Cable & Satellite

Comcast's NBCUniversal is cutting jobs in its global streaming technology organization, with most of the reductions falling at Sky, Comcast's European media arm, though some US-based NBCUniversal employees will also be affected. The number of employees affected would depend on the outcome of consultations with employees, according to Reuters. NBCUniversal said it is proposing changes to its Global Streaming Technology organization to ensure it has the right structure and resources in place for future growth.

Comcast shares have returned -19% over the past month, against a +1% gain for the Zacks S&P 500 composite, while the Zacks Cable Television industry lost 20% over the same period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter now stands at $0.98 per share, a year-over-year change of -12.5% and a -2.8% revision over the last 30 days. For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $3.48 points to a -19.3% change from the prior year, and for the next fiscal year the $3.61 estimate indicates a +3.6% change. The consensus sales estimate of $29.48 billion for the current quarter points to a -5.5% year-over-year change, with $120.33 billion and $117.92 billion projected for the current and next fiscal years. Comcast reported revenues of $29.94 billion in the last reported quarter, a -1.2% year-over-year change, with EPS of $1.04 versus $1.25 a year ago, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by +2.62% on revenue and +7.22% on EPS. The recent estimate revisions have resulted in a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for Comcast, though the stock carries a Zacks Value Style Score of A.

Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network announced that the company has overdue bank debt totaling 227 million yuan, accounting for 41.80% of its most recent audited net assets. The company also disclosed that some bank account funds have been frozen, with the actual frozen amount totaling 41.13 million yuan, representing 7.59% of net assets. The company said it is negotiating with creditors and taking multiple measures to raise funds, while also warning of investment risks.

WOWOW's first-quarter results for the fiscal year ending March 2027, announced on July 31, showed declines in both revenue and profit: revenue of 17.644 billion yen, down 5.6% year on year, and operating profit of 921 million yen, down 21.7%. The media and content business, which accounts for more than 90% of revenue, posted external customer revenue of 16.021 billion yen, down 4.9%, and segment profit of 1.001 billion yen, down 9.1%, generating nearly all of consolidated operating profit, while the telemarketing business saw revenue fall 11.0% to 2.36 billion yen and swung to a segment loss of 78 million yen. The company's full-year forecast is revenue of 74.5 billion yen and operating profit of 750 million yen, with first-quarter operating profit reaching 122.8% of the forecast. The company is also offering shareholder benefits to investors who have continuously held at least 100 shares for one year or more as of September 30, 2026, allowing them to choose from options including three months of free viewing fees or a 2,000 yen Amazon gift card, with the last day to qualify being September 28.

Bank of America downgraded Nike to Underperform from Neutral, with analyst Lorraine Hutchinson cutting her price target to $30 from $47 and lowering fiscal 2027 and 2028 EPS estimates by 11% and 12% to $1.43 and $1.87, saying the turnaround is taking longer to materialize. Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold, with analyst Brad Reback raising his price target to $575 from $530 and citing confidence in sustaining mid-to-upper-teens revenue growth. J.P. Morgan upgraded CoreWeave to Overweight from Neutral and lifted its price target to $125 from $120, pointing to favorable compute pricing and a greater willingness to lean into short-term contracts at premium pricing. UBS downgraded PG&E to Neutral from Buy and cut its price target to $14 from $19, lowering its long-term EPS growth forecast to 8.5% from 9% as the wildfire liability reform catalyst fades. KeyBanc downgraded Comcast to Underweight with an $18 price target, expecting domestic broadband net losses to widen to 665,000 in 2027, while HSBC downgraded Twilio to Reduce from Hold and Rosenblatt initiated SanDisk at Buy with a $2,400 price target.

KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded Comcast to Underweight and cut its price target to $18, implying roughly 19% downside from the stock's latest close. Analyst Brandon Nispel expects Comcast's domestic broadband net losses to widen to 665,000 in 2027, far worse than the consensus estimate for a 482,000 decline, as rivals offer 1-gigabit internet plans for roughly $30 to $40 per month. Cable and connectivity EBITDA may also struggle to recover as quickly as investors expect, with Comcast describing 2026 as a year of investment amid what it calls the largest cost transformation in company history. Universal attendance weakened through August, with total attendance down 3% year over year and Epic Universe's average daily attendance falling to roughly 13,000 from 16,000 in July. Nispel also sees limited upside from Comcast's planned NBCUniversal spin-off, arguing deteriorating fundamentals and reduced share-repurchase support could offset the potential benefits.

