Cablevision Trips Over 4Q Results: Will it Recover?

Cablevision (NYSE:CVC) suffered losses up to 9 percent following the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results. Investors reacted negatively to weak subscription numbers, largely the fault of Hurricane Sandy. Sandy was also the catalyst that forced the company to give subscribers $33.2 million in credits related to outages.

For the quarter, Cablevision lost 50,000 video, 10,000 voice, and 5,000 high-speed internet subscribers, as well as 44 percent of its cash flow for the period as a result of the storm. Video subscriber losses were widely expected, but declines in voice and particularly internet subscriptions were a hard blow.

Expectations for the cable-television company were not necessarily high — analysts were looking for earnings of $0.09 per share, down from $0.22 per share in the year-ago period. Revenue estimates were looking for fractional growth to $1.7 billion. What analysts got was a little different…