CBS swings to quarterly profit, reports sales beat; shares rise 2%

Shares of CBS Corp. rose more than 2% late Thursday after the media company reported first-quarter sales and profit above Wall Street expectations. CBS said it earned $511 million, or $1.32 a share, in the quarter, versus a loss of $252 million, or 61 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenues rose 13% to $3.8 Billion, from $3.4 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of $1.18 a share on sales of $3.6 billion. "Looking ahead, we are confident that the demand for our programming will only increase when we unveil our new primetime lineup for the CBS Television Network later this month," Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said in a statement. The company's affiliate and subscription fee revenues were up 16%, led by 25% higher retransmission revenues and fees from CBS Television Network, CBS said. Shares ended the regular trading day down 0.5%.

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