Comcast reported fourth-quarter fiscal results on Thursday, which exceeded analysts’ estimates for both the top and bottom line.
Comcast also reported record customer additions to high-speed Internet service in the fourth quarter, and another 11 million subscribers to its new streaming service, Peacock.
Shares increased by more than 3.5% in extended transactions.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings per share: 56 cents adj. vs. 48 cents expected, according to a final analyst survey.
- Income: According to Refinitiv, $ 27.71 billion was expected compared to $ 26.78 billion.
- High speed internet clients: According to FactSet, 538,000 are expected compared to 490,000 net additions
The company said Peacock, led by NBCUniversal, now has 33 million registrations in the United States, up from 22 million last quarter. The company said its exclusive agreement to broadcast US WWE wrestling matches, announced earlier this week, should also lead to registrations and commitments, along with the recent launch of “The Office” on the platform. .
Comcast also raised its quarterly dividend to 25 cents a share from 23 cents. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in the earnings report that the company expects to start buying shares later in 2021.
The company reported the best result in the fourth quarter for total customer relations, adding 455,000 customers to reach 33.1 million. Added 538,000 high-speed internet customers.
Comcast said its Sky division in Europe continued to add customers, up 244,000 to 23.9 million in the fourth quarter. This has brought Sky’s customer relationships and global revenue in Europe back to pre-Covid 2019 levels, the company said.
Comcast’s theme park division, which suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic, continued to feel the impact of continued closures and capacity reductions. Theme park revenues fell nearly 63 percent to $ 579 million. The company said the adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization amounted to a loss of $ 15 million, which included costs for the Beijing Universe that has not yet been opened.
“Without these costs and better participation in Orlando and Osaka parks, even with Hollywood closed, theme parks have reached parity,” the company said in its report.
The company’s film entertainment division was also affected by the pandemic, which restricted film operations and stopped film production. The segment’s revenues fell 8.3% to $ 1.4 billion. The company said it was partially offset by higher revenues from content licensing. Adjusted EBITA rose more than 65% to $ 151 million, “reflecting lower-than-offset revenue from lower operating costs – driven by lower advertising, marketing and promotion spending due to lower launches in the previous year.”
The company said the launch of the vaccines brings optimism that its affected business segments will return to growth.
Here’s how the Comcast divisions worked for the next quarter:
- Cable communications accounted for $ 15.7 billion in revenue, up 6.3 percent.
- Cable networks brought in $ 2.7 billion in revenue, down 6.4 percent.
- Broadcast televisions accounted for $ 2.8 billion in revenue, down 12 percent.
- The filmed entertainment brought in total revenue of $ 1.4 billion, down 8.3%.
- Theme parks brought in $ 579 million in revenue, down 63 percent.
This is a developing story. Please check again for updates.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, CNBC’s parent company.
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