Comcast's Revenue Tops Expectations

Shares are rising nearly 5%.
By Robert Holmes ,

Comcast

(CMCSA) - Get Report

reported better-than-expected top-line results Thursday as it grew its subscriber counts for digital cable and high-speed Internet services, boosting its shares nearly 5%.

The cable operator posted earnings of $732 million, or 24 cents a share, which fell from $837 million, or 26 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding items, Comcast said it had an adjusted profit of 19 cents a share. Revenue jumped 14% from year-ago levels to $8.39 billion.

Analysts expected Comcast to earn 19 cents a share on revenue of $8.17 billion, according Thomson Financial. Additionally, Comcast reaffirmed its full-year guidance for consolidated revenue and operating cash flow growth of 8% to 10%.

Shares of Comcast were rising 4.9% to $21.56.

"Our results for the first quarter mark a solid start to 2008," said CEO Brian Roberts in a release. "We are confident that our outlook for 2008 is achievable and we are on track to deliver on our goal of consistent and profitable growth that builds long term shareholder value."

Comcast said its basic-video subscriber count fell by 57,000, or 0.2%, in the first quarter. On the positive side, the company added nearly 500,000 digital cable subscribers and 492,000 high-speed Internet subscribers.

Among other pay-television providers,

DirecTV

(DTV)

,

Cablevision

(CVC)

,

Dish Network

(DISH) - Get Report

and

Time Warner Cable

(TWC)

were little changed.

AT&T

(T) - Get Report

and

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

were also trading flat.

Loading ...