Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: TiVo Inc., EchoStar Corp., DIRECTV, Blockbuster and Netflix Inc. - Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 30, 2009 – 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: TiVo Inc. (TIVO), EchoStar Corp. (SATS), DIRECTV (DTV), Blockbuster (BBI) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX).

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Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

TiVo Misses Estimates, Signs Deals

TiVo Inc. (TIVO) reported a net loss of 6 cents a share for the third quarter of fiscal 2010, a penny below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 5 cents, and fell substantially from the prior-year quarter. The company had reported EPS of 98 cents in the third quarter of 2009, boosted by $87.8 million in litigation proceeds related to EchoStar Corp. (SATS).

TiVo reported a net loss of $6.7 million for the reported quarter, better than its previously guided range of a net loss of between $8 million and $10 million. Excluding the EchoStar litigation proceeds, TiVo would have posted a net loss of $0.9 million last year.

Despite an improving spending environment, TiVo provided lower-than-expected guidance. Management expects a higher net loss in the range of $13 million to $15 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 due to higher R&D and litigation expenses.

TiVo is not immune to the current challenging economic environment and is facing erosion of its subscriber base. The economic downturn has made operations more difficult. Gross margin dropped to 46.6% from 53.7%. Results for the quarter were impacted by a one time reduction in service revenues associated with a subscription over-reporting error for the past 18 months by DIRECTV (DTV).

TiVo-owned subscription gross additions for the quarter were 34,000, down 25% from 44,000 gross additions in the year-ago quarter. Subscriber acquisition costs fell 48%. The monthly churn or cancellation rate was 1.7%, up from the prior-year quarter churn of 1.4%. At the end of the quarter, there were about 1.5 million TiVo-owned subscribers and 2.7 million total subscribers.

TiVo reported its ninth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA of $1.4 million and surpassed the management’s guidance of ($2) million to break-even. However, this was down 98.5% from the year-ago quarter due to lower interest income, fall in Service and Hardware revenue and rise in legal expenses. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of ($5) million to ($7) million for the fourth quarter of 2010.


The satellite television provider TiVo is a pioneer in digital video recording (DVR) technology. TiVo has made great strides in differentiating its DVRs from less expensive generics, which helped the company bolster its sagging market share and increase revenue. TiVo recently signed a number of content deals with Blockbuster (BBI) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX), among others.

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