Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that Versant’s stock price was “a little bit below where we thought it’d be” after first-day trading saw the price tumble by 13%, but that he was optimistic about the value of the spinoff company’s assets.
“We’re trading a little bit below where we’d expected it to be, ultimately, given the early day turnover, which was expected,” Cavanagh said, believing Versant’s multiples mean it could “trade anywhere in the 4-5x range.”
Versant, a company made up of most of Comcast’s former cable assets, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday at $45.17, but its price closed at $40.17. Its price midday on Wednesday hovered around $34.
Cavanagh said the company remained bullish about Versant’s future, praising the vision Versant CEO Mark Lazarus laid out on CNBC on Monday. Lazarus said that the company would prioritize “vertical scale” and would “invest organically” into its assets.
“I think Mark’s fantastic,” Cavanagh said. “It’s an unbelievable team, and you heard Mark go through the strategies of just driving verticals like CNBC, like MS [NOW], like Golf Channel. There’s plenty of room. I think it‘s resonated with investors as they’ve been on their roadshow. I haven’t been part of that, leading up to things. So I think I’m optimistic and excited for everybody involved in Versant.”
Versant’s share price has also played into Paramount’s argument in its effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery that cable assets, which WBD is also planning to spin off, are a declining business, according to the New York Post. WBD on Wednesday rejected Paramount’s revised offer to acquire the company wholesale, believing its $82.7 billion deal with Netflix for its studio and streaming businesses remains superior for its shareholders.
