DirecTV Posts Customer Gains During Q4

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DirecTV Group Inc. reported strong fourth quarter earnings Wednesday highlighted by strong subscriber growth and the lowest rate of U.S. customer defections in eight years.


Net income of $348 million (30 cents per share) was a dip from $356 million (29 cents) for the same period a year earlier. While the results still beat Wall Street’s expectations of 29 cents per share, the El Segundo-based satellite TV provider said that higher interest payments on debt constricted profit for the quarter.


Revenue rose 17 percent to $4.88 billion, also exceeding analysts’ expectation of $4.77 billion, according to Thomson Financial.


The gains in revenues were driven by mainly by net subscriber growth in the United States and Latin America. Also, there was an 8.3 percent hike in average revenues per subscriber, to $87.40, due in large part to higher prices for high-definition programming and revenue from digital video recorder fees.


DirecTV said it added 474,000 net subscribers during the quarter, including 275,000 in the United States. The nation’s largest satellite TV provider said it has 16.8 million total subscribers, up 6 percent from end of the same quarter in last year.


The company’s monthly churn rate, or the amount of lost customers during the quarter, fell to 1.42 percent.


For the full year, DirecTV reported a slight bump in net income to $1.45 billion ($1.21 per share), while annual revenue rose 21 percent to $17.2 billion.


Shares in DirecTV were up 3 percent to $24.59 in early trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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