OREANDA-NEWS. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) today reported results for the quarter ended September 30, 2015.

Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation, said, "I'm pleased to report that our businesses generated outstanding revenue and operating cash flow growth for the third quarter of 2015. At Cable Communications, overall customer relationships increased 156,000, a 90% improvement compared to last year, video subscriber results were the best for a third quarter in 9 years, high-speed Internet subscriber results were the best for a third quarter in 6 years, and churn across all product categories continues to improve. NBCUniversal also delivered terrific results, including another record-breaking box office quarter driven by Minions and Jurassic World, the highest summer attendance ever at our theme parks, and maintaining the #1 broadcast network ranking for the 5th summer in a row. These outstanding results from our unique portfolio of complementary businesses underscore our confidence that we are well positioned to compete, continue our strong performance and drive shareholder value."

 

Consolidated Financial Results
      3rd Quarter     Year to Date
($ in millions)     2014   2015   Growth     2014   2015   Growth
Revenue     $16,791   $18,669   11.2%     $51,043   $55,265   8.3%
Excluding Olympics and Super Bowl                   $49,940   $54,889   9.9%
Operating Cash Flow1     $5,704   $6,184   8.4%     $17,046   $18,406   8.0%
Excluding Transaction-Related Costs     $5,781   $6,184   7.0%     $17,184   $18,584   8.2%
Operating Income     $3,745   $4,001   6.9%     $11,117   $11,996   7.9%
Earnings per Share2     $0.99   $0.80   (19.2%)     $2.46   $2.45   (0.4%)
Excluding Adjustments     $0.73   $0.80   9.6%     $2.17   $2.43   12.0%
Free Cash Flow3     $2,494   $2,663   6.8%     $6,473   $7,347   13.5%
 

Consolidated Revenue for the third quarter of 2015 increased 11.2% to $18.7 billion. Consolidated Operating Cash Flow increased 8.4% to $6.2 billion. Excluding $77 million of Time Warner Cable and Charter transaction-related costs in the third quarter of 2014, consolidated operating cash flow increased 7.0% (see Table 5). Consolidated Operating Income increased 6.9% to $4.0 billion.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, consolidated revenue increased 8.3% to $55.3 billion. Consolidated operating cash flow increased 8.0% to $18.4 billion. Excluding $178 million of transaction-related costs in the first nine months of 2015 and $138 million in the first nine months of 2014, consolidated operating cash flow increased 8.2% (see Table 5). Consolidated operating income increased 7.9% to $12.0 billion.

Earnings per Share (EPS) for the third quarter of 2015 was $0.80, a 19.2% decrease from the $0.99 reported in the third quarter of 2014, which included a $724 million, or $0.28, benefit due to favorable income tax adjustments. Excluding income tax adjustments and transaction-related costs in the third quarter of 2014, EPS increased 9.6% to $0.80 (see Table 4).

EPS for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was $2.45, a 0.4% decrease from the $2.46 reported in the prior year. Excluding adjustments in the first nine months of 2015 and 2014, EPS increased 12.0% to $2.43 (see Table 4).

Capital Expenditures increased 11.0% to $2.2 billion in the third quarter of 2015 compared to the third quarter of 2014. Cable Communications' capital expenditures increased 12.6% to $1.9 billion in the third quarter of 2015, primarily reflecting increased spending on customer premise equipment related to the deployment of the X1 platform and wireless gateways and our ongoing investment to expand business services. Cable capital expenditures represented 15.8% of Cable revenue in the third quarter of 2015 compared to 14.9% in last year's third quarter. NBCUniversal's capital expenditures decreased 2.2% to $289 million in the third quarter of 2015.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, capital expenditures increased 12.8% to $5.9 billion compared to the prior year. Cable Communications capital expenditures increased $690 million, or 16.1%, to $5.0 billion and represented 14.2% of Cable revenue compared to 13.0% in 2014. NBCUniversal's capital expenditures decreased $55 million, or 6.2%, to $829 million for the first nine months of 2015.