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Time Warner earnings rise 22 pct, helped by HBO
PETER SVENSSON - The Associated Press






06:59:52PM (ET) Wednesday,February 2,2011.

NEW YORK (AP) — Time Warner Inc., the owner of Warner Bros., HBO, CNN and Time magazine, on Wednesday reported a 22 percent increase in its fourth-quarter profit and raised its forecast for this year, citing optimism about its TV business.

The stock jumped $2.69, or 8.3 percent, to $35 in afternoon trading. Earlier in the day, it hit a two-year high of $35.15.

The New York-based media company said a recovery in advertising and health trends in subscriptions for HBO and other products mean that it expects earnings excluding items, to rise by a percentage in the "low teens" from last year.

Assuming an increase of 12 percent, Time Warner would earn $2.70 per share, above the average estimate of $2.64 that FactSet found in its survey of analysts.

Fourth-quarter net income rose to $769 million, or 68 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, up from $631 million, or 53 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, earnings were 67 cents per share, surpassing the average analyst estimate of 62 cents, as polled by FactSet.

Analyst Michael Nathanson at Nomura Securities said the fourth-quarter earnings surprise was mainly due to lower interest expenses and taxes, rather than stronger-than-expected operational performance.

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* Underscoring 4th quarter profit...Good report provided by Time-Warner. *

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