Comcast Corporation Beats In Earnings, Top And Bottom Line

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Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK) released the earnings results from its first quarter this morning, posting earnings of 68 cents per share, excluding items, on $17.41 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings per share of 64 cents on $17 billion in revenue for the quarter. GAAP earnings per share, including gains from sales and acquisition-related items, were 71 cents. According to this morning’s release, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK)’s consolidated revenue rose 13.7% year over year, while operating cash flow rose 105 and operating income increased 16.3%.Earnings excluding items rose 31.5%, while earnings excluding items increased 33.3%.

Breaking down Comcast’s earnings

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK) posted a 5.3% increase in revenue and a 4.3% increase in operating cash flow from its cable communications division. Customer relationships for the division rose to 26.8 million, an increase of 124,000. Comcast added 24,000 video customers, reporting the second quarter in a row of customer growth in that division. The company added 383,000 high-speed Internet customers during the quarter and posted a 9% increase in revenue, which is the strongest growth rate in two years. Revenue from business services approached a $4 billion annual run rate, increasing by 23.9%. Revenue from Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK)’s NBCUniversal division rose 28.8%, while operating cash flow increased by 37.6%. The company’s broadcast revenue increased 17% excluding coverage of the Olympics, and is ranked number one season to date in the key 18 to 49 demographic. The company saw a more than $200 million increase in film operating cash flow and more than $1.1 billion in revenue from coverage of the Sochi Olympics. “Overall, the company is performing well and the more planning we do for our proposed merger with Time Warner Cable, the more excited we are by the opportunities for the combined company,” said Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK), in a statement. “Comcast has tremendous momentum right now, and we believe the TWC transaction will strengthen a truly world-class organization that will be well positioned to compete and yield meaningful benefits to our customers, employees, and shareholders.”

Comcast updates capital expenditures

During the first quarter, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK) spent $1.4 billion in capital expenditures, a 6.4% increase compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company increased its spending in Cable Communications by 4.6% or $51 million. Most of that increase was spending on customer premise equipment in connection with the X1 platform deployment. The segment made up 10.6% of the company’s cable revenue during the quarter, a slight deline from 10.7% in the same quarter a year ago.

Comcast returns capital to shareholders

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (NASDAQ:CMCSK) reported that it returned $1.3 billion to shareholders during the first quarter—a 35.5% increase. That includes $508 million in dividend and the repurchase of 15 million common shares at a price of $750 million. As of the end of March, Comcast had about $6.75 billion left under its share repurchase authorization.

How Comcast stacks up to Netflix

Investors got more excited about Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)’s earnings beat last night, sending shares up by more than 7% after that report. Netflix posted 86 cents per share in earnings on revenue of $1.27 billion. Analysts had been expecting Netflix to post earnings of 83 cents a share on revenue of $1.27 billion.

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