Earnings: DirecTV Earns Double Expected Number of Subscribers

Satellite provider seems to gain from Time Warner Cable’s loss

DirecTV nearly doubled its projected number of net subscriber additions in a third quarter in which it easily beat analysts’ expectations.

The largest U.S. satellite TV provider had 139,000 net additions, nearly double the 70,000 analysts had expected, according to research firm StreetAccount. That brought its total subscribers to more than 37 million, about 17 million of them in Latin America.

Also read: Earnings: Time Warner Cable Shed 306K Video Customers Amid CBS Dispute, But Beats Earnings Expectations

The gains came in the same quarter that Time Warner Cable, which spent a month blacking out CBS stations in major markets because of a dispute with the network, reported losing 306,000 video subscribers.

DirecTV said third quarter revenues grew 6 percent to $7.9 billion from the previous quarter, while operating profit before depreciation and amortisation increased 15 percent to $1.9 billion.

Also read: Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt Reveals He Has Cancer Again

Net income came to $699 million, up from $565 million in the previous third quarter. Earnings per share were $1.28, up 42 percent.

The stock price was buoyed by a $1.3 billion stock repurchase that brought the company’s total year-to-date stock repurchases to $3.2 billion.

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