Comcast First Quarter 2019 Earnings Report

[Mad Dog]

Comcast's First Quarter 2019 Earnings Report shows Theme Parks Revenue at $1,276 Billion, down 0.4 % from first quarter 2018.Adjusted EBITDA was $498 million, up 0.5%. 2018 had an early Easter, and Easter falls in the second quarter of 2019, which somewhat reflects on the flat revenue.

 

[Happytycho]

NBCUniversal’s capital expenditures of $453 million increased 68.2%, reflecting continued investment at Theme Parks.

2018 was a really low year for all Universal parks in terms of new attractions, so I'm not surprised they've had limited theme park growth in some recent quarters. If they don't have some nice increases this summer following the opening of Hagrid's and JW:The Ride, then I will start getting concerned.

 

[Mad Dog]

2018 was a really low year for all Universal parks in terms of new attractions, so I'm not surprised they've had limited theme park growth in some recent quarters. If they don't have some nice increases this summer following the opening of Hagrid's and JW:The Ride, then I will start getting concerned.

I think Hagrid, plus the new Hogwart's show will boost attendance. Potter always does....Yes, I think the lack of really good new attractions has hurt Universal overall the past year. Playing conservative fiscally often bites a company back. And I think that's what's happened (see my Revenue chart in the Terminator thread). Hopefully, Universal will get back into their former aggressive mindset with strong new attractions. That's what worked for them previously. Executives can't just sit on past laurels and expect good stuff to happen.

 

[Andysol]

See my post here. I don't see this ending well for the current management. And for good reason.

They're great people, but the size/scope of UOR seems to be beyond their understanding.

 

[Happytycho]

I think Hagrid, plus the new Hogwart's show will boost attendance. Potter always does....Yes, I think the lack of really good new attractions has hurt Universal overall the past year. Playing conservative fiscally often bites a company back. And I think that's what's happened (see my Revenue chart in the Terminator thread). Hopefully, Universal will get back into their former aggressive mindset with strong new attractions. That's what worked for them previously. Executives can't just sit on past laurels and expect good stuff to happen.

I somewhat agree, but I also don't believe that one year of flat performance is the end the world. Also, they do have major new attractions planned for 2 of the next 3 years, so they aren't totally sitting on past laurels.

Universal is going to have to accept a couple slow years at the current parks in order to get Fantastic Worlds built, and I interpret the results of the past year more as an indicator that the company will be able to survive those years where the only new attraction is Bourne without going bankrupt.

 

[Mad Dog]

I somewhat agree, but I also don't believe that one year of flat performance is the end the world. Also, they do have major new attractions planned for 2 of the next 3 years, so they aren't totally sitting on past laurels.

Universal is going to have to accept a couple slow years at the current parks in order to get Fantastic Worlds built, and I interpret the results of the past year more as an indicator that the company will be able to survive those years where the only new attraction is Bourne without going bankrupt.

Definitely not the end of the world. They're still very healthy financially and surely won't have negative revenue issues. They've just been slow on revenue growth in relation to all of the hotel building and price increases. And these figures are for Orlando, Japan & Hollywood, so it's not just an Orlando issue, though Orlando is probably the largest revenue generator due to 3 parks & multiple hotels. Japan has huge attendance, but tickets are much cheaper there plus there's no hotel income generators. But, yes, they're probably paying, in slow revenue growth, for that year or two of no strong new attractions.

 

[Nick]

Universal was flat. Sure, not ideal, but they didn’t lose money either. I’m not saying that there won’t be some worry if this continues, but it’d be a lot more alarming if they were coming up in the red.

Also, you have to remember all of the expenditure currently going on for Fantastic Worlds.

 

[Jamesh22]

I'd say a 40% profit margin is pretty healthy! Most businesses would kill for that level of profit compared to revenue.

 

[shiekra38]

Easter was slammed, so I could see that helping out fourth quarter

 

[SeventyOne]

I somewhat agree, but I also don't believe that one year of flat performance is the end the world. Also, they do have major new attractions planned for 2 of the next 3 years, so they aren't totally sitting on past laurels.

