Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) shares rose around 3% in premarket trading on Thursday after the media and telecommunications company reported second-quarter earnings ahead of Wall Street expectations, supported by improving broadband performance and record wireless customer growth.
The results also highlighted stronger profitability across several business segments, including Peacock, which achieved its first profitable quarter.
Earnings exceed expectations
Comcast reported second-quarter earnings of $1.04 per share, comfortably above analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.96.
Revenue totalled $29.94 billion, a decline of 1.2% from the same period last year but ahead of market expectations of $29.25 billion.
The company generated consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $8.9 billion during the quarter, while free cash flow reached $4.6 billion.
Broadband trends improve as wireless reaches record growth
Comcast continued to see progress in its core connectivity business.
Domestic residential broadband customer losses improved by 34,000 compared with the same quarter a year earlier, indicating a stabilisation in subscriber trends.
Meanwhile, the company added a record 448,000 domestic wireless customer lines during the quarter, lifting its total wireless base to 10.2 million lines.
Wireless penetration increased to 7% of the company’s total addressable market within its operating footprint.
Business Services delivers steady growth
The Business Services Connectivity division reported revenue of $2.7 billion, an increase of 3.7% year over year.
Adjusted EBITDA for the segment rose 5.0% to $1.5 billion, while the EBITDA margin improved to 56.7%, reflecting continued demand from business customers.
Peacock reaches profitability milestone
Comcast said its Peacock streaming platform generated positive quarterly EBITDA for the first time.
The service recorded EBITDA of $189 million, representing an improvement of $290 million from the previous year.
Paid subscribers increased by a net 2 million during the quarter to reach 48 million, supported by strong audience engagement from the NBA Playoffs, the FIFA World Cup and Love Island USA.
Comcast Corporation stock price
