By Ben Fox Rubin
DirecTV's (DTV) fourth-quarter income jumped 31% as the
satellite-television operator's subscriber base and revenue in
Latin America saw strong growth.
The company's board also authorized a new $4 billion buyback
program. The company's market value is currently $31.2 billion,
according to FactSet.
DirecTV has focused on Latin America as a source of growth, as
the company also hones in on high-value customers in the maturing
U.S. pay-TV market. Although the company has aggressively gained
market share in countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Columbia, it
could face new competition from Dish Network Corp. (DISH), which
has been looking to expand into Brazil.
DirecTV's Latin American segment reported revenue of $1.67
billion for the quarter, up 22% from a year earlier. The unit added
658,000 new subscribers, compared with 590,000 subscriber additions
in the region a year earlier. The company now has about 10.3
million subscribers in Latin America, up from 7.9 million a year
ago.
In DirecTV's U.S. business, which is still much larger, revenue
for the quarter rose 4.8% to $6.32 billion. The unit tacked on
103,000 subscribers, down from 125,000 subscriber additions a year
earlier. The U.S. subscriber base stood at 20.1 million at the end
of the quarter, up 1% from a year ago.
For the latest quarter, average monthly subscriber churn, or
subscriber turnover, in the U.S. was 1.43%, down from 1.52% a year
ago. In Latin America, the total churn rate was up at 1.75%, from
1.65% a year earlier.
DirecTV reported a profit of $942 million, or $1.55 a share, up
from $718 million, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier. Revenue grew
7.9% to $8.05 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast a
profit of $1.13 a share on revenue of $8.03 billion.
Shares closed Wednesday at $51.67 and were inactive premarket.
The stock is up 7.1% over the past three months.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com
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