Comcast CEO: Broadband drives record quarter for customer additions

Comcast Corp.'s cable business hit a new record for full-year total customer additions in 2020, with 1.6 million, and high-speed internet additions drove much of the growth, said CEO Brian Roberts.

Comcast reported total high-speed internet customer net additions of 538,000 for the fourth quarter of 2020, which also marked a high for a fourth quarter. Full-year net internet additions totaled about 2 million.

"With just only 50% penetration of our footprint, there remains plenty of opportunity for future growth," Roberts told analysts on the company's Jan. 28 earnings call, referring to the opportunity for more growth in the company's internet business. "Broadband is the cornerstone of what we do."

Roberts is also optimistic about the future of Comcast's mobile business.

"We're really excited for 2021 as we've recently expanded parts of our MVNO [mobile virtual network operator] agreement with Verizon that will enable us to improve our range of offerings and acquire more customers more profitably," said Roberts. "As we said from the beginning, an MVNO-led capital-light wireless model is the right one for us and has even more strategic opportunity in the years ahead."

Comcast launched its Xfinity Mobile service in 2017 through an MVNO agreement with Verizon Communications Inc., which allows it to use Verizon's network infrastructure.

Comcast ended 2020 with more than 2.8 million wireless lines. It reported 246,000 net wireless line additions in the fourth quarter of 2020, slightly down from 261,000 in the year-ago period.

The company also announced on Jan. 28 that it increased its dividend by 8 cents to $1.00 per share on an annualized basis for 2021.

Comcast CFO Michael Cavanagh said on the call that the company is planning to resume stock buybacks in the near future. "Our hope is to start in the back half of this year, gradually ramping up to historical levels," he said.

In the video business, Comcast reported total customer net losses of 248,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020. Full-year net losses totaled 1.4 million.

Comcast reported consolidated fourth-quarter net income attributable to the company of $3.38 billion, or 73 cents per share, compared to net income of $3.16 billion, or 68 cents per share, in the prior-year quarter. The S&P Capital IQ GAAP EPS consensus estimate for the quarter was 38 cents.

Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 fell 2.4% year over year to $27.71 billion, down from $28.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. Revenue for cable communications increased 6.3% year over year.

For the full year of 2020, Comcast reported net income attributable to the company of $10.53 billion, or $2.28 per share, compared to net income of $13.06 billion, or $2.83 per share, in 2019. The consensus estimate for full-year EPS was $1.95.

Total revenue for the full year was $103.56 billion, down from $108.94 billion in 2019.