Time Warner Beats Q2 Views

Time Warner Inc TWX reported upbeat results for the second quarter on Wednesday. The New York-based company reported a quarterly profit of $971 million, or $1.16 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $850 million, or $0.95 per share. Its adjusted earnings from continuing operations rose 28 percent to $1.25 per share from $0.98 per share. Its revenue climbed 8 percent to $7.3 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.03 per share on revenue of $6.90 billion. The average estimate among 5 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.05 per share and revenue of $6.94 billion. Revenue from Turner rose 3 percent to $2.8 billion, while revenue from Home Box Office gained 1 percent to $1.4 billion. Revenue from Warner Bros. climbed 15 percent to $3.3 billion in the latest quarter. Its operating income rose 19 percent to $1.9 billion. As of June 30, 2015, the company had net debt of $20.7 billion, compared to $19.9 billion at the end of 2014. From January 1, 2015 through July 31, 2015, Time Warner repurchased around 24 million shares of common stock for around $2.0 billion. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said, "We had a very strong second quarter, with Revenues up 8% and Adjusted Operating Income growing 15% to a quarterly record of $1.9 billion. Our results were led by Turner and Warner Bros., and were achieved at a time when we're investing aggressively to position the company for continued growth, including the successful launch of HBO NOW, our standalone domestic streaming service." Time Warner reaffirmed its FY15 adjusted earnings of $4.60 to $4.70 per share. Time Warner shares fell 0.15 percent to close at $87.65 yesterday.