Comcast reported mixed results before the bell Tuesday, missing on revenue estimates due to tough year-over-year comparisons for its film studio and theme parks.
The company’s streaming service, Peacock, however, continued to make gains. Comcast’s stock was down roughly 4% in early trading.
Here is how Comcast performed, compared with estimates from analysts surveyed by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $1.21 adjusted vs. $1.12 expected
- Revenue: $29.69 billion vs. $30.02 billion expected
For the quarter ended June 30, net income was down 7.5% to roughly $3.93 billion, or $1 per share, compared with $4.25 billion, or $1.02 per share, in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, fell about 1% to $10.17 billion.
The company’s revenue dropped nearly 3% to $29.69 billion compared with the same period last year. Revenue from the content and experiences segment, which includes the NBCUniversal TV business, theme parks and Universal Pictures, was down 7.5% to $10.06 billion.
Revenue for the Universal Pictures studio, in particular, fell 27% to $2.25 billion, facing a tough comparison with last year, when “Super Mario Bros.” and “Fast X” were released, one of Comcast’s best theatrical quarters ever. Comcast is looking ahead to the rest of the year’s film slate, including this summer’s box-office success “Despicable Me 4,” and “Twisters,” and the upcoming “Wicked” release in November.
Broadband playbook
The cable industry as a whole has experienced a slump in broadband customer growth in recent quarters as fewer Americans buy and move houses and competition for home internet from wireless providers ramps up.
While Comcast lost customers in some of its key units, the losses weren’t as deep as feared, according to Wall Street estimates.
The company said it lost 120,000 broadband customers — 110,000 of those residential — during the quarter, compared with a loss of roughly 142,000 expected by StreetAccount.
Despite the recent competition and headwinds in the broadband industry, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said on Tuesday’s earnings call that it “remains the core of our playbook.” He noted the overall customer base of more than 32 million.
Revenue for the segment that includes Xfinity-branded broadband, cable TV and mobile fell 1.5% to $17.82 billion due to further decreases in the cable TV business. Comcast shed 419,000 cable TV customers during the quarter, still below the 502,000 that analysts expected according to StreetAccount.
Revenue growth for domestic broadband, which was up 3% to $6.57 billion due to price increases, will remain a focus, Cavanagh said.
The company’s mobile business continued to bloom, as its number of customer lines increased 20% compared with last year to 7.2 million. Bundling home internet and mobile has remained key, with 90% of Xfinity smart phone traffic traveling over its WiFi network, Cavanagh said Tuesday.
The recent ending of the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which provided subsidies to low income consumers, will likely have a bigger effect on third quarter earnings. However, Comcast executives said Tuesday the company has been proactive and focused on migrating customers from ACP to other broadband plans.
Theme park slowdown
Theme park revenue dropped nearly 11% to $1.98 billion as attendance normalized compared with a record-setting 2023.
Last quarter the theme park segment began its cool down from the hot post-Covid lockdown attendance surge in 2023. More recently, competition from cruises and international tourism, particularly due to the strength of the U.S. dollar, has put pressure on the U.S. theme parks.
Comcast acknowledged making fewer investments in new Florida attractions ahead of the opening of the new park, Epic Universe, in 2025, adding that’s played a role in declining attendance.
Comcast executives said Tuesday they remained “bullish” on the future of the theme parks business: “While the parks results are below our original expectations for the year, we still view parks as a terrific long-term growth business for us,” Cavanagh said.
Peacock pick-up
NBCUniversal’s TV business posted $6.32 billion in revenue, up 2% from last year.
NBCUniversal’s answer to streaming, Peacock, remained a bright spot for the company. The streamer posted its best year-over-year improvement, with paid subscribers increasing 38% to 33 million. Revenue for the streamer increased 28% to $1 billion.
Peacock also boosted the media segment’s adjusted EBITDA, which was up 9% to $1.36 billion.
Losses related to Peacock were $348 million, a significant improvement from losses of $651 million in the same period last year.
The streaming service has particularly benefitted from NBC’s live sports, with Sunday Night Football, Premier League and Nascar among the tentpole programming on Peacock. The service also got a boost during the first quarter due to the exclusive National Football League Wild Card game it aired.
Executives expect NBCUniversal’s play for the National Basketball Association’s media rights to further propel the streaming service, as well as its broadcast and cable networks.
Cavanagh said Tuesday the company doesn’t expect its 11-year rights deal with the NBA to be affected by Warner Bros. Discovery’s intention to matching the rights for one of the NBA packages.
NBC will have 100 regular season games across the cable network and Peacock beginning in the 2025-2026 season, as well as post-season games, the All Star game and WNBA games, too. Peacock will have the exclusive rights to approximately 50 regular season and postseason games.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
