warner music group corp wmg reported tuesday fiscal firstquarter profit and revenue that beat wall street expectations fueled by strength in digital and an improvement in gross margin the stock was still inactive in premarket trading net income for the quarter to dec 31 nearly doubled to 187 million or 36 cents per class a share from 98 million or 18 cents a share in the yearago period the factset consensus for earnings per share was 29 cents revenue grew 209 to 161 billion above the factset consensus of 149 billion and to outpace the 192 growth in cost of revenue to 818 million digital revenue growth across the companys recorded music and music publishing businesses was 215 in the coming year we look forward to welcoming back huge superstars breaking new artists and songwriters and seeking out more innovative ways to bring more music to more people in more places said chief executive steve cooper the stock has dropped 160 over the past three months while the sp 500 spx has lost 46