Comcast Corporation Tops Earnings Estimates By 1 Cent

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Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) reported its earnings before opening bell this morning, posting earnings excluding items of 51 cents per share on revenue of $15.31 billion. That’s compared to earnings of 45 cents per share on revenue of $14.88 billion in the same quarter a year ago. For the first quarter of this year, analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of 50 cents per share on revenue of $15.4 billion.

Comcast Corporation Tops Earnings Estimates By 1 Cent

The cable provider said increases in prices for cable television helped give its numbers a boost. On average, subscribers paid approximately $3.40 per month more than they did in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue for its cable networks rose 4.6 percent to $2.2 billion compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) also said its theme park revenue gave its first quarter numbers a  boost, rising 12.2 percent to $462 million, compared to $412 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company said higher attendance at its Hollywood and Orlando parks drove the revenue increase.

Revenue for NBCUniversal, which the company completed the acquisition of during the quarter, fell 2.4 percent to $5.3 billion. However, when excluding the $259 million in revenue generated by the broadcast of the Super Bowl last year, revenue rose 2.4 percent. Overall broadcast television revenue fell 18.5 percent to $1.5 billion during the quarter, although it fell only 5.3 percent when removing the revenue generated by the Super Bowl broadcast last year.

During the first three months of the year, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) paid $429 million in dividends and bought back 13.3 million of its common shares at a price of $500 million. At the end of March, the company had about $3 billion left on its share repurchase authorization.

As of the moment of this writing, shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) were up 2 percent in pre-market trading.

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