PhillyInc

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) isn't getting out of Wall Street's dog house for a while. Though the Philadelphia-based cable operator yesterday reported solid second quarter earnings, investors remain concerned about the company's capital expenditures and punished the stock. Plus, Wall Street remains uneasy about the growing competition in the cable industry, which explains why Comcast's shares are down about 6 percent this year. Christopher King, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., told Bloomberg News: "People see higher capex in the cable industry and their first instinct is to sell the stock." King rates CMCSA a "buy."

Comcast, which reaffirmed its earlier guidance of $5.7 billion for capital expenditures this year, is in a pickle. On one hand, the company needs to ratchet up spending because, among other things, it's adding 6,000 new workers and building a new headquarters building in Center City. That hurts earnings in the short term, which angers investors that flock to tech stocks looking for quick gains.

The company also is victim of its own success. Wall Street not only expects Comcast to beat Wall Street earnings forecasts but to exceed them greatly. The 28 percent gain in profit and 31 percent jump in revenue only met analysts' forecasts. Bloomberg also points out that Comcast beat analysts' estimates for new TV and phone subscribers, though lagged expectations for high-speed Internet users.

That's good. But not good enough.

- Jonathan Berr