SBC Communications Inc. said Thursday that third-quarter earnings nearly doubled year-over-year due to a hefty gain on the sale of its stake in directory operations in Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Net income totaled $2.09 billion, or 63 cents per share, from $1.22 billion, or 37 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding a gain of $827 million, or 25 cents per share, SBC reported earnings of $1.25 billion, or 38 cents per share, in the latest quarter.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were looking for the company to post earnings of 38 cents per share on sales of $12.81 billion in the latest period.
The company said it is solidly on track to reach a target of more than 5 million DSL lines in service by year's end.
SBC's revenues totaled $10.29 billion in the third quarter, up 1.4 percent year-over-year, driven by solid data growth and progress in consumer bundling. Third-quarter results include an increase to revenue of about $60 million from regulatory and other matters, including the California Public Utilities Commission's September decision on UNE-P rates.
Including results from Cingular Wireless, revenue would have totaled $12.8 billion for the latest quarter, up 2.1 percent from a year ago. SBC's third-quarter wireline revenues totaled $9.3 billion, up 1.7 percent, with wireline consumer revenues up 2.8 percent versus the year-ago third quarter.