Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) topped analyst expectations with its first quarter earnings report Thursday, despite the cable and media giant’s residential broadband business’s slowing growth and mounting Peacock losses.
Earnings per share came in at 92 cents adjusted vs. 82 cents expected, on revenue of $29.69 billion vs. $29.3 billion expected.
For the quarter ended March 31, Comcast reported earnings of $3.83 billion, or 91 cents per share, compared with $3.55 billion, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, Comcast posted earnings per share of 92 cents in the most recent period.
Revenue dropped 4% to $29.69 billion from $31.01 billion in the prior-year period, with the company noting that last year it had broadcast both the Super Bowl and Beijing Olympics during the first quarter.
The Philadelphia company said its first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew 3% to $9.42 billion during the first quarter.
Comcast said it returned $3.2 billion to shareholders during the quarter through a mix of $1.2 billion in dividend payments and $2 billion in share repurchases.
Comcast lost 21,000 residential broadband customers during the quarter, but received a slight boost from its business customers. Company executives had warned earlier this year that Comcast was likely to lose broadband subscribers in the first quarter.
Still, it was a sign that Comcast, like its peers, continue to face slowing growth in the broadband business.
CMCSA shares gained $2.08, or 5.7%, to $38.60.
