Increased Profits and Lower Revenues by CBS Corp

A 30 percent increase in profits amid lower advertising sales for the fourth quarter of 2011 was revealed by CBS Corporation (CBS). Total profits for the fourth quarter were pegged at $370 million, translating to 55 cents per share, representing a meaningful increase from the $28 million, or 41 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. The drawback is the $3.9 billion revenue which was a little lower than expectation of analysts, partially due to unfavorable comparisons made in the same quarter a year ago.

According to Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp CEO, in a conference call for investors, the overall performance of the company for 2011 was terrific and much better than expected, as he also painted a good forecast for the coming year, expressing delight on election spending as key to a robust performance. He said that this would be very good for the company even if it would not augur well for politicians.

CBS is inclined to rely more on revenues coming from advertising compared to other media companies as it lacks several cable channels. CBS owns Showtime, which has relished a recent boost in subscriptions and felicitations for its premier of “Homeland”, an anti-terrorism drama showing last fall.

CBS has peaked at $29.54 in July 2011 and is seeking to breach that level. Although it has reached $29.90 last week, to really surpass the resistance, CBS stock has to remain above the $29.50 for at least few weeks. Then we could talk about targeting the all-time high of $34.73, recorded in 2007.