February 1, 2013

Free Falling—TWC Guidance Hurts Stock; Sports Deals Not Part of Margin Miss

The first MSO 4Q earnings report is in, and Wall St isn’t happy. But it’s not the quarterly results spooking investors. Time Warner Cable shares closed down more than 11% after the company gave soft guidance for the year. TWC expects ’13 adjusted earnings per share to be in the $6.33-$6.61 range, below Street expectations of $6.88. Analysts identify programming costs as the region for margin decline and TWC top brass comment on RSN costs.

More top stories in today's CableFAX Daily:
 
Though profit for 4Q rose to $470mln vs. $212mln last year, Viacom’s revenue slipped to $3.3bln from $3.95bln in the year-ago quarter. Pres/CEO Philippe Dauman discusses how Nick has influenced the company’s earnings.
 
DirecTV is stepping up its TVE game with some help from video tech firm FreeWheel, which is funded by companies like Turner and DirecTV.
 
Amazon greenlit 5 children’s test pilots, following its earlier commitment to 6 comedy pilots. More details here.