Contrasting Comcast (CMCSA) and Its Peers

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is one of 257 public companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Comcast to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Comcast has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Comcast’s peers have a beta of 0.97, suggesting that their average share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Comcast and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Comcast	9.20%	14.64%	5.14%
Comcast Competitors	-18.35%	-47.68%	-4.81%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.3% of Comcast shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.1% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Comcast shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Comcast and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comcast	6	11	10	0	2.15
Comcast Competitors	2319	6907	10757	488	2.46

Comcast presently has a consensus target price of $28.77, suggesting a potential upside of 17.97%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 25.48%. Given Comcast’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Comcast has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Comcast and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Comcast	$123.71 billion	$20.00 billion	7.72
Comcast Competitors	$3.27 billion	$35.12 million	7.30

Comcast has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Comcast is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Comcast pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Comcast pays out 41.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Media” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.2% and pay out 139.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Comcast has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years. Comcast is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Comcast beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation operates as a media and technology company worldwide. It operates through Residential Connectivity & Platforms, Business Services Connectivity, Media, Studios, and Theme Parks segments. The Residential Connectivity & Platforms segment provides residential broadband and wireless connectivity services, residential and business video services, sky-branded entertainment television networks, and advertising. The Business Services Connectivity segment offers connectivity services for small business locations, which include broadband, wireline voice, and wireless services, as well as solutions for medium-sized customers and larger enterprises; and small business connectivity services in the United Kingdom. The Media segment operates NBCUniversal's television and streaming business, including national and regional cable networks; the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks and owned local broadcast television stations; and Peacock, a direct-to-consumer streaming services. It also operates international television networks comprising the Sky Sports networks, as well as other digital properties. The Studios segment operates NBCUniversal and Sky film and television studio production and distribution operations. The Theme Parks segment operates Universal theme parks in Orlando, Florida; Hollywood, California; Osaka, Japan; and Beijing, China. The company also offers a consolidated streaming platforms under the Philadelphia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Xumo. Comcast Corporation was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.