Comcast Connects to Real Growth

This column was originally published on RealMoney on Oct. 26 at 9:44 a.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.

Time in the wilderness makes some companies very strong. I am thinking about the five years that Comcast(CMCSA Quote) spent in the wilderness after being among the top five performers in the stock market for two decades.

I am thinking about how much it must have bothered these great businesspeople to have been unable to deliver what Wall Street wanted for so long. I am thinking about how the Street lost faith in these guys and decided that the bid for Disney(DIS Quote) was just some sort of desperate gambit to grow when growth was tapped. I am thinking about how many times management had to hear that they were being beaten by Verizon(VZ Quote) and Echostar(DISH Quote) and DirecTV(DTV Quote). I am thinking about how they were considered buffoons for trying to make a plain old cable business into a real growth story.

How sweet it must be right now to work at Comcast, and how much more upside there is, considering that the stock still isn't back to where it was in 2001.

What's driving the story? So much. The triple play (cable TV, Internet, voice). The technology. The service. The lack of churn, now that people don't leave when they have their phone with Comcast. The growth from the Adelphia buy that is ahead. The future!

No one believed, except Brian Roberts and his team. I know I got discouraged because I just couldn't take the fact that the Street would not stick with these guys, and when I did stick with Comcast, I felt I was hurting people. I decided I couldn't get behind Comcast until it could deliver a solid triple play to my satisfaction.

That meant I missed the $26 to $30 run, but I got back on when at last, the kinks in my own triple-play service plan got worked out and I recognized that I was never going back to Verizon, ever. I know that's anecdotal, but sometimes that's what it takes to make you revisit a story. The $99 deal for cable, high-speed Internet and phone is just too fabulous. I love it!