TiVo reported the third quarterly profit in its 11-year history Wednesday (Aug. 27), though its earnings outlook going forward is cloudy.
For its fiscal third quarter ended July 31, the digital video recorder company posted net income of $2.9 million, or 3 cents per share, versus a loss of $17.7 million (loss 18 cents), in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue climbed 4% to $65.2 million, though that disappointed some analysts expecting a bigger gain.
Significantly-lower marketing costs compared to a year ago helped boost profits. The company had 1.7 million TiVo-owned subscriptions at the end of the quarter, which declined slightly. But TiVo is looking for a boost from deals with multichannel platforms.TiVo’s outlook for the next quarter, which is its fiscal fourth quarter, is for a net loss of $7 million-$9 million due to due to hardware and marketing expenses.
In a statement, TiVo President and CEO Tom Rogers said: "During the quarter, we made significant progress in several key areas of our business: in terms of our mass distribution strategy, Comcast has reaffirmed its long-term support for our partnership as evidenced by its roll-out in Connecticut; our international footprint continues to grow with Seven (network’s) successful introduction of TiVo to the Australian market; and on the standalone side of the business, with the recent addition of YouTube content delivered right to the TV set, our vision of creating the ultimate television dream machine is coming to fruition.”
TiVo also won a patent infringement case in January versus satellite operator EchoStar. There is a Sept. 4 hearing to determine whether EchoStar is violating a court injunction against continued infringement on TiVo's business.
Tivo’s balance sheet has $105.8 million in cash and it expects this cash position to improve once EchoStar pays damages, assuming no setback in appeal.
Earlier today, TiVo unveiled a promotional tie-in with Entertainment Weekly magazine,
whose TV program picks will be sent to TiVo subs starting in autumn.
