Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) Q2 2026 Earnings Call July 23, 2026 8:30 AM EDT
Company Participants
Marci Ryvicker - Executive Vice President of Investor Relations
Brian Roberts - Chief Executive Officer, President, Director and Director of Comcast Cable Communications Inc
Michael Cavanagh - Co-CEO & Director
Jason Armstrong - Chief Financial Officer
Steven Croney - Chief Executive Officer of Connectivity & Platforms Division
Presentation
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Comcast's Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Executive Vice President, Investor Relations, Ms. Marci Ryvicker. Please go ahead, Ms. Ryvicker.
Marci Ryvicker
Executive Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone. Joining us on today's call are Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh, Jason Armstrong and Steve Croney. I will now refer you to Slide 2 of the presentation accompanying this call, which can also be found on our Investor Relations website and which contains our safe harbor disclaimer. This conference call may include forward-looking statements subject to certain risks and uncertainties. In addition, during this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please see our 8-K and trending schedule issued earlier this morning for the reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Brian.
Brian Roberts
Chief Executive Officer, President, Director and Director of Comcast Cable Communications Inc
Good morning, and thanks, Marci. Before Mike and Jason take you through the quarter, I'd like to spend a few minutes on the separation we announced 3 weeks ago. Since then, we've talked with our key constituencies, employees at every level and most of our key partners, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. I feel more positive and energized today than I was on the day we announced it. What's come through most
Comcast uvedl, že NBCUniversal už jedná s potenciálními partnery, protože se po rozdělení chce prosadit jako samostatná firma. Rozdělení má být dokončeno do příštího léta.
Using the word “independent” multiple times to describe NBCUniversal‘s forthcoming independence, Comcast Co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh said they are already talking with potential partners.
Speaking to Wall Street investors on Comcast’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday, the execs said NBCU has started to explore its options. In an apparent reference to this month’s edition of the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley event for media and tech execs, Roberts said, “We just came from one of the conferences, and there’s just great ideas, and I’m excited about the road ahead to expand the partnerships we’ve already got.”
Cavanagh added that NBCU is “in a great position to partner with others.”
The comments were the first in an earnings context by Comcast execs since the company announced its plan to split into two separate companies. One, anchored by NBCUniversal and Sky, will focus on entertainment content, while the other will operate the legacy cable TV, broadband and wireless networks. The separation is expected to be completed by next summer.
Asked about whether NBCU will have enough scale to be a viable player, or whether it might instead merge or acquire another company in the sector, Cavanagh called it “an extremely valuable collection of assets.” He said NBCU and Sky “do have the heft and the relationships and the operational capabilities to continue to be a major player, as an independent.” The split, he added, will “give it the focus and opportunity and platform to invest behind the growth opportunities that it has in its own businesses, and the spaces around these businesses that offer growth, and where the business has the right to play.”
The exec name-checked various networks and studio operations, throwing in viewership stats and reach metrics.
Sports is a key element in the mix, Cavanagh said, noting this year’s Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and World Cup coverage, plus ongoing deals with the NFL, NBA and others. “Our relationships with our leagues go way beyond our financial terms of our deals,” he maintained. “We’ve built very longstanding relationships that are growing their audiences, elevate the presentation of their sports for the long term, and expand the value of their rights, frankly. And then we do that through the world-class production that we are known for, great distribution across both broadcast and streaming, and the ability to reach fans at scale.”
Ultimately, Cavanagh said, “We do feel really good about the business that we have. We do think that these assets are incredibly valuable. We love the fact that they operate well together.” At the same time, he continued, “As an independent, we take all these great assets and we are willing to partner with others. So other strategies are a little more walled gardens. Our approach is to build great businesses that serve our own platforms, but look for opportunities to partner or bundle, and exhibit other people’s IP in our parks, and create IP in our studios that go to other platforms. I think that’s a good strategy for the collection of assets we have, and I think it presents a path for growth in this business over time.”
Roberts said said “being independent” will enable NBCU to “partner well, and to bring to life people’s dreams and content, and sporting events, and the like.”
Comcast oznámil, že Peacock se ve čtvrtletí poprvé stal ziskovým a že NBCUniversal táhly televizní a filmové divize. Zároveň tržby z broadbandu klesly o 3 % na 19,8 miliardy USD a firma ztratila 167 000 rezidenčních zákazníků.
