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Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the larger U.S. cable service provider, posted a higher quarterly profit as it gained market share in phone and Internet services and controlled expenses, sending shares up 6 percent.

Comcast reported a tripling of its free cash flow - a measurement of net cash the company prefers, largely due to a drop in capital expenditure as a slowdown in U.S. homebuilding meant that it spent less expanding its cable systems to new communities.

While that spending slowdown contributed to weaker video subscriber growth, analysts said Comcast was winning market share from phone competitors including AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

“Free cash flow was better than we expected and that was partly due to the fewer customer adds, so they didn’t incur costs of adding new subscribers,” said Tom Eagan, analyst at Collins Stewart.

Shares in Comcast rose $1.08 cents to $20.26 payday advance. Shares of Time Warner Cable (TWC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) also rose 4 percent, while Cablevision (CVC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares rose 4.8 percent

Comcast, which has 24.6 million subscribers, said it added 278,000 high speed Internet subscribers and 500,000 phone subscribers in the second quarter. Seven analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast Comcast to add 327,000 new Internet subscribers and 579,000 new phone subs.

Comcast Chief Operating Officer Steve Burke told analysts on a conference call that Comcast’s faster Internet access speeds are helping to win over phone company DSL customers as they want to watch more online video.

Burke said the company is also on target to add more than 2 million phone subscribers by the end of the year. It currently has 5.6 million, making it the fourth largest U.S. phone provider. 

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