DirecTV profit beats Street, shares rise
NEW YORK | Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:00am EST
(Reuters) - DirecTV Group's quarterly profit beat Wall Street expectations on strong subscriber growth in the United States and Latin America, sending shares up nearly 5 percent in premarket trading.
The satellite television service's earnings per share of 74 cents beat analysts' average estimate of 62 cents, according to Thomson-Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net income came to $618 million, or 74 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $32 million, or 3 cents per share.
Revenue rose 11 percent to $6.62 billion from $5.98 billion. The average Reuters forecast was $6.5 billion.
The company did not issue a quarterly or annual outlook but said it will maintain its EPS target of $5 per share by 2013.
Kaufman Brothers analysts Todd Mitchell said DirecTV did not issue an earnings forecast because it may be tinkering with new services such as offering its programing over the Internet and selling the cheaper TV packages it announced at its analyst day late last year.
DirecTV improved its foothold in the Latin American market, a major new source of its growth. It added 378,000 new subscribers in Latin America in the quarter.
The company added 289,000 subscribers in the quarter in the U.S. Kaufman Brothers' Mitchell had expected DirecTV to add 255,000 subscribers.
Shares rose 4.8 percent to $46.35 in premarket trading on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Derek Caney)
Credit: Reuters (www.reuters.com)
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