Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) stock rose 1.67% (As on January 26, 11:28:30 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company’s quarterly revenue topped Wall Street estimates, as growth in its streaming and theme parks businesses, including a widely watched NFL playoff game, more than offset further losses of broadband subscribers. Comcast lost 34,000 broadband customers in the quarter, less than the loss of 61,000 customers that had been forecast, according to FactSet but exceeding the 18,000 broadband customers it lost in the previous quarter. Its streaming service, Peacock, recorded revenue of $1.03 billion, marking a substantial 57% YoY growth. Analysts were looking for $974 million in Q4 revenue. The adjusted Ebitda loss for Peacock stood at $825 million, better than the estimated loss of $857.5 million. The platform’s paid subscribers also exceeded expectations, reaching 31 million compared to the estimated 28.12 million.
Moreover, the revenue in its theme parks business rose 12.2%, to $2.37 billion, boosted by attendance at the Osaka, Japan and Hollywood, California parks. Comcast reported a 5.7% rise in revenue in its content and experiences segment, which includes NBCUniversal, to $11.5 billion. Studios increased 4.3% year over year to $3.06 billion. Residential Connectivity & Platforms revenues decreased 0.1% year over year to $18.05 billion. Business Services Connectivity revenues increased 5.9% year over year to $2.36 billion.
CMCSA in the fourth quarter of FY 23 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 84 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 79 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 2.3 percent to $31.25 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 23, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $30.51 billion, according to LSEG data. Adjusted EBITDA increased 0.2% from the year-ago quarter to $8.01 billion. As of Dec 31, 2023, cash and cash equivalents were $6.21 billion, which declined from $6.43 billion as of Sep 30, 2023.
Additionally, the company has increased its dividend by $0.08, or 6.9% year-over-year, to $1.24 per share on an annualized basis for 2024. In accordance with the increase, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.31 a share on the company’s common stock, payable on April 24, 2024, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 3, 2024.
In addition, Comcast announced that its Board of Directors also approved a new share repurchase program authorization, effective as of January 26, 2024, of $15 billion, which does not have an expiration date.