Stock Market & Financial Investment News

News Breaks February 12, 2013 13:15 EDT CMCSA Earnings Preview: Comcast sits just off all-time highs ahead of Q4 report Comcast (CMCSA) is set to report Q4 earnings before the market opens on Wednesday, February 13, with a conference call scheduled for 8:30 am ET. Comcast is a provider of entertainment, information, and communications products that operates the NBC family of networks, Universal Pictures and provides cable, internet, and voice services... EXPECTATIONS: Analysts are looking for EPS of 53c on revenue of $16B, according to First Call. The consensus range for EPS is 46c-57c on revenue of $15.64B-$16.88B... LAST QUARTER: Comcast reported Q3 EPS ex-items of 46c, against estimates for 46c, on revenue of $16.5B, against estimates for $16.08B. Last month, the company announced that NBC was the most viewed network in primetime among ABC (DIS), CBS (CBS), Fox (NWSA) and NBC for the 15-week period ended January 6, with an average 3.1 rating. Earlier today, Comcast and News Corp announced an agreement for a new distribution pact to bring Fox content to Comcast Xfinity TV customers across a variety of devices... STREET RESEARCH: Wall Street research has been fairly quiet on Comcast since its Q3 report. Maxim raised its price target on shares to $46 from $41 on the day after the company's Q3 report. In a note to investors this morning, Brean Capital said that Comcast remains the firm's favorite cable stock, with the firm maintaining a Buy rating and $45 price target on shares. Brean said Comcast is the only multiple system operator currently positioned to generate margin expansion and higher capital returns in 2013 than it did in 2012, adding that Comcast could sustain this outperformance beyond 2013 if their transition to a TV Everywhere model is managed correctly... PRICE ACTION: Shares of Comcast have gained more than $2.25, or 6.4%, since the first day of trading following the company's Q3 report. Shares of Comcast are nearly unchanged at $38.72 in afternoon trading ahead of tomorrow's Q4 report. News For CMCSA From The Last 14 Days Check below for free stories on CMCSA the last two weeks. Sign up for a free trial to see the rest of the stories you've been missing. May 17, 2013 15:51 EDT CMCSA DirecTV weighing bid for Hulu, WSJ reports DirecTV (DTV) is considering making a bid for Hulu, the video website jointly owned by News Corp. (NWSA), Comcast (CMCSA), and Disney (DIS), reports The Wall Street Journal citing a person familiar with the matter. Reference Link 15:26 EDT CMCSA DirecTV considering acquisition of Hulu, Dow Jones reports Subscribe for More Information May 16, 2013 09:24 EDT CMCSA Amazon.com expands content licensing agreement with NBCUniversal Subscribe for More Information 05:51 EDT CMCSA NBCUniversal says winter Olympic Games ad sales strong, WSJ reports Comcast's (CMCSA) NBCUniversal unit is projecting advertising sales over $800M for the Olympic Games next year in Russia, which would be a record for the Winter Games, despite the decision by Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) and Hilton Worldwide not to advertise on the event in Sochi, reports the Wall Street Journal. The company said it has sold 75%-80% of its TV inventory.Reference Link May 15, 2013 19:59 EDT CMCSA Pay-TV operators eye Hulu, WSJ reports At least two pay-TV operators, including Time Warner Cable (TWC), are looking at an investment in Hulu, jointly controlled by Comcast (CMCSA), Disney (DIS), and News Corp. (NWSA), reports the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. Reference Link 11:48 EDT CMCSA Appaloosa reports new stakes in Comcast, Ashland, sells Oracle David Tepper's Appaloosa in its quarterly filing report new positions in Comcast (CMCSA), Prudential (PRU), Hess Corp. (HES), Check Point (CHKP), KBR (KBR) and Ashland (ASH). The fund sold its stakes in Oracle (ORCL) and Noble Corp. (NE). Appaloosa's top position is in Citigroup (C), with a stake worth over $376.9M. 11:24 EDT CMCSA David Tepper's Appaloosa reports new stake in Comcast 10:49 EDT CMCSA Senator questions TV broadcasters' free spectrum rights, The Hill says Democratic Senator Mark Warner questioned whether broadcast stations that pull their programming off the air should be able to keep using spectrum for free, The Hill reported yesterday. A number of TV networks have threatened to broadcast only on cable and satellite in response to the launch of Aereo. The latter service uses stations' over the air signals to send programming to consumers' Internet devices. Reference Link May 14, 2013 08:06 EDT CMCSA Cinedigm enters multi-year agreement with Universal Studios Home Entertainment Subscribe for More Information May 10, 2013 11:21 EDT CMCSA NBC News settles on new president, NY Times reports NBC News is close to naming Deborah Turness, the head Britain's ITV News, to succeed Steven Capus, who stepped down in February, as its president, reports the New York Times, citing people with knowledge of the appointment. Reference Link May 9, 2013 10:30 EDT CMCSA Bill would pressure cable companies on a la carte channels, The Hill says Republican Senator John McCain is writing a bill that would push cable TV and satellite companies to offer a la carte channel options to their customers, according to The Hill, which cited statements by the senator's office. McCain's bill would rpessure cable and satellite companies to enable consumers to choose which individual channels they want, the website explained. Reference Link May 7, 2013 19:26 EDT CMCSA Yahoo! CEO has met with Hulu executives, AllThingsD says Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer has met with executives at Hulu, a joint venture between Comcast (CMCSA), Disney (DIS), and News Corp. (NWSA), according to an AllThingsD report that cites sources that say Yahoo! is "in the process" but has not yet made a formal bid. Reference Link May 6, 2013 06:40 EDT CMCSA USA Network to start airing new types of programming, NY Times says Comcast's (CMCSA) USA Network plans to begin launching new types of programming, including situation comedy and reality shows, as well as a somewhat dark drama, according to the New York Times. Reference Link Sign up for a free trial to see the rest of the stories you've been missing.