Comparing Liberty Global (LBTYK) & Its Peers

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYK) is one of 257 publicly-traded companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Liberty Global to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Liberty Global	-44.40%	-25.14%	-9.55%
Liberty Global Competitors	-18.35%	-47.57%	-4.60%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Liberty Global and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Liberty Global	1	0	0	0	1.00
Liberty Global Competitors	2324	6912	10759	489	2.46

As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 25.70%. Given Liberty Global’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Liberty Global has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

46.1% of Liberty Global shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.1% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 9.9% of Liberty Global shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Liberty Global and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liberty Global	$4.88 billion	-$7.14 billion	-1.32
Liberty Global Competitors	$3.00 billion	$35.12 million	7.11

Liberty Global has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. Liberty Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Volatility and Risk

Liberty Global has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Liberty Global’s peers have a beta of 0.96, suggesting that their average stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Liberty Global peers beat Liberty Global on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

Liberty Global Company Profile

Liberty Global Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband internet, video, fixed-line telephony, and mobile communications services to residential and business customers. It offers value-added broadband services, such as WiFi features, security, anti-virus, firewall, spam protection, smart home services, online storage solutions, and web spaces; and Connect Box that delivers in-home Wi-Fi service. The company provides various tiers of digital video programming and audio services, as well as digital video recorders and multimedia home gateway systems; Horizon 5, a cloud-based, multi-screen entertainment platform that combines linear television, including recording and replay features and video-on-demand services; Horizon Go, an online mobile app; and channels, including general entertainment, sports, movies, series, documentaries, lifestyles, news, adult, children, and ethnic and foreign channels. In addition, it offers postpaid and prepaid mobile services; circuit-switched telephony services; and personal call manager, unified messaging, and a second or third phone line at an incremental cost. Further, the company offers business services comprising voice, advanced data, video, wireless, cloud-based services, and mobile and converged fixed-mobile services to small or home offices, small businesses, and medium and large enterprises, as well as on a wholesale basis to other operators. It operates in Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, Slovakia, and internationally. Liberty Global Ltd. was founded in 2004 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.