Communications Sector Stocks 0

Baidu is the largest Internet search engine in China with mid-70s mobile traffic share in the search market. The firm generates 86% of revenue from online marketing services and the rest from other segments. Baidu is a technology-driven company and has been investing in artificial intelligence technology, such as autonomously driven cars.

CBS is a media conglomerate operating primarily in the U.S. CBS' television assets include the CBS television network, 30 local TV stations, and 50% of CW, a joint venture between CBS and Time Warner. The company also owns Showtime and Simon & Schuster. CBS spun off its cable networks and movie studios to Viacom in 2006 and completed the spin-out of its outdoor advertising business in 2014 and and its radio division in 2017.

Charter is the product of the 2016 merger of three cable companies, each with a decades-long history in the business: Legacy Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. The firm now holds networks capable of providing television, Internet access, and phone services to roughly 51 million U.S. homes and businesses, around 40% of the country. Across this footprint, Charter serves 27 million residential and 2 million commercial customer accounts under the Spectrum brand, making it the second-largest U.S. cable company behind Comcast. The firm also owns, in whole or in part, sports and news networks, including Spectrum SportsNet (long-term local rights to Los Angeles Lakers games), SportsNet LA (Los Angeles Dodgers), SportsNet New York (New York Mets), and Spectrum News NY1.

Comcast is made up of three parts. The core cable business owns networks capable of providing television, Internet access, and phone services to roughly 58 million U.S. homes and businesses, or nearly half of the country. About half the homes in this territory subscribe to at least one Comcast service. Comcast acquired NBCUniversal from GE in 2011. NBCU owns several cable networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, and USA, the NBC broadcast network, several local NBC affiliates, Universal Studios, and several theme parks. Lastly, Comcast acquired Sky in 2018. Sky is the dominant television provider in the U.K. and has invested heavily in exclusive and proprietary content to build this position. The firm is also the largest pay television provider in Italy and has a presence in Germany and Austria.

With 450,000 route miles of fiber, including over 35,000 route miles of subsea fiber connecting Europe, Asia, and Latin America, CenturyLink is one of the United States' largest telecommunications carriers serving global enterprises. The merger further shifted the company's operations toward businesses (now 75% of revenue) and away from its legacy consumer business. CenturyLink offers businesses a full menu of communications services, providing colocation and data center services, data transportation, and end-user phone and Internet service. On the consumer side, CenturyLink provides broadband and phone service across 37 states, where it has nearly 5 million broadband customers.

Ctrip.com is the largest online travel agency in China. The company generates about 82% of sales by serving as a consolidator for hotel reservations and air ticketing transactions. The rest of Ctrip's revenue comes from package tours and corporate travel. More than 80% of its sales come through websites and mobile platforms, while the rest come from call centres. The company was founded in 1999 and listed on the Nasdaq in December 2003.

Walt Disney owns the rights to some of the most globally recognized characters, from Mickey Mouse to Luke Skywalker. These characters and others are featured in several Disney theme parks around the world. Disney makes live-action and animated films under studios such as Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, and also operates media networks including ESPN and several TV production studios. Disney recently reorganized into four segments with one new segment, direct-to-consumer and international. The new segment includes the two announced OTT offerings, ESPN+, and the Disney SVOD service. The plan also combines two current segments, parks & resorts and consumer products, into one. The media networks group contains the U.S. cable channels and ABC. The studio segment holds the movie production assets.

Discovery is the one of the largest global media providers with over 2 billion cumulative subscribers in over 220 countries. Its three traditional networks (Discovery, TLC, and Animal Planet) each reach over 87 million U.S. households and more than 260 million international subscribers. The top two networks (HGTV and Food Network) acquired in the Scripps transaction are available in more than 90 million households in the U.S., with a third one (Travel Channel) available in more than 82 million households. The international segment consists of national and pan-regional networks over 294 unique distribution feeds in more than 45 languages.

