COMPANY TOWN / ENTERTAINMENT EARNINGS
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Cable company Comcast Corp. reported first-quarter profit and sales that beat analysts’ estimates by adding customers and cutting capital spending.
Net income rose 5.5% to $772 million, or 27 cents a share, from $732 million, or 24 cents, a year earlier, the Philadelphia company said. Excluding some costs, profit was 27 cents, exceeding the 23-cent average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales increased 5.3% to $8.84 billion, also topping estimates.
Chief Executive Brian Roberts is offering more discounted packages of television and Internet to win customers, fending off competition from phone and satellite providers and the increasing popularity of TV on the Web. Comcast invested in upgrades to its high-speed Web products while it cut capital spending overall by 19%.
The company added about 837,000 net new customers for Internet, phone and digital TV last quarter. The average monthly bill for video customers increased 8% to $115.27 as more users adopted services such as high-speed Internet access.
The shares rose 22 cents, or 1.4%, to $15.46.
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