Comcast (CMCSA): Q3 sales flat like-for-like, Peacock profits again, broadband customers fall and buybacks pause
Comcast, the US cable, broadband and media group that owns NBCUniversal and Sky, reported third-quarter sales of $29,298m. That is 6.1% below a year ago as reported, but 0.5% higher once the businesses it has since spun off or sold are removed from both years. Its streaming service Peacock made a profit for the second quarter running, it lost 144,000 home broadband customers, and it has paused share buybacks until its planned split.
What happened
On 22 October 2026, Comcast published results for the three months to 30 September 2026 and filed them with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Form 8-K, the form used to report major events. Figures are in US dollars. Reported sales were $29,298m against $31,198m a year earlier. The fall is mostly because Comcast no longer owns some businesses: it completed the spin-off of Versant, its group of cable TV channels, on 2 January 2026, and sold its Sky operations in Germany on 31 May 2026. The company therefore also shows "pro forma" figures, which are non-GAAP (not the formal US accounting measure) and treat both deals as if they had happened on 1 January 2024.
Alongside the results, Comcast said it has suspended its share repurchase programme, which is when a company buys back its own shares, from the third quarter, and expects the pause to last through the proposed separation of NBCUniversal and Sky into two independent companies. The release gives no completion date; Investing.com's summary of the earnings call says management is on track to complete the transaction by the middle of 2027, which we have not seen in a primary document. Management also said Peacock earned $261m of adjusted EBITDA (a profit measure that leaves out interest, tax, depreciation and some other items) on $1.8bn of sales.
The numbers, explained
Start with the headline. Reported sales fell $1,900m (29,298 minus 31,198), or 6.1% (1,900 / 31,198). On the pro forma basis, sales were $29,298m against $29,151m, up $147m, or 0.5%. Reported profit attributable to Comcast shareholders was $3,448m against $3,332m, and profit per share under US accounting rules (GAAP) was $0.97 against $0.90. Adjusted profit per share, which leaves out items such as the amortisation (gradual write-off) of acquired intangible assets, was $1.07 against $1.12, down five cents. Adjusted EBITDA was $9,106m against $9,669m, down 5.8% (563 / 9,669), and 0.8% higher on the pro forma basis ($9,106m against $9,038m). That is about 31.1% of sales (9,106 / 29,298).
Cash tells a more cautious story. Cash from operations was $7,902m against $8,693m, down 9.1%. Spending on equipment and buildings was $3,058m, about level with $3,071m. Free cash flow, the cash left after that spending, was $4,211m against $4,945m, down $734m, or 14.8%. Per the earnings-call summary on Investing.com, management said this was helped by timing effects it expects to reverse in the fourth quarter. At 30 September, total debt was about $87.4bn and cash $7.6bn, so debt net of cash was roughly $79.8bn (our subtraction). Dividends paid were $1.2bn. Nine-month share repurchases were $2,517m against $5,618m a year earlier, reflecting the pause.
The two halves of the business moved in opposite directions. Connectivity and Platforms, the home and business broadband, wireless and cable TV side, had sales of $19,663m against $20,212m, down 2.7%, and adjusted EBITDA of $7,588m against $7,938m, down 4.4%. Content and Experiences, covering NBCUniversal's TV, film and theme parks, grew sales 6.5% to $10,537m (from $9,898m) and adjusted EBITDA 29.3% to $1,800m (from $1,392m). Within it, Media sales rose 13.0% to $5,359m, helped by $224m from FIFA World Cup rights; without that, growth was about 8% (5,135 / 4,744). Theme Parks sales fell 4.4% to $2,597m and adjusted EBITDA fell 17.0% to $780m from $940m.
Why it matters
Comcast earns money in two broad ways. It charges households and businesses for internet, mobile phone lines and TV through its cable network, and it makes and sells entertainment: TV channels, films, streaming and theme parks. The first business is large and steady but shrinking in customers. Domestic residential broadband customers fell by 144,000 in the quarter to 28,343,000, which is 554,000 (1.9%) fewer than the 28,897,000 a year earlier. Management, per the earnings-call summary, pointed to fibre competition and customers coming off promotional prices. Domestic wireless lines grew by 368,000 to 10,555,000, a sign the company is selling mobile service to its existing customers.
The second business is where the improvement is. Peacock had sales of $1.8bn against $1.4bn, an adjusted EBITDA of $261m against a loss of $217m a year earlier, and 48 million paid subscribers, up 17%. Streaming has been a costly area for media groups, so a second profitable quarter in a row is notable. Theme parks softened, which management, in the call summary, attributed to Orlando and Japan and described as temporary. For rivals, the figures show a broadband market where cable companies are losing home customers to fibre and mobile bundles; for the sector, they show how a media group can offset that with streaming and content. The planned split would separate NBCUniversal and Sky from the rest.
What to watch next
Comcast describes the separation of NBCUniversal and Sky as on track to create two independent companies, but its release gives no date, so the timetable, any filings about the structure and any change to the buyback pause are the facts to follow. Management also said, per the Investing.com call summary, that it expects a slight improvement in broadband trends in the fourth quarter, that the free-cash-flow timing benefit will reverse then, and that theme parks should return to growth in the second half of 2027. Those are the company's own expectations, not facts. Analysts surveyed by StockStory expected adjusted profit per share of $0.98 and sales of about $29.23bn; the reported $1.07 and $29.3bn were above and in line with those estimates. We have not confirmed a date for fourth-quarter results, so we do not state one.
- Pro forma: figures adjusted as if the Versant spin-off and German Sky sale had happened earlier
- Adjusted EBITDA: operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and some other items
- Free cash flow: cash from operations minus spending on equipment and buildings
- Share buyback: a company purchasing its own shares
Sources
More on Comcast (CMCSA) · Technology & AI takes
For information only. Not financial advice. See our disclaimer and editorial standards. Spotted an error? Tell us.
