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Comcast Q2 Adj Profit Tops View, But Revenues Miss(dpa-AFX International Compact Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) PHILADELPHIA (dpa-AFX) - Cable television giant Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK) reported Tuesday a profit for the second quarter that increased from last year and topped analysts' expectations, helped by additional subscribers to its home-phone and Internet services. However, quarterly revenues for Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, missed their estimates. "We continue to see strong momentum across our cable and content businesses. In Cable, we posted the best second quarter customer results for both video and high-speed Internet in six years and saw tremendous demand for our X1 product, which is a truly transformative experience," Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company reported net income of $1.99 billion or $0.76 per share for the second quarter, higher than $1.73 billion or $0.65 per share in the prior-year quarter. Excluding gains on sales of certain assets and costs, adjusted net income for the latest quarter was $1.97 billion or $0.75 per share. On average, 25 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.72 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Consolidated revenues for the quarter increased 3.5 percent to $16.84 billion from $16.27 billion in the same quarter last year, but missed twenty-four Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $16.95 billion. Cable Communications revenues improved 5.4 percent to $11.03 billion, reflecting increases of 9.7 percent in high-speed Internet, 22.4 percent in business services and 1.2 percent in video. Advertising revenue also grew 7.5 percent, and voice revenue improved 1.3 percent from last year. The company's combined video, high-speed Internet and voice customers in the quarter increased by 196,000 or 5.4 percent from the net additions in the year-ago quarter. This was driven by growth in high-speed Internet and voice customers, partially offset by video customer losses. Revenue for NBCUniversal edged up 0.3 percent to $6.02 billion from a year ago, reflecting increases in cable networks, broadcast television and theme parks, nearly offset by a decline in theatrical revenue in filmed entertainment. "NBCUniversal had another excellent quarter with double-digit operating cash flow growth driven by solid results in each segment and a first place finish for NBC for the 2013/2014 broadcast television season," Roberts added. Revenue from cable networks grew 2.6 percent to $2.48 billion, reflecting a 4.2 percent increase in distribution revenue and a 14.3 percent improvement in content licensing and other revenue, partially offset by a 2.2% decline in advertising revenue. Revenue from the broadcast television increased 4.9 percent to $1.82 billion from last year. Filmed entertainment revenues decreased 15.3 percent to $1.18 billion, and revenue from theme parks increased 12.8 percent to $615 million from the year-ago quarter. Operating Income for the quarter grew 10.7 percent to $3.80 billion from $3.44 billion last year. CMCSA closed Monday's regular trading session at $53.82, down $0.30 on a volume of 17.68 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $41.06 to $55.53. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX |