DIRECTV (DTV) today declared excellent financial results for its first quarter 2010. Supported by double-digit revenue and significant margin expansion, both top-line and bottom-line outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimates. Importantly, quarterly free cash flow more than doubled year-over-year to an all-time high level.

First quarter 2010 revenue of $5,608 million was an improvement of 14% year-over-year and well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,413 million. This was primarily due to massive subscriber growth in both the U.S. and Latin America regions.

Quarterly GAAP net income was $558 million or 59 cents per share compared to $201 million or 20 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. First quarter EPS of 59 cents was significantly above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 45 cents. This was mainly due to solid ARPU growth which resulted in a more than doubling of operating profit.

Quarterly operating profit before depreciation & amortization (OPBDA) was $1,575 million, up 44.5% year-over-year. First quarter operating profit was $956 million, up 125.5% year-over-year. The company paid a total $466 million for repurchasing shares.

During the first quarter of 2010, DIRECTV generated $1,504 million of cash from operations compared to $996 million in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly free cash flow (cash flow from operations less capital expenditures) was $1,031 million, compared to $457 million in the year-ago quarter.

At the end of the first quarter 2010, DIRECTV had $3,488 million of cash & cash equivalents and $4,760 million of outstanding debt on its balance sheet compared to $8,798 million of cash & cash equivalents and $8,010 million of outstanding debt at the end of fiscal 2009.

DIRECTV U.S.

Quarterly total revenue was $4,772 million, up 10.9% year-over-year. Quarterly ARPU increased 6.4% to $85.47. Quarterly operating profit before depreciation & amortization increased 32.5% to $1.31 billion and operating profit increased 103.5% to $808 million.

Average monthly subscriber churn rate in the reported quarter was 1.48% compared to 1.33% in the prior-year quarter. Quarterly net subscriber additions reached 100,000 compared to 460,000 in the year-ago quarter. As of March 31, 2010, DIRECTV U.S. had 18.66 million subscribers, up 3.2% year-over-year.

DIRECTV Latin America

Quarterly total revenue was $779 million, up 30.3% year-over-year. Quarterly ARPU increased 9.5% to $55.24. Quarterly operating profit before depreciation & amortization increased 105% to $244 million and operating profit increased 207.3% to $126 million.

Average monthly subscriber churn rate in the reported quarter was 1.93% compared to 1.86% in the prior-year quarter. Quarterly net subscriber additions were 221,000 compared to 148,000 in the year-ago quarter. As of March 31, 2010, DIRECTV Latin America had approximately 4.81 million subscribers, up 19.4% year-over-year.
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