Comcast cash flow cut to a crawl but low valuation could make it a buy

TheStreet.com reports that Comcast Corp (NASDAQ: CMCSA) met its third quarter earnings target and cut its cash flow forecast due to increased competition and a slowing economy. Its stock is down 2.6% in pre-market

Its most recent performance was good. Comcast net profit was $560 million, or 18 cents a share, down 60% from 2006's $1.22 billion, or 38 cents a share after last year's gains on asset swaps. Revenue rose 21% from 2006's $7.78 billion. Comcast exceeded analysts' revenue expectations slightly and met EPS targets which were $7.76 billion and 18-cents a share respectively.

Comcast, however, lowered expectations for the future. Specifically, Comcast cut its consolidated free cash flow target for 2007 by 10% -- it had previously expected flat cash flow. Perhaps its loss of 65,000 basic cable users had something to do with that decline. And while it added 489,000 new digital cable subscribers, 450,000 high-speed Internet customers and 662,000 Comcast Digital Voice users in the latest quarter, these figures fell short of estimates by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) analyst Anthony Noto.

Trading at a Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG) ratio of 0.7 -- on a P/E of 26.4 and earnings expected to climb 36.6% to $1.03 in 2008 -- today's dip could be a buying opportunity.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Comcast securities.