Comcast Q2 Profit Meets View, Revenues Top

(RTTNews) - Cable television giant Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK) reported Thursday a profit for the second quarter that increased eight percent from last year, reflecting double-digit revenue growth amid continued strength in cable, high-speed Internet and business services.

Both earnings per share matched analysts' expectations, while quarterly revenues topped their estimates.

"Our second quarter results, including 11.3% revenue growth and 8% operating cash flow growth, demonstrate the strength and momentum we are seeing across our businesses. In Cable, high-speed Internet and business services continued to perform extremely well, and, significantly, this was the best second quarter video customer results we've had in nine years," Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said.

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company reported net income attributable to Comcast of $2.14 billion or $0.84 per share for the second quarter, higher than $1.99 billion or $0.76 per share in the prior-year quarter, which included $0.01 per share net gain.

On average, 27 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.84 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Consolidated revenues for the quarter increased 11.3 percent to $18.74 billion from $16.84 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped twenty-four Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $18.14 billion.

Cable Communications revenues improved 6.3 percent to $11.73 billion, reflecting increases of 10 percent in high-speed Internet, 20.4 percent in business services and 3.7 percent in video. Advertising revenue edged down 0.9 percent, and voice revenue declined 2.1 percent from last year.

The company's video net losses improved 52 percent year-over-year to 69,000 and were the best result for a second quarter in nine years, while high-speed Internet customers grew by 180,000 and voice net additions were 49,000.

Customer relationships increased by 31,000 to 27.3 million in the second quarter, a 56,000 improvement from the year-ago quarter.

Revenue for NBCUniversal improved 20.2 percent to $7.23 billion from a year ago, reflecting strong double-digit increases in filmed entertainment and theme parks, marginally offset by cable networks, and broadcast television.

"NBCUniversal had an exceptional quarter, led by the record-breaking box office performances of Jurassic World and Furious 7 and continued strong momentum in our theme parks. In addition, NBC won the 2014-2015 broadcast season for adults 18-49," Roberts added.

Revenue from cable networks declined 1 percent to $2.45 billion, reflecting a 26.3 percent decrease in content licensing and other revenue due to the timing of content provided under its licensing agreements and a 3 percent decline in advertising revenue, partially offset by a 5.6 percent increase in distribution revenue.

Revenue from the broadcast television edged down 0.2 percent to $1.81 billion from last year, reflecting lower content licensing revenue nearly offset by a slight increase in advertising revenue and higher retransmission consent fees.

Filmed entertainment revenues surged 92.7 percent to $2.27 billion from last year, driven by higher theatrical revenue from the record performances of Furious 7 and Jurassic World.

Revenue from theme parks increased 25.7 percent to $773 million from the year-ago quarter, reflecting higher guest attendance and per capita spending.

The company noted that its focus on accelerating the deployment of its transformative X1 platform, as well as efforts to improve customer service, are clearly making a difference, with lower churn across all product categories.

Operating income for the quarter grew 7.9 percent to $4.11 billion from $3.80 billion last year.

In Thursday's regular trading session, CMCSA is currently trading at $63.36 down $1.14 or 1.74% on a volume of 1.55 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $49.33 to $64.99.