Comcast's revenue growth was -6.1% year on year in 2026Q3. Sales shrank, and the shares still trade at a lower price tag than the three big rivals. The interesting bit is not the drop itself, but how much faster it got.
Sales did not just fall - the fall got faster
Comcast's revenue All the money a company billed its customers in a period, before any costs are taken out. growth was -6.1% year on year Comparing a quarter with the same quarter twelve months earlier, so seasonal ups and downs do not confuse you. in 2026Q3. Revenue came in at $29.3bn, the lowest quarter on the chart below. One quarter earlier, revenue growth was -1.2% year on year. Against the quarter just before it, revenue was -2.1%. So sales did not merely fall; the fall got wider. Step back three years and the picture looks flatter than dramatic: revenue shrank -0.9% a year over the three years to 2026Q3. The release also carried adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow The cash left over after a company pays its running costs and builds or upgrades its assets. lines, but the evidence behind this note holds no result for either, so the quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year moves in those two are not available here. The figures here run through 2026Q3, the last quarter in the data.
Glossary
- revenue
- All the money a company billed its customers in a period, before any costs are taken out.
- year on year
- Comparing a quarter with the same quarter twelve months earlier, so seasonal ups and downs do not confuse you.
- free cash flow
- The cash left over after a company pays its running costs and builds or upgrades its assets.
Data table
| period | revenue | yoy |
|---|---|---|
| 2023Q4 | $31.3bn | 2.3% |
| 2024Q1 | $30.1bn | 1.2% |
| 2024Q2 | $29.7bn | -2.7% |
| 2024Q3 | $32.1bn | 6.5% |
| 2024Q4 | $31.9bn | 2.1% |
| 2025Q1 | $29.9bn | -0.6% |
| 2025Q2 | $30.3bn | 2.1% |
| 2025Q3 | $31.2bn | -2.7% |
| 2025Q4 | $32.3bn | 1.2% |
| 2026Q1 | $31.5bn | 5.3% |
| 2026Q2 | $29.9bn | -1.2% |
| 2026Q3 | $29.3bn | -6.1% |
The share price went its own way in the same window
Now the part a headline skips. In the trading days before the release, Comcast's cumulative abnormal return A stock's move added up over several days, after taking out the move of a basket of similar companies. It shows what was special to this stock, not what the whole industry did. was 12.0% - that is how much the shares moved beyond the peer basket A small group of similar companies used as a yardstick, so you can tell a company story from an industry story. over the same stretch. From release day onward the same measure is 4.8%. The peer basket holds 3 companies: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile US. Only 2 trading days have passed since the release. Fewer trading days have passed than the usual window needs, so the after figure covers only the days available so far. None of this says the results moved the price; it says both happened in the same window.
Glossary
- cumulative abnormal return
- A stock's move added up over several days, after taking out the move of a basket of similar companies. It shows what was special to this stock, not what the whole industry did.
- peer basket
- A small group of similar companies used as a yardstick, so you can tell a company story from an industry story.
Data table
| day | series | value | series_role |
|---|---|---|---|
| -10 | Comcast | 1.3% | target |
| -9 | Comcast | -1.3% | target |
| -8 | Comcast | -1.2% | target |
| -7 | Comcast | -0.3% | target |
| -6 | Comcast | 0.5% | target |
| -5 | Comcast | 4.0% | target |
| -4 | Comcast | 4.6% | target |
| -3 | Comcast | 4.6% | target |
| -2 | Comcast | 6.8% | target |
| -1 | Comcast | 5.4% | target |
| 0 | Comcast | 9.1% | target |
| 1 | Comcast | 8.4% | target |
| -10 | Peer basket | 1.7% | peer |
| -9 | Peer basket | -9.1% | peer |
| -8 | Peer basket | -7.2% | peer |
| -7 | Peer basket | -5.8% | peer |
| -6 | Peer basket | -4.0% | peer |
| -5 | Peer basket | -3.6% | peer |
| -4 | Peer basket | -2.9% | peer |
| -3 | Peer basket | -4.3% | peer |
| -2 | Peer basket | -3.4% | peer |
| -1 | Peer basket | -7.0% | peer |
| 0 | Peer basket | -3.7% | peer |
| 1 | Peer basket | -9.1% | peer |
| -10 | Cumulative abnormal return | -0.4% | neutral |
| -9 | Cumulative abnormal return | 7.6% | neutral |
| -8 | Cumulative abnormal return | 5.6% | neutral |
| -7 | Cumulative abnormal return | 5.0% | neutral |
| -6 | Cumulative abnormal return | 4.0% | neutral |
| -5 | Cumulative abnormal return | 6.9% | neutral |
| -4 | Cumulative abnormal return | 6.9% | neutral |
| -3 | Cumulative abnormal return | 8.3% | neutral |
| -2 | Cumulative abnormal return | 9.5% | neutral |
| -1 | Cumulative abnormal return | 12.0% | neutral |
| 0 | Cumulative abnormal return | 11.8% | neutral |
| 1 | Cumulative abnormal return | 16.8% | neutral |
Already the cheapest price tag of the four
Comcast's trailing P/E The share price divided by the profit per share of the last four quarters. A lower number means you pay less for each dollar of past profit. was 7.1x. The median for its three peers was 11.6x, so Comcast sat -38.6% below that median. Cheap on this measure is not the same as cheap in hindsight: over the year to 2026-10-23 a holding in the stock returned -12.9%, while the market returned 14.4%. The company kept spending through all of it, putting 10.4% of its 2026Q3 revenue into building and upgrading its network.
Glossary
- trailing P/E
- The share price divided by the profit per share of the last four quarters. A lower number means you pay less for each dollar of past profit.
How many times its past profit do you think Comcast's shares were priced at?
Actual7.1x
It was 7.1x. The surprise is the gap: the peer median was 11.6x, so the market was already asking a much smaller price for each dollar of Comcast profit before this release.
Show answer
7.1x It was 7.1x. The surprise is the gap: the peer median was 11.6x, so the market was already asking a much smaller price for each dollar of Comcast profit before this release.
Risks
- One-off items such as World Cup media revenue make this year-on-year comparison less clean.
- The peer basket holds only three companies - too small to read much into.
- Currency moves and accounting changes can distort the year-on-year revenue comparison.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR XBRL companyfacts, COMCAST CORPORATION — data as of 2026-09-30; fetched 2026-10-25 16:26 UTC
- FinMind USStockPrice T — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:25 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
- FinMind USStockPrice CMCSA — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:25 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
- FinMind USStockPrice TMUS — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:25 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
- FinMind USStockPrice VZ — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:25 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges