TiVo Reports Wider Loss Despite 38% Rise in Sales

TiVo Inc., a provider of digital video recorders, posted a wider fiscal first-quarter loss Wednesday, citing legal costs, aggressive pricing and stock option expenses.

In the three months ended April 30, the company said it lost $10.7 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with a loss of $857,000, or 1 cent, a year ago.

Revenue increased 38% to $55.1 million, up from $40 million a year ago.

Analysts were expecting a loss of 19 cents a share on sales of $50.6 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

The Alviso, Calif.-based company said it added 91,000 TiVo-owned subscriptions in the quarter, compared with 104,000 last year. In addition, TiVo said it netted about 2,000 new subscribers through DirecTV customers using TiVo-based products.

In all, the gains brought the company’s total number of subscribers as of the end of the quarter to more than 4.4 million, a 33% increase from a year ago.

In its current quarter, TiVo said, it expected to lose $12 million to $15 million on revenue of $50 million to $53 million. Analysts on average were projecting a loss of 8 cents a share on revenue of $52.2 million.

TiVo shares fell 23 cents, or 3%, to $7.14. They gained a penny in after-hours trading after the income report was released.

Although “our results are tracking nicely against our internal plans, we fully recognize that there’s still a lot of work to do to overcome some of our marketplace challenges,” TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers said in a conference call with analysts.