Comcast Corp. continued to shed broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter, though not as many as Wall Street had expected.
Shares of the telecommunications company were rising 5% in morning trading Thursday after Comcast delivered an earnings report with a number of positive surprises for Wall Street, including beats on revenue and profit, a dividend hike and the better-than-expected broadband number.
The company earlier in the day reported 34,000 total domestic broadband net losses for the latest quarter, consisting of 31,000 net losses in the residential market and 3,000 in the business market. Analysts were expecting the company to lose a net of 61,000 domestic broadband subscribers in total, after losses of 18,000 and 19,000 in the prior two quarters.
Broadband-subscriber losses have been a notable story for cable stocks like Comcast
CMCSA,
and Charter Communications Inc.
CHTR,
lately as the market for internet service gets more competitive. Wireless companies have been making inroads into this market, with Verizon Communications Inc.
VZ,
and T-Mobile US Inc.
TMUS,
known for their fixed-wireless-access efforts, and AT&T Inc.
T,
growing its fiber business.
Meanwhile, Comcast lost a net of 389,000 domestic-video subscribers in the fourth quarter, as the cord-cutting trend continued. Analysts were expecting steeper losses, however, as the FactSet consensus was for about 462,000.
While wireless companies have been stepping on cable’s turf, cable companies have been having success in the wireless market. Comcast operates a wireless business under a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement with Verizon, and Comcast added a net of 310,000 domestic wireless lines during the fourth quarter.
In terms of financials, Comcast generated fourth-quarter net income of $3.26 billion, or 81 cents a share, compared with $3.02 billion, or 70 cents a share, a year before. On an adjusted basis, Comcast earned 84 cents a share, up from 82 cents a share a year prior, while analysts were modeling 79 cents.
Revenue came in at $31.3 billion, up from $30.6 billion a year earlier, whereas analysts were modeling $30.4 billion.
The company also announced that it was upping its dividend by about 7% to $1.24 a share. This marks the 16th year in a row that Comcast is boosting its dividend, according to the release.
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