Reviewing Liberty Global (LBTYB) and Its Rivals

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYB) is one of 259 public companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Liberty Global to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Liberty Global has a beta of 0.43, indicating that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liberty Global’s peers have a beta of 1.02, indicating that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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	-62.11%	-28.82%	-13.28%
Liberty Global Competitors	-20.10%	-48.50%	-5.05%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Liberty Global and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liberty Global	$4.88 billion	-$7.14 billion	-1.52
Liberty Global Competitors	$3.20 billion	-$7.90 million	17.56

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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Liberty Global and its peers, as provided 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	2224	6840	10805	472	2.47

As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 20.37%. Given Liberty Global’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Liberty Global has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.5% of Liberty Global shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.7% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by institutional investors. 6.5% of Liberty Global shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.9% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned 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.

Summary

Liberty Global peers beat Liberty Global on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Global Plc is an international television and broadband company, which engages in the provision of broadband communications services. It operates through the following geographical segments: U.K. and Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central and Corporate. Its products include broadband, WiFi, connectivity products, TV platforms, and TV content. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.