Growth Industry
Comcast CMCSA raised ’04 guidance for cable EBITDA growth to 18% from 15-17%. It reduced basic sub guidance to flat from 0.5% growth and trimmed phone guidance to 100K net sub loss from a gain of up to 50K subs. The MSO doubled its share buyback plan to $2bln after repurchasing $750mln of its stock to date. Cable revenue rose 10% to $4.8bln, while operating cash flow climbed 20% to $1.9bln. Comcast added 327K HSD subs during the Q and nearly 206K digital subs. — Time Warner Cable’s operating income rose 9% to $817mln, while revenue climbed 10% to $2.12bln. It added 124K net digital subs and 127K HSD subs. It had 591K total DVR subs and nearly 1.3mln SVOD subs, representing 13% and 28% of digital video subs, respectively. Time Warner raised company guidance to the low double digital-low teen range from the low double-digit growth previously forecast. TWX’s networks saw EBITDA increase 23% to $661mln, while revenue rose 10% to $2.38bln. — While Charter’s SEC investigation ended, TWX’s continues. The company widened its internal investigation of the online division to include how it accounted for its purchase of AOL Europe in ’02; a restatement of financials may result.
