330 of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 are up thus far in 2025.
There won’t be a Sunday Digest next week but stay tuned—The February Opportunity Report is coming soon!
Below find our updated thoughts on two companies in the Boyar Research Universe that have struggled of late.
Comcast: An Undervalued Opportunity?
Comcast shares dropped 11% following its January 30th Q4 earnings release, falling to $33.25 before subsequently recovering some ground over the past two weeks. While revenue, EBITDA, and EPS all exceeded expectations, broadband subscriber losses—131,000 versus the expected 96,500—raised concerns.
A key headwind has been fixed wireless access (FWA), as telecom providers aggressively expand broadband offerings. However, spectrum capacity constraints are already emerging—T-Mobile has over 1 million customers on a waitlist due to network limitations. Meanwhile, Comcast continues investing in multi-gigabit symmetrical speeds, reinforcing its ability to meet growing bandwidth demand amid rising streaming and data usage.
At just over $35 per share, we believe Comcast is significantly undervalued. The company maintains 31% EBITDA margins, generated $12.5 billion in free cash flow in 2024 (a 9% yield), and continues expanding its high-growth businesses like wireless, which saw 17% revenue growth in Q4. Shareholder returns remain a priority—since 2021, Comcast has returned $55 billion via buybacks and dividends, equal to 40% of its current market cap. The company also just raised its dividend by 6.5% (current yield: 3.7%) and authorized an additional $15 billion in share repurchases.
Applying a blended 9x multiple to 2025E EBITDA, we arrive at an intrinsic value of $72 per share—90% above current levels.
A potential catalyst? Comcast’s plan to spin off its legacy linear cable networks, which account for just ~6% of revenue but have been a drag on valuation. Shedding this overhang could help narrow the gap between price and value.
IAC’s Next Chapter: A Spinoff, A Leadership Shift, and a Renewed Focus on Growth
IAC Inc. is once again turning the page with its upcoming spinoff of Angi Inc., the home-services platform it has long controlled. The move is part of IAC’s well-established playbook—over the years, the company has incubated and spun off businesses like Ticketmaster, Expedia, and Match Group, creating substantial shareholder value along the way.
This time, the leadership transition is as notable as the transaction itself. Joey Levin, who has served as IAC’s CEO since 2015, will step down from that role to become executive chairman of Angi, while Barry Diller, the legendary media mogul, is reasserting control as a “very senior executive” (his words) at IAC.
With this move, IAC is clearing the deck—positioning itself to refocus on capital allocation and deal-making.
The move follows a period where Diller directed IAC to halt M&A and capital returns while it worked to stabilize its two largest businesses: Angi and Dotdash Meredith. In 2022, IAC was dealing with significant challenges—Angi’s sprawling service offerings were leading to inconsistent consumer and contractor experiences, while Dotdash Meredith was struggling with a cumbersome integration following its 2021 acquisition of Meredith’s publishing assets.
To fix these issues, IAC shifted its focus inward: Angi cut back on lower-quality engagements to improve profitability, while Dotdash Meredith streamlined operations and revamped its digital strategy. These efforts are starting to bear fruit—Angi’s EBITDA grew 23% in 2024 despite a 13% decline in revenue, and Dotdash Meredith’s revenue has returned to double-digit growth after reversing earlier traffic declines.
A Deeply Discounted Holding Company
IAC shares currently trade at a steep discount to the value of its holdings—our estimate suggests its underlying assets are worth ~48% more than its stock price. These holdings include:
85% stake in Angi
~65 million shares of MGM Resorts International (>20% of MGM’s common shares)
A large private investment in rideshare platform Turo
Digital media publisher Dotdash Meredith, owner of brands like People, Better Homes & Gardens, and Verywell
While Angi accounts for just ~15% of our estimate of IAC’s intrinsic value, its stock has struggled, falling ~35% over the past year as the company prioritized quality over scale. Still, EBITDA rose 23% to $145 million in 2024, reflecting stronger unit economics even as revenue remains pressured (with a recovery not expected until 2026). With the spinoff expected by March 31, IAC will be free of Angi’s, allowing it to refocus on capital allocation.
What Comes Next?
With Dotdash Meredith’s turnaround largely complete, IAC is positioned to restart its M&A engine or ramp up share buybacks. On the company’s latest earnings call—his first in a decade—Diller hinted that capital deployment could resume, potentially through buybacks at attractive valuations or acquisitions in areas where IAC has a track record of success.
The company has also referred to its MGM stake as a “forever holding”, making further investment in iGaming or related digital businesses a plausible next step. Given the shifting media landscape, we wouldn’t be surprised if IAC also looked at legacy media assets—if the right opportunities arise at compelling valuations.
Given Diller’s history of bold deals, we suspect something big could be on the horizon. Stay tuned…
The investing secret that helped make Warren Buffett a multibillionaire isn’t working anymore, though probably not for the reason you would think.
Every decade or so someone will declare that the Berkshire Hathaway boss has lost his touch—usually a cue for the reasonably priced stocks he prefers to come roaring back. Even so, value investing the way that Buffett’s mentor Benjamin Graham practiced it and Nobel Prize-winning economists defined it decades later has had too few rebounds recently.
