarter, and gained 92,000 high-speed Internet subscribers, while net additions in voice subscribers was 14,000.

Business Services revenue climbed 21.9 percent to $724 million primarily due to increases in high-speed data and voice subscribers as well as organic growth in cell tower backhaul revenue.

Total costs and expenses increased to $4.563 billion from $4.358 billion in the prior year.

Time Warner Cable Chairman and CEO Rob Marcus said, "We're executing well against our plan, with solid financial performance and strong subscriber momentum. We continue to expect the Comcast merger to close early in 2015."

The stock closed up 0.8 percent on Wednesday at $143.75.