Viacom Earnings Beat, But Revenue Misses

Viacom Inc. shares indicated down about 1% in Wednesday premarket trading after the media company reported a fourth-quarter revenue miss. Net income was $254 million, or 64 cents per share, down from $884 million, or $2.21 per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted earnings per share were 69 cents, beating the 66-cent FactSet consensus. Revenue was $3.23 billion for the quarter, down from $3.79 billion last year and below the $3.30 billion FactSet consensus. The company reported an 11% revenue decline in the media networks division to $2.48 billion, due to a drop in advertising. And the filmed entertainment division revenue declined 24% to $774 million, owing to lower theatrical revenue due to the strong international performance of "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" a year ago, the company said. Viacom shares are down 9.3% for the year so far while the S&P 500 Index is up 4.7% for the same period.