AOL edges Q3 estimates

America Online Inc., the world's largest Internet services provider, said Wednesday its fiscal first quarter earnings doubled from a year earlier as subscriber, advertising, and e-commerce revenues drove growth. AOL (aol) said its fiscal first quarter earnings, excluding items, rose to $340 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with $182 million, or 7 cents a share. Wall Street analysts had expected AOL to earn 13 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Revenue climbed 34 percent to $2.0 billion compared with $1.5 billion a year-earlier. The company added 1.4 million new subscribers in the quarter, for a total of 24.6 million members worldwide. Full story. -- Sergio G. Non, ZDNet Inter@ctive Investor