A Comcast Corp.-Walt Disney Co. merger sits well with Tom Vanderventer, managing director at Smith Barney Asset Management. "Strategically it's a good acquisition because it levels the playing field between Comcast and the competition, in terms of matching content and distribution. One of the major concerns has been the pricing of content to distribution, and this would put the power back into the hands of a major distributor - Comcast," Mr. Vanderventer said. "It would also shake up Disney, which has extremely valuable brands. If it were managed intensively, it could realize a higher value and result in a combined higher valuation for the two companies."
Smith Barney has a total of 3% to 4% of its institutional growth equity portfolio invested in Comcast and Disney. He would not elaborate on the firm's holdings.
