Comcast is set to report second-quarter financial results before-the-bell Thursday.
Here are the key numbers:
- Adjusted earnings per share: 67 cents expected in a Refinitiv survey of analysts
- Revenue: $27.18 billion in the Refinitiv survey
- High-speed internet customers: 270,000 net adds expected in a StreetAccount survey
Investors will continue to keep an eye on how Peacock is faring in the streaming wars. The segment reached 42 million sign-ups across the U.S. in the first quarter.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported last month that Peacock, while successful in terms of generating advertising revenue, is far behind other streaming leaders in terms of paid subscriptions. Fewer than 10 million customers reportedly paid for the service as of May. For comparison, Netflix reported over 209 million paid memberships in its second quarter.
Analysts predict the company could push further into Peacock to prove the direct-to-consumer investments have been worth it.
“We think CMCSA/NBCU will choose to invest more heavily into DTC to keep up with competition and re-emerge as a future media leader,” Wells Fargo analysts said in a July 15 note. “While NBCU has scale in content creation, we do not think it currently has scale in DTC.”
The company’s studios division was hampered by the pandemic, which restricted movie theater operations and shut down some movie production. But partial resumption could reflect positively on revenues in the second quarter.
Comcast’s theme park division could also show partial recovery. Its locations in Singapore, Japan, California and Florida have all reopened at some capacity, while a new park in Beijing is set to open later this year.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.