Comcast's second-quarter results on Thursday showcased strength at NBCUniversal — particularly in its TV and film units — as the company prepares to split its media and broadband businesses apart.
NBCUniversal's streaming service, Peacock, hit profitability during the quarter for the first time, Comcast said, giving the media business a lift. The streaming service also benefited from live sports including the FIFA World Cup and NBA postseason and brought in new subscribers.
Revenue in the company's content and experiences division, which includes media unit NBCUniversal, rose almost 23% year over year.
Meanwhile, it was a different story with the traditional cable and connectivity business. The company said that its shifted strategy for the broadband business is "gaining traction" following years of significant competition and pressure due to the rise of alternatives like 5G providers.
But Comcast once again reported broadband customer losses for the period, and revenue for the connectivity and platforms segment notched down as its lower pricing plans and promotions took hold.
The diverging storylines for broadband and media come weeks after Comcast said it would divide the two businesses into separate publicly traded companies. In Thursday's release co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh called the split "an important step toward creating two focused companies with the financial strength and flexibility to pursue their respective growth strategies."
During Thursday's call with investors, Roberts addressed the separation immediately, noting that there's been a positive reaction following weeks of discussions with "key constituencies, employees at every level, and most of our key partners."
"I feel more positive and energized today than I was on the day we announced," Roberts said Thursday.
Revenue for the connectivity and platforms segment, which includes the Xfinity-branded broadband, mobile and cable TV offerings, was down 3% to $19.8 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the unit dropped nearly 6% to $7.96 billion.
Comcast lost 167,000 total broadband residential customers and 280,000 cable TV subscribers during the quarter. Mobile remained a bright spot with additions that once again marked a record quarter and brought its total to 10.2 million lines. Mobile has become a major driver and key part of Comcast's strategy to boost the broadband business.
The content and experiences segment that houses NBCUniversal's TV, film and theme parks, saw revenue of $10.73 billion, boosted by the impact of the FIFA World Cup that began in mid-June and was aired in Spanish in the U.S. on the company's Telemundo network.
Revenue for the TV media unit in particular benefited from Peacock and an increase in advertising, and film studio revenue rose 25%. Theme parks revenue was up nearly 3% as softness at international parks offset higher revenue in Orlando, Florida.
Overall revenue for Comcast was down 1.2% during the second quarter to $29.94 billion. On a pro-forma basis, accounting for the impact of Comcast's Versant spinoff that was completed at the start of the year, the company said quarterly revenue was 4.7% higher.
Comcast reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.04, topping Wall Street estimates of 97 cents, according to LSEG. Comcast reported net income attributable to the company of $3.53 billion.
Disclosure: Versant Media Group is the parent company of CNBC.
Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.04 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.97 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.25 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +7.22%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this cable provider would post earnings of $0.73 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.79, delivering a surprise of +8.22%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.
Comcast, which belongs to the Zacks Cable Television industry, posted revenues of $29.94 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.62%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $30.31 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.
Comcast shares have lost about 21.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.6%.
What's Next for Comcast?While Comcast has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Comcast was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.02 on $30.01 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $3.48 on $121.57 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Cable Television is currently in the bottom 22% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
Another stock from the same industry, Charter Communications (CHTR - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on July 24.
This cable provider is expected to post quarterly earnings of $9.96 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +8.5%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.5% lower over the last 30 days to the current level.
Charter Communications' revenues are expected to be $13.52 billion, down 1.8% from the year-ago quarter.
Comcast má 23. července oznámit výsledky za 2. čtvrtletí 2026; konsensus čeká EPS 97 centů, meziročně o 22,4 % méně, a tržby 29,17 miliardy USD, o 3,75 % méně.
Key Takeaways CMCSA's Q2 outlook reflects fragile momentum as EPS and revenue are expected to decline year over year.CMCSA faces broadband losses, ARPU headwinds and intense fiber and fixed wireless competition.Peacock, media and theme parks face streaming costs, sports timing and travel headwinds. Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) is scheduled to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 23.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings is pegged at 97 cents per share, down by a penny over the past 30 days. The figure indicates a 22.4% decrease from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
The consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $29.17 billion, indicating a 3.75% decrease from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
CMCSA’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 7.22%.
Let us see how things are shaping up for the upcoming announcement.
