Comcast Tops Q2 Earnings Forecasts Despite Universal Theme Parks Revenue Plummeting 94%
The second quarter of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the United States and beyond, was not a good one for theme parks. Today was Comcast’s turn to reveal just how hard hit its Universal locations were.
Revenue at Comcast’s Universal theme parks plummeted by 94.1%, the company said on Thursday. Overall, NBCUniversal’s revenue sunk 25.4%, with filmed entertainment declining 18.1% and cable TV dropping 14.7%.
There was some reason for optimism amid the bad news — namely, that Comcast did better than Wall Street’s tempered expectations predicted.
Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of 55 cents on $23.57 billion in revenue, according to a consensus compiled by Yahoo Finance. The NBCUniversal parent company reported adjusted EPS of 69 cents on $23.715 billion in revenue.
Most media companies were financially rocked in the second quarter of 2020, which is when the greatest impact (thus far, at least) of the coronavirus shutdown was felt.
*Also Read:* Comcast Tops Q1 Earnings Mark, Misses on Revenue as COVID-19 Impacts Theme Parks Business
NBCUniversal launched its new streaming service Peacock exclusively for Comcast and Cox subscribers on April 15. The platform rolled out nationwide July 15.
“Our response to COVID-19 has been extraordinarily fast and effective, and our products and brands continue to resonate strongly with our customers across all segments and all geographies. The solid results that we delivered in the quarter highlight the resilience of our company. Cable delivered record second quarter customer relationship net adds, driven by the best second quarter high-speed internet net adds in 13 years. NBCUniversal successfully launched Peacock in Cable’s footprint in April, ahead of the streaming service’s U.S. nationwide launch earlier this month, with 10 million sign-ups to date. NBCUniversal also just recently announced a deal with AMC Theatres in the U.S. that allows Universal to release titles across PVOD platforms after a 17-day exclusive theatrical window. At Sky, our flexible strategy helped retain customers until key sports returned in May and June. Overall, based on our results and the many organic growth opportunities that we have across our company, I am confident in our ability to continue to successfully navigate the impact of COVID-19, and emerge from the crisis even stronger. I could not be more proud of how our teams across Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal and Sky are together managing the business,” Brian L. Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Corporation, said in a statement prepared to accompany the financials.
Comcast stock closed Wednesday at $43.90 per share. The regular U.S. stock markets will reopen at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Roberts and other Comcast executives will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the quarter in greater detail.
More to come…
