Comcast reported a mixed set of results for Q2 2024. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.21 per share, up 7% compared to last year, although revenue declined by 2.7% to $29.6 billion. While Comcast lost 120,000 total domestic broadband customers, this was offset by a higher average revenue per customer.
Comcast's Xfinity Mobile business, which relies on an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) agreement with Verizon, has been gaining traction. Domestic Wireless customer lines stood at 7.2 million in Q2 2024, up by about 20% compared to the prior year. This wireless product has more room to grow, given that just a little over 10% of Comcast's base of residential broadband customers are presently subscribed to the offering.
Comcast is a global media and technology company. Comcast is one of the largest providers of high-speed internet, video, and voice services in the United States. The company's media business includes NBCUniversal, which operates cable networks, broadcast television, filmed entertainment, and theme parks. Comcast's Sky business, based in Europe operates video, high-speed internet, voice, and wireless phone services and also runs the Sky News broadcast network and Sky Sports networks.
Below are key drivers of Comcast's value that present opportunities for upside or downside to the current Trefis price estimate for Comcast:
Connectivity & Platforms EBITDA Margin: Comcast's Connectivity division's EBITDA margins stood at 38.8% in 2021 and rose to 41.1% in 2023, driven by better cost management. Trefis expects the metric to remain roughly flat going forward. However, if Comcast is able to boost margins to around 45% driven by higher-priced broadband plans and lower costs, there could be a 10% upside to our price estimate.
For additional details, select a driver above or select a division from the interactive Trefis split for Comcast at the top of the page.
We believe that Comcast's Cable Communications business is the biggest driver of its valuation for a couple of reasons.
Comcast had 15.6 million pay-TV subscribers and about 32 million broadband subscribers as of 2022. Going forward, we expect that broadband subscribers will continue to grow while the pay-TV subscriber base will shrink in the long term.
There is quite a difference between fees per subscriber for Comcast's pay-TV and broadband subscribers. Comcast is making on average $114 per month from its pay-TV subscribers compared with $64 per month for broadband subscribers.
With pay-TV services facing competition from online streaming companies such as Netflix, many cable TV users are cutting the cord. However, Comcast has been taking steps to cater to this growing market. The company's direct-to-consumer streaming service Peacock was launched in July 2020, offering both ad-supported and ad-free subscription options. The business has been gaining traction, with its subscriber base rising from around 9 million as of December 2021 to 34 million as of early 2024.
Comcast's Universal movie studio has been increasingly focusing on movie franchises, which have larger audiences and greater brand recognition, making them more likely to succeed than standalone films. Some popular franchises from the company include Fast and Furious, Despicable Me, and Fifty Shades. Universal also successfully revived the fan-favorite Jurassic Park franchise. The studio also has other relatively lower-grossing franchise properties such as Pitch Perfect, Jason Bourne, Neighbors, Ted, The Purge, Snow White, and the Huntsman, etc.
NBCUniversal, along with Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment Co. (a consortium of four state-owned companies), opened a new Universal theme park in Beijing in September 2021. The park is spread over 300 acres and will eventually expand to 1,000 acres. The property also includes two hotels. Amusement parks in China are among the most attended in the world and this could help to drive NBCUniversal's theme park business.
