1. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 88
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is an American telecommunication company, with headquarters in Pennsylvania, U.S. The company owns some of the biggest entertainment channels, including Xfinity, NBCUniversal, Sky, NBC, etc. Recently, Netflix has announced its deal with Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) for exclusive streaming rights for animated film features. CSCA tops our list of the best consumer discretionary stocks to buy now.
In Q1 2021, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported a net income of $3.5 billion, up 8.1% from $3.2 billion during the same period last year. The EPS beat the consensus by $0.17 at $0.76. Consolidated revenue also presented a 2.2% year-over-year growth at $27.2 billion. Xfinity accounted for $15.8 billion of the gross revenue, whereas NBCUniversal generated $7.0 billion. In the first quarter, the company’s free cash flow was $5.3 billion. The company paid $1.1 billion to shareholders through dividends.
The strong numbers secured positive ratings on the CMCSA stock from many investment banks, such as Benchmark, Raymond James, Craig-Hallum, etc. In June, Morgan Stanley stated higher expectations from NBCUniversal and Sky and raised its price target on CMCSA $70, with an ‘Overweight’ rating on the shares. In the past year, the CMCSA stock has delivered a $37.1% return to shareholders.
As of Q1 2021, 88 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey have positions in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), compared with 84 in the previous quarter. The total value of these stakes is $9.76 billion. With over 38 million shares, worth $2.06 billion, Eagle Capital Management is the biggest shareholder of the company.
ClearBridge Investments recently published its second-quarter 2021 investor letter and mentioned Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) in it. Here is what the firm has to say about CMCSA:
“We funded the shift primarily with trims in Comcast following big gains in this name. Comcast is a long-term holding that have been and remain core holdings. During the quarter, however, we took gains and resized the positions to reflect their current risk-reward post strong increases in the stocks.
Comcast, like Blackstone, has been a meaningful long-term holding whose stock performance has at times lagged its robust fundamental performance. Over the last nine months the stock price caught up some with the fundamentals and looked like it had more room to run. Our thesis on the name evolved, however, following the May 17 announcement that competitor Discovery was merging its operations with Time Warner. This deal positions the new company as a credible competitor to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Disney, and results in Comcast being left without the proverbial dance partner in the evolving pay TV/DTC landscape. While we continue to believe Comcast’s cable systems business is well-positioned and that NBCUniversal remains valuable, the competitive dynamic for NBCUniversal has stiffened. Our reduced position size reflects both our continued enthusiasm for many parts of the franchise and emerging concerns given the evolving pay TV/DTC landscape.”
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