comcast reported mixed fourth-quarter results on Thursday, with profits beating analysts’ expectations but revenue slightly below expectations.
Comcast’s broadband business once again showed signs of the big competition facing cable companies. Comcast said it lost 181,000 domestic broadband customers during the same period, but said the losses were offset by an increase in international subscribers.
The company’s mobile offering remains a bright spot, with 364,000 additions during the period, bringing the total to more than 9.3 million mobile customers into Comcast’s newest business.
Comcast announced last year that it would shift its strategy to focus more on growing its mobile business after facing continued pressure in the broadband space from competition, primarily from wireless providers such as: verizon and T-Mobile.
According to LSEG, Comcast’s financial results for the year ended December 31st are compared to average analyst estimates below.
Earnings per share: 84 cents adjusted, 75 cents expected; Revenue: $32.31 billion, $32.35 billion expected.
Net income attributable to Comcast decreased 54.6% to $2.17 billion, or 60 cents per share, compared to $4.78 billion, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago period.
The company reported adjusted net income of $3.06 billion, or 84 cents per share, after adjusting for certain one-time items, including the value of intangible assets, costs related to investments and prior-year tax benefits that Comcast said resulted in “unfavorable comparisons.”
Comcast’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 10% to $7.9 billion.
The company’s overall sales for the quarter rose more than 1% to $32.31 billion.
Revenue from Comcast’s Connectivity and Platforms division, which includes Xfinity-branded services across broadband, pay TV and mobile, was down 1% to $20.24 billion.
In particular, sales in the domestic broadband division decreased by 1% to approximately $6.32 billion. Comcast said this reflected a decline in broadband customers, partially offset by higher average rates.
In addition to broadband customer losses and mobile additions, Comcast lost 245,000 pay TV customers during the fourth quarter. The company currently has a total of 11.27 million pay TV customers.
Meanwhile, sales at the company’s media division, which includes NBCUniversal, rose 5.5% to $7.62 billion.
This will be the last quarter that NBCUniversal’s earnings report will include its entire portfolio of cable networks, as Comcast spun out most of its pay-TV networks, including CNBC and MS Now, into a publicly traded company. Versant.
Media business domestic advertising revenue increased 1.5% due to the addition of the NBA to NBC, contributing to the overall revenue boost.
NBC’s streaming service Peacock added 3 million paying customers after three years of virtually unchanged quarters. We ended the year with 44 million paid members. The streaming service reported a loss of $552 million in the fourth quarter, wider than the $372 million loss it posted in the year-ago period.
These losses were due, in part, to the impact of the NBA rights agreement that began during the quarter.
Peacock had revenue of $1.6 billion, compared with $1.3 billion in the year-ago period.
Comcast’s Universal Pictures Studios revenue decreased 7.4% to $3.03 billion due to lower licensing and theatrical revenue compared to the same period last year. The releases of “Wicked: For Good” and “Black Phone 2” were lower than last year’s “Wicked” and “The Bad Robot.”
But Universal theme park revenue rose 22% to about $2.9 billion, driven by the opening of Epic Universe last year.
Disclosure: Versant Media is the parent company of CNBC. Comcast was the parent company of CNBC until the fourth quarter of 2025.
