The Comcast NBC logo is shown on a building in Los Angeles, California, June 13, 2018.
Mike Blake | Reuters
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.
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 fell nearly 3% to $29.69 billion compared to 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.
Comcast’s stock was down slightly at $39.28 in premarket trading.
Revenue for the Universal Pictures studio, in particular, fell 27% to $2.25 billion, facing a tough comparison to 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.
Meanwhile, theme park revenue dropped nearly 11% to $1.98 billion as attendance normalized compared to record-setting 2023.
Last quarter the theme park segment began its cool down from the hot post-Covid lockdown attendance surge in 2023.
However, NBCUniversal’s TV business offset the segment, posting $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.
Comcast, similar to its cable peers, continued to feel pressure in the broadband segment. The company said it lost 110,000 residential broadband customers during the quarter.
Revenue for the segment that includes the 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.
However, revenue for domestic broadband grew 3% to $6.57 billion due to price increases.
The company’s mobile business continued to bloom, as its number of customer lines increased 20% compared to last year to 7.2 million.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
