DISH Posts Higher Q1 Profit

DISH Network Corp DISH reported a strong rise in its profit for the first quarter. The Englewood, Colorado-based company posted a quarterly profit of $351.5 million, or $0.76 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $175.9 million, or $0.38 per share. Its revenue surged to $3.7 billion from $3.6 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.40 per share on revenue of $3.74 billion. The average estimate among 7 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.43 per share and revenue of $3.74 billion. During the quarter, DISH lost 134,000 net pay-TV subscribers. At the end of the quarter, the company had 13.8 million pay-TV subscribers, compared to 14.1 million subscribers, a year ago. The company added 554,000 gross new pay-TV subscribers, down from 639,000 a year ago. However, net Pay-TV subscribers dropped by around 134,000 in the quarter. Pay-TV subscriber churn rate widened to 1.65 percent, from 1.42 percent, while Pay-TV ARPU rose to $86.01 from $82.36. DISH added around 14,000 net broadband subscribers in the quarter. DISH shares fell 0.21 percent to close at $66.86 on Friday.