Comcast tops earnings estimates as Olympics propels the company

Comcast beat third-quarter earning expectations on Thursday, as the Summer Olympics in Paris boosted NBCUniversal’s revenue and Peacock’s subscriber count. 

Here is how Comcast performed, compared with estimates from analysts surveyed by LSEG:

Here is how Comcast is expected to perform, according to estimates from analysts surveyed by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $1.12 vs. $1.06 expected
• Revenue: $32.07 billion vs. $31.66 billion expected

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, net income was down 10% to $3.63 billion, or 94 cents a share, compared with $4.05 billion, or 98 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, fell 2% to roughly $9.74 billion. 

The company’s revenue rose 6.5% to $32.07 billion compared to the same period last year. Overall revenue was boosted by the Summer Olympics in Paris, which NBCUniversal exclusively broadcast in the U.S., and domestic broadband revenue — despite continued slowing customer growth. 

Revenue for the media segment – mainly comprised of NBCUniversal – was up nearly 37% to $8.23 billion, largely due to the Olympics. Excluding the Summer Games, revenue was up almost 5%. 

This more than offset the decrease in adjusted EBITDA for the media segment, due to higher operating expenses related to the Olympics, as well as higher programming costs at Peacock and in other sports TV programming. 

The Summer Olympics in Paris proved to be a success for NBCUniversal, as it attracted an average daily viewership of 31 million people across NBC’s TV and streaming platforms and generated a record $1.2 billion in advertising revenue, CNBC previously reported.

This boosted the overall revenue for the content and experiences segment – which also includes the theme parks and film studios – by 19.3% to roughly $12.6 billion. That total includes $1.9 billion of incremental revenue from the Paris Olympics. 

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

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