Nielsen reported higher earnings in the third quarter. Net income rose 28% to $134 million, or 35 cents a share, in the quarter, from $105 million, or 29 cents a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were slightly higher than the Wall Street consensus at 50 cents.
Revenues were up 2.7% to $1.39 billion, in line with expectations.
"Nielsen's third quarter represented consistent revenue and profit growth driven by our ongoing commitment to innovation and global expansion," said David Calhoun, CEO of Nielsen.
Calhoun continued, "The quarter also marked the completion of the Arbitron acquisition, which has been rebranded as Nielsen Audio. The integration is progressing smoothly and we are excited about the opportunities that lay ahead as we feel confident the combined company will continue to drive incremental value for customers and shareholders."
Analyst Todd Juenger of Sanford C. Bernstein noted that Nielsen lowered its fiscal years 2013 revenue growth guidance from 4-5% growth to 3.75% to 4%.
"That's two years in a row of revenue miss/guidance decrease. That cannot be a surprise given the mathematics of the revenue progression," Juenger said in a research note. "It is also not surprising the company is able to preserve earnings; they have a lot of levers to do so. The question is how much future growth investment has to be sacrificed to preserve current earnings."
