Giant cable and media conglomerate Comcast (CMCSA -0.79%) has put in a solid rally so far in 2023, with the stock up nearly 18% so far this year. Amid a bloodbath in the TV streaming wars, Comcast has found plenty of other places to juice profits and make up for its ugly foray into the space (its Peacock service). Total first-quarter 2023 revenue was down 4% year over year, but adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), Comcast's preferred operating profit metric, increased 3%.

After the run higher to kick off the new year, is Comcast stock a buy? 

Forget TV streaming; Comcast has even more lucrative markets to tackle

Much has been said about the demise of cable TV, and Comcast (and its subsidiary cable business Xfinity) are taking a big hit from this transition from traditional TV to internet-based video entertainment. Indeed, Comcast reported another net loss of 614,000 U.S. cable TV subscribers in the last quarter alone, bringing its total customers down to 15.5 million in this department (compared to 17.7 million U.S. cable TV subscribers at the end of Q1 2022).

Meanwhile, Peacock has managed to land just 22 million subscribers in the U.S. and brought in revenue of $685 million in Q1. Losses mounted, though. Adjusted EBITDA loss was a whopping $704 million. At least there's room for improvement.

Even worse, over the last few years, Comcast has been able to offset this horrific cable TV exit with broadband internet customer additions. With the pandemic work-from-home boom over, that trend has also been played out. Total broadband subscribers were flat year over year at 32.3 million in the quarter.

Nevertheless, Comcast's cable revenue remained stable thanks to moderate internet service price hikes, as well as an add-on wireless phone business that keeps growing at a very healthy clip. Led by Xfinity Wireless (which piggybacks off Verizon's network and leverages Comcast's extensive national network of Wi-Fi hotspots), the wireless segment reported 5.67 million customer subs, up from 4.3 million a year ago.  

And over in the entertainment department, NBCUniversal is feeling the pinch as inflation does a number on consumers. NBCU revenue fell 9.5% year over year (although part of that is due to a once-every-two-year bump from broadcasts of the Olympics, which took place in Q1 2022 and which NBCU was lapping this year).

Yet the NBCU division is holding its own, with adjusted EBITDA only falling 1% from the year prior. Investments in theme parks continue to be rewarded (including the new Super Mario World parks, a joint venture with Nintendo) as households still manage to find the money to travel (hopefully not by borrowing on credit). Theme park revenue and adjusted EBITDA shot up 25% and 46% year over year, respectively.

Comcast is a messy but efficiently run media empire

Now as to whether Comcast stock is a buy -- much of this will depend on the needs of an investor, as well as proper expectations for what Comcast can deliver.

If stable and rising income is what you're after, Comcast might be your ticket. In the last quarter alone, Comcast paid out $1.2 billion in dividends (the current annual yield is 2.9%) and another $2 billion in share repurchases. Despite having its hand in everything from cable TV to the internet to theme parks and filmed entertainment, Comcast is able to keep profits on the rise and return excess cash to shareholders. The quarterly dividend payout has doubled in just the last five years alone (since the last stock split in 2017).

As of this writing, Comcast stock trades for 31 times trailing-12-month earnings (or 15 times free cash flow) but just 11 times expected full-year 2023 earnings. A growth stock this is not, so this looks like a fair (not great) value right now. I don't think Comcast is as timely a buy as it was in late 2022, but there's still a lot to like about this stock for investors who are looking for stable and modestly rising income in the years ahead.