Cablevision profit trails estimates after subscribers flee

Cablevision Systems Corp., the fifth- largest U.S. cable provider, reported profit that missed analysts’ estimates after subscribers defected to rivals or abandoned pay-TV amid a sluggish economy. The stock slumped.

Net income rose to $87.8 million, or 31 cents a share, from $60.9 million, or 20 cents, a year earlier, the Bethpage, New York-based company said today in a statement. Analysts predicted earnings, excluding some costs, of 40 cents a share, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Cablevision competes in about 40 percent of its coverage area with Verizon Communications Inc. for television, phone and Internet subscribers, according to John Tinker, an analyst at Maxim Group LLC in New York. Promotions from Verizon in the quarter, including an offer for a free DVR for life, and a weak housing market may have caused more defections from Cablevision.

“Verizon is becoming very aggressive on the promotional side,” Tinker said. “We’re in a tougher economic environment and competition is biting.”

The company lost 23,000 video customers, after gaining 75,900 a year earlier. Jason Bazinet, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., had estimated the total number would be little changed. Total customers, which include Internet and phone subscribers, fell 17,000 from a year ago, including additions from Bresnan Communications LLC, which Cablevision acquired last year.

Cablevision slid $2.11, or 11 percent, to $17.41 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 9:55 a.m., after falling as low as $17.32 for the biggest intraday drop since May 2010. It had declined 18 percent this year before today.

Cord-Cutting

Broadband subscribers grew by 5,000 in the quarter, missing analysts’ average estimate of 23,000, according to Marci Ryvicker, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co. in New York.

Cablevision joins other cable providers in reporting subscriber losses amid a sluggish economy and competition from online-video rivals such as Netflix Inc. and Hulu LLC. Time Warner Cable Inc. lost 130,000 residential video subscribers in the second quarter and Comcast Corp. dropped 238,000.

Sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in June as job growth has slowed. Purchases dropped 1 percent to a 312,000 annual pace, a three-month low, according to Commerce Department statistics last month. The U.S. economy grew at a 1.3 percent pace in April-June following revised growth of 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year that was slower than previously estimated.

Sales at Cablevision rose 9.1 percent to $1.69 billion. The majority of Cablevision’s cable assets are located around New York, although the Bresnan acquisition added networks in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

Excluding AMC Networks Inc., which Cablevision spun off June 30, profit from continuing operations was 24 cents, trailing the estimate of Richard Tullo, an analyst at Albert Fried & Co. in New York, by two cents.

“I think the cable companies aren’t aggressively going after clients because of credit concerns,” said Tullo, who has a “market perform” rating on shares.