Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2023, exceeding expectations with adjusted earnings of $1.13 per share. The reported earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by an impressive 15.31% and marked an 11.9% increase compared to the same period last year.
During the second quarter, Comcast’s consolidated revenues rose by 1.7% year over year, reaching $30.51 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.14%.
Despite the overall positive performance, Comcast faced some challenges in its customer base. In the reported quarter, the company lost 19,000 domestic broadband customers and 543,000 video customers. However, it managed to gain 316,000 wireless customers during the same period.
Following the release of these earnings reports, Comcast’s shares surged by 3.31% in the pre-market trading. Notably, CMCSA shares have shown strong returns, with a growth rate of 22.7%, outperforming the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector’s growth of 14.1%.
Details of the Quarter
Connectivity & Platforms, which accounted for 66.7% of Comcast’s revenues, remained steady at $20.36 billion in the reported quarter. While Residential Connectivity & Platforms revenues experienced a slight decline of 0.4% year over year at constant currency (cc), amounting to $18.07 billion, Business Services Connectivity revenues increased by 4% year over year at cc, reaching $2.29 billion.
In terms of Content & Experiences, Comcast witnessed a 4% year-on-year revenue increase, totaling $10.87 billion. Media revenues remained unchanged year over year at $6.2 billion. Studios experienced a slight decline of 1% year over year, generating $3.09 billion in revenue, while Theme Parks showed substantial growth, surging by 22.5% year over year to $2.21 billion.
A notable success for Comcast’s streaming platform, Peacock, was the doubling of paid subscribers in the United States, reaching 24 million. Peacock’s revenues also showed a remarkable increase of 85%, amounting to $820 million.
Operating Details
Costs and expenses in the second quarter of 2023 increased by 0.7% year over year, reaching $23.8 billion. However, Comcast managed to achieve cost efficiencies in certain areas. Programming & production costs decreased by 0.4% from the year-ago quarter to $8.85 billion, while marketing and promotional expenses decreased by 4.4% year over year to $2.1 billion.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA demonstrated healthy growth, increasing by 4.2% from the year-ago quarter to $10.24 billion. In particular, Residential Connectivity & Platforms adjusted EBITDA rose by 4.4% year over year to $8.35 billion, and Business Services Connectivity adjusted EBITDA saw a 4.7% increase year over year, amounting to $1.32 billion.
Content & Experiences adjusted EBITDA reached $2.19 billion, marking a notable 7.5% year-on-year increase. Theme Parks’ adjusted EBITDA also showed robust growth, surging by 31.8% year over year. Studios reported an adjusted EBITDA of $255 million, a significant improvement compared to the year-ago quarter’s loss of $3 million. However, Media adjusted EBITDA experienced an 18.2% decline year over year, totaling $1.24 billion.
Cash Flow
As of June 30, 2023, Comcast held $7.15 billion in cash and cash equivalents, a notable increase from $5.54 billion reported as of March 31, 2023. The company’s consolidated total debt stood at $97.5 billion as of June 30, 2023, compared to $95.53 billion reported as of March 31, 2023.
During the second quarter of 2023, Comcast generated $7.2 billion in cash from operations, maintaining stability compared to the previous quarter. However, the company’s free cash flow declined to $3.4 billion in the reported quarter, down from $3.8 billion in the previous quarter.
In terms of shareholder returns, Comcast distributed $3.2 billion, achieved through a combination of dividend payments amounting to $1.2 billion and share repurchases totaling $2 billion.
Featured Image: Freepik @ macrovector
Author Faith Yakubu 
