The Comcast NBC logo is seen on a constructing in Los Angeles, California on June 13, 2018.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Comcast reported mixed results before the market close on Tuesday, missing revenue estimates attributable to difficult year-over-year comparisons at its movie studios and theme parks.
Here’s how Comcast performed in comparison with the estimates of analysts surveyed by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 1.21 USD adjusted versus 1.12 USD expected
- Revenue: $29.69 billion in comparison with expected $30.02 billion
For the quarter ended June 30, net income fell 7.5% to about $3.93 billion, or $1 per share, compared with $4.25 billion, or $1.02 per share, in the identical quarter last 12 months. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell about 1% to $10.17 billion.
The company’s revenue fell nearly 3% to $29.69 billion in comparison with the identical period last 12 months. Revenue from the content and experiences segment, which incorporates NBCUniversal’s TV business, theme parks and Universal Pictures, fell 7.5% to $10.06 billion.
Comcast shares fell barely to $39.28 in premarket trading.
In particular, Universal Pictures’ revenue fell 27% to $2.25 billion, making it difficult to match with last 12 months’s Super Mario Bros. and Fast X, certainly one of Comcast’s best box office quarters ever. Comcast is waiting for the remaining of the 12 months’s film slate, including this summer’s blockbusters Despicable Me 4 and Twisters, in addition to the upcoming November release of Wicked.
At the identical time, theme park revenue fell nearly 11% to $1.98 billion as visitor numbers normalized in comparison with the record 12 months of 2023.
In the last quarter, the theme park segment began to chill down after the strong rush of tourists following the Covid lockdown in 2023.
However, NBCUniversal’s TV business offset this division, generating revenue of $6.32 billion, up 2% 12 months over 12 months.
NBCUniversal’s answer to streaming, Peacock, remained a shiny spot for the corporate. The streamer posted its best annual improvement, with the variety of paying subscribers increasing 38% to 33 million. The streamer’s revenue increased 28% to $1 billion.
Peacock also increased its media segment’s adjusted EBITDA, which rose 9% to $1.36 billion.
Losses related to Peacock were $348 million, a big improvement over losses of $651 million in the identical period last 12 months.
Comcast, like its cable rivals, continued to feel pressure within the broadband segment. The company said it lost 110,000 residential broadband customers within the quarter.
Revenue for the segment, which incorporates broadband, cable TV and Xfinity-branded wireless, fell 1.5% to $17.82 billion, reflecting further declines within the cable TV business. Comcast lost 419,000 cable TV customers in the course of the quarter.
However, attributable to price increases, domestic broadband revenue increased 3% to $6.57 billion.
The company’s mobile business continued to flourish, with the variety of customer connections increasing by 20% year-on-year to 7.2 million.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
