Q1 sales, profits up for ADT

Sales of Pulse are up more than 6 percent and recurring revenue up more than 5 percent, The ADT Corp reported today as it released its results from its first quarter ending Dec. 28. The home security/home automation giant also said it added 257,000 new customers and has 6.4 million customer accounts.

When ADT on Sept. 28 became an independent, publicly traded company after spinning off from Tyco International, CEO Naren Gursahaney told me that it was not "a moonshot” for ADT's residential penetration rate to rise from around the industry standard of about 20 percent to 40 percent.

Of course, it's too soon to tell if ADT will succeed in that goal, but the company is performing well according to the report it released on Jan. 30. Here's a synopsis from a Reuters story on the earnings results:

Home security services company ADT Corp reported a higher quarterly profit on Wednesday and announced a $600 million accelerated share repurchase.

The company, formerly a part of Tyco, said net earnings had risen 12.9 percent to $105 million, or 44 cents per share, from $93 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 43 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 1.8 percent to $809 million, with recurring revenue from existing customers accounting for 92 percent of the total and increasing 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

The Boca Raton, Florida-based company, which provides security monitoring services to homes and small businesses in North America, said it still expected a rise of 4.9 percent to 5.2 percent in recurring revenue in fiscal 2013.

Here's also some of what ADT had to say in its report:

Naren Gursahaney, ADT's Chief Executive Officer, said … “Looking ahead to the balance of the year we will continue to focus on our ultimate objective of creating long-term value for our shareholders by reinvesting in our business to drive profitable growth, and returning excess cash to our shareholders.”

Recurring revenue, which made up 92% of total revenue in the quarter, was up 5.1%. Recurring revenue growth was driven by a 4.7% increase in ending average revenue per customer, which rose to $39.27, and 0.5% net growth in ending customer accounts. Non-recurring revenue declined 25.3% as the company's mix of newly installed systems continues to shift toward more ADT-owned systems, increasing deferred revenue and reducing current period installation revenue. Total revenue of $809 million increased 1.8%, compared to the first quarter of 2012. Attrition was flat sequentially at 13.8%. ADT added 257,000 new customers and closed the quarter with 6.4 million customer accounts.

EBITDA before special items was $417 million, 6.1% higher than the first quarter of the prior year, and EBITDA margin before special items was 51.5%, a 210 basis point improvement. The margin expansion was mainly due to the favorable impact from the mix shift to more ADT-owned systems and was also aided by cost control initiatives that helped to offset the expense impact of dis-synergies caused by the separation from the Tyco commercial business and Hurricane Sandy.