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Comcast is made up of three parts. The core cable business owns networks capable of providing television, internet access, and phone services to 63 million US homes and businesses, or nearly half of the country. About 50% of the locations in this territory subscribe to at least one Comcast service. Comcast acquired NBCUniversal from General Electric in 2011. NBCU owns several cable networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, and USA, the NBC network, the Peacock streaming platform, several local NBC affiliates, Universal Studios, and several theme parks. Sky, acquired in 2018, is a large television provider in the UK and has invested heavily in proprietary content to build this position. Sky is also a large pay-television provider in Italy and has a presence in Germany and Austria.

Take-Two is one of the largest global developers and publishers of video games, with labels including Rockstar, 2K, and Zynga. Grand Theft Auto is the firm's biggest franchise, accounting for about 30% of total sales for the past decade. NBA 2K is the industry's dominant basketball video game, with Take-Two releasing a new version annually. Other notable franchises include Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands, and Civilization. Typically, more than three quarters of the firm's sales are from in-game spending, with the remainder coming from initial game sales. Since acquiring Zynga in 2022, mobile makes up about half of total sales.

AMC Networks owns several linear pay-TV networks, including AMC, WE tv, BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV. AMC, its most widely distributed network, reached 60 million pay-TV households in the US at the end of 2024. The firm also had nearly 12.5 million US streaming subscribers, with AMC+ as the flagship streaming platform. With both its linear networks and streaming offerings, the firm caters to specific niche audiences. Over the last 15 years, AMC has shifted its focus to original scripted programming from classic movies. It creates content through AMC Studios and also generates revenue from licensing content. Following an international divestiture at the end of 2023, domestic operations make up nearly 90% of total revenue.

Weekly Tee Up: Argus Lowers Rate Forecast This week features some new housing data and the ongoing flow of earnings reports, with some big names ready to report. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, the S&P 500 was up 1.5%, and the Nasdaq gained 2.6%. Year to date, the DJIA is up 5%, while the S&P and the Nasdaq have both gained 4%. On Tuesday, Arista Networks and Medtronic will report earnings; on Wednesday, Analog Devices and Carvana; on Thursday, Walmart, Alibaba, and Booking Holdings; and on Friday, NatWest and United States Cellular. Some 383 of the S&P 500 companies have reported for last quarter, and earnings so far show a strong 15% growth rate from the prior-year quarter. That compares to 9% growth in 3Q. Communication Services, up 32%, and Financial, up 30%, are the best-performing sectors, while Energy is doing the worst, down 30%, according to Refinitiv. On the economic calendar, Wednesday brings updates on Housing Starts and Building Permits, and the Minutes of the Fed's January rate meeting. On Friday, Existing Home Sales hit the tape. For the Economic Call of the Week, Argus Chief Economist Chris Graja, CFA, has selected Housing Starts, which he expects to decline 9% from a year ago, to 1.25 million seasonally-adjusted for January. This is above the consensus call for a decline of 1.4 million, and lower than the stronger-than-expected 1.5 million in December. Chris offers the following thoughts. 'The December pace might have received a boost from builders' post-election optimism. However, our near-term concern is that the jump in mortgage rates since September will make builders more cautious. Still, we remain upbeat on the prospects for homebuilders because demographics and underbuilding have created a big shortage of affordable housing. With existing homeowners handcuffed to their low, locked-in mortgages, Millennials and other buyers are turning to the new-home market. Builders are being pragmatic and offering incentives and mortgage-rate buy-downs, which are helping them to sell homes.' Last week, mortgage rates dipped 2 basis points (bps), with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now at 6.87%, according to FreddieMac. Gas prices rose five cents to average $3.13 per gallon for regular gas. The Atlanta Fed GDPNow indicator is forecasting for 1Q and calls for expansion of 2.3%. The Cleveland Fed Inflation Nowcast is at 2.81% for CPI in February. The next Fed rate decision is on March 19, with odds at just 2.5% that there will be a rate cut, according to the CME FedWatch rate tool. After that, the next meeting is in early May, with odds at just 20% for a cut. Given recent data and commentary from Federal Reserve officials, we have lowered our expectations for 2025 to two rates cuts, from three. We expect both cuts will be in the back half of the year, and both by 25 bps.