Factors to ConsiderComcast is expected to have entered the second quarter of 2026 with operating momentum remaining fragile, reflecting a continuation of pressures signaled following the first quarter print. In Connectivity & Platforms, broadband performance likely stayed under strain as fiber overbuild and fixed wireless competition intensified, and satellite entrants added incremental promotional pressure. Broadband ARPU is expected to have remained under incremental pressure through the second quarter before meaningful relief materializes later in the year, reflecting the absence of a rate increase, continued migration to simplified pricing and the dilutive impact of free wireless line adoption. These dynamics are expected to have kept segment EBITDA growth constrained even as connect volumes and voluntary churn showed tentative stabilization, with elevated marketing spend tied to the go-to-market pivot likely weighing on margins.
Wireless growth likely remained comparatively resilient but is expected to have offered limited near-term financial benefit, as a large share of free line additions had not yet converted to paying relationships. Business Services growth is likely to have moderated modestly amid persistent small business competitive intensity.
Within Content & Experiences, the absence of a comparable sports calendar following the dense first quarter is expected to have weighed on Media segment advertising and distribution growth sequentially. Peacock profitability progress remains uncertain given continued exposure to NBA rights amortization and an intensely competitive streaming landscape. Theme Parks results are expected to have faced continued international headwinds, with softer China-related inbound travel trends pressuring Osaka attendance and a challenging macroeconomic backdrop weighing on Beijing.
What Our Model SaysAccording to the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that is not the case here.
Comcast currently has an Earnings ESP of +2.29% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Stocks to ConsiderHere are some stocks worth considering, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings this reporting cycle.
Amphenol (APH - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.12% and a Zacks Rank #1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Amphenol shares have gained 11.9% year to date. Amphenol is scheduled to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 29.
ASE Technology (ASX - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +21.21% and a Zacks Rank #1.
ASE Technology shares have surged 138.6% year to date. ASE Technology is set to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 30.
Fortive (FTV - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.82% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present.
Fortive shares have gained 11.9% in the year-to-date period. Fortive is set to report second-quarter 2026 results on July 29.
Wall Street očekává, že Comcast ve výsledcích za čtvrtletí končící v červnu vykáže zisk na akcii (EPS) 0,97 USD, tedy meziročně o 22,4 % méně, při tržbách ve výši 29,24 miliardy USD.
Wall Street expects a year-over-year decline in earnings on lower revenues when Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) reports results for the quarter ended June 2026. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.
The earnings report, which is expected to be released on July 23, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.
While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.
Zacks Consensus EstimateThis cable provider is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.97 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -22.4%.
Revenues are expected to be $29.24 billion, down 3.5% from the year-ago quarter.
Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.14% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.
Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.
Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).
The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.
Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.
A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.
Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).
How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Comcast?For Comcast, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +2.29%.
On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4.
So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Comcast will beat the consensus EPS estimate.
Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.
For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Comcast would post earnings of $0.73 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.79, delivering a surprise of +8.22%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times.
Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.
That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
Comcast doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.
Comcast v poslední seanci vzrostl o 1,7 % na 23,97 USD, ale za poslední měsíc ztratil 3,8 %. Trh čeká výsledky 23. července 2026; EPS má klesnout na 0,97 USD a tržby na 29,31 miliardy USD.
In the latest close session, Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) was up +1.7% at $23.97. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.79%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.26%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.55%.
Shares of the cable provider witnessed a loss of 3.8% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Consumer Discretionary sector with its gain of 0.62%, and the S&P 500's gain of 4.28%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Comcast in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on July 23, 2026. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.97, signifying a 22.40% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $29.31 billion, indicating a 3.31% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.49 per share and revenue of $121.86 billion. These totals would mark changes of -19.03% and -1.49%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Comcast. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the business and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.21% lower. Comcast is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
In the context of valuation, Comcast is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 6.76. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 4.94.
It is also worth noting that CMCSA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.94. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. CMCSA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.6 as of yesterday's close.
The Cable Television industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 237, which puts it in the bottom 4% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
HomeIndustriesComcast to pay $1.6 billion in cash upfront as well as contribute a studio arm to ITVJuly 6, 2026, 3:21 a.m. ET
ITV is selling its broadcast unit to Comcast's Sky. Photo: paul ellis/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesJust a week after Comcast announced a plan to spin off NBCUniversal, the Philadelphia media-and-broadband conglomerate said it’s buying a British broadcaster.
