Posts Tagged ‘DTV’

  • DirecTV’s Outlook for 2012 and 2013
    , February 16th, 2012 at 11:54 pm

    Transcript from Seeking Alpha:

    Next, I would like to make a few comments on our consolidated outlook. We expect to grow earnings per share to well over $4 this year, on pace to achieve our EPS target of at least $5 in 2013. Before interest and taxes, cash flow is expected to grow in the low double-digit range. However, free cash flow is likely to come in relatively flat compared with 2011, due mostly to our cash taxes, which will be higher in 2012, due to greater earnings and higher cash tax rate of 30% range, primarily related to the reversal of accelerated depreciation and benefits associated with prior year economic stimulus programs.

    Finally, regarding our balance sheet, at this time, we still believe there are significant value in DIRECTV’s stock price, which merits our capital allocation strategy for share repurchases. Therefore, as Mike stated earlier, we expect to continue repurchasing shares at a pace of about $100 million per week. We also expect to opportunistically exit the debt markets in the near future. Once we get beyond 2012 with our balance sheet re-leveraging substantially completed, the level of buybacks will be based on a number of considerations, including strategic opportunities, our share price, leverage capacity and further investments in Latin America. If we accomplish all of these targets and deliver the expected financial results, I believe we will continue generating substantial shareholder value by leading the industry in revenue and earnings growth, as well as returning cash to shareholders.

    The stock is at $45 which means it’s going for 11 times this year’s earnings and for nine times 2013’s.

  • DirecTV Beats by Ten Cents Per Share
    , February 16th, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Before the opening bell this morning, DirecTV ($DTV) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.02 per share. That was ten cents more than Wall Street was expecting, and it’s a 38% increase over Q4 2010. After opening higher, the shares are currently down about 2% today.

    The numbers show that DirecTV continues to do very well. The major issue for them is that it’s become more expensive to get new customers. That’s to be expected. For the fourth-quarter, DTV gained a net 125,000 subscribers in the United States which was less than Wall Street’s forecast. Comcast, however, is hemorrhaging subscribers. DirecTV continues to make major gains in Latin America. The company added 590,000 new subscribers in that region last quarter.

    DirecTV also announced another $6 billion share buyback program. Frankly, that doesn’t impress me so much. I’d much rather have the company pay this money out to shareholders rather than hope for a capital gain. Plus, DirecTV just announced a slew of new equity awards for senior execs.

    Again, I have no problem with the senior brass getting paid tons of money (as long as the company is well run). But just pay them in cash! There’s no need to do this two-step of giving them stock options and then trying to force the stock higher. It simply dilutes future earnings.

  • Warren Buffett Loads Up on DirecTV
    , February 15th, 2012 at 7:04 am

    In its latest regulatory filing, Berkshire Hathaway ($BRKA) detailed its portfolio changes. Since our strategy here isn’t too different from Buffett’s, we sometimes make similar moves. For example, Berkshire raised its stake in DirecTV ($DTV) by five-fold. On the other hand, they cut their stake in Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ). Interestingly, Buffett is now totally out of ExxonMobil ($XOM).

    It also bought about 1.7 million shares in Liberty Media, veteran dealmaker John Malone’s media venture which has stakes in everything from baseball teams and satellite radio to bookstores and cable networks.

    Berkshire’s quarter was also notable for a number of large moves. It raised its stake in at least five companies by more than 20 percent, including recent newcomers to the portfolio like Intel and General Dynamics. It also took a new stake in kidney dialysis provider DaVita.

    In contrast, it slashed portfolio stalwart Johnson & Johnson by 23 percent. Berkshire had been its fifth-largest shareholder, according to Thomson Reuters data. It also sold its entire position in oil major Exxon Mobil.

    DirecTV is due to report its earnings tomorrow. Wall Street expects 92 cents per share for the quarter and $4.38 per share for the year. If the yearly forecast is correct, that means DTV is growing at 29% while going for just over 10 times earnings.

  • Stryker Gives 2012 Guidance
    , January 11th, 2012 at 11:40 am

    It’s a fairly quiet morning on Wall Street. The major indexes are down but only slightly.

    I’m happy to see DirecTV ($DTV) up about 3% thanks to an upgrade from Bernstein. The firm now rates DTV as “outperform” and they raised their target price from $48 to $52. The stock is currently at $44.

    Hudson City ($HCBK) is pulling back some today but that’s after its big day yesterday.

    Stryker ($SYK) won’t report its Q4 earnings until January 24th, but yesterday the company released some early details. The company said that quarterly sales rose by 11% to $2.2 billion.

    Stryker also narrowed its full-year forecast from $3.70 – $3.74 per share to $3.72 – $3.74 per share. Remember that for much of last year, Stryker said that they would earn between $3.65 and $3.73 per share, so they were certainly on track.

    The company isn’t hiding much here since we already know that they earned $2.70 per share for the first three quarters. That means they expect to report between $1.02 and $1.04 for Q4.

    For 2012, the company said that it expects “double digit” earnings growth over 2011. If we assume that means 10% on the nose and we take the midpoint of their range, $3.73 per share, as our guide, that gives us 2012 earnings of $4.10 per share. Wall Street had been expecting $4.11 per share but this can hardly be called lower guidance.

    Also, last month Stryker raised their dividend by 18%.