Time Warner Cable stock soared nearly 5% ($2.94 per share) to $62.60 each
in early trading Thursday, after the No. 2 MSO said it would launch a
$4 billion share repurchase program, offsetting a downturn in primary
service units, a measure of total customer relationships.
Time Warner Cable warned back in September that
it would likely move into negative PSU territory in the third quarter
and results proved them right. The MSO lost about 17,000 PSUs in the
third quarter, the first time that metric has crossed into the red for
the cable company. That was fueled by continued basic video subscriber
losses (about 155,000 in the period) and slower growth in high-speed
data (104,000 vs. 121,000 last year) and phone (34,000 vs. 72,000 last
year). However, it didn't seem to impact financial results.
Revenue
rose 5.2% to $4.7 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization was up 5.7% to $1.7 billion, in line with
analysts' estimates.
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