Comcast on Thursday reported fiscal results in the fourth quarter that beat analysts’ calculations on both the top and bottom lines.
Comcast also reported record net customer additions for high-speed Internet service in the fourth quarter, and another 11 million subscribers to its new streaming service, Peacock.
The stock has risen more than 3% in longer trading.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings per share: 56 sent adj. versus 48 cents expected, according to a survey by Refinitiv among analysts.
- Income: $ 27.71 billion versus $ 26.78 billion, according to Refinitiv.
- High speed internet customers: According to FactSet, 538 000 against 490 000 net additions are expected
The company said Peacock, led by NBCUniversal, now has 33 million sign-ups across the U.S., up from 22 million in the previous quarter. The company said its exclusive agreement to stream wrestling matches from the WWE network in the US, announced earlier this week, should also provide notifications and involvement, along with the recent launch of ‘The Office’ on the platform.
Comcast is also raising its quarterly dividend to 25 cents a share of 23 cents. Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, said in the earnings report that the company also expects to start repurchasing shares later in 2021.
The company recorded its best result in the fourth quarter for the total customer ratio, adding 455,000 customers to reach 33.1 million. It added 538,000 high-speed Internet customers.
Comcast said its Sky division in Europe continued to add customers, with 244,000 to 23.9 million in Q4. This has brought its customer relationships and overall Sky revenue in Europe back to pre-Covid 2019 levels.
Comcast’s theme park division, which suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, still felt the effects of continued closures and capacity reduction. The theme park’s revenue dropped nearly 63% to $ 579 million. The company said the adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are a loss of $ 15 million, which includes the cost for the not yet public Universal Beijing.
“Without the cost and better attendance of the Orlando and Osaka parks, even with the closure of Hollywood, the theme parks have reached a break-even point,” the company said in its report.
The film’s entertainment department was also plagued by the pandemic, which curtailed movie theater operations and halted production of some films. The segment’s revenue decreased by 8.3% to $ 1.4 billion. The company said it is partially offset by higher license revenue for content. Its adjusted EBITA rose more than 65% to $ 151 million, “reflecting lower revenue more than offset by lower operating costs – driven by lower advertising, marketing and promotional costs due to lower spending to the previous year.”
The company said vaccine deployments are optimistic that the affected business segments will grow again.
Here’s how Comcast’s divisions performed for the quarter:
- Cable communications accounted for $ 15.7 billion in revenue, up 6.3%.
- Cable networks generated $ 2.7 billion in revenue, down 6.4%.
- Broadcast television generated $ 2.8 billion in revenue, down 12%.
- Filmed entertainment grossed $ 1.4 billion in total revenue, down 8.3%.
- Theme parks raised $ 579 million in revenue, which was 63% lower.
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Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
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