A 'Safe Haven' If The Trump Rally Collapses: Comcast

Wunderlich’s Matthew Harrigan views Comcast Corporation CMCSA as a relatively “safe haven,” even in the event that the stock’s current Trump rally ends, given the superior execution of the company’s cable business, as well as NBCUniversal.

Harrigan maintains a Buy rating on the company, while raising the price target from $78 to $85.

Positives For Comcast

“Given NBCUniversal's evident creative execution, the advent of OTT products like DIRECTV DTV Now [now acquired by AT&T Inc. T] further galvanizes upside,” the analyst mentioned.

Harrigan believes the DirecTV Now pricing template is likely to help with better price segmentation for NBCUniversal content, stating, “Savvy price segmentation targeting 20 million + households outside the traditional pay TV ecosystem a positive for broadband and NBCUniversal.”

DirecTV Now will, however, not include 4K content, which is poised to be launched among higher end consumers.

Broadband

The analyst also views the primacy of the X1 interface as integral, strategically, to Comcast’s consumer base, saying that this was evident from the integration with Netflix, Inc. NFLX as a “frenemy” given the “its marquee content.”

IP content is expected to strengthen the appeal of Comcast’s superior broadband offering.

At last check, Comcast was up 0.9 percent at $68.93.