Discovery is the one of the largest global media providers with over 2 billion cumulative subscribers in over 220 countries. Its three traditional networks (Discovery, TLC, and Animal Planet) each reach over 87 million U.S. households and more than 260 million international subscribers. The top two networks (HGTV and Food Network) acquired in the Scripps transaction are available in more than 90 million households in the U.S., with a third one (Travel Channel) available in more than 82 million households. The international segment consists of national and pan-regional networks over 294 unique distribution feeds in more than 45 languages.

From its founding in the 1980s Dish Network has primarily focused on the satellite television business, capitalizing on technological advancements to expand its reach. The firm now serves 10.7 million U.S. customers via its network of owned and leased satellites (most of which are owned by sister company EchoStar). Dish launched an Internet-based television offering under the Sling brand in 2015 and now serves about 2.3 million customers on this platform. Dish's future, however, hinges primarily on the wireless business. The firm has amassed a large portfolio of spectrum licenses over the past decade, spending more than $21 billion in the process. It expects to spend $1 billion through early 2020 building a narrowband 5G Internet of Things network to meet buildout requirements.

Expedia is the world's largest online travel agency by bookings, offering services for lodging (69% of total 2018 sales), air tickets (8%), rental cars, cruises, in-destination, and other (14%), and advertising revenue (9%). Expedia operates a number of branded travel booking sites, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, Wotif, AirAsia, Engencia, and Vrbo. It has also expanded into travel media with the acquisition of Trivago. Transaction fees for online bookings account for the bulk of sales and profits.

Facebook is the world's largest online social network, with more than 2 billion monthly active users. Users engage with each other in different ways, exchanging messages and sharing news events, photos, and videos. On the video side, the firm is in the process of building a library of premium content and monetizing it via ads or subscription revenue. Facebook refers to this as Facebook Watch. The firm's ecosystem consists mainly of the Facebook app, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and many features surrounding these products. Users can access Facebook on mobile devices and desktop. Advertising revenue represents more than 90% of the firm's total revenue, with 50% coming from the U.S. and Canada, and 25% from Europe. With gross margins above 80%, Facebook operates at a 40%-plus margin.

Fox represents the assets not sold to Disney by the processor firm, Twenty First Century Fox. The remaining assets include Fox News, the FOX broadcast network, FS1 and FS2, Fox Business, Big Ten Network, 28 owned and operated local television stations of which 17 are affiliated with the Fox Network, and the Fox Studios lot. The Murdoch family continues to control the successor firm, which represents a large-scale bet on the value of live sports and news in the U.S. market.

Fox represents the assets not sold to Disney by the processor firm, Twenty First Century Fox. The remaining assets include Fox News, the FOX broadcast network, FS1 and FS2, Fox Business, Big Ten Network, 28 owned and operated local television stations of which 17 are affiliated with the Fox Network, and the Fox Studios lot. The Murdoch family continues to control the successor firm, which represents a large-scale bet on the value of live sports and news in the U.S. market.

Frontier Communications Corp is a provider of communications services for consumer and commercial customers in the United States. The portfolio of its services includes Data and Internet services, Video services, Voice services including both the regulated and unregulated voices, Access services, and Advanced Hardware and Network Solutions.

Alphabet Inc is a holding company, with Google, the Internet media giant, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Google generates 99% of Alphabet revenue, of which more than 85% is from online ads. Google's other revenue is from sales of apps and content on Google Play and YouTube, as well as cloud service fees and other licensing revenue. Sales of hardware such as Chromebooks, the Pixel smartphone, and smart homes products, which include Nest and Google Home, also contribute to other revenue. Alphabet's moonshot investments are in its other bets segment, where it bets on technology to enhance health (Verily), faster Internet access to homes (Google Fiber), self-driving cars (Waymo), and more. Alphabet's operating margin has been 25%-30%, with Google at 30% and other bets operating at a loss.

