WBD vs CMCSA Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
WBD and CMCSA both hold valuable content assets alongside declining traditional networks, but their financial positions differ sharply. Warner Bros Discovery carries heavy merger debt and is restructuring to separate growth from decline, making it a leveraged turnaround. Comcast has broadband and theme park cash flow funding dividends and buybacks while it manages the same industry decline.
Use this WBD vs CMCSA comparison to weigh leverage against time. Comcast's cash flow buys it time to manage the transition and pay shareholders along the way. Warner Bros Discovery's debt means the outcome depends more on execution, asset values, and restructuring terms, which raises both the potential return and the risk of a poor result.
CMCSA holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. WBD has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+55.70% vs -30.69%), though CMCSA has the better forward P/E setup (7.47x vs 411.00x for WBD). CMCSA leads on both revenue growth (-1.20%) and operating margin (17.23%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for CMCSA (+11.17%) than for WBD (+3.64%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want leveraged exposure to a media restructuring and content library value
- Believe streaming profitability and the separation will unlock value
- Accept a heavy debt load and complex corporate actions
- Have a high tolerance for execution risk and no meaningful dividend
- Want cash flow, a substantial dividend, and consistent buybacks
- Value broadband and theme parks as durable assets
- Prefer a modest valuation with less balance sheet risk
- Accept broadband competition and structural cable network decline
| Metric | WBD | CMCSA |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 41.5 | 27.6 |
| AI ranki | #936 | #2330 |
| Latest closei | $30.86 | $21.91 |
| 1M returni | +7.34% | -19.45% |
| 6M returni | +14.00% | -22.66% |
| 1Y returni | +55.70% | -30.69% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | WBD | CMCSA |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $15.6K (+56.0%) started 2025-09-25 | $6.93K (-30.7%) started 2025-09-25 |
| 5Y ago | $11.81K (+18.1%) started 2021-09-27 | $4.84K (-51.6%) started 2021-09-27 |
| 10Y ago | $11.8K (+18.0%) started 2016-09-26 | $10.22K (+2.2%) started 2016-09-26 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | WBD | CMCSA |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $72.13B | $96.03B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 93.00 | 8.67 |
| Forward P/Ei | 411.00 | 7.47 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 1.05 |
| EV/Revenuei | 2.82 | 1.43 |
| Analyst targeti | $29.82 | $30.08 |
| Target upsidei | +3.64% | +11.17% |
| Metric | WBD | CMCSA |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | -11.20% | -1.20% |
| Earnings growthi | -90.60% | -66.80% |
| EPS growthi | -90.60% | -66.80% |
| FCF margini | +44.77% | +10.17% |
| Operating margini | 5.10% | 17.23% |
| Profit margini | -8.77% | 8.97% |
| ROIC proxyi | -8.79% | 11.49% |
| Return on equityi | -8.79% | 11.49% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 4.88% |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 42.31% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.56 | 0.65 |
| Debt/equityi | 94.20 | 100.47 |
| Current ratioi | 0.78 | 0.80 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.41 | 0.65 |
Over the past year, WBD and CMCSA have moved barely in the same direction (correlation of 0.05), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | WBD | CMCSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +56.02% | -30.71% |
| CAGRi | +56.12% | -30.74% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.59% | 32.59% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.59 | -1.10 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 3.19 | -1.39 | |
| Max drawdowni | 15.68% | 32.54% | |
| Current drawdowni | 0.00% | 32.54% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.76% | 15.15% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.83% | 17.53% | |
| Max daily dropi | 3.82% | 12.90% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 9.95% | 14.54% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +18.06% | -56.70% |
| CAGRi | +3.38% | -15.43% | |
| Volatilityi | 52.64% | 27.76% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.24 | -0.63 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.36 | -0.82 | |
| Max drawdowni | 78.48% | 57.73% | |
| Current drawdowni | 1.03% | 57.73% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 47.96% | 30.19% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 53.97% | 32.44% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.04% | 12.90% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 24.68% | 14.54% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +17.97% | -18.36% |
| CAGRi | +1.67% | -2.01% | |
| Volatilityi | 47.14% | 27.03% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.18 | -0.11 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.25 | -0.14 | |
| Max drawdowni | 91.32% | 60.53% | |
| Current drawdowni | 60.06% | 60.53% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 50.18% | 21.23% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 59.62% | 26.90% | |
| Max daily dropi | 27.45% | 12.90% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 45.77% | 15.15% |
| Category | WBD | CMCSA |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. | Comcast Corporation |
| Sector | Communication Services | Communication Services |
| Industry | Entertainment | Telecom Services |
| Core business | Media company combining film and television studios, the HBO Max streaming service, and a large portfolio of traditional cable networks, undergoing a corporate separation of its growth and declining businesses. | Diversified connectivity and media company with residential and business broadband, wireless, NBCUniversal studios and networks, the Peacock streaming service, and theme parks. |
| Investor focus | Streaming subscriber and profit growth, studio release performance, linear network revenue decline, debt reduction, and the structure and timing of the corporate separation. | Broadband subscriber trends and pricing, wireless additions, Peacock losses, theme park performance, and capital return through dividends and buybacks. |
- Owns premium content franchises and a studio library of genuine long-term value
- Streaming has moved toward profitability rather than subsidised growth
- Separating growth and declining businesses can allow each to be valued and managed appropriately
- Broadband provides large, high-margin recurring cash flow
- Theme parks are valuable hard assets with demonstrated pricing power
- Balance sheet and cash flow support a dividend plus large buybacks
- Carries a heavy debt load from the merger that created the company
- Traditional cable networks, still a large profit source, are in structural decline
- Restructuring is complex, and execution and financing details materially affect shareholder outcomes
- Broadband competition from fixed wireless and fibre is pressuring subscriber growth
- Cable networks face the same structural decline affecting the whole industry
- Peacock is subscale relative to the largest streaming services
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