Comcast beat Wall Street's third-quarter earnings expectations as its media unit offset pressure in connectivity and theme parks. Peacock posted a profit for the second consecutive quarter, while the company continues preparing to spin off its media business.
Comcast topped analyst expectations for the third quarter, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.07 against 98 cents expected, according to LSEG. Revenue came in at $29.3 billion versus $29.28 billion expected. Strength in the media unit carried the quarter despite headwinds in theme parks.
Peacock profit lifts media revenue
Peacock reported $261 million in adjusted EBITDA on $1.8 billion in revenue. Paid subscribers grew to 48 million, up 17% year over year. The service benefited from record-high viewership for the FIFA World Cup, whose final games aired at the start of the quarter on Telemundo and Peacock.
Revenue in the media division rose 13% to $5.4 billion compared with the third quarter last year. The wider content and experiences unit, which also includes the film studio and theme parks, saw revenue rise 6.5%.
Connectivity and theme parks stay under pressure
However, revenue in the connectivity and platforms sector fell 2.7% year over year. Comcast reported a net loss of 144,000 domestic broadband residential customers and 274,000 cable customers, while its mobile business added 368,000.
Theme park revenue fell 4.4% to $2.6 billion, which the company attributed to "cyclical headwinds" and lower admissions revenue dented by promotional activity. Adjusted EBITDA for the division sank 17%.
Studios division revenue was $2.97 billion, down 1.1%, as content licensing revenue dropped 23.7%. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment increased 18.6% to $402 million on lower operating expenses. The July release of "The Odyssey" became Universal's highest-grossing film of all time.
Net income and the planned split
Net income reached $3.45 billion, or 97 cents per share, compared with $3.33 billion, or 90 cents per share, a year earlier. Total revenue was 6% lower than in the year-ago period, but Comcast said it was essentially flat once the Versant spin-off is excluded.
In June, Comcast announced plans to spin off NBCUniversal and its European media business Sky from its core cable, wireless and business services units. The company said the split would take about a year and create two separate publicly traded companies.
Source: CNBC
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