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October 29, 2012
Comcast Blows Past Analysts' Expectations
By Tabitha Naylor, Contributing Writer
In the third quarter, chiefly due to the sale of wireless spectrum and its stake in the A&E TV channel, the nation's largest provider of cable TV and Internet services, Comcast (News  - Alert) Corp., more than doubled its net income. Even though cable TV saw fewer cancelations than expected and the expensive-to-produce London Olympics broke even on NBC, the underlying results were strong.
In the three months through September from $908 million, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier, net income rose to $2.11 billion, or 78 cents per share. Excluding gains from the sale of spectrum to Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless for $2.3 billion and the sale of the 16 percent A&E TV stake to Disney (News - Alert) and Hearst for $3 billion, earnings came to 46 cents per share, matching the expectation of analysts polled by FactSet.
From the comparable one last year, that figure was up 39 percent. Blowing past the $16.07 billion expected by analysts, revenue grew 15 percent to $16.54 billion. To close at $37.56 Friday, Comcast's shares rose $1.20, or 3.3 percent. Earlier in the day, the shares hit an all-time high of $37.78... Read More
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