Comcast Beats Zacks Estimate

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA - Analyst Report) today reported its third quarter results. Net income was $944 million or 33 cents, compared to $771 million or 26 cents in the prior-year quarter. The company’s adjusted (excluding tax benefit and one time financing charges) EPS stood at 28 cents, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 25 cents. Effective expense control and working capital management were the primary reasons for this solid performance. 

Total revenues were $8.8 billion, up 3% year over year and mostly in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Top-line growth was mainly attributable to the strong performance of both Cable and Programming segments.
 
Gross margin in the third quarter was 60.3%, compared to 60.9% in the year-ago quarter. The operating margin was 37.8% in the reported quarter, remains same year over year. For the third quarter, Comcast declared the dividend of $0.07 per common share, compared to $0.06 in the year-ago quarter. During the same quarter, the company repurchased 16.1 million common shares for total consideration of $250 million.
 
Cash and marketable securities, at the end of the third quarter was around $6.2 billion, compared to a little over $6 billion at the end of the prior-year quarter. Total debt, at the end of the same quarter was approximately $29.5 billion, compared to $32.5 billion at the end of the prior-year quarter. Excluding the impact of Economic Stimulus Packages, free cash flow during the third quarter was $1.1 billion, up 19.8% year over year.
 
Cable Segment

Quarterly revenues from Cable segment were $8.4 billion in the, up 2.8% year over year. Operating cash flow from this segment was $3.3 billion, up 2% year over year. At the end of the reported quarter, Comcast had 15.684 million (up 6.4% year over year) High-Speed Internet customers; 7.379 million (up 20.3% year over year) Voice customers; 23.759 million (down 2.7% year over year) Video customers; and 18.005 million (up 7.4% year over year) Digital Video customers.
 
Programming Segment

Quarterly revenues from Programming segment were $383 million, up 10.3% year over year. This was mainly due to higher affiliate and advertising revenue. Operating cash flow from this segment was $118 million, up 12.5% year over year.
 
Corporate & Other Segment

Quarterly revenues from Corporate & Other segment were $63 million, down 10.7% year over year. Operating cash flow from this segment was a loss of $106 million in the same quarter, compared to a loss of $119 million in the year-ago quarter.

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