Cablevision Q2 Results Beat Estimates

(RTTNews) - Telecommunications and media company Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) on Tuesday reported a 30 percent decline in profit for the second quarter from last year, when results included a hefty income from discontinued operations.

However, both revenues and earnings per share from continuing operations for the latest quarter beat analysts' expectations as rate increases and higher advertising revenue more than offset subscriber losses.

James Dolan, CEO of Cablevision said, "Cablevision generated solid financial results in the second quarter, including year-over-year growth in AOCF and free cash flow. We extended our track record of deploying product enhancements and measurably improving the Optimum customer experience."

The Bethpage, New York-based company reported net income for the second quarter of $94.21 million or $0.35 per share, down from $135.36 million or $0.51 per share in the prior-year quarter. The prior-year quarter's results included income from discontinued operations of $107.50 million or $0.41 per share.

Income from continuing operations for the latest quarter was $91.03 million or $0.34 per share, up from $28.22 million or $0.11 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.17 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net revenues for the quarter grew 4 percent to $1.63 billion from $1.57 billion in the same quarter last year and beat analysts' consensus estimate of $1.60 billion.

Cable revenues for the quarter grew 3.7 percent to $1.46 billion, primarily reflecting rate increases, pricing strategies and higher advertising revenue, partially offset by a decline in customers. Cable advertising revenue growth in the quarter was 12.2 percent.

Average monthly cable revenue per customer or RPC grew 5.5 percent to $152.72, and average monthly revenue per video customer or RPS increased 7.2 percent to $174.14 from the year-ago quarter.

Compared to the year-ago quarter, the company recorded total customer losses of about 59,000, video customer losses of about 97,000, and voice customer losses of about 17,000. The company also recorded losses of about 8,000 high-speed data customers.

Lightpath revenue increased 6.7 percent from the year-ago period to $88.03 million, reflecting an increase in revenue from Ethernet services.

Meanwhile, other revenues edged up 0.4 percent from last year to $94.87 million, reflecting increased advertising revenue at News 12 Networks, partially offset by lower advertising revenue at Newsday.

On July 29, 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. The dividend is payable on September 5 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 15, 2014.

CVC is currently trading at $19.45, up $0.28 or 1.46 percent on a volume of 5.02 million shares.