Comcast (CMCSA) earnings Q3 2024

Comcast beat third-quarter incomes expectations on Thursday, because the Summer time Olympics in Paris boosted NBCUniversal’s income and Peacock’s subscriber rely. 

Shares of Comcast gained 6% in early buying and selling Thursday.

Right here is how Comcast carried out, in contrast with estimates from analysts surveyed by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $1.12 adjusted vs. $1.06 anticipated
• Income: $32.07 billion vs. $31.66 billion anticipated

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, web revenue was down 10% to $3.63 billion, or 94 cents a share, in contrast with $4.05 billion, or 98 cents a share, a yr earlier. Adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, fell 2% to roughly $9.74 billion. Adjusting for one-time objects, Comcast reported earnings per share of $1.12 for the quarter.

The corporate’s income rose 6.5% to $32.07 billion in contrast with the identical interval final yr. Total income was boosted by the Summer time Olympics in Paris, which NBCUniversal completely broadcast within the U.S., and home broadband income — regardless of continued slowing buyer development. 

Income for the media phase – primarily comprised of NBCUniversal – was up almost 37% to $8.23 billion, largely because of the Olympics. Excluding the Summer time Video games, income was up nearly 5%. 

This greater than offset the lower in adjusted EBITDA for the media phase, on account of greater working bills associated to the Olympics, in addition to greater programming prices at Peacock and in different sports activities TV programming. 

The Summer time Olympics in Paris proved to be a hit for NBCUniversal, because it attracted a median every day viewership of 31 million folks throughout NBC’s TV and streaming platforms and generated a report $1.2 billion in promoting income, CNBC beforehand reported.

This boosted the general income for the content material and experiences phase – which additionally consists of the theme parks and movie studios – by 19.3% to roughly $12.6 billion. That complete consists of $1.9 billion of incremental income from the Paris Olympics. 

Peacock additionally loved a lift from the Olympics – the place the whole thing of the Video games had been completely streamed – with 3 million added subscribers. Paid subscribers for the platform elevated 29% yr over yr to 36 million. Peacock income was up 82% to $1.5 billion. 

Losses stemming from Peacock improved for the phase, with an adjusted EBTIDA lack of $436 million throughout the quarter, in contrast with $565 million in the identical interval final yr. 

The corporate’s movie studios, additionally a part of the content material and experiences phase, noticed income improve 12.3% to $2.83 billion in contrast with the prior yr. Theatrical income was boosted by the latest profitable releases of “Despicable Me 4” and “Twisters.”

NBCUniversal’s theme parks income decreased 5.3% to roughly $2.3 billion on account of decrease attendance. The theme parks have weighed on the corporate lately as surging attendance following Covid lockdowns has cooled.

In the meantime, the broadband unit – the cornerstone of Comcast’s enterprise – continued to replicate the continued business traits. 

Cable broadband buyer development has slumped throughout the business. Comcast executives have pinned this on a slowdown within the shopping for and promoting of properties. Competitors has additionally ramped up from wi-fi suppliers like Verizon and T-Cellular.

For Comcast this quarter, it was a blended bag. The federal government’s Reasonably priced Connectivity Program (ACP), which had provided a reduction for qualifying low-income households, ended earlier this yr.

Whole home broadband web losses amounted to 87,000, however excluding people who stemmed from the tip of the ACP, the corporate estimates there was development of 9,000 clients.

Home broadband income elevated 2.7% to $6.54 billion in comparison with the prior yr, and common income per consumer – the continued supply of development for the phase regardless of lagging additions – elevated 3.6%. 

In the meantime, Comcast’s wi-fi enterprise added 319,000 clients, bringing its complete to about 7.5 million traces. The corporate misplaced 365,000 cable TV clients throughout the quarter. 

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the mum or dad firm of CNBC. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports activities and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer time and Winter Video games by way of 2032.

This story is growing. Please examine again for updates.