Dish Network Misses Estimates on Rising Subscriber Costs

Disappointing average revenue per user resulted in an earnings miss for Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH).

The second-largest U.S. satellite-television provider said this morning that its quarterly earnings came to $0.50 per share and revenue totaled $3.57 billion. Both the top and bottom line figures fell short of the consensus estimates of analysts. Sales declined 0.5% from a year ago, while net income fell to $225.7 million from $334.8 million.

The company said previously in a regulatory filing that it lost 10,000 net subscribers in the three months ended June 30, but that was a vast improvement from a year earlier when the company lost 135,000 subscribers.

“In the face of a difficult economy and stiff competition, a disciplined approach to subscriber acquisition and retention is paying off,” said CEO and president Joseph Clayton. “Our focus has overcome the seasonality of the second quarter with year-over-year growth in gross activations and a reduction in churn.”

Competitor DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) reported results earlier this week that fell short of EPS estimates while revenue was in line with expectations.

Dish Network shares closed Tuesday at $30.67, in a 52-week trading range of $20.89 to $35.64. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $34.10 before this news.