Universal is going to have to accept a couple slow years at the current parks in order to get Fantastic Worlds built, and I interpret the results of the past year more as an indicator that the company will be able to survive those years where the only new attraction is Bourne without going bankrupt.

While I agree with Nick that flat is better than in decline, big picture-wise, the economy is going gangbusters, gas prices are relatively reasonable, and their #1 cross-town competitor hasn't really done anything exciting this year. Based on history, we can expect some economic turmoil in 2020 (always comes with the uncertainty of an election year), and, while I still don't expect the crowd-pocalypse the rest of the board seems to, no question the biggest Orlando theme park opening in a decade down I-4. Among the general public with 4 theme park days, a lot are going to pick only one studio park or the other. In other words, this might be the ceiling, not the floor, and that's potentially troubling.

 

[shiekra38]

While I agree with Nick that flat is better than in decline, big picture-wise, the economy is going gangbusters, gas prices are relatively reasonable, and their #1 cross-town competitor hasn't really done anything exciting this year. Based on history, we can expect some economic turmoil in 2020 (always comes with the uncertainty of an election year), and, while I still don't expect the crowd-pocalypse the rest of the board seems to, no question the biggest Orlando theme park opening in a decade down I-4. Among the general public with 4 theme park days, a lot are going to pick only one studio park or the other. In other words, this might be the ceiling, not the floor, and that's potentially troubling.

It's honestly getting hard to visit multiple parks in general for people...I think we've kind of reached a tipping point

 

[Nick]

It's honestly getting hard to visit multiple parks in general for people...I think we've kind of reached a tipping point

Which is why I laugh when people are already talking of a 4th Universal dry park. It’s ludicrous to skip a step when they’ve sort of stopping growing as is for time-being.

I fully expect Fantastic Worlds to have a DAK effect too, where it eats into IOA and USF’s crowds.

 

[shiekra38]

Which is why I laugh when people are already talking of a 4th Universal dry park. It’s ludicrous to skip a step when they’ve sort of stopping growing as is for time-being.

I fully expect Fantastic Worlds to have a DAK effect too, where it eats into IOA and USF’s crowds.

FW will eat away a bit from IOA and USF, I also expect SWL to eat away at the Disney parks next year, specifically Epcot

 

[GAcoaster]

The timing of Easter is most of this, which means that next quarter with Easter AND a new coaster will mean a huge increase.

 

[shiekra38]

The timing of Easter is most of this, which means that next quarter with Easter AND a new coaster will mean a huge increase.

My thoughts as well...It was an early spring break this year as well which probably threw off things even more

 

[Mad Dog]

My thoughts as well...It was an early spring break this year as well which probably threw off things even more

Yes. Comcast mentioned that in their report.

 

[quinnmac000]

The timing of Easter is most of this, which means that next quarter with Easter AND a new coaster will mean a huge increase.

Not just Orlando with Potter...USJ attendance over the past two weeks based on what I'm hearing has increased an overwhelming amount with Universal Cool during well and the addition of World Street Festival and SING overperforming drastically.

 

[Mad Dog]

Well....making Universal theme parks very flat first quarter revenue loss look worse....Disney's Jan.-March 2019 quarter results just came in ...and they showed a 15% profit gain for the recreation & theme parks division.....and they had the same late Easter to contend with....Bet Comcast Execs. aren't smiling

 

[OLSinFLA]

Well....making Universal theme parks very flat first quarter revenue loss look worse....Disney's Jan.-March 2019 quarter results just came in ...and they showed a 15% profit gain for the recreation & theme parks division.....and they had the same late Easter to contend with....Bet Comcast Execs. aren't smiling

Looks like a good chunk came from food and hotels. (Plus a price increase of 23%)

 

[Mad Dog]

Looks like a good chunk came from food and hotels. (Plus a price increase of 23%)

Universal basically matches Disney on price increases too. That's just about a wash. Hotels, food and tickets are all up at Universal from last year. Ticket prices are almost identical between Universal & Disney. A good percentage of that Disney ticket increase didn't take effect until just about the end of the quarter, so it would have been a non factor.