Head to Head Contrast: Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYK) & PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM)
by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat GemLiberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYK – Get Free Report) and PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM – Get Free Report) are both communication services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
46.1% of Liberty Global shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.3% of PubMatic shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.9% of Liberty Global shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.8% of PubMatic shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Liberty Global and PubMatic, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Liberty Global | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| PubMatic | 1 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 2.79 |
PubMatic has a consensus target price of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.89%. Given PubMatic’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe PubMatic is more favorable than Liberty Global.
Volatility & Risk
Liberty Global has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, PubMatic has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Liberty Global and PubMatic”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Liberty Global | $4.88 billion | 0.70 | -$7.14 billion | ($7.39) | -1.35 |
| PubMatic | $282.93 million | 2.73 | -$14.46 million | ($0.30) | -56.50 |
PubMatic has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Liberty Global. PubMatic is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Liberty Global, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Liberty Global and PubMatic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Liberty Global | -44.40% | -25.59% | -11.30% |
| PubMatic | -4.66% | -5.41% | -1.99% |
Summary
PubMatic beats Liberty Global on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is an international telecommunications company focused on broadband, video and mobile services. It provides connectivity and entertainment to residential and business customers through operating companies and joint ventures, including Virgin Media O2 in the United Kingdom, VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands, Telenet in Belgium and Sunrise in Switzerland. The company traces its roots to the 2005 merger of UnitedGlobalCom and Liberty Media International. In addition to its telecommunications businesses, Liberty Global invests in communications infrastructure and technology companies.
About PubMatic
PubMatic is a digital advertising technology company that operates a sell-side platform for publishers and app developers. Its cloud-based platform helps clients manage and monetize advertising inventory by connecting it with demand from advertisers and media buyers through programmatic advertising. The company’s services support advertising across web, mobile app, video and connected TV environments. Its tools include real-time bidding, inventory management, audience and data solutions, and analytics designed to help publishers optimize advertising revenue and give buyers access to digital audiences.