PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) today reported results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

"We delivered strong first quarter results as our team executed exceptionally well," said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation. "We grew Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS, and generated a significant amount of free cash flow. We accomplished all of this while continuing to invest in future growth initiatives. Also, importantly, we had solid revenue growth in our high-margin connectivity businesses, while increasing our Peacock subscribers more than 60% year-over-year. Our theme parks set a new record of Adjusted EBITDA for a first quarter. In addition, we returned a healthy amount of capital to our shareholders and maintained an enviable balance sheet. As we look ahead, we have great momentum across the company, including Studios where Super Mario Bros. has smashed global box office records to become one of the most successful movies of 2023."

For additional detail on segment revenue and expenses, customer metrics, capital expenditures, and free cash flow, please refer to the trending schedule on Comcast’s Investor Relations website at www.cmcsa.com.

1st Quarter 2023 Highlights:

• Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA Increased 2.9% to $9.4 Billion; Adjusted EPS Increased 7.0% to $0.92; Generated Free Cash Flow of $3.8 Billion
• Returned $3.2 Billion to Shareholders Through a Combination of $1.2 Billion in Dividend Payments and $2.0 Billion in Share Repurchases
• Connectivity & Platforms Adjusted EBITDA Increased 3.2% to $8.1 Billion, Driven by Growth in Residential Connectivity Revenue and Business Services Connectivity Revenue and Lower Operating Expenses. Excluding the Impact of Foreign Currency, Connectivity & Platforms Adjusted EBITDA Increased 3.9% and Adjusted EBITDA Margin Increased 160 Basis Points to 40.2%
• Domestic Broadband Average Rate Per Customer Increased 4.5% and Drove Domestic Broadband Revenue Growth of 4.8% to $6.3 Billion
• Peacock Paid Subscribers in the U.S. Increased More Than 60% Compared to the Prior Year Period to 22 Million. Peacock Revenue Increased 45% to $685 Million
• Theme Parks Adjusted EBITDA Increased 46% to $658 Million. Opened Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood in February, in Advance of the Record-Breaking Theatrical Performance of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in April

Consolidated Financial Results

Revenue decreased 4.3%, reflecting an unfavorable comparison to the prior year period, which included our broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl. Net Income Attributable to Comcast increased 8.0%. Adjusted Net Income was consistent with the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA increased 2.9%.

Earnings per Share (EPS) increased 16.7% to $0.91. Adjusted EPS increased 7.0% to $0.92.

Capital Expenditures increased 43.5% to $2.7 billion. Connectivity & Platforms’ capital expenditures increased 29.7% to $2.0 billion, primarily reflecting higher investment in scalable infrastructure and line extensions. Content & Experiences' capital expenditures increased $343 million to $651 million, reflecting increased investment in constructing the Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, which is scheduled to open in 2025.

Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities was $7.2 billion. Free Cash Flow was $3.8 billion.

Dividends and Share Repurchases. Comcast paid dividends totaling $1.2 billion and repurchased 52.5 million of its common shares for $2.0 billion, resulting in a total return of capital to shareholders of $3.2 billion.

Connectivity & Platforms

Change percentages represent year/year growth rates. Change in Adjusted EBITDA margin is presented as year/year basis point changes.

Revenue for Connectivity & Platforms decreased compared to the prior year period. Excluding the impact of foreign currency, revenue was consistent with the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA increased due to growth in Residential Connectivity & Platforms Adjusted EBITDA and Business Services Connectivity Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 40.2%.

Total Customer Relationships for Connectivity & Platforms increased by 82,000 to 52.5 million. Increases in international residential connectivity & platforms customer relationships and business services connectivity customer relationships were partially offset by a decrease in domestic residential connectivity & platforms customer relationships. Total domestic broadband customer net additions were 5,000, total domestic wireless line net additions were 355,000 and total domestic video customer net losses were 614,000.

Residential Connectivity & Platforms

Change percentages represent year/year growth rates. Change in Adjusted EBITDA margin is presented as year/year basis point changes.

