Comcast Profits Rise 6.6%, Shares Gain

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Comcast(CMCSA) shares climbed to a new 52-week high on Wednesday after the cable company reported a 6.6% increase in fourth-quarter earnings and announced a 19% increase in its annual dividend.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010, the company saw earnings climb to $1.02 billion, or 36 cents a share, from $955 million, or 33 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding the sale of Bresnan Communications and other items, the company's earnings came in at 35 cents a share, ahead of analysts' estimates of 32 cents a share.

>>Comcast Can't Solve Video Sub Slide

Operating income increased 10.8% to $2.01 billion, while free cash flow rose 46% to $1.12 billion.

Revenue was up 7.2% to $9.72 billion from $9.07 billion, driven by gains at all of the company's segments.

Revenue from Comcast's cable division climbed 6.9% to $9.16 billion from $8.56 billion, driven by a 29% gain in advertising revenue. Programming revenue grew 13.6% to $419 million from $368 million.

Comcast upped its annual dividend to 45 cents a share from 37.8 cents a share. It said that it will finish buying back $2.1 billion worth of stock by the end of 2011. Previously, it planned to complete the buyback by the end of 2012.

Comcast recently acquired a majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric(GE).

"Now that we have completed the NBC Universal transaction, we are uniquely positioned, with scale in distribution and content, to drive product leadership and innovation even further and to expand the entertainment choices we offer consumers," Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement.