BuzzFeed might go public in 2018, but until it does, there will not be a BuzzFeed stock symbol investors can look up on their trading accounts.
The Internet media company will need to file official paperwork with the SEC before going public and choosing a stock ticker.
However, we do have a hunch what the BuzzFeed stock ticker will be.
Before we speculate on the Buzzfeed stock symbol, we wanted to make sure Money Morning readers know more about BuzzFeed as an investment.
With a valuation of over $1.7 billion, there's a lot of hype around this public offering, but hype alone won't make BuzzFeed stock a good investment...
New York-based BuzzFeed is a media company that publishes news, celebrity gossip, quizzes, and recipes. The company was founded in 2008 by current CEO Jonah Peretti, John S. Johnson, III, and chairman Kenneth Lerer.
BuzzFeed receives more than 200 million unique visitors per month, according to its website.
While the company doesn't publish its financial figures, CNBC reported in April 2016 that its 2015 revenue was roughly $170 million. CNBC also estimated it would generate revenue of $250 million in 2016.
In comparison, the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) generated $209 million in 2016 in digital ad revenue.
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Now that you know more about the company, here's what we speculate the BuzzFeed stock symbol could be...
Companies want to make their stock symbols easily identifiable for retail investors. For example, Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) chose the symbol SNAP before it went public on March 2, 2017.
Before Blue Apron Holdings Inc. (NYSE: APRN) went public on June 29, 2017, it selected the stock symbol APRN. BuzzFeed could follow suit and select an easily identifiable symbol like "BUZZ."
So when BuzzFeed files its paperwork and schedules an IPO, should you plan to buy BuzzFeed stock?
Here's how to prepare yourself ahead of the BuzzFeed IPO...
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NBCUniversal made a $200 million investment in BuzzFeed in 2015. NBCUniversal now has a total stake of $400 million in BuzzFeed.
This has created a backdoor investment opportunity for retail investors that could be more profitable than owning BuzzFeed stock directly.
You see, not only do insiders make most of the money from IPOs, but IPOs are known for volatile price swings during their first few months of trading. Not only do traders decide if the IPO price was correctly valued, but the hype surrounding an IPO can push initial share prices up too high.
Look at how dramatically the Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) stock price moved after its IPO in March. After just three days as a publicly traded company, the Snapchat stock price reached an all-time intraday high of $28.25 on March 6. Today, the Snapchat stock price opened at $14.98, a 46.97% drop from its all-time high.
The BuzzFeed stock price could be volatile in its first few months of trading, too.
That's why we're showing our readers how to profit from this growing media company without risking your money on an IPO.
Instead of investing directly in BuzzFeed, our readers can buy shares of Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA), the owner of NBCUniversal.
If the hype around the BuzzFeed IPO can double its valuation to $3.4 billion, Comcast's investment would be worth $800 million. If BuzzFeed triples its valuation to $5.1 billion, Comcast's BuzzFeed shares would be worth $1.2 billion.
But even if Buzzfeed doesn't significantly increase its valuation, CMCSA shareholders can still make a profit.
From the company's cable networks to its high-speed Internet services, Comcast has large and diverse revenue sources. For Q1 2017, Comcast reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.53 on $20.46 billion in revenue, crushing EPS expectations of $0.44.
Comcast also beat revenue expectations, as analysts had expected $20.12 billion.
And even in the age of cord-cutting (customers cancelling their cable TV subscriptions), CMCSA was able to increase its cable business revenue by 5.9% in Q1 to $2.2 billion. It also saw a massive sales increase of $1.98 billion, or 43.2%, from the same time last year thanks to movies such as "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Get Out."
These diverse, billion-dollar revenue sources make CMCSA far safer, and potentially more profitable, than owning BuzzFeed stock directly.
If you invest in BuzzFeed and the stock price is volatile, you could face losses as steep as 39% or more, like current Snapchat shareholders. But by owning Comcast stock, you can make a profit no matter what happens.
If BuzzFeed doubles or triples its valuation, it means Comcast will make even more money. If it doesn't, Comcast has plenty of other revenue streams that will continue to grow, boosting its stock price.
Comcast's diverse revenue stream is why analysts are bullish on the CMCSA stock price. According to FactSet, 94% of the analysts who cover CMCSA stock rate it as a "Buy." That's up 3% from the 91% who rated Comcast stock a "Buy" in July.
In fact, investment firm TD Securities is so bullish on CMCSA stock that it has a one-year price target of $51.00. From today's opening price of $40.89, that's a potential profit of 24.72%.
Comcast also pays shareholders a dividend of $0.16 for a yield of 1.55%. Through dividend reinvestment programs (DRIPs), investors can grow their profits even more.
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