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Comcast on Thursday released fourth-quarter tax results that beat analysts’ estimates on the upper and lower lines.
Comcast also reported record net customer additions for high-speed Internet service in the fourth quarter, and an additional 11 million subscribers to its new streaming service, Peacock.
The share rose more than 3% in extended trade.
Here are the key figures:
- Earnings per share: 56 cents adj. vs. 48 cents expected, according to a Refinitiv survey of analysts.
- Returned: $ 27.71 billion versus $ 26.78 billion expected, according to Refinitiv.
- High Speed Internet Customers: 538,000 vs. 490,000 expected net additions, according to FactSet
The company said Peacock, under the leadership of NBCUniversal, now had 33 million listings across the United States, up from 22 million in the last quarter. The company said its exclusive deal to broadcast WWE Network’s wrestling matches in the United States, announced earlier this week, is also expected to boost registrations and engagement, along with the recent launch of “The Office” on the platform.
Comcast also increased its quarterly dividend from 23 cents to 25 cents per share. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in the earnings report that the company also plans to start repurchasing shares later in 2021.
The company reported its best-ever fourth quarter result for total customer relationships, adding 455,000 customers to reach 33.1 million. It added 538,000 broadband Internet customers.
Comcast said its Europe-based Sky division continued to add customers, up from 244,000 to 23.9 million in the fourth quarter. This brought its customer relationships and Sky’s overall revenue in Europe back to pre-Covid 2019 levels, the company said.
Comcast’s theme parks division, which suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic, continued to feel the effects of continued closures and reductions in capacity. Theme park revenues fell nearly 63% to $ 579 million. The company said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization was a loss of $ 15 million, which included costs for its as yet unopened Universal Beijing.
“Without these costs and better attendance at parks in Orlando and Osaka, even with the closure of Hollywood, the theme parks have balanced,” the company said in its report.
The company’s filmed entertainment division has also been hit by the pandemic, which has restricted theaters’ activities and shut down some film productions. Segment revenues fell 8.3% to $ 1.4 billion. The company said this was partially offset by higher content license revenues. Its adjusted EBITA increased more than 65% to $ 151 million, “reflecting lower revenues more than offset by lower operating costs – thanks to lower advertising, marketing and promotion expenses due a reduced number of releases compared to the previous year. ”
The company said the vaccine rollout brings optimism that its impacted business segments will return to growth.
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%.
- Television broadcasting accounted for $ 2.8 billion in revenue, down 12%.
- Filmed entertainment generated $ 1.4 billion in total revenue, down 8.3%.
- Theme parks generated $ 579 million in revenue, down 63%.
This is a developing story. Please come back for updates.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, CNBC’s parent company.
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