Comcast’s CMCSA Sky division says it will pay £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in cash and up to £200 million more, depending on advertising performance, to ITV in return for the U.K. company’s media and entertainment business, which comprises its free-to-air television, pay TV and streaming unit.
About the Author
Steven Goldstein is based in London and responsible for MarketWatch's coverage of financial markets in Europe, with a particular focus on global macro and commodities. Previously, he was Washington bureau chief, directing MarketWatch's economic, political and regulatory coverage. Follow Steve on Twitter: @MKTWgoldstein.
Comcast oddělí NBCUniversal, Peacock, Universal Studios a Sky do nové samostatné veřejné firmy. Akcie po úvodním růstu slábnou zpět k úrovním před oznámením.
Comcast Corp. NASDAQ: CMCSA dipped into a familiar playbook this week. But after an initial pop, CMCSA is drifting back to its pre-announcement levels.
Comcast Today
$23.79 +0.06 (+0.25%)
As of 07/2/2026 04:00 PM Eastern
52-Week Range$22.13▼
$36.40Dividend Yield5.55%
P/E Ratio4.68
Price Target$34.40
This isn’t a sell-the-news moment. It’s traders doing what they do, which is making a quick profit on news that doesn’t really do much for Comcast’s business.
The announcement was a spinoff of its NBCUniversal, Peacock, Universal Studios, and Sky business units into a second new public company. Comcast will retain a minority ownership stake but plans to unwind it over time. The move makes sense. Content creation in the streaming space is a competitive, cash-intensive business. Although Comcast was still posting stable revenue and earnings, the idea is that this move will unlock more value.
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A New Chapter in an Old PlaybookInvestors familiar with Comcast may think they've been here before. They have. Recently. In late 2025, the company announced it was spinning off several of its cable bundle channels, such as CNBC and USA Network, into a new company, Versant NASDAQ: VSNT.
VSNT began trading publicly in mid-December, and the early returns have been poor. The stock is down a little over 20%. That may be evidence that Comcast was wise to jettison that business. But that doesn’t mean a leaner, more focused business will deliver the growth investors may expect.
Aside from being a more streamlined stock, do analysts have a reason to re-rate Comcast? Since the announcement, the Comcast analyst forecasts on MarketBeat have rendered a split decision. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded CMCSA from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target from $24 to $31. Deutsche Bank also upgraded the stock from a Hold to a Buy, but lowered its price target to $32 from $34.
Next Up...EarningsInvestors won’t have to wait long to learn about the company’s next steps. Comcast is expected to deliver its Q2 2026 earnings report on July 23. While information about the company’s strategy is important, the more vital question may be when investors can expect to see a return on that investment, as it relates to margins and earnings.
They may be waiting a little while. In its prior earnings report, the company reported that residential broadband net losses improved 117K year-over-year to (65K) , and the company had added 435K wireless lines. It was the best quarterly result on record.
However, it also showed that the broadband market is mature. Without a new catalyst, what should investors realistically expect?
The Technical Picture Shows Slowing MomentumOver a long period of time, a stock chart tells a story. After a spike in 2020, CMCSA has been in a steady decline. The Versant spinoff and now this new transaction have done nothing to reverse the slide.
In the short term, though, charts can indicate momentum. In this case, any momentum Comcast had is already starting to fade.
Know What You OwnNone of this is to suggest that CMCSA isn’t worth owning. For starters, the company is attractively valued with a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 6.8x. That’s not only a significant discount to the broader market, but it’s also a discount to its own historical average.
But investors have to know what they own. In the case of Comcast, that amounts to a utility stock. It has a legacy business that tends to deliver sticky revenue. Plus, the company has a near monopoly in the areas in which it operates.
But it's not a high-growth business. Even though broadband is something most consumers won't give up, Comcast's pricing power is limited by growing competition from satellite offerings. Consumers may not have many alternatives, but they have enough to keep Comcast's prices in check.
That matters for how investors should size a position. Comcast isn't fighting for market share the way a growth stock would. It's managing decline at the margins while defending pricing power where it still has it. The spinoffs, Versant and now the NBCUniversal transaction are best read as portfolio triage rather than a turnaround story.
