TDS vs. SHEN, IDT, CNSL, SJW, VEON, TAC, NWN, SPH, KEN, and CPK
Should you be buying Telephone and Data Systems stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Telephone and Data Systems include Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN), IDT (IDT), Consolidated Communications (CNSL), SJW Group (SJW), VEON (VEON), TransAlta (TAC), Northwest Natural (NWN), Suburban Propane Partners (SPH), Kenon (KEN), and Chesapeake Utilities (CPK). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN) and Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, profitability and risk.
Shenandoah Telecommunications pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Telephone and Data Systems pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Shenandoah Telecommunications pays out 2.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Telephone and Data Systems pays out -15.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Shenandoah Telecommunications has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Telephone and Data Systems has increased its dividend for 50 consecutive years. Telephone and Data Systems is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Shenandoah Telecommunications has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Telephone and Data Systems has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Shenandoah Telecommunications has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Telephone and Data Systems. Telephone and Data Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shenandoah Telecommunications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Telephone and Data Systems had 6 more articles in the media than Shenandoah Telecommunications. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Telephone and Data Systems and 10 mentions for Shenandoah Telecommunications. Shenandoah Telecommunications' average media sentiment score of 0.42 beat Telephone and Data Systems' score of -0.21 indicating that Telephone and Data Systems is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Shenandoah Telecommunications received 144 more outperform votes than Telephone and Data Systems when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.92% of users gave Shenandoah Telecommunications an outperform vote while only 65.16% of users gave Telephone and Data Systems an outperform vote.
Shenandoah Telecommunications has a net margin of 2.80% compared to Shenandoah Telecommunications' net margin of -9.69%. Telephone and Data Systems' return on equity of 1.24% beat Shenandoah Telecommunications' return on equity.
62.0% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.0% of Telephone and Data Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.5% of Telephone and Data Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Shenandoah Telecommunications presently has a consensus price target of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 85.60%. Telephone and Data Systems has a consensus price target of $26.33, suggesting a potential upside of 83.38%. Given Telephone and Data Systems' higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Shenandoah Telecommunications is more favorable than Telephone and Data Systems.
Summary
Telephone and Data Systems beats Shenandoah Telecommunications on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding TDS and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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