Before the opening bell on Tuesday, Comcast (CMCSA ) reported higher fourth quarter results, but missed EPS estimates.
CMCSA's Earnings in Brief
- Comcast reported earnings of $1.925 billion, or 74 cents per share, up from $1.91 billion, or 72 cents per share, a year ago.
- Excluding special items, EPS was 77 cents, below analysts’ expectation of 78 cents.
- Revenue increased 4.8% to $17.73 billion from $16.93 billion. Analysts expected to see $17.68 billion in revenue.
CEO Commentary
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts had the following comments: “2014 was a great year financially, operationally, and strategically for Comcast NBCUniversal. We continued to execute incredibly well as we accelerated our innovation, launched new products, and brought amazing films, shows and theme park attractions to consumers. Cable’s results, driven by High-Speed Internet and Business Services, demonstrate our focus on driving profitable growth and technology innovations, including our transformative X1 platform. This is bearing fruit in our operating performance, as we added 358,000 customer relationships, while video subscriber trends were the best in 7 years and in broadband we added over 1 million subscribers for the ninth year in a row…"
CMCSA's Dividend
Comcast announced that it has boosted its quarterly dividend by 11% to 25 cents, or $1.00 annually. The next dividend will be paid on April 22 to shareholders of record on April 1.
Stock Performance
Shares of CMCSA were down 99 cents, or 1.70% during premarket trading Tuesday. The stock has been flat YTD.
The Bottom Line
Comcast (CMCSA ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.
