Head-To-Head Survey: Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) and Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) and Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.5% of Uniti Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.2% of Liberty Global shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Uniti Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Liberty Global shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Uniti Group and Liberty Global’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Uniti Group	28.68%	-133.07%	-4.09%
Liberty Global	-62.12%	-28.83%	-13.28%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Uniti Group and Liberty Global”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Uniti Group	$2.23 billion	0.55	$1.30 billion	$2.71	1.87
Liberty Global	$4.88 billion	0.55	-$7.14 billion	($8.98)	-0.88

Uniti Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Liberty Global. Liberty Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Uniti Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Uniti Group has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liberty Global has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Uniti Group and Liberty Global, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Uniti Group	0	7	1	1	2.33
Liberty Global	1	4	2	0	2.14

Uniti Group currently has a consensus price target of $11.47, indicating a potential upside of 126.54%. Liberty Global has a consensus price target of $12.78, indicating a potential upside of 62.51%. Given Uniti Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Uniti Group is more favorable than Liberty Global.

Summary

Uniti Group beats Liberty Global on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Uniti Group

Uniti Group, Inc. is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network. The Uniti Fiber segment includes the operation of infrastructure solutions, cell site backhauls, and dark fiber. The Corporate segment consists of office and shared service functions. The company was founded in February 2014 and is headquartered in Little Rock, AR.

About Liberty Global

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.