Comcast boosts shareholder returns after strong FY results

Comcast announced an increase in shareholder returns after reporting its best cable TV results in ten years. The cable company raised its dividend by 15 percent to USD 1.26 per share, plans a 2-for-1 stock split and will buy back another USD 5 billion in shares this year. 

In the fourth quarter, revenues rose 9.2 percent to USD 21.025 billion. Cable revenues were up 7.1 percent to USD 12.843 billion, and NBCUniversal grew revenue 13.0 percent to USD 8.451 billion, with growth supported both by the Olympics and election advertising. Group operating cash flow increased 7.8 percent to USD 6.760 billion, and EPS jumped 20.3 percent to USD 0.95, supported by the ongoing share buyback. 

Comcast added in Q4 80,000 new TV customers, 385,000 new broadband subscribers and 44,000 more telephony customers. Double-play growth was particularly strong, with 159,000 net additions in the three months. Total customer relationships increased by 258,000 in the quarter and 858,000 over the year to 28.559 million at the end of 2016. Video net additions of 161,000 were the best in ten years, and Comcast added over 1 million broadband customers for the 11th consecutive year. 

Cable capital expenditure increased 7.9 percent to USD 7.6 billion in 2016, primarily reflecting increased investment in line extensions, a higher level of investment in scalable infrastructure to increase network capacity and continued spending on customer premise equipment related to the deployment of the X1 platform and wireless gateways, the company said. This is equal to 15.2 percent of cable revenue, compared to 15.0 percent in 2015.