Reviewing Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) and Koninklijke KPN (OTCMKTS:KKPNY)

Koninklijke KPN (OTCMKTS:KKPNY) and Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Koninklijke KPN and Liberty Global, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Koninklijke KPN	0	1	0	0	2.00
Liberty Global	1	6	2	0	2.11

Liberty Global has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 37.74%. Given Liberty Global’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Liberty Global is more favorable than Koninklijke KPN.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Koninklijke KPN	N/A	N/A	N/A
Liberty Global	-41.44%	-14.71%	-7.29%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Koninklijke KPN and Liberty Global”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Koninklijke KPN	$6.10 billion	2.95	$917.62 million	N/A	N/A
Liberty Global	$4.34 billion	0.84	$1.59 billion	($6.09)	-1.79

Liberty Global has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Koninklijke KPN.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

37.2% of Liberty Global shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.3% of Liberty Global shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Koninklijke KPN has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liberty Global has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Liberty Global beats Koninklijke KPN on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Koninklijke KPN

Koninklijke KPN N.V. provides telecommunications and information technology (IT) services in the Netherlands. It operates through Consumer; Business; Wholesale; and Network, Operations & IT segments. The company offers fixed and mobile telephony, fixed and mobile broadband internet, and television services to retail and business consumers; infrastructure and network related IT solutions to business customers; and wholesale network services to third parties. It also provides IT services, including cloud, workspace, and cybersecurity services; interconnect traffic, visitor roaming, and digital products; and NL-ix, an interconnect exchange, as well as sells handsets, peripheral equipment, and software licenses. In addition, the company offers virus and malware scanners; anti-virus licenses; 1Password, a password management tool; DNSSEC, a technology that prevents customers from being led to fake websites; KPN Veilig Netwerk Thuis, a smart network security; Censornet, which includes web security, cloud application security broker, email protection, and awareness training; SuperVision, which provides digital governance solutions for workspaces; and OneMonitoring to ensure early detection of cyber incidents. Further, it provides fiber networks; and IT services for integrating healthcare systems and optimizing communication between healthcare providers. The company distributes its products and services under the KPN, XS4ALL, Simyo, KPN Security, KPN Health, Solcon, Inspark, and KPN Partner Network brands. The company was formerly known as Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV and changed its name to Koninklijke KPN N.V. in June 1998. Koninklijke KPN N.V. was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

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.