Alphabet Inc is a holding company, with Google, the Internet media giant, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Google generates 99% of Alphabet revenue, of which more than 85% is from online ads. Google's other revenue is from sales of apps and content on Google Play and YouTube, as well as cloud service fees and other licensing revenue. Sales of hardware such as Chromebooks, the Pixel smartphone, and smart homes products, which include Nest and Google Home, also contribute to other revenue. Alphabet's moonshot investments are in its other bets segment, where it bets on technology to enhance health (Verily), faster Internet access to homes (Google Fiber), self-driving cars (Waymo), and more. Alphabet's operating margin has been 25%-30%, with Google at 30% and other bets operating at a loss.

Interpublic Group is the world's fourth-largest ad holding company, based on annual revenue. It provides traditional advertising services along with digital and other services such as public relations through various acquisitions. IPG has made these services available in over 100 countries. The company generates more than 75% of its revenue from developed regions such as the United States and Europe.

Liberty Global is the largest cable-TV operator in Europe, with operations in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. It also includes its unconsolidated 50% stake in the Netherlands and offers high-speed Internet access and fixed-line telephony in most markets. In total, it has 18.4 million television customers, 15.1 million Internet access customers, and 12.6 million fixed-line telephony customers. It has also begun offering wireless services with the acquisition of BASE in Belgium and operating as an MVNO in other countries. It has agreed to sell its operations in Germany, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to Vodafone.

Liberty Global is the largest cable-TV operator in Europe, with operations in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. It also includes its unconsolidated 50% stake in the Netherlands and offers high-speed Internet access and fixed-line telephony in most markets. In total, it has 18.4 million television customers, 15.1 million Internet access customers, and 12.6 million fixed-line telephony customers. It has also begun offering wireless services with the acquisition of BASE in Belgium and operating as an MVNO in other countries. It has agreed to sell its operations in Germany, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to Vodafone.

GCI Liberty Inc is a holding company.Through its subsidiaries it provides various wireless, data, video, voice, and managed services to residential customers, businesses, governmental entities, and educational and medical institutions primarily in Alaska under the GCI brand. The company mainly serves markets that bear harsh winter and are located in remote geographies in North America.

Netflix's primary business is a streaming video on demand service now available in almost every country worldwide except China. Netflix delivers original and third-party digital video content to PCs, Internet-connected TVs, and consumer electronic devices, including tablets, video game consoles, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast. In 2011, Netflix introduced DVD-only plans and separated the combined streaming and DVD plans, making it necessary for subscribers who want both to have separate plans.

News Corporation is a media conglomerate with large presence in the U.S, the U.K., and Australia. Key brands include The Wall Street Journal, Herald Sun, and The Times. The company also has a strong presence in the Australian pay-TV market through Fox Sports and Foxtel (both 65%-owned), while its 62%-owned REA Group is the dominant real estate classified business in Australia. In addition, it owns HarperCollins, one of the largest book publishers globally, and also has a substantial digital property advertising business (Move) in the U.S.

News Corporation is a media conglomerate with large presence in the U.S, the U.K., and Australia. Key brands include The Wall Street Journal, Herald Sun, and The Times. The company also has a strong presence in the Australian pay-TV market through Fox Sports and Foxtel (both 65%-owned), while its 62%-owned REA Group is the dominant real estate classified business in Australia. In addition, it owns HarperCollins, one of the largest book publishers globally, and also has a substantial digital property advertising business (Move) in the U.S.

Omnicom is the world's second-largest ad holding company, based on annual revenue. The American firm's services, which include traditional and digital advertising and public relations, are provided worldwide, with over 85% of its revenue coming from more developed regions such as North America and Europe.

