Time Warner Cable Inc., the second-largest provider of cable television in the United States, reported a second-quarter profit Thursday that beat analysts’ estimates after gaining broadband Internet subscribers.
Net income rose to $452 million, or $1.43 a share, from $420 million, or $1.24, a year earlier, the New York company said in a news release. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share were $1.48. Analysts projected $1.38, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The Northeast Ohio/Western Pennsylvania division, the company’s third largest, is headquartered in Akron. The division has 2,500 employees, including 361 at the headquarters and operations in Canal Place.
Time Warner Cable said it is successfully marketing its Internet product as a stand-alone service and in a bundle with cable TV and phone. The company added 59,000 residential broadband subscribers, while AT&T lost 96,000 subscribers and Verizon Communications Inc. gained 2,000.
“Time Warner Cable results were solid, with better-than-expected profitability as costs were kept in check, but slightly weaker subscriber performance,” said James Ratcliffe, a New York analyst at Barclays Capital Inc., in a note to clients.
Time Warner Cable shares have risen about 35 percent this year.
Time Warner Cable lost 169,000 residential video subscribers, more than the 143,000 estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, and added 45,000 phone customers.
The second quarter is seasonally weak for most cable companies as college students cancel subscriptions for the summer vacation.
Sales rose 9.3 percent to $5.4 billion, topping the average estimate of $5.38 billion.
This is the first quarter that includes three months of revenue from Insight Communications Co., an acquisition completed in February.
Chief Financial Officer Irene Esteves confirmed the company was on pace to meet or exceed its full-year forecast on earnings per share and the accounting measure called free cash flow growth.
Time Warner Cable expects 2012 earnings to be in the “upper range” of $5.25 to $5.50 a share, she said on a conference call. Free cash flow will grow between 20 percent and 25 percent, she said.
Time Warner Cable said 2012 programming costs per subscriber would increase 6 to 7 percent, less than the company’s previous forecast of 8 to 9 percent.
Time Warner Cable also repurchased $440 million of its own shares last quarter, up from buybacks of $353 million in the previous three months.