21st Century Fox Profit Tops Street As Cable, Television Sparkle

(RTTNews) - Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA) said Wednesday its third-quarter profit declined from a year ago, when it recorded one-time gains from the acquisition of additional stake in Sky Deutschland.

Meanwhile, revenue registered a double-digit growth aided by its cable network programming and television segments, with good patronage from advertisers for its broadcast of Super Bowl XLVIII. Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter topped Wall Street estimates.

Shares of the company were up about 4 percent in after-hours trade on the Nasdaq.

"We delivered strong results in the fiscal third quarter with double-digit revenue and earnings growth led by sustained gains in affiliate fees at our cable networks," said Rupert Murdoch, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.

"The sizable audiences of our live television events, led by the most watched Super Bowl in history, underscore the value of our investments in live sports programming," Murdoch added.

Last June, 21st Century Fox split off from News Corp (NWSA, NWS) and went on to possess the media and entertainment assets. Its portfolio consists of cable and broadcasting properties, including FOX, National Geographic Channels, STAR, as well as film studio Twentieth Century Fox Film.

New York-based Twenty-First Century Fox posted third-quarter net income to stockholders of $1.05 billion or $0.47 per share, compared with $2.85 billion or $1.22 per share last year.

Results for the prior-year quarter included income of $2.1 billion from the acquisition of additional stake in Sky Deutschland.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.07 billion or 0.47 per share, compared with $740 million or $0.32 per share a year ago.

On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.35 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter climbed 12 percent to $8.22 billion from $7.35 billion in the prior year.

Twenty analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $7.99 billion for the quarter.

Cable network programming segment revenue for the quarter grew to $3.15 billion from $2.83 billion last year on growth across all networks.

Television revenue climbed to $1.59 billion from $1.25 billion, due to higher advertising income from the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVIII.

Filmed Entertainment revenue slid to $2.28 billion from $2.35 billion, while direct broadcast satellite television increased to $1.53 billion from $1.32 billion.

The company's stock closed Wednesday at $32.12, down $0.29 or 0.89%, on a volume of about 16 million shares. In after hours, the stock gained $1.13 or 3.52%, to trade at $33.25.