Management is narrowing its focus to the parts of the business that still throw off predictable cash, which is a defensible strategy for a mature operator, but it's not one that typically re-rates a stock higher. Investors chasing the next catalyst may be disappointed. Investors looking for income backed by a durable, if slow-growing, business have more reason to stick around.
One reason for investors to stick around would be a safe dividend that yields 5.6% as of the market close on July 1. Plus, the company has increased the dividend for 18 consecutive years. There’s a place for CMCSA in some portfolios, but it shouldn’t be confused with a growth stock.
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Comcast popírá, že by rozdělení NBCUniversal bylo přípravou na prodej, a tvrdí, že obě části mají fungovat samostatně. Firma zároveň přiznává, že změnila názor na společné fungování širokopásmového připojení a médií.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 29: Comcast announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies by spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate media company, pending regulatory and board approvals. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Getty Images
When Brian Roberts announced on June 29 that Comcast would spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate public company, an analyst asked the question behind the transaction: was this a step toward a sale?
His answer was two words: “Absolutely not.”
Pay less attention to the denial than to the admission beside it. Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh told analysts the company had “changed our mind” about whether broadband and media still belonged under one roof.
That is the more useful piece of information. The people who built a 15-year convergence bet were acknowledging that its logic no longer held.
The Convergence Bet Comes UndoneComcast bought NBCUniversal more than 15 years ago on a simple theory: own the pipe into the living room and the programming that travels through it, and you sit on both ends of the relationship with the viewer.
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That theory held while the cable wire was the gatekeeper. Streaming dissolved it.
Once any studio can reach a television over the open internet, owning the wire no longer confers the same advantage over owning the content, and the two businesses no longer share the same reason to sit together.
The market had already reached this verdict. Comcast shares had fallen about 32% over the year, to roughly $23 in the days before the announcement, down from the mid-$30s last summer. Investors had been valuing the company at a discount to the sum of its parts.
Comcast is keeping the word “converged” for the part that still works, describing its broadband-and-mobile network as the largest converged platform in the country.
The convergence that failed was the holding-company kind, distribution married to content. The kind that survives lives inside the wires.
A Script Warner Bros. Already RanComcast had already rehearsed the move with Versant, the cable-network separation that pulled slower-growth linear assets away from the rest of NBCUniversal.
The fuller template was set by Warner Bros. Discovery. It reorganized into two divisions in December 2024, then announced a full tax-free split into two public companies in June 2025, with David Zaslav describing each as built to succeed on its own terms.
The framing was standalone strength, not sale preparation.
Within months the company had a buyer and then a fight over it.
Netflix agreed on December 4 to buy the Warner Bros. studio, HBO and HBO Max, the content jewel, taken only after the linear networks were carved off, at an enterprise value of about $82.7 billion.
Paramount Skydance came over the top with a hostile all-cash offer, raised it to $31 a share with a personal financing guarantee from Larry Ellison, and won the contest in February at roughly $110 billion. Netflix, which had held the board’s recommendation, declined to match.
The Justice Department cleared the antitrust review in June, and the transaction is set to close this quarter.
Read the arc plainly: split into two, sell it as independence, deny any deal, and within a year there is an auction.
Comcast has just finished the first step using the same language. The denial is not the data point. The script is.
Why NBCUniversal Does Not Cleave As CleanlyThe flexibility Comcast keeps invoking is already being read as a deal signal. The sharper question is not whether the pieces draw buyers but which ones, because the Warner Bros. ending does not transfer cleanly to NBCUniversal.
Netflix could buy Warner Bros. because Warner Bros. had already been separated from its cable networks. NBCUniversal is being spun off whole: Universal’s studios, Peacock, NBC, Telemundo, major sports rights, Sky and theme parks, all in one company.
A content buyer that wants the studio and the streamer may not want a capital-heavy theme-park business, a broadcast network with FCC licenses or the linear exposure Netflix tried to avoid. For a clean sale of the jewel, NBCUniversal would most likely have to split a second time.
The behavior on the call already points that way. Comcast is keeping up to 19.9% of NBCUniversal to sell down over time.
Cavanagh matched the denial with his own “Definitely not,” then in the same answer claimed the freedom to go after “adjacent businesses where we have the right to play,” a denial of being a seller and an announcement of being a buyer, one sentence apart.
The analysts ended the call on the one soft question: whether each smaller company keeps the scale it needs with content partners and distributors. For NBCUniversal, that question lands hardest on the sports rights, whose escalating cost rests on the balance sheet it is about to lose.
