Financial Review: Liberty Broadband (NASDAQ:LBRDK) and Cogeco Communications (OTCMKTS:CGEAF)

Cogeco Communications (OTCMKTS:CGEAF) and Liberty Broadband (NASDAQ:LBRDK) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Cogeco Communications and Liberty Broadband’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cogeco Communications	N/A	N/A	N/A
Liberty Broadband	N/A	-9.80%	-6.32%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cogeco Communications and Liberty Broadband”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cogeco Communications	N/A	N/A	N/A	$4.40	9.62
Liberty Broadband	$1.02 billion	4.78	-$2.68 billion	($6.99)	-4.84

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Cogeco Communications and Liberty Broadband, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cogeco Communications	0	4	1	0	2.20
Liberty Broadband	1	0	0	0	1.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

41.9% of Cogeco Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.2% of Liberty Broadband shares are held by institutional investors. 10.8% of Liberty Broadband shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Cogeco Communications beats Liberty Broadband on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cogeco Communications

Cogeco Communications Inc. operates as a telecommunications corporation in Canada and the United States. It operates in two segments, Canadian Telecommunications and American Telecommunications. The company offers Internet, video, and Internet protocol (IP) based telephony services to residential and small business customers through its two-way broadband fiber networks. It also provides Internet packages comprising best-in-class managed Wi-Fi and with home Wi-Fi solutions; voice services; and other advanced network connectivity services, such as dedicated fibre, session initiation protocol (SIP) or primary rate interface (PRI) trunking solutions, hosted private branch exchange (HPBX) solutions, and managed business Wi-Fi (MBW) through its long-distance fibre optic systems, advanced hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) telecommunications distribution networks, point-to-point fibre networks, and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network technologies. In addition, the company offers e-mail solutions and Internet security suite to Internet customers with automatic updates to protect their desktop and mobile devices; and self-installation devices on a rental basis. Further, it provides cable operator services under the Cogeco Connexion name in Québec and Ontario, Canada; and in the United States under the Breezeline brand. The company was formerly known as Cogeco Cable Inc. and changed its name to Cogeco Communications Inc. in January 2016. Cogeco Communications Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Cogeco Communications Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Cogeco Inc.

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.