Viacom Reports Better-than-expected Q2 Earnings, Revenue

Shares of Viacom Inc. saw a more than 1% pop in premarket trade after the company reported third-quarter earnings and revenue above Wall Street expectations. Net income for the quarter was $432 million, or $1.09 per share, compared with $591 million, or $1.47 per share in the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.05 per share, beating the FactSet EPS consensus of $1.02. Revenue for the quarter hit $3.11 billion, an increase from last year's $3.06 billion. The FactSet consensus was $3.00 billion. The media and entertainment company touted ratings increases across some of its networks, including Nickelodeon. And while revenue at Viacom's media networks declined 3%, that was offset by the company's filmed entertainment segment, which grew 30%. Shares of Viacom are down nearly 21% in the last 12 months, but are up nearly 7% in the year to date, outperforming the S&P 500 Index , which is up nearly 6%.