SiriusXM Holdings is now composed of two businesses: SiriusXM and Pandora. SiriusXM transmits music, talk shows, sports, and news via its two satellite radio networks, primarily to consumers in vehicles who pay a subscription fee. The firm's radios come preinstalled on a wide range of light vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. The firm acquired Pandora Media in February 2019 via an all-stock transaction. Pandora is a streaming music platform that offers an ad-supported radio option and a paid on-demand service. Liberty Media owns 68% of SiriusXM, traded through its Liberty SiriusXM Group tracking stock.

Tegna Inc is a media company with a portfolio of broadcast stations and digital sites, in addition to marketing services solutions for businesses. The company's stations have nearly 20 million social followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Its marketing services business provides solutions for clients on multiple channels including broadcast, online and OTT. It provides a range of marketing solutions, including search, e-mail, targeted banner, and social reputation management through both owned and third-party services to serve the greater good of its communities.

Deutsche Telekom merged its T-Mobile USA unit with prepaid specialist MetroPCS in 2013, creating T-Mobile US. Following the merger, the firm provided nationwide service in major markets but spottier coverage elsewhere. T-Mobile has spent aggressively on low-frequency spectrum, well suited to broad coverage, and has substantially expanded its geographic footprint. This expansion, coupled with aggressive marketing and innovative offerings, has produced rapid customer growth. The firm now serves 37 million postpaid and 21 million prepaid phone customers, equal to about 19% of the retail wireless market, and about 16 million wholesale customers through offerings like America Movil's TracFone. T-Mobile is now the third largest carrier in the U.S., trailing AT&T and Verizon.

TripAdvisor is the world's leading travel metasearch company. The website offers 760 million reviews and information on 5 million restaurants, 1,300,000 hotels, 914,000 vacation rentals, and 1.1 million experiences (202,000 online bookable), as of March 31, 2019. In 2018, 62% of revenue came from the company's hotel, media and platform segment, which includes hotel revenue generated through advertising on its metasearch platform as well as commissions received on its Instant Booking platform. Experiences and dining represented 23% of revenue with the remainder consisting of flight, rental, and non-branded TripAdvisor sales.

Twitter is an open distribution platform for and a conversational platform around short-form text (a maximum of 140 characters), image, and video content. Its users can create different social networks based on their interests, thereby creating an interest graph. Many prominent celebrities and public figures have Twitter accounts. Twitter generates revenue from advertising (90%) and licensing the user data that it compiles (10%).

Viacom is a global media company with several leading cable network properties, including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, and Paramount. Viacom has also built several online properties on the strength of these brands. Viacom's Paramount Pictures produces original motion pictures and owns a library of 2,500 films, including the Godfather and Transformers series. Viacom was spun out of CBS at the end of 2005.

VeriSign is the sole authorized registry for several generic top-level domains, including the widely utilized .com and .net top-level domains. Additionally, the company operates two of the world's 13 root servers that are used to route Internet traffic and also provides DNS security solutions to detect malware and thwart DDoS attacks to maintain web uptime. VeriSign generates about 60% of its sales from the United States.

Verizon is now primarily a wireless business (70% of revenue and nearly all operating income). It serves about 89 million postpaid and 4 million prepaid phone customers and connects another 24 million data devices, like tablets, via its nationwide network, making it the largest U.S. wireless carrier. Fixed-line telecom operations include local networks (12% of revenue) in the Northeast, which reach about 25 million homes and businesses, and nationwide enterprise services (10%). Recent investments, including fiber network construction, have supported the wireless business in addition to expanding traditional fixed-line capabilities. Verizon Media Group, the online media and advertising firm formed with the acquisitions of AOL and Yahoo, provides the remainder of revenue.

Liberty Latin America Ltd is a telecommunications company. It is a provider of video, broadband internet, fixed-line telephony and mobile services to residential and business customers. The company's reportable segments include Cable and Wireless Communication, VTR and Liberty Puerto Rico. It generates its revenue from Cable and Wireless Communication.

Liberty Latin America Ltd is a telecommunications company. It is a provider of video, broadband internet, fixed-line telephony and mobile services to residential and business customers. The company's reportable segments include Cable and Wireless Communication, VTR and Liberty Puerto Rico. It generates its revenue from Cable and Wireless Communication.

