Comcast Q4 Revenue Grows As 2015 Films Flourish, Cable Sub Losses Slow

Comcast Corp. on Wednesday said it had net income of $2.06 billion, or 79 cents a share in its fiscal fourth quarter, up from $2 billion, or 74 cents per share a year ago. Adjusted earnings for the quarter were 81 cents per share, just below the FactSet consensus of 82 cents. Revenue grew to $19.25 billion in the quarter, compared with $17.73 in the year earlier period and it was above the FactSet consensus of $18.77 billion. Comcast Chairman and Chief Executive Brian Roberts hung the results on the record-breaking year for NBCUniversal's theme park and film categories. Comcast's cable lost 36,000 video subscribers over the course of 2015, compared with the 194,000 it lost the year before--Comcast now services 22.35 million subscribers. Internet customers grew 1.37 million in 2015 to 23.33 million. The company said it spent $6.75 billion on share buy backs in 2015 and plans to spend $5 billion to buy back shares this year. Shares of Comcast were up 0.5% in pre-market trade.