Rogers Communication Shares Rise on Revenue Beat, New Subscribers

By Adriano Marchese

Rogers Communications shares climbed in early trading Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected revenue and adjusted earnings as the company brings in new subscribers.

At 10:33 a.m. ET, shares were trading 3.8% higher at 57.43 Canadian dollars ($41.63).

The Canadian telecom giant on Thursday reported revenue rose to C$5.09 billion from C$3.74 billion, beating analyst expectations of a rise to C$5.07 billion, according to FactSet.

Adjusted earnings rose to C$1.27 a share, ahead of analyst exceptions of a more modest rise to C$1.11 a share.

Rogers' mobile phone and internet additions were 279,000 in the period, up 52,000 from last year at this time. Of the new additions, 261,000 were new mobile phone connections, while internet net loading was 18,000, up 12,000 year-over-year thanks to growth in both the eastern and western regions of Canada.

Maher Yaghi of Scotiabank said the push for new subscribers was a strong-point in the quarter while integration synergies are coming faster than expected, with Rogers now anticipating a C$600 million run rate by year-end, six months ahead of expectations.

"Helped by synergy cost reductions, we suspect the company chose to be opportunistic and push hard all through the quarter to gain share in a hot wireless market while some of its peers chose to dial back towards the end of the quarter to protect the bottom line," Yaghi said in a report.

He said the wireless results continue to show strong momentum supported by immigration growth and gross loading leadership.

Rogers swung to a loss of C$99 million, or per-share loss of C$0.20, compared with a profit of C$371 million, or C$0.71 a share in the prior-year period.

The company cited higher depreciation and amortization, as well as higher finance and restructuring costs related to its acquisition of Shaw. It also booked a loss of C$422 million on obligation to purchase at fair value the non-controlling interest in one of its joint-venture investments.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2023 10:53 ET (15:53 GMT)

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