Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: The DIRECTV Group, Inc., AT&T, Comcast Corporation, Dish Network Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc.

CHICAGO - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTV), AT&T (NYSE: T), Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Dish Network Corp. (Nasdaq: DISH) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC).

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Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

DIRECTV Falls Short of Estimates

The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTV) reported revenues of $5.47 billion in the third quarter of 2009.

On a geographical basis, revenues from United States grew 9% to $4.7 billion due to solid subscriber and average revenue per unit (ARPU) growth. The company added 136,000 net subscribers to its customer base in the United States primarily due to the addition of AT&T (NYSE: T) as a marketing partner and record demand for company's premium services. ARPU of $85.32 increased 2.1% as programming package price increases, as well as higher service fees for certain services, were partially offset by more competitive promotions for both new and existing customers.

The company's business in Latin America also demonstrated solid performance, posting a 16% increase in revenues and expanding its customer base to 162,000. This was driven by continued subscriber growth throughout the region, which more than offset the unfavorable impact related to weaker currencies in countries such as Brazil and Argentina.

Operating margin came in at 12.5% compared to 13.2% in the year-ago quarter. Net income came in at $366 million, essentially flat with the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at 37 cents, falling short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 39 cents, but up from 33 cents reported in the year-ago quarter due to a 12% reduction in average shares outstanding. These were the result of share repurchases made over the last year.

During the quarter, the company repurchased shares worth $943 million. The company also issued $2 billion of additional debt after retiring $583 million of existing debt and paying down $30 million under DIRECTV's senior secured credit facility. The remaining outstanding $327 million of senior notes was repurchased in October 2009.

The company generated cash $1.1 billion of cash from operations. Free cash flow came in at $643 million. As of September 30, 2009, the company has cash and equivalents of $3.3 billion and long-term debt of $7.1 billion.

The DIRECTV Group is the world's leading provider of digital television entertainment services. The company provides digital television service to more than 18.4 million customers in the United States and over 6.1 million customers in Latin America. DirecTV has subsidiaries in Brazil, Mexico and other countries in Latin America. Primary competitors for the company include Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Dish Network Corp. (Nasdaq: DISH) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC).

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