The convergence era is not ending with one sale. It is ending with a sequence of separations that make sales easier to imagine, even when companies insist that is not the plan.
The old argument joined distribution to content. The new one prices them separately.
Rozdělení Comcast a NBCUniversal by podle analytiků nemělo vyvolat velké regulační obavy, ale případný budoucí prodej některé z částí může přitáhnout regulátory. Největší riziko vidí trh u FCC a schvalování ovlivněného Trumpem.
Comcast’s plan to split from NBCUniversal isn’t expected to draw much in the way of antitrust scrutiny. After all, the companies are essentially de-consolidating.
But after Monday’s news of the move, questions remain as to what the company will face, perhaps not so much for the split but if either of the two new entities is eventually sold.
Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts said on an investor call today that the plan was “absolutely not” to prime the company for M&A, but to “put each company in the strongest position to create value, fully monetize its assets and aggressively pursue its own organic growth strategies.”
That said, speculation will likely continue, particularly if Paramount completes its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a $110 billion mega merger that has been expected to lead to other transactions.
Hanging over all of this has been the Trump administration.
While it’s still viewed in corporate circles as much more favorable to mergers than the Biden administration, winning regulatory approval also has come with a cost. The then-Paramount Global settled Trump’s lawsuit against CBS over the way 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris, in a move widely seen as smoothing the way for FCC approval of Skydance’s purchase a few weeks later. Skydance also made commitments favored by the administration, including a vow not to pursue diversity, equity and inclusion policies and another to hire a CBS News ombudsman. New Street Research’s Blair Levin dubbed it a “Trump transaction tax.”
Here are some factors to consider on the road ahead for the Comcast-NBCU split:
FCC The FCC. The exact structure of the Comcast split has not been announced, but some analysts say it will not trigger an FCC review.
That is a big deal under any circumstances. The FCC reviews transactions that transfer control of broadcast licenses and, through a process that includes public comment, determines whether they are in the “public interest.” That injects a bit of uncertainty, but there’s some expectation that Comcast could structure the deal in a way that control of NBC’s broadcast stations does not transfer.
Back in 2005, Viacom did a split with CBS that did not undergo an FCC review. The old Viacom was renamed CBS Corp., while cable networks went to “new Viacom.” Of course, the company eventually re-merged in 2019. Still unclear is whether any other licenses Comcast holds, such as those for satellite earth stations and wireless, would be part of an FCC review, albeit those are seen as less of a challenge.
Comcast has been one of Trump’s targets: He has dubbed the company “Concast” as he has railed against news coverage and has attacked Roberts personally. FCC chairman Brendan Carr, appointed by Trump, has launched investigations into the company’s DEI practices and its relationships with its affiliates. He also has not ruled out further orders requiring early renewals of broadcast licenses, as he did with Disney.
Gigi Sohn, counselor to Obama-era FCC chairman Tom Wheeler and senior fellow at the Benton Institute, said that to go through an FCC transfer would be “walking right into it.” “Then you are at Brendan Carr’s mercy,” she said.
DOJ. The split itself is not expected to raise antitrust issues, but there is some question of what happens next, after the transaction is completed. That process is expected to take about a year.
The Department of Justice in D.C. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images John C. Hodulik, analyst for UBS, wrote in a research note Monday that the split “makes it more likely the companies will be involved in M&A in the future (within the boundaries of the tax free status of the spin).”
If there is some kind of future deal, there could be some antitrust issues, more so if NBCU is not the buyer but the entity being sold. Diana Moss, vice president and director of competition policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, wrote via email, “If it is a bigger player, then the question is whether that creates higher concentration in streaming. Who they sell to is more complicated than most would think.”
As for Comcast, she wrote that there may be issues with a combination in an industry that already has seen the proposed merger of Charter with Cox. She wrote, “There is pretty high concentration in cable and digital broadcast satellite multi-video programming distribution. Some past cable mergers have been controversial for that reason.” She wrote that she would expect “political intervention by Trump” and other regulators. “Sad…,” she wrote.
For now, Comcast is dismissing M&A talk, but there also is the matter of timing. If a Democrat is elected to the White House in 2028, the pressure on the new president could be on to take an overall hard line against mergers, creating something of a scramble to get deals through even in a Trump-influenced environment.