Akamai Technologies surged 21.3% in premarket trading after announcing a seven-year, $11.6 billion cloud services commitment from AI company Anthropic, designed to support Anthropic's growing CPU workload demands across Akamai Cloud's distributed infrastructure. The deal includes provisions allowing the relationship to expand by up to an additional $9 billion, potentially taking the total commitment to about $20 billion, and Akamai also disclosed a hardware supply agreement with Lenovo and authorized contract manufacturer Jabil to procure about $1.7 billion in memory components. People Incorporated rose 6.5% in premarket trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that MGM Resorts International is weighing a potential takeover bid for Barry Diller's media conglomerate, with an offer potentially coming within days, just one day after People Incorporated withdrew its own $48.30-per-share cash proposal to acquire MGM's remaining public shares. Select Water Solutions rose 5.5% after announcing a definitive agreement to acquire Pilot Water Solutions for $700 million, plus up to $15 million in potential contingent consideration, in a transaction including $600 million in cash and $100 million in Class A common stock. Prime Medicine climbed 11.7% in after-hours trading to $3.49 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared its Investigational New Drug application for PM647, an investigational in vivo Prime Editor designed to correct the E342K mutation in the SERPINA1 gene, the root cause of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, paving the way for a global first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical trial. On the downside, Comcast slipped 1.6% in premarket trading to $21.77 after KeyBanc downgraded the stock to Underweight from Sector Weight with an $18 price target, Twilio fell 3.7% after HSBC downgraded it to Reduce from Hold with a $211 price target, Zscaler fell 3.6% after naming Ross Tackett Chief Revenue Officer effective Oct. 1, succeeding Mike Rich, and Scholastic tumbled 11% after reporting fiscal first-quarter 2027 results that missed expectations, with revenue down 3.9% year over year to $216.8 million and an adjusted loss per share of $3.63.

Wolfe Research downgraded Charter Communications to underperform from neutral and set a $118 price target, 19% below the stock's Sept. 11 close, as Spectrum's internet customer losses continue. Spectrum, operated by Charter, lost more than 400,000 internet customers in 2025, another 120,000 in the first quarter of this year and 172,000 in the second, amid price increases including a $10 hike on multiple internet plans in July. Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino said satellite internet is becoming a rising problem for traditional broadband providers, noting that a single Starlink launch represents roughly 22 times more downlink capacity and that falling unit costs and ramping capacity portend significant price cuts; Starlink has garnered more than 12 million global high-speed internet customers so far this year. Wolfe Research expects Charter to garner 1.34 million fewer broadband net adds, steeper than its expectations for Comcast, and lowered its estimate of Comcast's 2027 connectivity and platform revenue from $78.29 billion to $77.95 billion while maintaining a Peer Perform rating on Comcast. Supino also took a bleak view of Charter's $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications, which closed in August, saying Charter inherited a degrading subscriber pool facing stronger competitive pressure than management anticipated, and that Charter needs $1 billion in cost savings in 2027 to improve EBITDA. Charter CFO Jessica Fisher said on the July earnings call that Spectrum has not observed meaningful share loss to Starlink, while Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong told the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Sept. 9 that satellite looms as a potential threat that is not really being seen yet.

Comcast Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong warned that "irrational" fiber internet pricing from rivals is intensifying broadband competition and will keep customer losses from improving in the third quarter of this year. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Sept. 9, Armstrong said standalone fiber pricing in the $30-$40 range for a gig is "not a rational price point," given that the copper-to-fiber transition costs Comcast potentially thousands of dollars, while Comcast charges roughly $50 per month for its 1 Gbps fiber-powered internet. He said fiber overbuild in Comcast's markets has accelerated to about 4% or 5% per year from a historical 2%-3%, and that fixed wireless and satellite, including SpaceX's Starlink, which surpassed 12 million global high-speed internet customers this year, remain growing threats. Comcast, which operates broadband under the name Xfinity, lost over 700,000 internet customers in 2025 after raising Xfinity prices and restricting its autopay discount, and lost a combined 232,000 internet customers across the first and second quarters of this year. Armstrong's comments come as Comcast plans to split into two companies in mid-2027, separating media and entertainment assets including NBCUniversal and Sky from its cable business, with former Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis returning as CEO of the retained cable business.

Hatena announced its earnings at midday on September 11, reporting a non-consolidated net loss of 995 million yen for the fiscal year ending July 2026, tumbling from a profit of 230 million yen the previous term. However, it expects to return to a profit of 117 million yen for the fiscal year ending July 2027. At the same time, it said it will forgo the previously undecided year-end lump-sum dividend for the past term, and left the annual dividend for the current term undecided. For the most recent three months, the May-to-July period, the net loss came to 277 million yen, falling from a profit of 26 million yen a year earlier, though its operating margin on sales improved sharply to 8.3 percent from 4.0 percent in the same period last year.

Comcast Corporation shares fell 7% on Wednesday after its chief financial officer warned of persistent broadband subscriber losses and called fiber pricing "irrational." Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, CFO Jason Armstrong said the company expects no improvement in third-quarter broadband subscriber losses, though it still projects a "modest" improvement in EBITDA. KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel warned of downside risks, projecting 125,000 domestic residential net losses for the quarter, far worse than the consensus estimate of 89,000. Nispel noted that competitors offering gigabit speeds for $30 to $40 per month will prevent year-over-year improvement in Comcast's broadband net additions, and Charter Communications shares also fell 5% amid the broader sector sell-off.

