UPDATE 3-Comcast results better than expected, shares up
(Adds CEO interview beginning paragraph 8, updates shares)
NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), the top U.S. cable operator, said on Thursday it sold more services than expected in the first quarter as it increased marketing to fend off competition from phone and satellite rivals, sending its shares up more than 6 percent.
Even though Comcast's subscriber base shrank in the quarter, its revenue per user increased as the company persuaded more customers to take its digital video, high-speed Internet and phone services.
Quarterly profit, excluding one-time gains, was in line with Wall Street forecasts, which reassured investors who were worried Comcast would be hurt by rivals like DirecTV Group (DTV.O), DISH Network Corp (DISH.O), Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N).
"They met expectations, which is welcome news with Verizon and AT&T adding 400,000 subscribers in the quarter, which had to come from somewhere," said Chris Marangi, an analyst at Gabelli & Co, which owns Comcast shares.
Comcast, which has more than 24 million subscribers, said it lost 57,000 basic video subscribers during the first quarter, compared with nearly 83,000 additions a year-ago.
Eight analysts polled by Reuters had expected Comcast to lose around 73,000 basic subscribers.
But Comcast sold more than 1.4 million subscriptions in the quarter, versus the average expectation of around 1.2 million, according to Bear Stearns.
Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said diversifying revenue streams had boosted average revenue per subscriber to $107 from $96 a year ago, which he described as a "pretty bullish statistic."
"NOT ABOUT BASIC VIDEO"
"This is not about basic video anymore," said Roberts on a call with investors.
Comcast said it added 494,000 digital video subscribers and 492,000 high-speed Internet subscribers. It also added 639,000 digital phone subscribers, though it was an overall net addition of 529,000 phone subscribers.
Bear Stearns had expected Comcast to add 478,000 digital subscribers, 335,000 high-speed Internet subscribers and 639,000 digital phone subscribers.
Comcast increased marketing spending by 20 percent in the quarter, in part to promote "double play" and "single play" packages in addition to the "triple play" bundles of video, Internet access and phone that it had focused on earlier.
"We've adjusted our marketing message to the consumer so it's not only about triple play. We needed to be quicker to respond, to be more vocal in that response," said Roberts in an interview with Reuters.
"We were very one-size-fits-all and now we are giving customers more choice," said Roberts.
The company said net profit in the first quarter fell to $732 million, or 24 cents a share, from $837 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier.
Per-share profit, excluding one-time gains from the unwinding of a cable partnership in Texas and Kansas in 2007, and unwinding a partnership with Insight Communications in 2008, rose to 19 cents from 17 cents, matching the average Wall Street forecast, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose 14 percent to $8.39 billion, better than the $8.17 billion expected by analysts.
Spencer Wang, an analyst at Bear Stearns, said the results were "solid" and had exceeded expectations on most product lines.
Marangi said he also was pleased to see Comcast had posted a 59 percent rise in free cash-flow growth to $702 million, and a reduction in capital expenditure, usually a concern for cable investors.
Comcast shares rose $1.33 to $21.88 in midday Nasdaq trading. (Editing by Brian Moss and Maureen Bavdek)
