Head to Head Contrast: Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LILAK) & AT&T (NYSE:T)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for AT&T and Liberty Global, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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

AT&T currently has a consensus price target of $30.64, indicating a potential upside of 18.51%. Liberty Global has a consensus price target of $7.85, indicating a potential downside of 10.90%. Given AT&T’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AT&T is more favorable than Liberty Global.

Risk and Volatility

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

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AT&T	$124.48 billion	1.47	$10.95 billion	$3.08	8.39
Liberty Global	$4.46 billion	0.40	-$657.00 million	($3.69)	-2.39

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

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

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

Summary

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

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.

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.