(Reuters) – Comcast (CMCSA) surpassed fourth-quarter income estimates on Thursday as blockbuster vacation releases, together with “Depraved”, greater than made up for a larger-than-expected decline in broadband clients.
The media and telecom big additionally unveiled a $15 billion share buyback program.
“Depraved”, a film adaptation of the Broadway prequel to “The Wizard of Oz”, earned roughly $700 million on the world field workplace, whereas the animated function “The Wild Robotic” grossed greater than $300 million.
This helped energy a close to 7% rise in Comcast’s studio income within the quarter and pushed its whole income up 2.1% to $31.92 billion, beating estimates of $31.64 billion, in response to LSEG information.
Its adjusted revenue of 96 cents per share additionally topped estimates by 10 cents.
The outcomes come at a vital time for Comcast because it appears to unchain its fundamental revenue drivers comparable to studio and theme parks enterprise from the declining cable TV unit by spinning off choose NBCUniversal cable networks.
The corporate’s broadband unit has additionally confronted rising competitors in current quarters from telecom companies comparable to AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ), who’re attempting to seize market share by bundling 5G wi-fi plans with high-speed fiber.
Comcast misplaced 139,000 broadband clients within the quarter, increased than FactSet estimates of a 91,000 loss, because it was additionally damage by Hurricanes Milton and Helene that disrupted Florida companies throughout the quarter.
Peacock’s income rose 27.8% thanks to cost hikes made final yr forward of the Olympics. The streaming service’s subscriber depend, nonetheless, stayed flat on-quarter at 36 million as Comcast sought to retain customers after document additions within the third quarter.
Its cable TV networks misplaced 311,000 resulting from cord-cutting by shoppers shifting to streaming. That was decrease than 389,000 losses a yr in the past and FactSet estimates for lack of 333,000.
The theme park unit reported flat income at $2.37 billion. However its core earnings fell 3.9% resulting from pre-opening prices for Common Epic Universe which is scheduled to open in Might.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Modifying by Leroy Leo)
