Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded estimates for the top and bottom lines.
Earnings per share proved to be 79 cents, nosing out projections of 76 cents per share. Revenue registered at $28.398 billion vs. $28.169 billion expected. High-speed internet customers numbered 442,000 net adds, as opposed to an expected 378,000 net adds.
The company reported a net drop in video customers of 149,000 for the fourth quarter, which was higher than the expected loss of 139,000 and worse than what it reported in the year-ago fourth quarter, when it reported a net loss of 29,000 video customers.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal segment, which includes broadcast and cable channels, as well as theme parks and studios, saw its revenue slide 2.6% to $9.2 billion during the quarter.
Theatrical revenue for NBCUniversal slumped 21% from a year earlier. The company blamed the decline on lower theatrical revenue and the disappointing performance of "Cats," which had a dismal debut at the box office in December. Comcast also cited the strength of film releases in the prior year’s fourth quarter, including "The Grinch" and "Halloween."
The quarterly report comes one week after Comcast’s NBCUniversal unveiled its new streaming service, "Peacock." The service launches in the U.S. on July 15 with a free version and two paid tiers. Peacock will compete with streaming products from the likes of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX),
Disney+ (NYSE:DIS), AT&T’s (NYSE:T) HBO Max, Apple TV+ (NASDAQ:AAPL), Hulu and others.
CMCSA shares dropped $1.35, or 2.9%, to $46.09
