Comcast Corporation: CMCSA Stock Is Going for Gold

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Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) is the No. 2 cable provider in the U.S. It owns NBC and all its affiliates — CNBC, MSNBC — and has over 22 million subscribers.

Comcast Corporation: CMCSA Stock Is Going for GoldThat gives CMCSA stock a strong platform, but it isn’t interested in kicking back and letting the cash flow roll in.

It is always looking for new opportunities and new markets. And its recent move with its new X1 cable box is the next iteration in that effort.

Comcast is gunning for Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) with its new box. You see, X1 is voice controlled like Amazon’s Echo or AAPL’s Siri version for AppleTV. And it’s coming during the Summer Olympics on the residential side and through hotel rooms on the commercial side.

X1 Will Bring the Gold to CMCSA Stock

The core technology behind the X1 is seemingly simple — use your voice to search for content on television, whether it’s on cable or online. But Comcast wants to show you the power of X1, so it’s showing off its new voice-controlled ‘remote’ during the Olympics where viewers will be able to search for specific events, athletes, countries or follow the favorites for gold, silver or bronze.

By announcing this offer now, it hopes to increase its distribution of the X1 box in the weeks before the games begin. It’s already on track to half of its video users on the new system by the end of 2016.

The television space is finally coming to that point of singularity where the television and the online world are merging in a real way that has important implications to consumers and industry players.

It means that competition no longer comes simply from other cable and content providers, but from companies that are providing online streaming experiences that are stealing eyeballs on television and online.

This summer, CMCSA is launching a pilot program for the hospitality industry in Philadelphia. Using the X1, guests will be able ‘surf’ the television rather than use a new remote with unfamiliar channels. If it’s a hit, it could open a front for Comcast in the hotel content delivery sector, a very lucrative business.

The point is that CMCSA continues to innovate and is not letting competition drive its business — it drives the competition.

Comcast stock is up 11% year to date, which shows that CMCSA continues to grow and deliver, even in challenging market times.

It also announced a $5 billion share buyback for 2016, and raised its dividend. While its current 1.8% stable is not thrilling, reinvesting those dividends over the long haul will mean adding more shares of a very good company.

And keeping cable important to consumers will be a growing need for cable to stay competitive. X1 is a good idea whose time has come. And CMCSA is telling the competition it’s a favorite for gold in the new content wars.

Richard Band’s Profitable Investing advisory service helps retirement savers outperform the market without losing a minute of sleep along the way. His straightforward style and low-risk value approach has won seven Best Financial Advisory awards from the Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Foundation.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/06/comcast-cmcsa-stock-going-gold/.

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