Entertainment giant Comcast (CMCSA) has been having a rough time of things lately. Customers are departing for a variety of reasons. Some of these are consequences of the market, and others are just plain old self-inflicted. Surely we all remember the Ryan Block incident. But Comcast is eager to keep customers in the fold, and is bringing out new offers in a bid to convince those customers to not run out on it. The news was welcome for investors, who sent Comcast shares up nearly 2% in Tuesday morning’s trading.
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Comcast CEO Brian Roberts made it clear: “We are at an inflection point, both in our industry and at Comcast Corporation. The business is changing rapidly, and competition has never been more intense.” Indeed, Roberts has the right of it. Comcast’s cable arm is being smothered by a growing number of streaming video options, and with 5G home internet gaining ground, its fiber internet is likewise suffering.
But Comcast is fighting back, opening up new offers like its five-year price guarantees and a more recent move of offering free phone lines to internet customers. The result so far is a lower churn rate and improved customer loyalty, which is exactly what Comcast was hoping for. Convergence revenue is up 2% so far, with 18% growth in the wireless business as well.
Welcome to the Original Jurassic Park
Meanwhile, Comcast is drawing on one of its biggest franchises, Jurassic Park, to serve as the basis of a new Super Bowl LX ad this year. Comcast will bring back Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum—a large part of the original cast—to sell Xfinity video service during the big game.
Reports note the ad will call on the original John Williams score, as well as Industrial Light and Magic effects to push Xfinity. In a field that will almost certainly be stuffed with high-end advertisements, it will certainly take quite a bit to be noticed. A commercial that draws this hard on nostalgia and has this level of effects in it should catch quite a bit of attention, and hopefully, move some Xfinity subscriptions.
Is Comcast Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on CMCSA stock based on six Buys, 12 Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 11.8% loss in its share price over the past year, the average CMCSA price target of $33.72 per share implies 11.79% upside potential.
