NEW YORK – Top U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) on Thursday said quarterly profit rose slightly but revenue climbed more sharply as a result of new high-speed Internet subscribers and digital phone customers.
The Philadelphia-based company also reduced 2005 cash flow growth expectations from a range of 14 percent to 15 percent to 13 percent, because of higher programming costs from its deal with the National Hockey League (search).
Profit for the third quarter rose modestly to $222 million, or 10 cents per share, from $220 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue increased 10 percent to $5.6 billion.
Comcast (search) lost 46,000 basic subscribers, ending the quarter with 21.4 million. It added 437,000 high-speed data subscribers for a total of 8.1 million at the end of the period.
It also gained 12,000 digital phone subscribers on a net basis.
Valuations on Comcast, whose stock has fallen more than 15 percent this year, and cable valuations in general are at a 10-year lull, hurt by threats from telephone companies entering the video market and increased competition from satellite television operators.
The company said it repurchased about $752 million of its stock in the third quarter.
Shares closed on Wednesday up 70 cents, or 2.5 percent, at $28.80 on the Nasdaq (search), boosted by Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX) cable division results.
Full-year 2005 capital expenditure expectations have risen to $3.5 billion from a previous target of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion, because of stronger demand for costlier advanced set-top boxes
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