Revenue for Residential Connectivity & Platforms decreased in the first quarter, but was consistent with the prior year period when excluding the impact of foreign currency. Residential connectivity revenue increased, driven by growth in domestic broadband revenue, domestic wireless revenue and international connectivity revenue. Domestic broadband revenue increased primarily due to an increase in average rates. Domestic wireless revenue increased due to an increase in the number of customer lines and device sales. International connectivity revenue increased due to an increase in wireless revenue, reflecting higher sales of devices and wireless services, and an increase in broadband revenue, partially offset by the negative impact of foreign currency. The growth in residential connectivity was offset by a decrease in video revenue, other revenue and advertising revenue. Video revenue decreased due to a decline in the number of video customers and the negative impact of foreign currency, partially offset by an increase in average rates. Other revenue decreased primarily due to lower voice revenue, driven by a decline in the number of residential wireline voice customers and the negative impact of foreign currency. Advertising revenue decreased primarily due to overall market weakness, the negative impact of foreign currency and a decline in domestic political advertising.

Adjusted EBITDA for Residential Connectivity & Platforms increased due to lower operating expenses. Programming expenses decreased primarily driven by a decline in the number of domestic video customers and the impact of foreign currency, partially offset by domestic contractual rate increases and an increase in programming expenses for international sports channels. Non-programming expenses decreased primarily due to the impact of foreign currency, lower spending on marketing and promotion, lower technical and support costs and lower fees paid to third-party channels relating to advertising sales. These decreases were partially offset by increased direct product costs associated with our wireless phone service, resulting from increases in device sales and the number of customers receiving the service. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 37.8%.

Business Services Connectivity

Change percentages represent year/year growth rates. Change in Adjusted EBITDA margin is presented as year/year basis point changes.

Revenue for Business Services Connectivity increased due to an increase in revenue from small business customers, driven by higher average rates, and an increase in revenue from medium-sized and enterprise customers.

Adjusted EBITDA for Business Services Connectivity increased due to higher revenue, partially offset by higher operating expenses. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to higher direct product costs. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 58.3%.

Content & Experiences

Revenue for Content & Experiences decreased due to an unfavorable comparison to the prior year period, which included $1.5 billion of incremental revenue from our broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl in the Media segment.

Adjusted EBITDA for Content & Experiences decreased due to lower revenue, which more than offset lower operating expenses. The decrease in operating expenses was primarily due to lower programming and production costs in Media, driven by lower costs associated with our broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl in the prior year period, partially offset by higher costs at Peacock as the service scales.

Media

Revenue for Media decreased primarily due to lower domestic advertising revenue and domestic distribution revenue, reflecting the comparison to the Beijing Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl in the prior year period. Excluding $1.5 billion of incremental revenue from these events, Media revenue decreased 2.0%. Domestic advertising revenue decreased primarily due to the Beijing Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl in the prior year period. Excluding the incremental revenue from these events, domestic advertising revenue decreased 6.1%, primarily due to lower revenue at our networks, driven by audience ratings declines, partially offset by an increase in revenue at Peacock. Domestic distribution revenue decreased primarily due to the Beijing Olympics in the prior year period. Excluding the incremental revenue from this event, distribution revenue increased 3.8%, primarily due to higher revenue at Peacock, driven by an increase in paid subscribers. Other revenue decreased primarily due to lower content licensing. International networks revenue increased, reflecting an increase in revenue associated with the distribution of sports channels, partially offset by the negative impact of foreign currency.

Adjusted EBITDA for Media decreased due to lower revenue, which more than offset lower operating expenses. The decrease in operating expenses was primarily due to lower programming and production costs, reflecting lower costs associated with our broadcast of the Beijing Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl in the prior year period, partially offset by higher programming costs at Peacock. Media results in the first quarter include $685 million of revenue and an Adjusted EBITDA6 loss of $704 million related to Peacock, compared to $472 million of revenue and an Adjusted EBITDA6 loss of $456 million in the prior year period.

Studios

Revenue for Studios increased primarily due to higher theatrical revenue, which reflected the successful performance of recent releases, including Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and M3GAN, partially offset by lower content licensing revenue, driven by the timing of when content was made available by our film and television studios.

