Liberty Broadband (NASDAQ:LBRDA – Get Free Report) and Lee Enterprises (NYSE:LEE – Get Free Report) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.
Volatility and Risk
Liberty Broadband has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lee Enterprises has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Liberty Broadband and Lee Enterprises, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Liberty Broadband | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Lee Enterprises | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Earnings & Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Liberty Broadband | $1.02 billion | 5.09 | -$2.68 billion | ($6.99) | -5.16 |
| Lee Enterprises | $517.10 million | 0.35 | -$25.84 million | ($1.93) | -4.21 |
Lee Enterprises has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Liberty Broadband. Liberty Broadband is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lee Enterprises, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
10.3% of Liberty Broadband shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.2% of Lee Enterprises shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of Liberty Broadband shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 54.2% of Lee Enterprises shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Liberty Broadband and Lee Enterprises’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Liberty Broadband | N/A | -9.80% | -6.32% |
| Lee Enterprises | -7.21% | -325.44% | -6.55% |
Summary
Liberty Broadband beats Lee Enterprises on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Liberty Broadband
Liberty Broadband Corporation engages in the communications businesses. The company’s GCI Holdings segment provides data, wireless, video, voice, and managed services to residential customers, businesses, governmental entities, educational, and medical institutions in Alaska under the GCI brand. Its Charter segment offers subscription-based Internet and video services, and mobile and voice services; and state-of-the-art residential and business services, which includes Spectrum Internet, TV, mobile and voice for small and medium-sized companies; Spectrum Business provides a suite of broadband products and services for businesses and government application; Spectrum Enterprise offers customized fiber-based solutions; Spectrum Reach provides advertising and production for the modern media landscape. In addition, the company provides security suite that offers computer viruses, spyware and threats from malicious actors across the internet; offers internet access, data networking, fiber connectivity to cellular towers and office buildings, video entertainment, and business telephone services; advertising services on cable television networks, streaming services, and advertising platforms; and operates regional sports and news networks. Liberty Broadband Corporation was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Englewood, Colorado.
About Lee Enterprises
Lee Enterprises, Incorporated provides local news and information, and advertising services in the United States. The company offers digital subscription platforms; daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers and niche publications; and web hosting and content management services. It also provides advertising and marketing services, such as audience extension, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, web and mobile production, social media services, and reputation monitoring and management. In addition, the company offers integrated digital publishing and content management solutions for creating, distributing, and monetizing multimedia content for media publications, universities, television stations, and niche publications. Further, it provides commercial printing services; distributes third party products; and operates a digital marketing services agency. Lee Enterprises, Incorporated was founded in 1890 and is based in Davenport, Iowa.
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