As Cablevision Systems (NYSE:CVC) discovered Thursday, if the market is determined to plunge, no amount of reasonably solid quarterly results will dissuade it. Cablevision's shares fell on a day in which the market tanked yet again.
For the quarter, Cablevision, which is a true multimedia company -- with more than 3 million cable subscribers in the New York metropolitan area, the Rainbow Media channels, its Madison Square Garden holdings, professional sports teams, and now daily newspaper Newsday -- managed to accomplish a moderately impressive turnaround. It earned $27.1 million, or $0.09 per share, compared to a year-ago loss of $79.3 million, or $0.27 per share.
However, the dart-throwers who follow the company on Wall Street weren't completely impressed. They'd been looking for the latest per-share line to come in at about $0.14, so the switch from red to black ink failed to thoroughly wow them.
Cablevision also was likely tarred with the things-are-about-to-worsen brush waved earlier by both of its larger cable brethren, Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC), as well as so many companies in other industries. And then there was the company's decision to shelve any possible asset sales, which may not have thrilled those concerned about its ability to repay the $1.7 billion in debt coming due next year.
It bears mentioning that Newsday, which Cablevision bought in May, managed to post $4.2 million in operating income on revenue of $73.5 million in the quarter. For perspective, neighboring New York Times (NYSE:NYT) slid to a loss, while Gannett (NYSE:GCI), the country's biggest newspaper publisher, saw its earnings trimmed by nearly a third in the quarter.
As to Cablevision as an investment, I'm inclined to give it a pass for now. The controlling Dolan family has created a media hodgepodge, at a time when media companies of any stripe aren't faring especially well. And while I continue to think that the company could be a takeover candidate at some point, takeover candidates aren't shining much more brightly than media companies these days.
Cablevision has just one star hanging from its neck in the Motley Fool CAPS beauty contest. Does that include your vote?
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