EchoStar Profit Soars on Tax Gain, Higher Prices
From Bloomberg News
EchoStar Communications Corp. posted a tenfold surge in profit after raising prices and recording a tax gain.
Second-quarter net income rose to $855.5 million, or $1.79 a share, from $85.3 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier, Englewood, Colo.-based EchoStar said. Earnings included a $593-million tax benefit. Sales rose 18% to $2.1 billion.
EchoStar added 225,000 subscribers in the second quarter, a 33% decline from a year earlier, ending the quarter with 11.5 million subscribers.
Excluding a tax benefit of $1.22 a share, profit was 57 cents, exceeding the 44-cent average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
