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Key Takeaways
- Comcast reports first-quarter earnings Thursday as the conglomerate works to continue adding subscribers to its services like Peacock.
- The company generates revenue through dozens of subsidiaries that provide internet and mobile service and produce and distribute TV and movies, as well as from theme parks.
- Analysts expect Comcast’s key financial metrics for the latest period, like revenue and net income, to increase year-over-year.
Comcast (CMCSA) is set to report first-quarter earnings before the bell Thursday as the conglomerate hopes to continue adding subscribers to services like Peacock, and reverse the downward trend it has seen in its broadband subscriber base in recent years.
Analysts expect Comcast to post an adjusted profit of $3.93 billion, or 98 cents per share, on total revenue of $29.87 billion, all slight increases from the first quarter of 2023, according to consensus estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. A year ago, Comcast made an adjusted profit of $3.88 billion, or 92 cents per share, on $29.69 billion in revenue.
Comcast has a number of revenue-generating subsidiaries, from broadband, cable, and mobile service like Xfinity, to the production and distribution of movies and television through companies like NBCUniversal and DreamWorks Animation, along with several Universal theme parks around the globe.
| Analyst Estimates for Q1 2024 | Q4 2023 | Q1 2023 | |
| Revenue | $29.87 billion | $31.25 billion | $29.69 billion |
| Adjusted Diluted EPS | 98 cents | 84 cents | 92 cents |
| Adjusted Net Income | $3.93 billion | $3.41 billion | $3.88 billion |
Key Metric: Broadband and Peacock Subscribers
Recent quarters have shown Comcast’s broadband services losing subscribers due to a number of factors, including competition growing in recent years from companies like Verizon Communications (VZ) and others, as well as the pandemic shift leading to more vacant office space, which means fewer business customers that need internet access.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, Comcast lost about 34,000 domestic broadband subscribers, even more than the 26,000 it lost in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Business Spotlight: Other Growing Revenue Streams
Despite falling subscribers for Comcast’s internet and cable television services, Universal has experienced growth in other areas in recent quarters. Theme-park revenue rose 12% to a final-quarter and full-year record in the fourth quarter of 2023, helped by the Super Nintendo World park that opened last year.
The company’s streaming service, Peacock, which contains NBC properties like “The Office,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “Parks and Recreation,” has grown substantially since its July 2020 launch, surpassing $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in the final quarter of 2023. Comcast said in its January earnings report that Peacock had about 31 million paid subscribers.
Comcast stock was down about 8% so far this year to $40.17 a share at 2:45 p.m. ET Wednesday. Shares are up 6.5% in the last 12 months but are still well below the record levels of September 2021, when they hit over $60.