Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC)

The financial data over the five-year period reveals several notable trends and shifts in the company's cost structure, profitability, and other income components.

Revenue Composition and Gross Profit

Revenue consistently represents 100% each year, serving as the base for all relative measures. The proportion of programming and content costs as a percentage of revenue decreased sharply from -46.44% in 2011 to approximately -22% in the subsequent years, before gradually increasing to -24.54% in 2015. Correspondingly, gross profit margin rose markedly from 53.56% in 2011 to above 75% in the following years, demonstrating improved efficiency or cost management relative to revenue.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses such as sales and marketing, technical operations, and customer care exhibited slight upward trends as a percentage of revenue. Sales and marketing expenses grew from around -8.49% in 2012 to -10.04% in 2015. Technical operations costs remained fairly stable with a slight increase from -6.71% to -7.04% over the same period, and customer care expenses also grew marginally from -3.46% to -3.8%. Other operating expenses decreased as a proportion of revenue after peaking at -22.76% in 2012, improving to around -20.24% by 2015.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation stayed relatively stable, fluctuating around the 14-15% range of revenue throughout the five years. Amortization costs slightly increased from near zero in 2011 to just over -0.5% in later years, indicating a gradual rise in intangible asset amortization expenses.

Non-Recurring and Restructuring Costs

Merger-related and restructuring costs saw an increase over time, rising from -0.36% of revenue in 2011 to nearly -1% in 2014, with a slight decline in 2015. Asset impairments were noted only in 2011 and not recorded subsequently, suggesting a one-time charge.

Operating Income

Operating income remained relatively stable at around 20% of revenue from 2011 to 2014 but declined to 17.89% in 2015, indicating some pressure on core profitability in the final year.

Interest Expenses and Income

Interest expense as a percentage of revenue exhibited a consistent downward trend from -7.75% in 2011 to -5.92% in 2015, reflecting potentially lower debt levels or favorable interest rates. Interest income was negligible and inconsistent, having minimal impact on net interest expense.

Investment Results and Other Income

Income from equity-method investments fluctuated, with a notable positive spike to 2.12% in 2012 followed by much smaller gains in later years. Significant one-time gains appear in 2012 from the sale of Clearwire investments and in 2015 from a Verizon Wireless settlement. These items led to an overall increase in other income/net from negative or minimal in earlier years to 0.63% in 2015.

Income Before Taxes and Net Income

Income before income taxes increased from 12.51% in 2011 to 15.6% in 2012, then gradually declined to 12.61% by 2015. The income tax provision remained relatively steady between -4% and -5.5%. Net income margins peaked at 10.1% in 2012 before declining to 7.78% in 2015, mirroring the trend in pretax income and pointing to slightly decreasing profitability toward the end of the period.