Is It Time to Consider Time Warner?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Media conglomerate Time Warner (TWX) continues to be one of those names on Wall Street that seems to always fly under the radar. Remarkably, this is despite the company's recent string of market-beating performances.

When assessing Time Warner's current standing amongst its peers, which include names such as Disney (DIS) and Comcast (CMCSA), it becomes clear the stock is undervalued. However, upon the company's Q3 earnings report, which I felt were "mixed," I'm thinking I might need to curb my enthusiasm -- but for how long?

The Quarter That Was

For the fiscal third-quarter ending Sept. 30, the company reported net income of $838 million, or 86 cents per share. Not only was this higher than analysts' estimates of 82 cents, but it represented year-over-year growth of over 2% -- helped by strong performances in the company's cable division.

On the other hand, revenue was a disappointment -- falling 3% to $6.84 billion and missing analysts' estimates of $6.89 billion. The company experienced worse-than-expected declines in its film and TV entertainment and publishing segments, which served to offset solid growth in its network segment.

Consequently, Time Warner's adjusted operating income also declined by 1% to $1.6 billion. This is even though margins arrive flat year-over-year.

Overall, this was a good quarter for the media giant. With its performance, Time Warner remains on track for another solid year. The company has produced on average 3.3% growth in net income spanning back the last five quarters.

In terms of outlook, aside from expecting low double-digit growth from a base of $2.89, which the company earned last year, Time Warner remained steadfast in its previous projections -- keeping outlook for the fiscal year the same. But the company did say that its film "Argo" was doing quite well at the box office and it expects ticket sales from the movie to help boost revenues in the current quarter. Also in pipeline is the highly anticipated release of "The Hobbit" next month.

Moving Forward

While listening to the conference call, it was clear that the company's management understands not only where the company is today, but where it needs to be in the future. In discussing the third-quarter performance, Time Warner's CEO, Jeff Bewkes said: "This performance illustrates that our investments in content and technology are continuing to pay off."

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