Time Warner Tops Q1 Expectations

reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on Wednesday. The New York-based company posted quarterly earnings of $970 million, or $1.15 per share, compared to $1.29 billion, or $1.42 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $1.19 per share. Its revenue climbed to $7.13 billion from $6.8 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $1.09 per share on revenue of $7 billion. The average estimate among 7 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.10 per share and revenue of $6.98 billion. Turner revenue gained 5 percent to $2.7 billion in the quarter, while Home Box Office revenues climbed 4 percent to $1.4 billion. Warner Bros. revenue rose 4 percent to $3.2 billion in the first quarter. Adjusted operating income climbed 12 percent to $1.8 billion for the quarter, while Turner adjusted operating income rose 26 percent to $1.1 billion. From January 1, 2015 through April 24, 2015, Time Warner repurchased around 14 million shares of common stock for around $1.1 billion. As of March 31, 2015, the company had $20.2 billion in net debt, compared to $19.9 billion at the end of 2014. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said, "We got off to a very strong start in 2015, with Revenues up 5%, and Adjusted Operating Income growing 12% to a quarterly record of $1.8 billion. This led to a 23% increase in Adjusted EPS and puts us on track to achieve our goals for the year. We accomplished a lot in the quarter, led by Turner, which had its best quarter ever, with audience growth across a number of its networks." Time Warner also affirmed its adjusted earnings outlook for the full year. Time Warner shares gained 1.20 percent to $86.00 in pre-market trading.