Comcast Stock (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Slips as Versant Launch Date Revealed

So, the wait is finally over. No, it has nothing to do with the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) buyout. Rather, it has to do with the date at which entertainment giant Comcast (CMCSA) officially spins off the albatross around its neck that is most of its linear programming into Versant. The switch is closer than you might expect as well. Comcast shareholders were oddly displeased, and sent shares down fractionally in Thursday afternoon's trading.

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After trading concludes on January 2, Versant will go live, and be its own privately traded company as well. When it does go live, it will have several properties to its credit, including MSNBC—soon to be MS NOW—as well as CNBC, SyFy, the USA Network, E!, Oxygen, and the Golf Channel. Only NBC proper and the Bravo network will remain as part of Comcast under the NBCUniversal banner, along with the Peacock streaming service.

As for the shareholders, they will receive one whole share of Versant Class A common stock or Class B common stock for every 25 shares of Comcast stock they own as of December 16. Those interested in buying Versant will be able to do so on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol VSNT.

Checks Fix Data Breaches

Meanwhile, Comcast is about to shell out $1.5 million in order to resolve a data breach connected to a vendor. The data breach in question exposed the personal data from over 237,000 customers—both current and former customers—and Comcast is paying out accordingly, though also voluntarily.

But it is not just the check that Comcast agreed to. The check is coupled with a "compliance plan" from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that includes "…certain Vendor oversight practices related to customer privacy and information protection. The original attack traces all the way back to October of 2024, reports note, and Comcast noted that it was neither responsible for the incident, nor has it "…conceded any wrongdoing…," mostly because Comcast has not used that vendor in some time, reports noted.

Is Comcast Stock a Good Buy Right Now?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on CMCSA stock based on eight Buys, 15 Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 35.9% loss in its share price over the past year, the average CMCSA price target of $35.79 per share implies 30.67% upside potential.