Media and cable giant Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) lost more broadband customers than expected in the fourth quarter, on top of reporting a top-line miss but a bottom-line beat.
CMCSA stock is marginally down in premarket trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
In Q4, domestic broadband customer losses were 181,000, more than the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 168,194 losses, but domestic video customer losses were 245,000, lower than the 264,547 losses estimate, and domestic wireline additions went up by 364,000 compared to 307,000 additions last year.
Studio revenue fell 7.4% to $3.03B, hurt by lower theatrical revenue in Q4, which was due to tougher comparisons against prior-year releases, including Wicked and The Wild Robot, compared to current-quarter titles Wicked: For Good and Black Phone 2, the company said.
Revenue from its streaming service, Peacock, was $1.63B, up 23% from last year but below the estimate of $1.7B.
The ongoing momentum following the opening of Epic Universe in May last year helped boost revenue in the theme park business by 21.9% to $2.89B.
The total media segment revenue rose 5.5% in the quarter to $7.62B, helped in part by higher domestic advertising revenue, which included the positive impact from the launch of the NBA.
Revenue from connectivity and platforms, which brings in the bulk of total revenue, was down 1.1% at $20.24B.
Net income attributable to Comcast for the three months ended December 31 was $2.17B, or $0.60 per share, compared to $4.78B, or $1.24 per share, for the same period last year, weighed down by a nearly $2B rise in total costs and expenses.
On an adjusted per-share basis, the company earned $0.84, beating the average analyst estimate of $0.75 per share.
Revenue was up 1.2% to $32.31B but was below the $32.36B estimate.