Should You Buy Comcast Stock For Its Cash?
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Comcast (CMCSA) stock offers a free cash flow yield of 20.3%, against 4.2% for the median S&P 500 company. Buyers at this price are either uncovering a bargain or paying for a business the market expects to get smaller. So how much cash does Comcast actually produce, and how steady has it been?
Comcast’s Cash Has Stayed Positive For Three Years
Over the twelve months to September 2026, Comcast produced $17.1 billion of free cash flow, which is the cash left after capital spending. A share price tends to catch up over time with the cash a company keeps producing, particularly when that cash grows.
Comcast’s free cash flow stayed above zero in each of the 13 twelve-month periods ending September 2023 through September 2026. The figure reached $18.1 billion in the twelve months to September 2025, climbing from $11.0 billion a year earlier, and has slipped a little since. Comcast also reinvests heavily: capital spending took 46.2% of its cash from operations over the last twelve months.
Debt has a claim on that cash before shareholders do. At the end of September 2026, Comcast’s net debt, its debt minus its cash, sat at 94.8% of its market value on November 3. Counting that debt alongside the share price puts the free cash flow yield on enterprise value at 10.4%. So the cash has not turned negative in three years, but Comcast’s lenders are paid first.
Comcast Is Losing Broadband Customers To Rivals
Comcast lost 144,000 broadband subscribers in the third quarter of 2026. During the October 22 call, management said fixed wireless continues to take share while fiber construction remains elevated.
Management said its investments in pricing, packaging and the customer offer are creating near-term financial pressure. Comcast’s revenue over the twelve months to September 2026 held level with the prior year at $123 billion. Operating margin over those twelve months fell to 14.7%, down from 18.0% a year earlier. In the third quarter alone, the margin reached 18.2%, against 17.7% a year earlier. Earlier quarters proved weaker, posting margins of 10.8% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and 13.1% in the first quarter of 2026.
Comcast’s theme parks also weakened. Revenue for the segment fell 4% in the third quarter, with management pointing to Orlando and Japan as the weak spots. Against that, Comcast’s wireless lines rose 18% from a year earlier, and management expects its cost overhaul to be worth billions of dollars over time. So far, Comcast looks more like a business earning less on flat sales than one simply marked down.
What Comcast Owners Still Need To Know
Comcast’s free cash flow is one open question, and management has outlined what to expect in the fourth quarter. The $4.2 billion of free cash flow in the third quarter included favorable timing that management expects to reverse in the fourth quarter. Management also expects a charge of over $1 billion, mostly for its cost overhaul, alongside a slight improvement in its underlying financial trends even as the company moves broadband customers to its new pricing.
Comcast’s debt is the other open question. Operating income covered interest expense 4.3 times over the twelve months to September 2026. Total debt fell to $87.4 billion, down from $99.1 billion a year earlier. Management wants both the remaining connectivity business and the spun-off NBCUniversal and Sky company to hold investment grade ratings after the separation, a split Comcast expects to complete by the middle of 2027. The free cash flow figures in this article are for the whole of Comcast, before that split.
Comcast is expected to report its fourth-quarter results in January 2027, and its free cash flow over the twelve months is the measure to watch.
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