In a quarter when analysts expected growth to slow substantially, Comcast surpassed almost every expectation, adding 354,000 broadband customers and reporting strong revenue and cash flow growth in the second quarter.
Comcast’s broadband subscriber additions were its best second quarter results ever and beat analysts’ consensus estimates of 270,000 additions soundly. On the cable side, revenue grew 11% to $16 billion (ahead of analysts’ consensus estimates of $15.7 billion) and cash flow rose 14.5% to $7.1 billion, beating consensus predictions of $6.8 billion. Even video customer losses at 399,000 in the quarter beat expectations of a loss of 430,000 customers. Comcast also added about 280,000 wireless customers, ending the period with about 3.4 million Xfinity Mobile subscribers.
Overall, consolidated revenue was up 20.5% to $28.5 billion and consolidated cash flow rose 12,6% to $8.9 billion.
In a press release, Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said he was pleased with results.
“I have great confidence in our strategy and our ability to execute, which is reflected in our decision to restart our share repurchase program during the quarter, earlier than previously planned," Roberts said in a press release.
Analysts were impressed with the Q2 results, which they expected to be the first period in a long growth slowdown after 2020’s record growth.
“The strong broadband results, combined with better home broadband performance at AT&T and Verizon, give us comfort that overall broadband subscriber growth trends remain healthy, without material broadband pull-forward at the national level,” Evercore ISI Group media analyst Vijay Jayant wrote in a note to clients. .
