Satellite TV giant DirecTV (DTV: sentiment, chart, options) made its way into the earnings spotlight this morning. The company reported first-quarter earnings of $371 million, or 32 cents per share, beating analysts' per-share estimates by a penny. Revenue surged 17% to $4.59 billion; the Street was calling for revenue of $4.47 billion. The television titan attributed the positive numbers to more subscribers in the U.S. and Latin America, as well as increased revenue from charging customers more for programming, high-def, and DVR equipment and services.

What's more, the firm stated it would privately offer up to $2.5 billion - through senior notes due 2016 and an incremental term loan in order to fund a recent amendment to its stock repurchasing program.

Technically speaking, the shares are up more than 4% in early-morning trading, hovering just below the $27 marker. Since August 2007, the shares have been riding support from their inclining 20-month moving average, marking a series of higher highs while meeting resistance near the 27-to-28 neighborhood.

Ahead of today's report, it seems the majority of the Street was optimistic on the equity. Near-term options players were bullishly aligned, anyway, as indicated by the stock's SOIR of 0.62, in the 25th annual percentile. Brokers were also fond of the security, as Zacks reports that 11 of the 13 ranking analysts rate it a "buy" or better.