Comcast Edges Wall Street Q1 Estimates; Peacock Reaches 34M Subscribers And

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Comcast reported first quarter results that outpaced Wall Street expectations, with Peacock reaching 34 million subscribers but posting higher programming costs.

Total revenue inched up 1% to $30.1 billion, with adjusted earnings per share coming in at $1.04, up from 92 cents in the year-ago period.

The Media division, which includes Peacock, reported a nearly 4% gain in revenue, to $6.4 billion. But higher operating expenses, notably higher programming expenses at Peacock, contributed to wider losses. Adjusted EBITDA, a key measure of profitability, fell 6% to $827 million.

Peacock brought in $1.1 billion of revenue, up 54% from a year ago, with losses narrowing to $639 million from $704 million a year ago.

Domestic advertising revenue was flat at $2.025 billion primarily due to lower revenue at the company’s linear networks, offset by Peacock’s increase in revenue.

Revenue in the Studios division fell 7% to $2.7 billion, and profit slumped 12% even though theatrical revenue was strong thanks to Kung Fu Panda 4 and Migration. Content licensing revenue declined in the period, primarily due to the timing of when theatrical titles reached other windows.

Results from the company’s studios, media holdings and theme parks are now reported as Content & Experiences. Revenue for Content & Experiences climbed 1% to $10.4 billion, while adjusted EBITDA fell 7% to $1.5 billion. A 1.5% uptick in theme park revenue was offset by the negative impact of foreign currency.

On the pay-TV and broadband side of the company, video losses continued their steady decline, with a loss of 487,000 residential video customers in the period.

MORE to come …