By Sam Boughedda
Two Wall Street firms provided bullish commentary on Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in notes on Tuesday, with Atlantic Equities upgrading the stock to Overweight and Citi telling investors that they remain a buyer of the shares.
Atlantic Equities analysts also lifted the firm's price target on the stock to $44 from $36. The analysts told investors that Comcast has underperformed the S&P 500 by 30% over the past two years as broadband additions have dried up and growth investors have exited the stock. However, they believe broadband expectations are now de-risked with some potential upside to estimates as the housing market rebounds.
"Furthermore, in the event of a recession later this year, Comcast is well positioned as a defensive name," the analysts wrote.
Citi analysts maintained a Buy rating and a $45 price target on the stock. They explained that the USPS move data revealed that moves are tracking against their seasonal patterns, and they "believe it stands to reason that cable broadband volumes are also likely to revert back to historical seasonal patterns."
"We are updating our outlook for broadband seasonality, which may cause the FY23 loss to be moderately wider than we previously forecasted," they said. "We remain a Buyer of CMCSA shares and see opportunities for Comcast to improve Connectivity cash flow from a rising mix of broadband revenues & incremental efficiency initiatives, while retaining financial flexibility to improve shareholder returns."