Cablevision Shares Slammed As Q1 Results Fall Short Of Expectations

The stock price is down more than 11% in pre-market trading and it’s easy to see why. The cable company reported a net loss of $16.4M, down from a $57.1M profit in the same period last year, on revenues of $1.52B, -7.5%. The Street thought that revenues would hit $1.64B. And analysts anticipated a 5 cent a share profit, not a 6 cent loss. This morning’s release is short on details but notes that Cablevision lost about 5,000 video customers, ending the quarter with 2.89M. Video revenues fell 4.2% to $767M. The number of broadband and phone customers each increased by 23,000 respectively to 2.79M and 2.29M. Revenues for data were +8.9% to $330M and phone was +2% to $209M. Cablevision says that Hurricane Sandy was largely to blame for the soft results. “In the second quarter we anticipate the positive impact of our recent pricing moves as well as an improved advertising outlook to lead to sequential improvement in our” adjusted operating cash flow, CEO James Dolan says.