< The 2015 All-America Research Team
Craig Moffett
MoffettNathanson
First-place appearances: 7
Total appearances: 11
Analyst debut: 2004
Craig Moffett “has the unique ability to both dig deeply in the minutia of media company accounting and at the same time telescope out and talk about the secular shifts occurring in the industry over the next decade,” marvels one admirer. “He thinks like an owner or private equity investor would, asking the important questions about returns on investment and marginal returns of new products. Lastly, he is a consummate communicator.” The MoffettNathanson founder, 53, repeats in third place. He reports on ten U.S. cable and satellite companies and maintains a cautious outlook on the broader group. “We downgraded the sector to a neutral weight in February on concerns that cord cutting would accelerate at a time when the natural offset for cord cutting, raising broadband prices, was in doubt for regulatory reasons,” he says. “Perversely, the problem isn’t that the cable companies’ business isn’t a good one — it’s that it may be too good, and that the risk of price regulation is higher than what is currently discounted in the stocks. That says, cable is still the most attractive subsegment of the market. Satellite is now showing the kind of deterioration we have long anticipated.”