Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA – Get Free Report) and Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends and profitability.
Volatility and Risk
Liberty Global has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lumen Technologies has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Liberty Global and Lumen Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Liberty Global | $4.34 billion | 0.84 | $1.59 billion | ($6.09) | -1.79 |
| Lumen Technologies | $13.11 billion | 0.61 | -$55.00 million | ($1.65) | -4.74 |
Liberty Global has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lumen Technologies. Lumen Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Liberty Global, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings for Liberty Global and Lumen Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Liberty Global | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2.11 |
| Lumen Technologies | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Liberty Global presently has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 37.74%. Lumen Technologies has a consensus price target of $6.72, suggesting a potential downside of 14.11%. Given Liberty Global’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Liberty Global is more favorable than Lumen Technologies.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
37.2% of Liberty Global shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.2% of Lumen Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 13.3% of Liberty Global shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Lumen Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Liberty Global and Lumen Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Liberty Global | -41.44% | -14.71% | -7.29% |
| Lumen Technologies | -13.02% | -158.40% | -0.78% |
Summary
Liberty Global beats Lumen Technologies on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About Lumen Technologies
Lumen Technologies, Inc., a facilities-based technology and communications company, provides various integrated products and services to business and residential customers in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Business and Mass Markets. It offers dark fiber, edge cloud services, internet protocol, managed security, software-defined wide area networks, secure access service edge, unified communications and collaboration, and optical wavelengths services; ethernet and VPN data networks services; and legacy services to manage cash flow, including time division multiplexing voice, private line, and other legacy services, as well as sells communication equipment, and IT solutions. The company also provides high speed and lower speed broadband service to residential and small business customers; local and long-distance voice services, professional services, and other ancillary services; and federal broadband and state support programs. It serves its products and services under the Lumen, Quantum Fiber, and CenturyLink brands. The company was formerly known as CenturyLink, Inc. and changed its name to Lumen Technologies, Inc. in September 2020. Lumen Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana.
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