Comcast on Thursday reported fourth-quarter fiscal results that exceeded analysts’ estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Comcast also reported record net customer increases for high-speed Internet service in the fourth quarter, and an additional 11 million subscribers to its new broadcast service, Peacock.
Shares rose more than 3% in expanded trading.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings to share: 56 cents adj. vs. 48 cents expected, according to a Refinitiv survey of analysts.
- Income: According to Refinitiv, $ 27.71 million was expected compared to the projected $ 26.78 million.
- High speed internet clients: 538,000 were expected against 490,000 net additions, according to FactSet
The company said Peacock, under the helm of NBCUniversal, now has 33 million registrations across the United States, up from 22 million last quarter. The company said its exclusive agreement to play WWE wrestling matches in the United States, announced earlier this week, should also generate sign-ups and engagement, along with the recent release of “The Office” on the platform.
Comcast also raised its quarterly dividend to 25 cents per share from 23 cents. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in the earnings report that the company also expects to start buying shares later in 2021.
The company recorded its best quarter-quarter result in total customer relationships, adding 455,000 customers to 33.1 million. It added 538,000 high-speed Internet customers.
Comcast said its Europe-based Sky division has continued to add customers, up 244,000 to 23.9 million in the fourth quarter. This caused Sky’s customer relationships and global revenue in Europe to return to levels prior to Covid 2019, the company said.
Comcast’s theme park division, which has suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, continued to feel impacts from continued closures and reduced capacity. Theme park revenue fell nearly 63 percent to $ 579 million. The company said the pre-adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were a loss of $ 15 million, which included the costs of its still-open Universal Beijing.
“Without these costs and better attendance at Orlando and Osaka parks, even with Hollywood closed, theme parks reached a break-even point,” the company said in its report.
The company’s filmed entertainment division has also been battered by the pandemic, which restricted film operations and shut down film production. Segment revenue fell 8.3% to $ 1.4 billion. The company said it was partially offset by higher revenue from content licensing. Its adjusted EBITA rose more than 65% to $ 151 million, “reflecting lower-than-offset revenue from reduced operating costs, driven by lower advertising, marketing and promotion expenses due to the reduction of the number of versions in the previous year “.
The company said the vaccine launch brings optimism for its affected business segments to return to growth.
Here’s how Comcast’s divisions performed during the quarter:
- Cable communications accounted for $ 15.7 billion in revenue, up 6.3%.
- Cable networks earned revenue of $ 2.7 billion, up 6.4%.
- Broadcast television accounted for $ 2.8 billion in revenue, down 12%.
- Filmed entertainment generated $ 1.4 billion in total revenue, up 8.3%.
- Theme parks reported $ 579 million in revenue, down 63%.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates again.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, CNBC’s parent company.
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