Business

Time Warner 3Q results top Street; raises outlook

Posted November 02, 2016 7:00 am

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Time Warner's third-quarter performance beat analysts' estimates, thanks partly to revenue growth spurred by the success of films such as "Suicide Squad" and "Sully."

The media company - which is in the midst of a proposed $85 billion tie-up with AT&T - also boosted its full-year adjusted profit forecast again.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Time Warner earned $1.47 billion, or $1.86 per share. That compares with $1.04 billion, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain items, earnings were $1.83 per share.

Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were looking for earnings of $1.36 per share.

Revenue increased to $7.17 billion from $6.56 billion. That beat the $7 billion that analysts predicted, according to a Zacks poll.

Revenue at Warner Bros. rose 7 percent as higher movie theater revenue offset lower videogame revenue. Aside from strong showings by "Suicide Squad" and "Sully," revenue improved thanks to the releases of "The Legend of Tarzan" and "Lights Out."

Turner's revenue rose 9 percent, mostly on higher content and subscription revenue. For HBO, revenue climbed 4 percent thanks to increased subscription revenue.

Time Warner Inc. now anticipates full-year adjusted earnings from continuing operations between $5.73 and $5.83 per share. The New York-based company said the forecast includes a tax benefit of 28 cents per share that was recognized in the third quarter. The tax benefit is related to an IRS-approved tax accounting method change.

Time Warner's prior guidance was for earnings in a range of $5.35 to $5.45 per share. Before that, its outlook was for earnings between $5.30 and $5.40 per share.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect full-year earnings of $5.42 per share.

Its shares rose slipped 67 cents to $87.58 in midday trading. Its shares are up more than 14 percent over the past year.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on TWX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/TWX

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Keywords: Time Warner, Earnings Report

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