Cable Stocks Ride Market Surge

Time Warner Leads Pack With 7.6% Gain

By Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 8/8/2008 2:55:00 PM

The Dow surged more than 300 points on Friday and took cable stocks along for the ride, with Time Warner Inc. leading the way with a 7.6% gain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 302.89 points to close at 11,734.32, as oil prices plunged below $116 per barrel and the U.S. dollar reached levels not seen in months. The rally came after a particularly tough day in the stock market on Thursday, when the Dow dipped 225 points.

The NASDAQ Composite Index also rose sharply on Friday, ending the day up 2.5% to 2,414.10 points.

Leading the charge for cable stocks was Time Warner Inc., which after coming off strong second-quarter results Aug. 6 rose as high as $15.64 each on Friday (up $1.14 each or 7.9%) before closing at $15.60 per share, up 7.6% or $1.10 per share.

Cablevision Systems, still riding the wave of optimism after reports that CEO James Dolan would meet with key shareholders next week to discuss ways to boost shareholder value, was the second biggest gainer, rising $1.20 per share (4.35%) to $28.80 each. 

Time Warner Cable, which also reported strong second-quarter results Aug. 6, rose 55 cents per share (2%) to $28.34; followed by Mediacom Communications (up 75 cents or 12% to $7.10), Comcast (up 71 cents, or 3.4% to $21.72) and Charter Communications (up 4 cents each or 3.8% to $1.10).

Satellite stocks also showed gains, with Dish Network up 37 cents each (1.2%) to $30.91 and DirecTV Group up 63 cents each (2.3%) to $28.28 per share.

Cable programmers also gained ground on Friday, with Disney shares rising $1.11 each (3.6%) to $32.03; Liberty Global rising $1.05 per share (3.4%) to $31.75; Viacom stock rising $1.07 each (3.75%) to $29.64 each and News Corp. gaining 31 cents per share (2.2%) to $14.38 each.