Comcast 1Q Profits Surge 80 Percent

A technician for Comcast Corp. heads out on a job in this Feb. 2, 2006 file photo in Salt Lake City. Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable television operator, on Thursday, April 26, 2007 reported that first-quarter profits surged by 80 percent, in part helped by a one-time gain resulting from the dissolution of a joint venture with Time Warner Cable. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, File) (Douglas C. Pizac - AP)

PHILADELPHIA -- Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable television operator, on Thursday reported that first-quarter profits surged by 80 percent, in part helped by a one-time gain resulting from the dissolution of a joint venture with Time Warner Cable.

The Philadelphia-based company posted a net income of $837 million, or 26 cents per share, in the quarter compared with $466 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

The most recent quarter includes a $500 million gain related to ending a cable partnership owned by Comcast and Time Warner serving Kansas City, Mo., southern Texas and Houston. The venture's end resulted in Comcast getting Houston, effective in January, and Time Warner taking the rest.

Excluding the gain, Comcast would have reported 17 cents per share in profits, which is in line with expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Operating income was $1.26 billion, up 26 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue rose by 32 percent to $7.39 billion in the quarter _ slightly above analysts' forecast of $7.36 billion _ driven by double-digit gains in the high-speed Internet and phone businesses.

Total revenue generating units, a key metric of performance in cable, rose by 63 percent to 1.76 million. RGUs count the number of individually subscribed services, so two customers each subscribing to digital cable and high-speed Internet count as four RGUs.

Comcast's cable TV business added 75,000 new basic subscribers, up 49 percent from a year ago, while digital subscribership surged by 82 percent to 644,000. Cable TV customers paid an average of $96.39 per month compared with $86.18 last year. Video revenue rose by 8 percent to $4.3 billion.

The number of basic subscribers totaled 24.2 million at quarter's end.

For high-speed Internet, Comcast added 563,000 customers, up from 511,500 a year ago, to 12 million. Subscribers paid an average of $43.26 a month for the service, up from $42.53 in 2006. Revenue from broadband Internet was $1.5 billion, up 21 percent year-over-year.

Phone revenue soared by 88 percent to $353 million in the quarter, driven by Comcast's digital voice service. Traditional "circuit-switched" customers continued to decline, by 93,000 in the quarter, while digital voice added 571,000 new subscribers. Comcast serves 2.4 million phone customers.

In the quarter, capital expenditures rose by 48 percent to $1.45 billion. Comcast also bought back $500 million of it own shares. Another $2.5 billion in buybacks remain under authorization.

Shares of Comcast fell 78 cents in early trading, nearly 3 percent, to $27.30 in early trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.