Comcast earnings for the third quarter looked like two companies reporting at once. Peacock, the streaming service, earned $261 million in adjusted profit. The cable and broadband business lost 144,000 residential internet customers, and Comcast told investors to expect a restructuring charge of more than $1 billion in the fourth quarter. Shares traded up about 3.5% around midday on Thursday, according to MarketScreener.
The figures come from Comcast’s third-quarter results release, published October 22. This article is general information, not investment advice.
What the Comcast earnings numbers show
Revenue was $29.3 billion, down 6.1% from $31.2 billion a year earlier. That drop is mostly a reporting effect. Comcast spun off its cable networks into Versant on January 2 and sold its Sky operations in Germany on May 31, so last year’s figures include businesses that are now gone. On a pro forma basis that excludes them, revenue was flat at $29.3 billion, up 0.5%.
Adjusted EBITDA, a cash earnings measure, was $9.1 billion, down 5.8% as reported and up 0.8% pro forma. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.07 versus $1.12 a year ago. GAAP net income attributable to Comcast rose 3.5% to $3.45 billion, and GAAP earnings per share rose to $0.97 from $0.90. Free cash flow was $4.2 billion, down from $4.9 billion.
MarketScreener, citing FactSet, puts the analyst forecast for adjusted earnings at $0.99 per share and for revenue at $29.22 billion. Both results were above those marks.
Connectivity: the weak spot
Connectivity and Platforms, the cable and broadband side, had revenue of $19.7 billion, down 2.7%. Adjusted EBITDA fell 4.4% to $7.6 billion, and the margin slipped to 38.6% from 39.3%. Residential revenue fell 3.5% to $17.0 billion, while business services grew 2.7% to $2.6 billion.
The release shows a net loss of 144,000 domestic residential broadband customers. The Desk, an industry news site, puts the loss a year earlier at 91,000 and says Xfinity TV lost 274,000 customers. We could not confirm those prior-year figures in the release text. MarketScreener’s headlines say Comcast lost more broadband customers than expected, with competition cutting into the core business.
Wireless was the bright spot. Comcast added 368,000 domestic lines, for 10.6 million lines in total, and 1.6 million over the past year. The Desk reports that new customers get one free line for 12 months, and that co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh said free-line customers are converting to paid plans. The release does not say how many free lines are in the count.
Peacock turns a profit
Peacock ended the quarter with 48 million paid subscribers, up 17% from a year ago. Revenue was $1.8 billion versus $1.4 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $261 million compared with a $217 million loss a year earlier, a swing of $478 million. The Desk calls it a second straight profitable quarter.
A year ago Peacock was losing $217 million in a quarter, so the swing is large. For comparison, see our look at Netflix earnings. The Desk’s report gives no stated reason for the improvement, so we would not read it as a permanent trend yet.
The rest of Content and Experiences
Content and Experiences, which includes NBC, Telemundo, studios and theme parks, had revenue of $10.5 billion, up 6.5%. Adjusted EBITDA jumped 29.3% to $1.8 billion. Media revenue rose 13% to $5.4 billion, or 8.3% excluding the FIFA World Cup, and media EBITDA was $769 million compared with $247 million.
Studios revenue slipped 1.1% to $3.0 billion, but EBITDA rose 18.6% to $402 million. Theme parks were weaker. Revenue fell 4.4% to $2.6 billion and EBITDA fell 17.1% to $780 million. The Desk attributes that to lower admissions revenue and more promotions, which is its reading, not the release’s.
How the World Cup shapes the Comcast earnings
The release’s non-GAAP tables show how much one event mattered. Media domestic advertising revenue was $1.78 billion, up 14.6%. Excluding the FIFA World Cup, it was $1.56 billion, up just 0.3%. In other words, nearly all of the advertising growth came from the tournament. Domestic distribution revenue, the fees paid to carry NBC’s channels, rose 22.4% to $2.07 billion.
The nine-month view is also affected by events. Pro forma revenue for the first nine months was $89.76 billion, up 5.3%, helped by the Milan Cortina Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the World Cup. Pro forma adjusted EBITDA for the nine months was $26.0 billion, down 4.3%. A reader looking at the Comcast earnings should expect those comparisons to get harder once the sports calendar quiets down.
Restructuring and the separation
The biggest news for employees came on the call, and it shapes how to read the Comcast earnings. Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said Comcast expects a significant fourth-quarter charge “related mostly to our transformation efforts,” according to Yahoo Finance’s report, which puts the charge above $1 billion. He said the company does not view it as a cost-cutting exercise.
Yahoo Finance reports job cuts are expected in the coming weeks, mainly in the cable, broadband, and wireless operations rather than NBCUniversal. Sources told the outlet that teams are still assessing the impact, so the scope is not final. The Desk says the number of affected employees has not been determined.
The release says the NBCUniversal and Sky separation “remains on track” to create two independent companies. Yahoo Finance reports the transaction is expected to close in mid-2027. Comcast also suspended share buybacks starting in the third quarter, and the release says they are expected to stay paused through the proposed separation. It paid $1.2 billion in dividends in the quarter.
What to watch after the Comcast earnings
Broadband customer losses are the number that matters most for the cable side. Our SpaceX earnings report covers Starlink, one of the alternatives customers can choose. The next test is whether the restructuring slows the losses, which a charge alone cannot do.
Editor’s take
The Comcast earnings split the company cleanly. Content is improving, Peacock is profitable, and the World Cup helped. Connectivity is shrinking in customers and profit, and the company is about to restructure it. The fourth-quarter charge and the layoffs that come with it are the real story. We would watch broadband net losses in the next report, and whether Peacock stays profitable without a sports event to lift advertising.
