LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (LBTYK): Is the Big Dip in Smart Money Ownership Justified?

Page 1 of 3

No one would be surprised at the statement that there is no “magic formula” for winning in the equity markets, save for Jim Simons and other billionaires, whose trading methods have delivered above-market returns for years. Individual investors usually invest in equities based on broker recommendations, analysts’ research reports, or even rumors or gut instincts. Picking good stocks is not an easy job, so experienced investors and especially less financially savvy ones should focus on the basket of stocks owned by hedge funds when looking for good investment opportunities. There are numerous complicated stock selection strategies, but exploring hedge funds’ top picks is definitely a good place to start looking for high-potential stocks. Having this in mind, the following article will take a close look at the hedge fund sentiment that surrounds LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (NASDAQ:LBTYK).

Is LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (NASDAQ:LBTYK) undervalued? The smart money is getting less optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets was trimmed by 15 in recent months. LBTYK was in 74 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015. There were 89 hedge funds in our database with LBTYK holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) to gather more data points.

Follow Liberty Global Ltd.

Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests (see the details here).

The class C ordinary shares of London-based communications company LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (NASDAQ:LBTYK) are down by 30% over the past 12 months, after having dropped by 10% since the beginning of 2016. The international provider of video, broadband internet, fixed-line telephony and mobile services registered organic revenue generating units (RGUs) additions of 870,000 during 2015, with 344,000 additions in the fourth quarter alone. The company’s revenue for 2015 totaled $18.28 billion, up from $18.25 billion reported for 2014. Similarly, LIBERTY GLOBAL’s operating income increased to $2.35 billion from $2.23 billion registered in 2014. All in all, the company continues to grow its business operations at a steady pace. Nonetheless, the company has been facing extreme competition from incumbent telecommunications operators in some markets, especially in the Netherlands, so LIBERTY GLOBAL recently made a bright move to strengthen its position in that market by forming a joint venture with another operator.

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action regarding LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (NASDAQ:LBTYK), as well as discuss the recently-announced joint venture. 

Page 1 of 3