Hodulik wrote that the split “has started to fuel conversation around industry M&A and strategic optionality for both businesses going forward.”
He wrote, “This includes potential consolidation in cable distribution, where secular pressures from fiber, fixed wireless and satellite are impacting the core broadband business. In Media, we have seen high profile deals over the past year (FOX/ROKU, PSKY/WBD), leaving NBCU as a smaller scale Media asset. That said, any M&A would likely take time in order to preserve the tax free nature of the spin.”
Comcast plánuje oddělit mediální a technologické aktivity do dvou veřejně obchodovaných firem, včetně daňově neutrálního spin-offu NBCUniversal a Sky. Akcie v předobchodní fázi vyskočily až o 26 %.
Comcast said Monday it plans to separate its media and technology businesses into two publicly traded companies as it looks to better compete in a media landscape increasingly characterized by pressure from streaming rivals and consolidation.
The separation, which will happen via a tax-free spin-off of NBCUniversal and Sky, is expected to be completed in about one year, and Comcast shareholders will own shares in both Comcast and NBCUniversal, the company said in a statement.
Comcast shares jumped as much as 26% in premarket trading.
Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh will become CEO of NBCUniversal, while Comcast's former Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis will become CEO of Comcast.
Comcast's other co-CEO and chair, Brian L. Roberts, will continue to be actively involved in the leadership of both Comcast and NBCUniversal.
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"The transaction we are announcing will unlock a more entrepreneurial management approach and open up a multitude of new opportunities for each business," Roberts said.
"Comcast will continue to build on its leadership in connectivity, while NBCUniversal, together with Sky, will have the scale, brands, content and financial resources to compete as a premier global media and entertainment company," Cavanagh said.
Comcast said it expects to retain a stake of up to 19.9% ownership position in NBCUniversal for up to one year after the transaction is completed, which it intends to tax-efficiently monetize over time.
It comes as Comcast's share price has plummeted 30% over the past 12 months amid significant challenges facing the media industry that are driven by the shift away from the TV bundle and toward streaming.
Comcast shares over the past year.
Earlier this year, it completed the spin-off of its portfolio of cable TV networks and digital assets, which includes CNBC and MS Now, to the separate public company Versant Media.
The media sector has seen a wave of consolidation recently, as legacy players strive for scale, with few companies going public amid the challenging environment.
Paramount Skydance completed its merger last year, and earlier this month, it won DOJ approval for a $110 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery. Meanwhile, Fox entered an agreement to acquire Roku for $22 billion earlier this month.
— CNBC's Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report
Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC.
Sky, vlastněná společností Comcast, se dohodla na koupi vysílací a streamovací divize ITV za 1,6 miliardy liber. Součástí transakce má být i převzetí Love Productions společností ITV Studios.
Item 1 of 2 The Sky logo is seen illuminated on the outside of a building at the company's headquarters in West London, Britain, January 25, 2017. Photograph taken January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
[1/2]The Sky logo is seen illuminated on the outside of a building at the company's headquarters in West London, Britain, January 25, 2017. Photograph taken January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more
CompaniesLONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Sky, the Comcast (CMCSA.O), opens new tab-owned British pay TV group, has agreed on terms to buy ITV's (ITV.L), opens new tab broadcast and streaming unit, two people familiar with the matter said, with ITV acquiring "The Great British Bake Off" producer Love Productions as part of the deal.
The £1.6 billion deal had moved in a positive direction in the last week and was now being finalised by lawyers, the people said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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The total transaction value will include ITV Studios acquiring Sky's Love Productions, which also makes "The Piano" and could be valued between £80 million and £120 million based on comparable deals, and an earn-out, the people said.
Reuters reported last month that the transaction would include a payout dependent on the ITV unit's performance of about £200 million.
A deal could be announced in the next two weeks, the people said, with one source cautioning that the timing could still slip due to final legal complications.
Spokespeople for ITV and Sky declined to comment. Comcast did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Concluding the deal would end a saga that began last year, and became public in November when ITV said it was in talks to sell the unit, called Media & Entertainment, to Sky.
It has involved the complex task of separating ITV's channels and streaming platform ITVX, which comprise the unit, from its production business ITV Studios, which will be a standalone company following completion.
Reporting by Paul Sandle and Amy-Jo Crowley in London; Editing by Matthew Lewis
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