NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as it added more Internet and phone subscribers.
Fourth-quarter net profit rose to $955 million, or 33 cents a share, from $412 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier.
After adjusting for one-time benefits in the current quarter, COMCAST (CMCSA.NQ)posted a profit of 29 cents a share, compared with 25 cents a share a year ago after adjusting for one-time charges.
Analysts had been expecting an average adjusted profit of 27 cents according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 2.9 percent to $9.07 billion, compared to the average Wall Street estimate of 8.97 billion.
The Philadelphia-based cable company added a net 247,000 high-speed Internet customers and 243,000 digital phone subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Kaufman Bros analyst Todd Mitchell had forecast 194,000 new Internet subscribers and 296,000 new phone customers.
Comcast lost more than 199,000 basic video subscribers during the quarter.
Mitchell had expected Comcast to lose 151,000 video customers.
"The results were pretty much in line with expectations," said Mitchell. "They are good enough numbers that the stock should breath a sigh of relief."
Senior management at Comcast spent much of the fourth quarter striking a deal to buy a 51 percent controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. An agreement was announced on Dec 3 and the deal is now going through a regulatory process with U.S. agencies which may last a year.
Kaufman's Mitchell said subscriber growth for cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc are beginning to slow down and investors are now beginning to focus on return of capital through share buybacks and dividend payments.
"With Comcast, though, so much of the their future capital is tied up in this NBC transaction, it's a case of the tail wagging the dog," he said.
Its shares were up 1 cents to $16.30 in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Derek Caney)
