Comcast beats Q3 estimates despite Pay TV, broadband losses

(Sharecast News) - Media giant Comcast topped Wall Street expectations with its third-quarter earnings and revenue on Thursday, despite continued subscriber losses in its core broadband and pay TV segments.

Comcast said adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.12, ahead of the $1.10 expected by analysts, while revenues totalled $31.2bn, beating estimates of $30.7bn. Net income fell 8% year-on-year to $3.33bn, or $0.90 per share, as overall revenue declined nearly 3% from $32.1bn.

The Mississippi-based group said it had lost 104,000 domestic broadband customers during the period, marking a fourth consecutive quarter of declines and taking its total subscriber base to roughly 31.4m, while pay TV subscribers fell by 257,000 to 11.5m domestic customers. Connectivity and platforms revenue slipped 1% to $20.18bn, though mobile lines grew by a record 414,000 to 8.9m.

NBCUniversal media revenue dropped 20% to $6.6bn, though excluding last year's Summer Olympics, it rose 4%. EBITDA for the division climbed 28% to $832m, supported by streaming service Peacock, which narrowed quarterly losses to $217m from $436m a year earlier.

Comcast's film studio revenue rose 6% to $3bn, boosted by "Jurassic World Rebirth", while theme park revenue jumped 19% to $2.72bn, with EBITDA up 13% to $958m following the launch of Epic Universe in May.

As of 1300 GMT, Comcast shares were up 2.24% in pre-market trading at $29.17 each.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com