Comcast Q4 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates, Stock Down

Financial Performance - Comcast reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of 96 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.1% and increasing 14.3% year over year [1] - Consolidated revenues rose 2.1% year over year to $31.9 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.9$26.92 billion, while adjusted EBITDA grew 9.9% to 8.8 billion [8] Segment Performance - Connectivity & Platforms revenues, accounting for 64.1% of total revenues, increased 0.2% year over year to 20.46 billion, with Residential Connectivity revenues decreasing 0.2% to $18.01 billion and Business Services Connectivity revenues rising 3.7$2.44 billion [3] - Content & Experiences revenues, making up 37.8% of total revenues, increased 5% year over year to $12.07 billion, driven by a 3.5$8.22 billion and a 16.1% increase in Peacock's paid subscribers to 36 million [5][6] - Theme Parks revenues inched up 0.1% year over year to 2.37 billion, remaining flat due to lower domestic attendance offset by higher international revenues [7] Customer Metrics - Total Customer Relationships for Connectivity & Platforms decreased by 58,000 to 51.6 million, with domestic broadband customer net losses of 139,000 and a loss of 311,000 video customers [4] - Domestic wireless customer lines increased by 307,000 [4] Cash Flow and Liquidity - As of December 31, 2024, cash and cash equivalents were 7.32 billion, down from $8.81 billion as of September 30, 2024 [10] - Comcast generated$8.08 billion in cash from operations, up from $7 billion in the previous quarter, while free cash flow decreased to$3.26 billion from $3.4 billion [11] Dividend and Share Repurchase - Comcast announced an increase in its dividend by 8 cents, or 6.5$1.32 per share for 2025, with a quarterly cash dividend of 33 cents per share payable on April 23, 2025 [12] - A new share repurchase program of $15 billion was approved, effective January 31, 2025, with no expiration date [12]