Comcast’s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) NBC Loses Staff, Makes Gains in Streaming

Cable provider Comcast (CMCSA), which also owns television network NBC, had a bit of a mixed day in Thursday afternoon’s trading. While it will be losing a major personality, it made some significant gains from its Olympic streaming performance. Investors took it in stride and sent shares up fractionally in Thursday’s trading.

The loss came when Hota Kotb, anchor of the fourth hour of the Today show on NBC, announced that early next year, she would be departing the program. However, Kotb noted that she would not be leaving NBC altogether. She was previously a part of Dateline, and has been part of NBC News since 1998.

Kotb’s age may have played a factor; reports noted that back in August, Today hosted a 60^th birthday celebration for Kotb, and that proved, as CNBC reported, “…a sign she was ready for her next chapter.”

Huge Olympic Win

Meanwhile, recent word came back about NBC’s performance in streaming back in August. The combination of the Olympics and the Democratic National Convention proved a potent one for Comcast’s television operations. In fact, it picked up over 13% of total television viewership for the entire month, propelled by the combination of two major, only occasionally-seen events.

By way of comparison, Comcast managed to beat YouTube in terms of viewing audience, as YouTube only had 10% of the total by itself. And within Comcast, several sub-entities saw massive gains. USA Network, for example, was up 47%, while Peacock shot up 39%. Various NBC affiliates had the best gains, up 62% for the month.

Is CMCSA Stock a Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on CMCSA stock based on 11 Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 5.7% loss in its share price over the past year, the average CMCSA price target of $47.59 per share implies 16.43% upside potential.

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