Comcast (CMCSA) Q3 2025 earnings

Comcast It topped Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings and revenue forecasts on Thursday, but revealed widespread pressures at its broadband unit that spooked investors.

The company said it lost 104,000 domestic broadband customers during the period, bringing its total subscriber base to about 31.4 million. This marks the fourth straight quarter that Comcast has failed to grow its broadband customer base.

Earlier this year, the company outlined initiatives aimed at driving broadband growth — a cornerstone of Comcast’s business — as it faced intense competition from alternative providers, namely 5G companies. The company, which will soon be led by co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Kavanagh, will be more reliant on connectivity in the new year following Versant’s planned deal to offload cable network assets.

During Thursday’s call with investors, Kavanagh reiterated that “the broadband environment remains intensely competitive.”

Comcast leadership indicated on Thursday’s call that its broadband business will see a decline in earnings, noting it began this quarter and will continue through future quarters. CFO Jason Armstrong also added that average revenue per user, or ARPU, is not expected to grow as the company focuses on initiatives to maintain and grow its customer base.

The company also announced Thursday that Steve Crone will take over as CEO of its communications and platforms division, succeeding longtime leader Dave Watson. Cronje is the group’s chief operating officer amid its new strategic campaign.

The company’s shares fell about 9% in pre-market trading.

However, Comcast’s total business, which consists of its Xfinity-branded broadband group, cable TV and mobile group as well as NBCUniversal, beat Wall Street estimates.

Here’s how Comcast performed this period compared to average analyst estimates, according to LSEG:

• EPS: $1.12 revised versus $1.10 expected
• profit: $31.2 billion versus $30.70 billion expected

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, net income attributable to Comcast fell 8% to $3.33 billion, or 90 cents per share, compared with $3.63 billion, or 94 cents per share, a year ago.

Adjusting for one-time items, such as interest expense and the value of certain assets, Comcast reported earnings per share of $1.12 for the quarter.

The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell nearly 1% to $9.7 billion.

Total revenue fell nearly 3% to $31.2 billion, compared to $32.1 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue for the company’s communications and platforms business — or broadband, mobile, pay TV and other services — was $20.18 billion, down about 1% from the same period last year.

Comcast once again said it added a record number of mobile customers — 414,000 during the third quarter, bringing the total number of lines to 8.9 million. Cable companies like Comcast are relying on their mobile business for growth as broadband subscribers lag.

The exodus from the pay-TV package continued during the third quarter, with Comcast reporting that the segment lost 257,000 customers during the period. As of September 30, Comcast had 11.5 million domestic pay-TV customers.

Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal is spinning off its portfolio of cable TV networks, including CNBC. This deal is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

Revenue for the company’s media unit, which includes NBCUniversal, was $6.6 billion, down nearly 20% during the period.

Excluding the impact of the Summer Olympics, which were held during the same period last year, revenues increased 4% year over year.

The media division reported EBITDA of $832 million, up 28% year-over-year, driven in part by streaming service Peacock.

Peacock, which had 41 million subscribers as of Sept. 30 — essentially flat over the last three quarters — reported losses of $217 million during the quarter, an improvement from losses of $436 million during the same period last year.

In October, a media rights deal between NBCUniversal and the NBA began, bringing professional basketball back to the NBC streaming network and brought to Peacock. The addition of the NBA is expected to give Peacock a boost.

Meanwhile, movie studio revenue rose 6% to $3 billion – boosted by the release of Jurassic World Rebirth in July.

Theme park revenue increased nearly 19% to $2.72 billion, with EBITDA for that unit increasing 13% to $958 million due to the opening of Epic Universe in May.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant will become the new parent company of CNBC based on Comcast’s planned spin-off of Versant.