Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) unveiled its latest set of quarterly earnings on Tuesday, and these provided reasons to support both the bull and the bear cases for the stock. There were a few bright spots in those results for the optimists, but also enough to support the views of the naysayers.
One of the more notable downbeat developments was the entertainment conglomerate’s revenue slide. Does this indicate that the bears are right with Comcast?
Comcast posted a mixed second quarter as far as the two headline numbers were concerned. Its revenue for the period clocked in at just under $29.7 billion, which was some distance from the over $30 billion consensus analyst estimate. On the other hand, the entertainment giant’s non-GAAP (adjusted) net income scored a beat; at over $4.7 billion it equated to $1.21 per share, notably higher than the average prognosticator forecast of $1.12.
Across the Tuesday trading session, investors pushed Comcast’s stock down modestly. It ended the day 2.6% lower.
This wasn’t only because of the revenue miss. While adjusted profitability topped analyst expectations, it wasn’t much of a leap — this rose only by a marginal 0.2%.
Like the fundamentals, the dynamics behind the top-line drop and flat net income performance are a mix of good developments and bad.
Before diving into that, I should explain that Comcast divides its business into two parts. The first is residential connectivity and platforms — basically, the unit bundling its broadband, wireless, and related communications services. The second, and notably smaller by revenue, is content and experiences. This includes the more familiar Comcast entertainment assets including Universal Pictures, NBCUniversal television, and the company’s theme parks.
For meaningful top-line growth overall, Comcast needs connectivity and platforms to do well. That didn’t happen in Q2, as the division’s revenue dipped by 0.7% to just over $20 billion. There were gains during the quarter, with the critical domestic broadband category inching 3% higher despite slumps in customer count, and the (albeit small) wireless telephony business surging by 17%. Yet the video segment’s take fell by nearly 8%, and overall the division’s total revenue slipped by 1.5% to $17.8 billion.
Keeping with the mixed fortunes theme, division No. 2 (content and experiences) also had stars and scars. Stuffed with offerings like Netflix and Walt Disney‘s Disney+, the streaming video space is hotly competitive, yet Comcast managed to lift the revenue for its Peacock streamer by a beefy 28% to hit $1 billion for the quarter. That was on the back of an impressive 38% improvement in the paid subscriber count (to 33 million).
On the downside, among other negatives, Universal Pictures suffered a queasy 27% drop (to $2.25 billion) due to an unfavorable comparison with its hot release slate from the second quarter of 2023.
At this point, we can consider Peacock to be one of the more successful streamers on the scene. It’s not going to flip Comcast into growth on its own, though, as its revenue comprises a mere 3% of the company’s overall top line. I foresee a brighter future for Universal Studios, as it’s got sharp executives running the operation who’ve hit the audience sweet spot lately; in fact, this past weekend the Nos. 1 and 2 films in the U.S. in terms of box office receipts belonged to Universal (Twisters and Despicable Me 4).
As for connectivity and platforms, I’m not excited about Comcast’s other division. The broadband business is fairly saturated in this country, and unless the company can scare up a ton of new clients or do some highly effective poaching, it likely won’t be much of a needle-mover. Sure, the performance of the wireless segment was impressive, but again it’s small. It also operates in quite a competitive market, so we shouldn’t count on continued revenue leaps in the future.
Ultimately, I think the folks running Comcast are clever enough to maintain the company’s profitable ways and avoid major stumbles. But what investors crave is growth and, as it’s not really a standout in any of the very competitive businesses in which it operates, I don’t think Comcast will distinguish itself with major and significant improvements. There are better investments in the entertainment sector, in my view.
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Eric Volkman has positions in Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Netflix and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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