Vertiv announced the $1.45 billion acquisition of UtilityInnovation Group, with up to $1.15 billion in additional consideration tied to EBITDA targets over 12- and 24-month periods, sending its shares down less than 1% premarket. Sirius rose over 3% after Deutsche Bank upgraded it to buy with a $45 price target, implying more than 60% upside. Dell Technologies jumped 8% after beating expectations and lifting its fiscal 2027 forecast on strength in AI services. Palo Alto Networks fell nearly 2% despite beating earnings estimates, while MongoDB dropped 13% despite better-than-expected results and guidance. Credo Technology declined about 9% after its non-GAAP gross margin slightly missed expectations.

Guizhou Broadcasting & TV Information Network released its 2026 interim report. Total operating revenue was 527 million yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent company was negative 547 million yuan, a loss reduction of 14.8558 million yuan compared with the same period last year. Net cash inflow from operating activities was 25.4577 million yuan. The asset-liability ratio was 86.96 percent. Gross margin was negative 31.95 percent, up 7.84 percentage points from the previous quarter. Return on equity was negative 42.52 percent. Diluted earnings per share was negative 0.44 yuan, an increase of 0.01 yuan from the same period last year. Total asset turnover was 0.04 times, and inventory turnover was 3.66 times. The number of shareholders was 45,800. The top ten shareholders held 687 million shares, accounting for 55.09 percent of total share capital.

Wasu Media released its 2026 interim report. Total operating revenue was 4.24 billion yuan, down 4.39% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to the parent company was 210 million yuan, down 17.25% year-on-year. Net cash flow from operating activities was negative 696 million yuan, a decrease of 512 million yuan compared with the same period last year. The company's asset-liability ratio was 46.80%, gross margin was 29.26%, return on equity was 1.40%, and diluted earnings per share was 0.11 yuan. The number of shareholders was 39,200, and the top ten shareholders held 59.30% of the total share capital.

Guoan Co. released its 2026 interim report, with total operating revenue of 1.744 billion yuan, up 8.29 percent year on year, but net profit attributable to the parent company was negative 148 million yuan, a decrease of 118 million yuan from the same period last year, widening the loss. Net cash inflow from operating activities was negative 68.2371 million yuan, down 396.59 percent year on year. The company's asset-liability ratio rose to 88.93 percent, gross margin was 14.04 percent, return on equity was negative 12.15 percent, and diluted earnings per share was negative 0.04 yuan. The number of shareholders was 153,000, and the top ten shareholders held 39.12 percent of the total share capital.

Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network Intermediary published its 2026 interim report. During the reporting period, the company's total operating revenue was 529 million yuan, down 18.28% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to the parent company was negative 488 million yuan, a decrease of 127 million yuan compared with the same period last year, with the loss widening. Net cash inflow from operating activities was 132 million yuan, up 31.02% year-on-year. The company's asset-liability ratio rose to 99.72%, gross margin was negative 5.07%, return on equity was negative 895.30%, and diluted earnings per share was negative 0.69 yuan. The number of shareholders was 40,500, and the top ten shareholders held 38.58% of the total share capital.

Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network disclosed its 2026 semi-annual report on August 26. In the first half of the year, it achieved total operating revenue of 529 million yuan, down 18.28 percent year on year. Net loss attributable to the parent company was 488 million yuan, compared with a loss of 360 million yuan in the same period last year. Net loss after deducting non-recurring items was 477 million yuan, compared with a loss of 343 million yuan a year earlier. Net cash flow from operating activities was 132 million yuan, up 31.02 percent year on year. Basic loss per share was 0.6861 yuan, and the weighted average return on equity was negative 163.48 percent. The company is mainly engaged in basic radio and television subscription services and data transmission services.

Jishi Media released its 2026 interim report, with net profit attributable to the parent company at negative 220 million yuan, a reduction in loss of 11.78 million yuan compared with the same period last year. The company's total operating revenue was 1.014 billion yuan, up 1.73% year-on-year, marking a fourth consecutive year of growth. Net cash inflow from operating activities was 26.80 million yuan, an increase of 46.55 million yuan from the same period last year. The company's latest asset-liability ratio was 60.92%, gross margin was 10.25%, and diluted earnings per share was negative 0.06 yuan.

Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network released its 2026 interim report, showing operating revenue of 529 million yuan, down 18.3% year on year, and a net loss attributable to the parent of 488 million yuan, widening 35.33% from the same period last year. The company has now posted widening net losses for three consecutive years, with cumulative losses of 3.184 billion yuan from 2023 to 2025. The first-half loss was mainly due to subscriber losses in the traditional cable TV business, insufficient scale in new businesses, and proactive reduction of low-margin engineering and merchandise sales. As of the end of the second quarter, net assets attributable to the parent stood at only 54.48 million yuan, down 89.95% from the end of the previous year.