Reuters: Technology News: Discovery Communications profit misses Wall Street view

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Discovery Communications profit misses Wall Street view Feb 14th 2013, 13:36 Thu Feb 14, 2013 8:36am EST (Reuters) - Higher revenue growth and better-than-expected advertising sales at Discovery Communications Inc's cable channels could not lift its quarterly profit, which fell short of analysts' estimates. Discovery said on Thursday that fourth quarter net income declined to $224 million, or 61 cents per share where analysts were expecting 76 cents per share, from $336 million, or 86 cents per share in the same period a year ago. The company attributed the drop in income to higher taxes, equity-based compensation and costs due to its acquisition of Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG's 12 Nordic television stations for $1.7 billion. Still, Discovery, whose cable networks include Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet, said total revenue rose 8 percent to $1.2 billion, in line with expectations. "Overall the top line looks great," said Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser. Advertising revenue at the company's U.S. channels rose 9 percent to $397 million, while at its international cable networks it rose 16 percent to $185 million. "It's a favorable number considering tepid conditions in the U.S," Wieser said about the advertising revenue. Some analysts, however, were looking for stronger numbers considering that some of Discovery's networks including its namesake and TLC are on a ratings tear with programs like "Gold Rush." "If anything, people were expecting they would outperform," said Macquarie Research analyst Amy Young. Discovery also said it expects 2013 revenue to be in the range of $5.58 billion and $5.70 billion. Analysts are expecting revenue of $5.43 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. (Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel and Chizu Nomiyama) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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