Comcast (CMCSA) Q3 2026 earnings review
Comcast's streaming profit rises, but home internet losses widen
Comcast's media and movie divisions grew strongly, while its main US cable and theme park businesses lost ground. Sales from businesses owned a year ago — stripping out the spun-off Versant networks and sold German operations — edged up 0.5%, while profit per share excluding one-offs fell 4%. Co-chief executives Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh pointed to a second straight profitable quarter at the Peacock streaming service and record box office sales from The Odyssey.
| Sales from businesses owned a year ago | $29.3B +0.5% from a year ago |
|---|---|
| Profit per share, excluding one-offs | $1.07 -4.0% from a year ago |
| US home internet customer net losses | -144,000 -91,000 a year ago |
| Share buyback plan | Paused suspended until the mid-2027 split |
⚖️ Verdict: 🔴 Bearish
The story got worse because US home internet customer losses widened against last year after four straight quarters of improvement, and Theme Parks operating profit dropped 17% on ticket discounts. On the brighter side, customers rolling off free one-year mobile promotions began paying, which narrowed the revenue decline across combined internet and mobile services.
The question now is whether expiring free mobile lines will generate enough new phone revenue to offset lower home internet prices and customer losses. Either paid mobile conversions lift combined cable revenue back to growth, or the cable company emerges from next year's split with a shrinking core business. Fourth-quarter internet customer losses and mobile service revenue will show which way the transition is heading.
🐂 Bull Case
Peacock Delivered a Second Profitable Quarter
Peacock, Comcast's streaming service, used to lose hundreds of millions of dollars every quarter. In the third quarter it earned $261 million in Adjusted EBITDA, which is operating profit before depreciation, amortization and one-offs, compared with a $217 million loss a year ago. Co-chief executives Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh said strong distribution growth drove the $1.8 billion in quarterly Peacock revenue, which rose 29% from a year ago by our math.
The streaming service kept all 48 million paid subscribers it had at the end of June, up 17% from 41 million a year earlier. Holding the subscriber base flat from last quarter matters because the summer FIFA World Cup tournament ended in July. Media operating costs rose just 2.1% to $4.59 billion, as lower programming expenses at Peacock helped offset World Cup broadcast costs.
What to watch: Peacock's profit in the fourth quarter, when a full slate of professional basketball games returns. Staying profitable through higher winter sports costs would show that higher subscription prices can cover expensive broadcast rights year-round.
Mobile Gains Narrowed the Combined Internet and Phone Decline
Last year Comcast started offering a free mobile line for one year to keep home internet customers from leaving. As those twelve-month promotions expire, Roberts and Cavanagh pointed to "strong conversion of free wireless lines to paid relationships" across the 10.6 million total mobile lines. The company also released Xfinity Shield, a software service that "transforms Xfinity Wi-Fi into an Always-On Layer of Cybersecurity, Home and Family Protection".
- US mobile service revenue: $1.05 billion, up 14.7% from a year ago and up $43 million from last quarter by our math
- Mobile net additions: 368,000 lines, bringing mobile penetration to nearly 18% of US home internet customers
- Combined US internet and mobile service revenue: $7.29 billion, down 2.3% from a year ago after falling 3.2% last quarter
The $43 million sequential jump in mobile service revenue beat the $30 million quarterly additions seen in the first half of the year. By our math, implied revenue per home internet customer fell 2.9% from a year ago, a smaller drop than earlier in the year. Still, mobile gains only softened the internet decline rather than reversing it.
What to watch: fourth-quarter US mobile service revenue sequential dollar additions. A bigger step-up would show that customers on expiring free promotions are paying full price in large numbers.
The Odyssey Drove Record Box Office and Higher Studio Profit
Universal became the first film studio to pass $5 billion at the global box office in 2026. Roberts and Cavanagh highlighted the theatrical run of "The Odyssey, now Universal's highest-grossing film of all time" with nearly $1.8 billion in ticket sales. Theater revenue in the Studios division rose 76.6% from a year ago to $1.13 billion, helped by Minions & Monsters.
That box office run lifted Studios Adjusted EBITDA by 18.6% to $402 million even though total studio revenue dipped 1.1% to $2.97 billion. Television studio licensing fell 23.7% because of delivery timing, which also cut studio operating expenses by 3.6% to $2.57 billion. Those hit movies will move into home licensing and streaming windows over the coming quarters.
What to watch: Studios content licensing revenue in the fourth quarter and early next year. A rebound there will show how much profit The Odyssey and Minions & Monsters generate after leaving theaters.
🐻 Bear Case
Home Internet Losses Worsened Against Last Year
Comcast overhauled its internet pricing and bundled free mobile lines last year to stop customers from switching to rival fiber and wireless networks. For four straight quarters, year-over-year home internet customer losses narrowed. In the third quarter that streak ended, as Comcast lost 144,000 US residential broadband customers compared with 91,000 lost in the same quarter last year.
