Comcast (CMCSA) earnings Q3 2022

Comcast on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates, regardless of seeing income barely decline and continued softness in broadband buyer progress.

Shares jumped 8% in premarket buying and selling.

This is how Comcast did within the third quarter of 2022 in contrast with what Wall Avenue was anticipating, based mostly on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

• Earnings per share: 96 cents, adjusted vs. 90 cents anticipated
• Income: $29.85 billion vs. $29.65 billion anticipated

The corporate mentioned it added 14,000 broadband clients throughout the third quarter – an enchancment from the second quarter, when Comcast did not add any new clients for the primary time ever. Nonetheless, it is a signal that cable broadband suppliers are dealing with elevated competitors from telecom and wi-fi web firms.  

The slowdown in new clients is hitting the cornerstone of Comcast’s enterprise, much like friends like Charter Communications and Altice USA. AT&T mentioned final week constructing out its fiber-optic community stays a precedence for the corporate, and it added 338,000 new clients throughout the quarter. 

Comcast’s income declined 1.5% to $29.85 billion in contrast with the identical quarter final yr, when the corporate’s NBCUniversal unit reaped extra promoting {dollars} from airing the Tokyo Olympics on its TV networks. The corporate additionally recorded non-cash impairment fees associated to its Sky enterprise within the U.Okay. 

Its adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 5.9% to $9.5 billion in comparison with the identical interval final yr. 

In the meantime, Comcast’s cable unit, which incorporates pay-TV, cell and conventional telephone companies along with broadband, noticed income improve 2.6% to $16.5 billion. The corporate mentioned broadband income jumped 5.7% on account of a rise in common charges and the variety of its residential broadband clients. 

Its Xfinity Cell enterprise, which was launched 5 years in the past and depends on Verizon’s wi-fi community, now has 5 million buyer traces. 

Comcast misplaced 561,000 pay-TV clients, a continued quarterly decline that the corporate and its friends have been experiencing lately because of the rise of streaming companies. 

Peacock, the corporate’s fledgling streaming service, surpassed 15 million paying clients, a rise of greater than 70% year-to-date, the corporate Thursday. 

Income for the NBCUniversal unit dropped about 4% to $9.6 billion when in comparison with the identical quarter final yr, when the Tokyo Olympics befell and added $1.8 billion in income to the media phase. NBCUniversal’s media phase is comprised of its broadcast and cable TV networks and streaming. 

Because of the absence of the Olympics, the media phase’s income declined roughly 23% to $5.23 billion. It could have been up 4.4% excluding the Olympics. Promoting income for the phase was down 35% for a similar cause, though the corporate mentioned that was partially offset by a rise in promoting income from Peacock. 

NBCUniversal’s film studios income was up 31.4% to $3.2 billion on account of increased theater and content material licensing income. The corporate mentioned theater income particularly practically doubled to $673 million primarily because of the releases of Jurassic World: Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru. 

NBCUniversal Jeff Shell not too long ago mentioned on CNBC that he believed that the corporate’s film enterprise has been performing properly on the hybrid mannequin of releasing some movies concurrently in theaters and on streaming service, Peacock – akin to its newest installment of the Halloween franchise – whereas nonetheless ready to make different out there to viewers at dwelling, akin to Minions. 

The corporate’s theme park enterprise saved up its sturdy rebound because the early days of the covid-19 pandemic, when theme parks have been shuttered. Income rose greater than 40% to $2.1 billion as extra folks swarmed theme parks throughout the quarter. 

Within the U.Okay., Comcast’s Sky noticed income fall 14.7% to $4.3 billion, however mentioned that excluding the influence of forex change, its income was according to the identical quarter final yr. Sky’s whole buyer depend elevated by 320,000 to 23 million, boosted by streaming buyer additions.

Disclosure: Comcast is the dad or mum firm of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.