AAF vs. VOD, BT.A, ZEG, ISAT, HTWS, TALK, GAMA, KCOM, MANX, and MAI
Should you be buying Airtel Africa stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Airtel Africa include Vodafone Group Public (VOD), BT Group (BT.A), Zegona Communications (ZEG), Inmarsat (ISAT), Helios Towers (HTWS), TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK), Gamma Communications (GAMA), KCOM Group (KCOM), Manx Telecom (MANX), and Maintel (MAI). These companies are all part of the "telecom services" industry.
Airtel Africa vs. Its Competitors
Airtel Africa (LON:AAF) and Vodafone Group Public (LON:VOD) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.
Airtel Africa has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vodafone Group Public has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Airtel Africa pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Vodafone Group Public pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Airtel Africa pays out 71.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vodafone Group Public pays out -42.2% 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. Vodafone Group Public is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Vodafone Group Public has a net margin of 1.79% compared to Airtel Africa's net margin of -1.67%. Vodafone Group Public's return on equity of 1.20% beat Airtel Africa's return on equity.
6.8% of Airtel Africa shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.2% of Vodafone Group Public shares are held by institutional investors. 24.9% of Airtel Africa shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Vodafone Group Public shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, Vodafone Group Public had 9 more articles in the media than Airtel Africa. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Vodafone Group Public and 1 mentions for Airtel Africa. Vodafone Group Public's average media sentiment score of 0.29 beat Airtel Africa's score of 0.00 indicating that Vodafone Group Public is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Vodafone Group Public has higher revenue and earnings than Airtel Africa. Vodafone Group Public is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Airtel Africa, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Airtel Africa currently has a consensus price target of GBX 128, indicating a potential downside of 43.84%. Vodafone Group Public has a consensus price target of GBX 101.67, indicating a potential upside of 18.88%. Given Vodafone Group Public's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vodafone Group Public is more favorable than Airtel Africa.
Summary
Vodafone Group Public beats Airtel Africa on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AAF and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of LON 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.
Airtel Africa Competitors List
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This page (LON:AAF) was last updated on 10/16/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