- US home internet revenue: $6.24 billion, down 4.7% from a year ago
- Residential cable Adjusted EBITDA: $6.11 billion, down 5.8% from a year ago
- Residential non-programming costs: 42.8% of revenue, up 2.0 percentage points from a year ago by our math
Comcast said internet revenue fell because of "lower average rates and a decline in the number of domestic broadband customers". Non-programming operating costs — the direct cost of mobile devices, customer support and marketing — rose 1.2% to $7.28 billion while segment revenue fell 3.5%, squeezing the residential profit margin by 0.9 percentage points to 35.9%. Cutting prices and giving away mobile lines is shrinking profit without stopping customer departures.
What to watch: fourth-quarter US residential internet net losses against the 181,000 lost a year ago. Another worse year-over-year loss would show that price guarantees and mobile bundles are not holding back competitors.
Theme Parks Revenue and Profit Dropped on Ticket Discounts
Universal opened its Epic Universe park in Orlando in May 2025 and added the Fast & Furious roller coaster in Hollywood this quarter. Even with those new rides, Roberts and Cavanagh pointed to "near-term cyclical headwinds in Theme Parks". Park revenue fell 4.4% from a year ago to $2.60 billion, after growing 2.7% in the second quarter.
Comcast said park revenue dropped because of "lower revenue from park admissions, including from the impact of increased promotional activity". Meanwhile, park operating expenses rose 2.3% to $1.82 billion on higher costs at US locations, jumping 4.6 percentage points as a share of park revenue by our math. That combination pushed Theme Parks Adjusted EBITDA down 17.1% to $780 million, a much steeper drop than the 5.0% decline in the second quarter.
What to watch: Theme Parks revenue and admissions commentary during the fourth-quarter holiday season. Continued ticket discounting would mean the post-opening slowdown in Orlando is lasting longer than a single summer.
Risks this quarter didn't answer
Three standing questions about the business and the upcoming corporate split got no new numbers in the release.
- Free mobile line conversions: Roberts and Cavanagh praised conversion to paid plans, but Comcast still does not disclose how many customers are on free lines or what percentage pay when the promotion ends.
- Cable television erosion: US video customers fell by 274,000 to 10.4 million and video revenue dropped 8.7% to $5.91 billion, yet leadership did not mention the television business in its commentary.
- Post-split debt division: Roberts and Cavanagh said the separation of NBCUniversal and Sky "remains on track", but Comcast has not said how its $87.4 billion of debt will be divided between the two companies.
👓 Other Themes
Comcast Paused Buybacks and Paid Down Debt Before the Split
Comcast stopped buying back its own stock at the start of the third quarter and said it "expects the pause to remain in place through the proposed separation of its businesses into two independent publicly traded companies". Instead of repurchasing shares, the group used its cash to pay $1.2 billion in dividends and cut total debt by $3.0 billion during the quarter by our math.
💲 Other KPIs
Free cash flow — operating cash left after capital spending on networks, parks and software — fell 14.8% from a year ago. Operating cash flow dropped 9.1% to $7.90 billion, while capital spending stayed flat at $3.06 billion as higher spending on customer routers offset lower park construction.
Sales of internet and network services to businesses grew 2.7% from a year ago, slowing from 3.7% growth in the second quarter and 5.8% in the first. Segment operating profit rose 1.7% to $1.48 billion, with higher marketing and product costs trimming the margin by 0.5 percentage points to 55.9%.
Total short-term and long-term debt fell 11.7% from $98.94 billion at the end of 2025, and dropped by $3.02 billion in the third quarter alone by our math. Comcast repaid $10.41 billion of debt over the first nine months of the year to prepare its balance sheet for the planned corporate split.
The average number of shares used to calculate profit per share was down 3.4% from 3,689 million a year ago, lifting per-share results relative to total profit. Because Comcast paused its stock buyback program on July 1, the share count barely moved from 3,570 million in the second quarter.
🔮 Guidance
Unchanged. Comcast kept its stock buyback program paused in the third quarter and plans no repurchases until it finishes spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky in mid-2027. After spending $2.51 billion on buybacks in the first half of 2026, only $10 million of employee-plan repurchases cleared in the third quarter by our math.
❓ Key Questions
What percentage of free mobile lines convert to paid plans?
Leadership cited strong conversion of expiring free mobile lines, and mobile service revenue rose $43 million from last quarter. Without the total number of free lines or the exact conversion rate, investors cannot tell if mobile growth can ever cover home internet losses.
Why did home internet customer losses worsen against last year?
Comcast lost 144,000 US residential internet customers compared with 91,000 a year ago, ending four quarters of year-over-year improvement. Management has not explained whether the setback came from fewer new sign-ups, higher cancellations as one-year promotions ended, or rival fiber expansion.
How will Comcast divide its $87.4 billion of debt?
The spin-off of NBCUniversal and Sky is scheduled for mid-2027, and buybacks are paused to set up both balance sheets. Investors still do not know how much debt and dividend obligation the remaining US cable business will carry on its own.
What was the exact change in revenue per internet customer?
The earnings release noted lower average internet rates, and by our math revenue per ending customer fell 2.9% from a year ago. Management usually gives the exact figure on the conference call, which shows whether pricing pressure has passed its worst point.