Wireless communication remains AT&T's largest business, contributing nearly 40% of revenue. As the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier, AT&T connects more than 100 million devices, including 63 million postpaid and 16 million prepaid phone customers. The consumer and entertainment segment (about 25% of revenue) includes the consumer fixed-line and DirecTV satellite television businesses, serving 24 million television and 14 million Internet access customers. WarnerMedia now contributes a bit less than 20% of revenue with media assets that include HBO, the Turner cable networks, and the Warner Brothers studios. Fixed-line business communications (14%), Latin American satellite television (2%), and Mexican wireless services (1%) constitute the remainder of the firm.

With 274.9 million proportionate wireless customers (total customers multiplied by its ownership interest) excluding India, Vodafone is one of the largest wireless phone companies in the world. It is also one of the largest carriers in terms of the number of major countries served. Vodafone has wireless operations in 17 countries and partnership interests in many others. More recently it has acquired cable TV operations and access to fibre, either laying its own or gaining wholesale access, to offer broadband services. Vodafone is increasingly pushing converged services of wireless and fixed-line telephone services. The firm's objective is to be the communications leader across a connected world.

Booking is the world's largest online travel agency by revenue, offering booking services for hotel and vacation rooms, airline tickets, rental cars, restaurant reservations, cruises, experiences, and other vacation packages. The company operates a number of branded travel booking sites, including Priceline.com, Booking.com, Agoda, OpenTable, and Rentalcars.com, and has expanded into travel media with the acquisitions of Kayak and Momondo. Transaction fees for online bookings account for the bulk of revenue and profits.

Liberty SiriusXM Group through its subsidiary holding is engaged in providing a subscription-based satellite radio service. It transmits music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic and weather channels, as well as infotainment services. The company distributes its satellite radios through automakers and rental car companies, as well as through its retail locations and Website; and satellite radio services to various automaker customers. Geographically it offers services in the region of the US and Canada.

Alaska Communications Systems Group Inc is a US-based fiber broadband and managed information technology services provider. The company is focused primarily on business and wholesale customers in and out of Alaska. It provides local, long-distance, and wireless telephone services, Internet access, and data services to residential and business customers.

America Movil is the largest telecom carrier in Latin America, serving about 240 million wireless customers across the region. It also provides fixed-line phone, Internet access, and television services in most of the countries it serves. Mexico is the firm's largest market, providing about 30% of revenue. Movil dominates the Mexican wireless market with about 64% customer share and also serves more than half of fixed-line Internet access customers in the country. Brazil, its second most important market, provides about 20% of revenue. Movil operates a low-margin wireless resale business in the U.S. under the Tracfone and Straight Talk brands, accounting for 15% of revenue. The firm holds a 51% stake Telekom Austria and a 16% stake in Dutch carrier KPN.

America Movil is the largest telecom carrier in Latin America, serving about 240 million wireless customers across the region. It also provides fixed-line phone, Internet access, and television services in most of the countries it serves. Mexico is the firm's largest market, providing about 30% of revenue. Movil dominates the Mexican wireless market with about 64% customer share and also serves more than half of fixed-line Internet access customers in the country. Brazil, its second most important market, provides about 20% of revenue. Movil operates a low-margin wireless resale business in the U.S. under the Tracfone and Straight Talk brands, accounting for 15% of revenue. The firm holds a 51% stake Telekom Austria and a 16% stake in Dutch carrier KPN.

ATN International Inc is a telecommunications and utilities company. The company derives revenues from wireless and wireline communication services, solar power services, and terrestrial and submarine fiber optic services. Atlantic Tele-Network has operations in North America, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. Wireless services are provided in North America, Bermuda, and the Caribbean, whereas wireline services are only provided within North America and the Caribbean. From a product perspective, the majority of revenue stems from the provision of wireless and wireline services. Atlantic Tele-Network is an owner of telecommunications infrastructure, such as terrestrial and submarine fiber optic cables.

