Time Warner Q3 Profit Tops Estimates

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Time Warner (TWX) reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenue and offered upside guidance for its full-year profit.

Time Warner said it earned $661 million, or 55 cents a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from a year-ago profit of $1.07 billion, or 89 cents a share.

Adjusted to account for one-time items in the quarter, Time Warner said it earned 61 cents a share in the quarter. That's down from and adjusted profit of 65 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue slid nearly 6% from a year ago to $7.13 billion, as lower revenue at the AOL, publishing and filmed entertainment segments more than offset growth at the networks segment.

On average, analysts expected Time Warner to record a profit of 53 cents a share on revenue of $7.07 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Looking ahead, Time Warner said it expects full-year adjusted earnings of at least $2.05 a share, up from $1.98 a share in 2008 and better than the $2.02-a-share consensus target.

In anticipation of its separation of AOL, which is expected to be completed in December, Time Warner provided a full-year outlook for its content group, which consists of the networks, filmed entertainment, publishing and corporate segments. The company expects 2009 full-year content group adjusted earnings to be at least $1.75 a share, compared to content group adjusted earnings of $1.42 a share in 2008.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York.

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