Angelakis said the nation's largest cable company is more worried about the economy and the weak housing market than competition from Verizon Communications Inc. and others.
The U.S. Labor Department added to those concerns with a report yesterday that the nation lost 63,000 jobs in February, the second straight month of job losses. On Thursday, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that more than 2 percent of all U.S. mortgage loans were in the foreclosure process in the fourth quarter, the highest level since the group started keeping track in 1972.
"There has been a major dislocation in housing and that has had an impact on us," Angelakis said in a recent interview, noting the large number of vacant homes and foreclosures. "Those could have been our customers," he said. The company is "not currently seeing an acceleration in the [housing] weakness," he added.
Comcast, with more than 24 million cable subscribers, is one of the most widely held stocks in the nation. Investors grew disgruntled when capital expenditures rose to $5.7 billion in 2007 from $4.5 billion in 2006. The company hired about 10,000 new workers in 2007 to fuel an expansion into business data services and improve customer service.
"The stock got hit because the market thought we were decreasing our potential to deliver free cash flow," said Angelakis, an executive vice president and chief financial officer. "I think we made the right decision, but Wall Street didn't."
Comcast shares fell 4 cents yesterday to $19.67, on a day that the markets were down in reaction to the negative job numbers. The stock has traded between $29.41 and $16.11 in the last year.
Angelakis said he expects Comcast's revenues to grow 8 percent to 10 percent without acquisitions in 2008. Revenues in 2007 were about $31 billion.