Altice Europe acquired privately held U.S. cable company Suddenlink in 2015 and Cablevision in 2016. Suddenlink's networks provide television, Internet access, and phone services to roughly 3.5 million U.S. homes and businesses located primarily in smaller markets, with major clusters in Texas, West Virginia, Idaho, Arizona, and Louisiana. Cablevision provides comparable services to about 5.2 million homes and business exclusively in the New York City metro area. Altice Europe spun off Altice USA, which includes both the Suddenlink and Cablevision operations, to shareholders in 2018. Altice USA also owns News 12 Networks, which broadcasts local 24-hour news networks in New York, and i24News, a news operation focused on the Middle East and Israel.

BCE, through its Bell brand, is both a wireless and Internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its nearly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier— the legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provinces—Ontario and Quebec. Additionally, BCE has a media segment, which holds television, radio, and digital media assets. BCE licenses the Canadian rights to movie channels including HBO, Showtime, and Starz. In 2018, the wireline segment comprised 54% of total revenue, while wireless comprised 36%. Media provided the remainder.

B Communications Ltd is a holding company with a single asset, a controlling interest in Bezeq, an Israeli triple play telecommunications company. Bezeq generates revenue through the provision of mobile, broadband, and data. It operates through four business segments: Bezeq, Pelephone Communications Ltd, Bezeq International Ltd, and DBS Satellite Services. The Bezeq segment generates revenue from fixed line communications. Bezeq's other division, Pelephone, derives revenue from the provision of mobile services. The last two segments, Bezeq International and DBS Satellite Services, produce revenue from the provision of Internet services and satellite TV services, respectively. Bezeq is an owner of telecommunications infrastructure, such as fibre networks.

BT Group, formerly known as British Telecom, is the incumbent phone operator and largest supplier of fixed-line phone services in Britain, with about 38% market share. BT's external sales are split among EE (22%), global services (21%), consumer (21%), business (19%), wholesale (8%), and Openreach and other (9%). BT is the largest supplier of high-speed Internet lines, including lines it wholesales. It is also the largest wireless operator and the only company in the U.K. that owns both its own fixed-line and wireless networks. Despite global services' reduced size as a percentage of BT's revenue, it is still one of the largest international providers of managed networks and information technology services.

Cable One is a telecommunications company. It derives revenue from the provision of broadband, voice, and video services to residential and business customers. From a product perspective, the majority of revenue is sourced from data and video services. This revenue is subscription based and billed on a monthly basis. Cable One also derives advertising revenue from selling airtime on its video channels. Voice services are offered over Internet protocols. The company owns telecommunications infrastructure.

Cincinnati Bell Inc provides wireline and wireless telecommunication services in Cincinnati, Ohio, and surrounding markets in Kentucky and Indiana. It operates business through two segment. Entertainment and Communications segment provides high speed data, video, and voice solutions to consumers and businesses over an expanding fiber network and a legacy copper network. IT Services and Hardware segment provides sale and service of efficient, end-to-end communications and IT systems and solutions across the U.S., Canada and Europe. The company generates a substantial portion of its revenues by delivering voice and data services over access lines.

Cogent carries over one fifth of the world's Internet traffic over its network and is an Internet service provider for businesses. Cogent's corporate customers are in high-rise office buildings, and the firm provides them with two types of connections: dedicated Internet access, which connects them to the Internet, and virtual private networking, which offers an internal network for employees in different locations. Cogent's corporate customers are exclusively in North America and account for two thirds of the firm's revenue. Cogent's netcentric customers include Internet service providers and content providers, to which Cogent provides Internet transit. They hand traffic to Cogent in data centers and rely on Cogent to deliver it. About half of netcentric revenue is from outside the U.S.