Earnings: Comcast Beats Profit Estimates, But NBCU Films Down

Internet subscriptions stronger than expected

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Comcast beat analysts’ quarterly profit predictions, thanks in part to more high-speed internet subscribers.

Earnings per share increased to $0.75, beating average analysts’ estimate of 72 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

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High-speed internet customers increased by 203,000. That was the company’s best second quarter net additions in six years, and beat the 161,000 that analysts polled by StreetAccount had expected.

The company’s revenue rose 3.5 percent to $16.84 billion, missing analysts’ expectation of $16.95 billion. That was partly because filmed entertainment at NBCU was down 15.3 percent, falling from roughly 1.4 billion in the second quarter of 2013 to about 1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2014.

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The company’s cable video revenue increased just 1.2 percent to $5.2 billion. Its loss of 144,000 net video subscribers was worse than the 123,000 that the analysts polled by StreetAccount had expected. But Comcast said it was still the best second-quarter result in six years.

The earnings come as Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, is seeking federal approval to buy Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable company, for $45 billion. As of 9:55 a.m. ET, Comcast stock was up 1.6 percent and was trading at $54.68 per share.

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