Yahoo Finance

The Zacks Cable Television Industry is down -36% year to date but many of these stocks may be on the cusp of oversold territory. Comcast CMCSA and Dish Network DISH, two of the more notable names in the space, may be drawing investors’ interest as their stocks have bounced off of their October lows.

Let’s see if it’s time to buy Comcast (CMCSA) and Dish Network (DISH), for December and beyond.

Recent & Historical Performance

After simultaneously hitting their 52-week lows on October 13, both stocks have started to rebound, with CMCSA up +15% and DISH +12% to outperform broader indexes since Mid-October.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Comcast is down -31% year to date to outperform DISH’s -53%, with both lagging the S&P 500’s -17%. Over the last decade, Comcast’s total return is +86% to crush DISH but still lag the benchmark.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a decade’s view, Comcast and Dish Network stock might look oversold. Checking their outlook and the value they offer investors at current levels will give a better indication of if now is the time to buy.

Valuation

Trading at $34 per share and roughly 33% from its highs, Comcast has a forward P/E of 9.8X. In comparison, DISH is 59% off its high at around $15 a share and trades at 6X forward earnings.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Both stocks look very attractive relative to their past. Comcast trades well below its decade-high P/E of 21.1X and at a 43% discount from its median of 17.4X. When comparing this period, DISH trades even further from its decade high of 50.1X and 65% beneath its decade median of 17.1X.

EV/EBITDA is also a good valuation metric to consider when looking at the valuation of cable companies. In this regard, both companies also appear to offer nice value at their current levels. Comcast sticks out at just 6.2X its enterprise value but DISH is further below its decade high of 24.6X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Growth & Outlook

Pivoting to growth, both companies are making a conscious effort to expand into wireless services as linear TV begins to slowly fade and digital streaming continues to grow more popular and, in many cases, replace standard TV.

Companies like Netflix NFLX are challenging the core revenue of Comcast and Dish network.The ability to diversify into wireless services appears to be important in sustaining top and bottom lines as Netflix has also launched a cheaper subscription service featuring ads.

Comcast’s wireless revenue accounted for roughly 4% of its total revenue in 2021 at $2.38 billion. In addition to this, Comcast was able to turn its first profit from its wireless segment at $157 million. Last quarter, the company added a record 333,000 new wireless users. Wireless revenue also increased 30.8% during Q3 to $789 million.