DirecTV, the No. 1 provider of satellite TV services in the U.S., posted a 24 percent jump in profit during the third quarter as it brought more subscribers on board.
The company earned $699 million, or $1.28 per share, up from $565 million, or 90 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue grew 6 percent to $7.88 billion from $7.42 billion.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.02 per share on revenue of $7.84 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.
DirecTV added 139,000 U.S. subscribers to bring the total to 20.2 million. Including subscribers outside the U.S., the company ended the quarter with more than 37 million subscribers.
DirecTV Latin America owns a 93 percent stake in Sky Brasil, and all of PanAmericana. It also owns a 41 percent stake in Sky Mexico, which isn’t included in the subscriber figures.
It’s a promising turnaround after the company reported last quarter the loss of 84,000 U.S. subscribers, its worst decline ever.
Shares of the El Segundo, Calif., company slid 23 cents to $64.14 in late morning trading.
