Financial Contrast: AT&T (NYSE:T) versus Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LILAK)

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LILAK) and AT&T (NYSE:T) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Liberty Global and AT&T, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Liberty Global	1	2	0	0	1.67
AT&T	0	8	17	1	2.73

Liberty Global presently has a consensus price target of $7.85, suggesting a potential downside of 5.76%. AT&T has a consensus price target of $30.64, suggesting a potential upside of 18.12%. Given AT&T’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AT&T is more favorable than Liberty Global.

Volatility and Risk

Liberty Global has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AT&T has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Liberty Global and AT&T”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liberty Global	$4.46 billion	0.37	-$657.00 million	($3.69)	-2.26
AT&T	$124.48 billion	1.48	$10.95 billion	$3.08	8.42

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

Profitability

This table compares Liberty Global and AT&T’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Liberty Global	-16.57%	-46.60%	-5.78%
AT&T	17.87%	12.72%	3.82%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.0% of Liberty Global shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of AT&T shares are held by institutional investors. 9.7% of Liberty Global shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of AT&T shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

AT&T beats Liberty Global on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Latin America Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides fixed, mobile, and subsea telecommunications services. The company operates through C&W Caribbean, C&W Panama, Liberty Networks, Liberty Puerto Rico, and Liberty Costa Rico segments. It offers communications and entertainment services, including video, broadband internet, fixed-line, telephony, and mobiles services to residential and business customers; and business products and services that include enterprise-grade connectivity, data center, hosting, and managed solutions, as well as information technology solutions for small and medium enterprises, international companies, and governmental agencies. The company also operates a sub-sea and terrestrial fiber optic cable network that connects approximately 40 markets. It provides its services under the brands of C&W, Liberty Costa Rica, Liberty Communications, BTC, Flow, and Mas Móvil. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About AT&T

AT&T, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally. The Latin America segment provides wireless services and equipment in Mexico. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.