Comcast Corporation Class A (CMCSA.US) Q1 performance exceeds expectations: Broadband losses significantly narrow, sports events boost media revenue.

Comcast Corporation Class A (CMCSA.US) announced its first-quarter financial report before the US stock market on Thursday. Benefiting from a significant improvement in broadband customer losses and a sharp increase in advertising revenue from the "Legendary February" super sports events, both revenue and profit exceeded market expectations. Boosted by this, the company's stock price surged more than 9% in pre-market trading. Data shows that Comcast Corporation Class A achieved revenue of $31.46 billion in the first quarter, an increase of about 5% year-on-year, higher than Wall Street's expected $30.43 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were 79 cents, also higher than analysts' expected 73 cents. However, due to the impact of special projects and changes in investment income, the company's net profit in the quarter decreased by nearly 36% year-on-year to $2.17 billion, or 60 cents per share. Overall, adjusted EBITDA decreased by approximately 17% to $7.93 billion. Improvement in broadband losses, mobile business becomes new support In the core field of cable communications, Comcast Corporation Class A's broadband user defense battle is starting to show results. In the first quarter, there was a net loss of 65,000 broadband users in the US, which not only outperformed the estimated loss of nearly 170,000, but was also much better than the loss of 183,000 in the same period last year. Cable TV user losses were 322,000, narrower than the 427,000 in the same period last year. To cope with the intense competition from wireless carriers like Verizon (VZ.US) and T-Mobile (TMUS.US), Comcast Corporation Class A adjusted its marketing strategy over the past year, launching a $45 per month broadband package that does not increase in price for five years and offering one year of free mobile service for internet users. Recently, the company has added mobile promotion offers, including device upgrades and international travel data, to drive a net addition of 435,000 mobile lines this quarter, bringing the total number of mobile customers to 9.7 million. In terms of department performance, revenue from residential connectivity and platform business, including Xfinity broadband, TV, and mobile services, decreased by 2% to $17.32 billion. Revenue for the entire connectivity and platform segment covering enterprise services was approximately $19.96 billion, flat compared to the same period last year, with adjusted EBITDA down 4% to $7.91 billion. Super Bowl and Winter Olympics boost advertising revenue, sports rights costs weigh on profit NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation Class A, experienced a "Legendary February" this quarter, broadcasting the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, and NBA All-Star Game, resulting in a sharp 61% year-on-year increase in media business revenue to $7.28 billion. Domestic advertising revenue surged 135% to $3.45 billion; even excluding the impact of the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, advertising revenue still increased by 4.7% to $1.54 billion. The sports events also drove growth on the streaming platform Peacock. Paid Peacock users grew by 12% year-on-year to 46 million, slightly lower than the expected 47.6 million; revenue almost doubled to $2.1 billion. However, due to high sports rights costs for events like the Olympics, Super Bowl, and NBA, Peacock's quarterly loss reached $432 million, higher than market expectations; the media segment's adjusted EBITDA loss was $426 million. Strong performance in theme parks, studio revenue growth In the company's Content and Experiences segment, theme parks stood out due to the opening of the new Epic Universe park in Orlando, with revenue soaring 24% to $2.33 billion; film studio revenue grew by 21% to $3.43 billion. In addition, Comcast Corporation Class A completed the spinoff of a portion of its cable television networks into the independent company Versant Media Group in January. Year-to-date, Comcast Corporation Class A's stock has risen by about 5%, and the surge in pre-market trading has further narrowed the 16% gap with competitor Charter Communications (CHTR.US).