Time Warner Tops Q3 Estimates

Time Warner Inc TWX reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the third quarter on Wednesday. The New York-based company posted quarterly net income of $1.04 billion, or $1.26 per share, compared to $967 million, or $1.11 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $1.25 per share. Its revenue surged to $6.56 billion from $6.24 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.09 per share on revenue of $6.51 billion. The average estimate among 32 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.12 per share and revenue of $6.63 billion. Revenue at HBO surged 4.8 percent to $1.37 billion, while revenue at Warner Bros. surged around 15 percent to $3.2 billion. Revenue at the Turner division slipped 2 percent to $2.4 billion in the quarter. Its adjusted operating income climbed 85 percent to $1.8 billion in the quarter. From January 1, 2015 through October 30, 2015, Time Warner repurchased around 41 million shares of common stock for around $3.3 billion. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said, "We had another very good quarter, with Revenues up 5% and strong growth in Adjusted Operating Income, which totaled $1.8 billion. Our revenue growth was led by Warner Bros. and Home Box Office, and illustrated how our investments in great content have been paying off in our traditional television businesses, as well as in newer areas such as videogames." Time Warner reaffirmed its forecast for 2015 full year. Time Warner shares rose 0.99 percent to close at $77.32 yesterday.