The newly named Dish Network
For the quarter, Dish recorded earnings of $175 million, or $0.39 per share (basic EPS), up 14% on the net income line from $153 million and $0.35 a share a year earlier. Revenue was up 12% to $2.89 billion. The dart throwers had anticipated about $0.06 higher on the per-share line.
And the market Tuesday morning was less then enthralled by the company's report that it had added just 85,000 new customers in the December period, down from 110,000 for the third quarter. The slippage was apparently tied to a number of factors, including satellite launch delays, intensified marketing of high-definition (HD) channels by the company's competitors, and a general pullback in consumer spending.
At the beginning of this year, Dish spun off its technology and set-top box businesses to EchoStar
Following the spin-off, Dish is concentrating on a video world that includes its fellow satellite provider DirecTV
My inclination, given the nature of Dish's competition and the ongoing slide in the economy, and despite Dish CEO Charlie Ergen's lofty status as a University of Tennessee graduate, is to advise my Foolish friends to give the stock something of a wide berth for now. The company's day will come, but that day doesn't appear to be upon us.
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