UBS downgrades communication services to Neutral as risk-reward ‘more balanced’

Investing.com — UBS has downgraded the communication services sector from Attractive to Neutral, telling investors in a note that the risk-reward profile has shifted after a period of strong performance and rising capital-expenditure expectations.

In a sector update note headed by David Lefkowitz, UBS’s CIO Head of US Equities, the bank stated that it now views consumer discretionary, financials, health care, industrials and utilities as its Attractive-rated U.S. sectors, while communication services joins a group of Neutral-rated areas including consumer staples, energy, information technology, materials and real estate.

UBS still believes the broader environment for U.S. equities is favourable, citing “resilient growth, supportive Federal Reserve policy, and AI investment and adoption.”

But the bank argued that communication services no longer offers the same relative upside. “We think the risk-reward for the sector has become more balanced,” UBS remarked.

The analysts highlighted ongoing progress in AI adoption, including “AI-driven improvements in content recommendations, advertising, and cost-efficiencies,” as well as new monetisation opportunities in generative AI.

However, the bank mentioned that hyperscaler capital-expenditure forecasts are now significantly higher than expected, adding that “generating a near-term return on this spend looks challenging.”

UBS also noted that aggressive investment reflects “intense competition between both private and public AI model developers,” a dynamic it said could weigh on free cash flow generation for some firms.

The bank also cautioned that the sector’s market-cap structure adds concentration risk, pointing out that “Alphabet and Meta account for more than 75% of the total,” making the group heavily dependent on a small number of large platforms.

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