Comcast (CMCSA) Q3 2025 results

Comcast beat Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings and revenue estimates on Thursday, but revealed widespread pressures in 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 around 31.4 million. This marked the fourth straight quarter in which Comcast failed to grow its broadband customer base.

Earlier this year, the company outlined initiatives intended to spur growth in broadband — the cornerstone of Comcast’s business — as it faces stiff competition from alternative providers, including 5G companies. The company, soon to be led by co-CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh, will be even more dependent on connectivity in the new year after its planned Versant transaction to shed cable network assets.

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

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

Also Thursday, the company announced that Steve Croney will take over as CEO of the connectivity and platforms division, succeeding longtime leader Dave Watson. Croney serves as group operations director as part of its new strategic push.

Shares of the company were down about 9% in premarket trading.

Still, Comcast’s overall business, which includes the Xfinity-branded broadband, cable TV and cellphone group as well as NBCUniversal, outperformed Wall Street estimates.

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

• Earnings per share: $1.12 adjusted vs. $1.10 expected
• Income: $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, from $3.63 billion, or 94 cents per share, a year earlier.

Taking into account 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 about 1% to $9.7 billion.

Overall revenue fell nearly 3% to $31.2 billion from $32.1 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue from the company’s connectivity and platforms business – or broadband, mobile, pay TV and other services – was $20.18 billion, down almost 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 its total to 8.9 million lines. Cable companies like Comcast are relying on their mobile businesses to grow while broadband subscribers lag behind.

The exodus from the pay TV package continued in 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 national pay TV customers.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal is expanding its portfolio of cable TV networks, including CNBC. This transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

Revenue at the company’s media unit, which houses NBCUniversal, was $6.6 billion, down nearly 20% in the period.

Excluding the impact of the Summer Olympics, which took place at the same time last year, revenue increased 4% year-on-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 past three quarters — reported losses of $217 million for the quarter, an improvement from $436 million in losses during the same period last year.

In October, NBCUniversal’s media rights deal with the NBA began, bringing professional basketball back to the NBC broadcast network and introducing it to Peacock. The addition of the NBA should give Peacock a boost.

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

Theme park revenue rose nearly 19% to $2.72 billion, with EBITDA for that unit up 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 would become the new parent company of CNBC in Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.