CMCSA Credit: The Spin Behind Our CMCSA Steepener

Research evidence excerpt

CMCSA Credit: The Spin Behind Our CMCSA Steepener

TTM Adj. EBITDA of ~$34.3bn (ex-Universal Beijing). Comcast EBITDA is Only Lever to Delever (23 Jul 2026)

generated $4.6bn FCF (+2.3% y/y) and returned $2.1bn ($1.2bn dividends, - Comcast Corporation: No Longer Better

$900mn repurchases), but paused buybacks July 1 and expects them to Together, Spinning NBCU+Sky from Comcast

remain paused through the separation while it sets capital structures and Cable, Reiterate Equal-weight (30 Jun 2026)

financial policies for the two future companies. We view the pause and - CMCSA Credit: Open Door to Consolidation,

resulting deleveraging bias as supportive for front-end paper, but insufficient ARPU Pressure Seeps In (23 Apr 2026)

to offset long-end structural uncertainty. - Cross Asset Year-Ahead Outlook: Telecom &

• The spin reframes the credit story: Comcast intends to separate Cable Services – Still a Big Three (10 Dec 2025)

NBCUniversal and Sky via a tax-free spin in ~12 months, retaining up to a

19.9% stake to be monetized within 12 months of close to aid deleveraging.

Management reiterated a desire to preserve investment-grade ratings at

both entities, but we continue to see high-BBB as more likely than the

current single-A, with leverage and financial policy the swing factors. On the

2Q call, management reaffirmed the ~12-month timeline and its intent to

establish “strong investment-grade profiles” at both entities, but declined to

provide specifics, deferring capital-structure policy to “the coming months.”

The key swing factor thus remains unresolved, although they have stated

previously the spin-off company will have a negligible amount of debt. The

existing cross-guarantee structure must also be addressed in the separation,