WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - News Corp. (NWS, NWSA) Thursday reported a profit for the third quarter that trumped Wall Street analysts' estimates, driven by revenue growth.
Third-quarter net income was $79 million or $0.13 per share, compared to net loss of $730 million or $1.24 per share last year. Last year's results were impacted by a hefty $1.1 billion of non-cash impairment charges.
Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $0.09 per share compared to $0.03 per share last year. On average, 6 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.05 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Third-quarter revenues increased 3% to $2.34 billion from $2.27 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.20 billion for the quarter.
The revenue growth was driven largely by the $176 million, or 8%, positive impact from foreign currency fluctuations and continued growth in the Digital Real Estate Services, Book Publishing and Dow Jones segments.
Digital Real Estate Services segment revenues jumped 34% to $351 million, while Subscription Video Services gained 13% to $523 million. Dow Jones rose 6% to $421 million, while Book Publishing gained 19% to $490 million.
News Media segment revenues slipped 25% to $550 million, reflecting the divestiture of News America Marketing, weakness in the print advertising market and negative impact from the closure or transition to digital of certain regional and community newspapers in Australia.
NWS closed Thursday's trading at $23.94, down $0.12 or 0.50%, on the Nasdaq.
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