Univision Earnings Up 21% in Quarter

Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications Inc. said Thursday that profit climbed 21% in the first quarter as advertisers spent more of their dollars courting the growing Latino audience.

Univision, controlled by Los Angeles billionaire A. Jerrold Perenchio, reported net income of $53.9 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with $44.5 million a year earlier.

That beat the 15-cent-a-share estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial. The company’s revenue ticked up 4% to $449.8 million.

Despite the solid performance, Wall Street let out a yawn. Shares rose 8 cents to $35.77. Univision released its earnings after the markets closed, but shares barely budged after hours.

It was the first full quarter that Nielsen Media Research included Univision in its national ratings surveys, which indicate that the company’s flagship network is the nation’s fifth largest.

Univision President Ray Rodriguez said the network often beat one or more of its major rivals in prime time among viewers ages 18 to 34.

“Our momentum is strong and growing,” Rodriguez said.

During the February sweeps, for example, Univision’s KMEX-TV Channel 34 won the prime-time ratings crown in Los Angeles among 18- to 34-year-old viewers. KMEX drew more young viewers than stations owned by Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS.

The company’s two broadcast networks, Univision and TeleFutura, and cable channel Galavision hauled in $323.2 million in revenue, up from $294.2 million a year earlier.

Univision Radio, which has more than 70 stations, raked in $72.5 million, up only slightly from last year’s $71.5 million. The music division saw sales slide 24% to $47.2 million, compared with $62.2 million a year earlier.

“If there was any flaw, it was that their radio numbers were a little softer than we had anticipated -- but all of the company’s fundamentals remain very strong,” said David W. Miller, media analyst with investment banking firm Sanders Morris Harris.

Univision’s board voted to put the company up for sale in February, prompting speculators to boost the price of its shares. Some analysts initially thought the Los Angeles-based firm would fetch as much as $14 billion, or about $40 a share.

But major media companies, including News Corp. and CBS Corp., have publicly shied away from bidding, saying the price tag was too steep. So far, only one company has publicly expressed interest: Mexico’s dominant media conglomerate, Grupo Televisa, which supplies Univision’s popular telenovelas.