UBS Downgrades Liberty Global (LBTYA) to Neutral

UBS analyst Polo Tang downgraded Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA) from Buy to Neutral with a price target of $13.00 (from $23.00).

The analyst comments: "Given the re-rating over the past 12m, we downgrade Liberty Global purely to reflect the Sunrise spin-off. Liberty Global now has three remaining assets – Virgin Media O2 in the UK (50% stake), Telenet in Belgium and VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands (50% stake). It also has a Ventures investment portfolio that is worth $3bn. Liberty Global has indicated it would seek local listings for its remaining assets over time and that it would seek to monetise/redeploy capital within Ventures. VMO2 has seen headwinds from the re-pricing of its back-book in broadband, the closure of Virgin Mobile and investment into IT/marketing. While the UK is seeing competition from alt Nets, VMO2 has opportunities to grow in broadband from footprint expansion and wholesale. It is also looking to carve out a UK NetCo that VMO2 states could give it financial/strategic flexibility to accelerate upgrade of its cable network to fibre and to consolidate the alt net space."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Liberty Global click here. For more ratings news on Liberty Global click here.

Shares of Liberty Global closed at $12.22 yesterday.

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