Debt-rating agency Standard and Poor's revised its outlook on Comcast Corp. from "negative" to "stable," based on the Philadelphia-based MSO's successful integration of AT&T Broadband.
S&P also reaffirmed its BBB corporate credit rating on Comcast, adding that the MSO's efforts to pare down debt in the months after the AT&T Broadband deal closed on Nov. 18, 2002, have been extremely successful.
With the closing of the sale of its 57.5% interest in cable channel QVC Inc. for $7.9 billion, Comcast has even more of an opportunity to pare down debt, S&P said. By using after-tax proceeds of $5.3 billion for debt reduction, Comcast could lower its leverage ratio to about 3 times annual cash flow.
