First-quarter earnings higher for Windstream

Consumer broadband, business services and net one-time charges pushed Windstream Corp.’s first quarter performance higher.

The Little Rock-based telecom and data provider saw its net income more than double to $64.6 million on revenues of $1.54 billion. One year ago, Windstream posted earnings of $29.4 million on revenues of $1.02 billion.

A one-time gain of $57 million was recorded for two sales of wireless spectrum during the quarter. The company was hit with about $13 million in one-time charges from the closure of its merger with New York-based PAETEC.

“Our business and consumer channels delivered a strong performance during the first quarter,” said CEO Jeff Gardner, who has raised his visibility in a national effort to halt tax increases on dividends and capital gains. “The business channel has gained significant traction with the acquisition of PAETEC, and our combined team is having tremendous success driving new sales opportunities. Our consumer business also had a very solid quarter driven by growth in broadband service revenues and continued success with our bundling strategy.”

Highlights from the quarter included:
• Business service revenues were $897 million for the first quarter, up 3.2% from the same period a year ago on a pro forma basis.

• Consumer broadband service revenues were $113 million, up 5.9% from the same period in 2011 on a pro forma basis.

• Overall consumer service revenues were $338 million, down 2.6% from the same period a year ago on a pro forma basis.

• Business and consumer broadband revenues represented approximately 68% of Windstream’s total revenues and sales in the quarter.

“I am extremely confident in the business that we have built. Through targeted acquisitions and our strategic growth initiatives, we have assembled an attractive set of assets capable of generating consistent cash flows to support our dividend over a long period of time and to provide other opportunities in the future to increase shareholder value,” Gardner said.

Gardner was on financial news channel CNBC on Wednesday advocating for no changes to current tax rates on dividends and capital gains. You can read more of his comments and watch a video of his interview here.

Windstream (NASDAQ: WIN) shares closed trading on Wednesday at $11.26. The company’s stock has traded between $10.76 and $13.57 during the last 12 months.