The reason isn’t that the “Magnificent Seven” stocks such as Nvidia, Apple and Tesla have rewritten the law of gravity. Value investing just needed a tune-up. A slew of exchange-traded funds, many without “value” in their names, have given it one.
Our Take:
Our friend and former World According to Boyar podcast guest, Spencer Jakab, has launched his own newsletter at The Wall Street Journal. We always enjoy his insights and highly recommend signing up!
The ratio Friday is almost 3:1, advancing stocks to declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange. It’s 2:1 on Nasdaq.
You’d think with two huge overhangs to the market — Federal Reserve policy uncertainty and tariffs — stocks would be in difficult shape, but that’s not happening.
Tech is lagging. You’d think that with the S&P 500 up 4% on the year, tech would again be the leader, but most of the best performing technology stocks last year are underperforming, with only Meta a strong standout.
Tesla, down 13%
Microsoft, down 3.4%
Apple, down 2.6%
Alphabet, down 2.1%
Broadcom, up 0.9%
Nvidia, up 1.7%
Amazon, up 4.3%
Meta, up 25.9%
Instead, the market is continuing to broaden out, though not in a huge way. (That’s good.)
Our Take:
For those investing beyond the Magnificent Seven, it's encouraging that the equal-weighted S&P ETF is keeping pace with the S&P 500. This suggests market gains are broadening rather than being driven solely by index heavyweights. The key question for investors: Will this trend continue?"
This week’s Stratechery Interview is with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Khosrowshahi started his career on Wall Street, before going to work for Barry Diller at IAC. Khosrowshahi took over as CEO of Expedia Group in 2004 and led its spin-off from IAC as a public company. 13 years later Uber, which was in the middle of a series of scandals and a board room coup, came calling, and Khosrowshahi took the opportunity to lead a service that customers loved, but which faced a lot of skepticism about its business model, and a long string of problems with regulators.
Khosrowshahi helped right the ship, and led Uber in its 2019 initial public offering. Over the last few years Uber has proven out its business model, resolved its issues with regulators, while continuing to expand its Eats and delivery businesses. The question still remains, however, whether Uber could have been even more dominant with its founder at the helm?
In this interview I ask Khosrowshahi about all of this, from his background to Expedia to the drama surrounding his appointment at Uber, including the lessons he learned and what he would do differently. We also spend an extended period of time discussing the next challenge facing the company: autonomous vehicles. Why did Uber give up on its self-driving car program, and why does it think it can compete with offerings from Waymo, Tesla, etc.? We dive into everything from supply and demand dynamics over time and space, to the OEM challenge for autonomous vehicles, to why Khosrowshahi thinks that Uber’s position as an Aggregator means the company is well-positioned for the future.
Our Take:
To read our November 2024 Boyar Opportunity Report featuring Uber, click below.
The Dow has always been flawed, but it held on to its status as the iconic gauge of American stocks because a mix of luck and design meant it mostly matched the broader market. No longer.
Far from tracking the S&P 500 index of the top U.S. companies, the Dow Jones Industrial Average for the past two years has been left in the shade. It lagged behind the S&P by more than 10 percentage points in 2023 and 2024, a dismal performance matched in only two years since the S&P 500 was introduced in 1957. (Both, 1980 and 1998, were times of economic turmoil.)
Our Take:
We completely agree with James Mackintosh—the Dow Jones is a flawed index and not worth paying attention to. Investors seeking diversification beyond the Magnificent Seven should take a closer look at the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index.
Important Disclosures. The information herein is provided by Boyar’s Intrinsic Value Research LLC (“Boyar Research”) and: (a) is for general, informational purposes only; (b) is not tailored to the specific investment needs of any specific person or entity; and (c) should not be construed as investment advice. Boyar Research does not offer investment advisory services and is not an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or any other regulatory body. Any opinions expressed herein represent current opinions of Boyar Research only, and no representation is made with respect to the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the information herein. Boyar Research assumes no obligation to update or revise such information. In addition, certain information herein has been provided by and/or is based on third party sources, and, although Boyar Research believes this information to be reliable, Boyar Research has not independently verified such information and is not responsible for third-party errors. You should not assume that any investment discussed herein will be profitable or that any investment decisions in the future will be profitable. Investing in securities involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
Important Information: Performance Information.Past performance does not guarantee future results. The reports in this sample are for informational purposes only and the performance of the stocks selected is not indicative of the performance of all the stocks profiled in Boyar Research. The performance of the stocks selected and the performance of the stocks in Boyar Research may in fact diverge materially. Additional information regarding the performance of other companies featured in Boyar Research is available from Boyar Research upon request. This information is not a recommendation, or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy, an interest in any security, including an interest in any investment vehicle managed or advised by affiliates of Boyar Research. Any information that may be considered advice concerning a federal tax issue is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purposes of (i) avoiding penalties imposed under the United States Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter discussed herein. Clients of an affiliate of Boyar Research and employees of Boyar Research own shares in Comcast; IAC, Inc.; and Angi.