Adjusted EBITDA for Studios increased due to higher revenue and consistent operating expenses. The consistent operating expenses reflected an increase in marketing and promotion expenses due to higher spending on recent and upcoming theatrical film releases, offset by lower other expenses and lower programming and production expenses, which was primarily due to lower costs associated with content licensing sales.

Theme Parks

Revenue for Theme Parks increased due to higher revenue at our international theme parks, which were negatively impacted by restrictions due to COVID-19 in the prior year period, and higher revenue at our domestic theme parks, including Universal Studios Hollywood which opened Super Nintendo World during the quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA for Theme Parks increased, reflecting higher revenue, which more than offset higher operating expenses. The increase in operating expenses was due to higher costs associated with increased guest attendance.

Headquarters & Other

Content & Experiences Headquarters & Other includes overhead, personnel costs and costs associated with corporate initiatives. Headquarters & Other Adjusted EBITDA loss in the first quarter was $232 million.

Eliminations

Amounts represent eliminations of transactions between our Content & Experiences segments, the most significant being content licensing between the Studios and Media segments, which are affected by the timing of recognition of content licenses. Revenue eliminations were consistent with the prior year period and Adjusted EBITDA eliminations were a benefit of $24 million, compared to a loss of $62 million in the prior year period.

Corporate, Other and Eliminations

Corporate & Other
Corporate & Other primarily includes overhead and personnel costs; Sky operations outside of the Connectivity & Platforms markets; Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Philadelphia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Xumo, our consolidated streaming platform joint venture beginning in June 2022. Revenue for Corporate and Other was consistent with the prior year period.

Adjusted EBITDA loss for Corporate & Other increased, reflecting consistent revenue and higher operating expenses. Operating expenses increased primarily due to costs related to Xumo.

Eliminations
Amounts represent eliminations of transactions between Connectivity & Platforms, Content & Experiences and other businesses, the most significant being distribution of television network programming between the Media and Residential Connectivity & Platforms segments. Revenue eliminations were $1.4 billion, compared to $1.6 billion in the prior year period, and Adjusted EBITDA eliminations were $3 million compared to a loss of $82 million in the prior year period.

Conference Call and Other Information
Comcast Corporation will host a conference call with the financial community today, April 27, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time (ET). The conference call and related materials will be broadcast live and posted on our Investor Relations website at www.cmcsa.com. Those parties interested in participating via telephone should dial (646) 828-8195 with the passcode 398279. A replay of the call will be available starting at 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 27, 2023 on the Investor Relations website.

From time to time, we post information that may be of interest to investors on our website at www.cmcsa.com and on our corporate website, www.comcastcorporation.com. To automatically receive Comcast financial news by email, please visit www.cmcsa.com and subscribe to email alerts.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements. In evaluating these statements, readers should consider various factors, including the risks and uncertainties we describe in the “Risk Factors” sections of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include changes in and/or risks associated with: the competitive environment; consumer behavior; the advertising market; programming costs; consumer acceptance of our content; key distribution and/or licensing agreements; use and protection of our intellectual property; our reliance on third-party hardware, software and operational support; keeping pace with technological developments; cyber attacks, security breaches or technology disruptions; weak economic conditions; acquisitions and strategic initiatives; operating businesses internationally; natural disasters, severe weather-related and other uncontrollable events; loss of key personnel; laws and regulations; adverse decisions in litigation or governmental investigations; labor disputes; and other risks described from time to time in reports and other documents we file with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. The amount and timing of any dividends and share repurchases are subject to business, economic and other relevant factors.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In this discussion, we sometimes refer to financial measures that are not presented according to generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. (GAAP). Certain of these measures are considered “non-GAAP financial measures” under the SEC regulations; those rules require the supplemental explanations and reconciliations that are in Comcast’s Form 8-K (Quarterly Earnings Release) furnished to the SEC.

About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company. From the connectivity and platforms we provide, to the content and experiences we create, our businesses reach hundreds of millions of customers, viewers, and guests worldwide. We deliver world-class broadband, wireless, and video through Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky; produce, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through brands including NBC, Telemundo, Universal, Peacock, and Sky; and bring incredible theme parks and attractions to life through Universal Destinations & Experiences. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

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Source: Comcast Corporation