Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN) Competitors

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) and Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Do analysts rate TDS or SHEN?

Telephone and Data Systems presently has a consensus target price of $26.33, indicating a potential upside of 39.18%. Shenandoah Telecommunications has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.08%. Given Shenandoah Telecommunications' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Telephone and Data Systems is more favorable than Shenandoah Telecommunications.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Telephone and Data Systems	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Shenandoah Telecommunications	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has better valuation and earnings, TDS or SHEN?

Telephone and Data Systems has higher revenue and earnings than Shenandoah Telecommunications. 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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Telephone and Data Systems	$5.41B	0.39	$62M	-$0.79	-23.95
Shenandoah Telecommunications	$267.37M	4.27	-$8.38M	$0.07	324.29

Which has more risk and volatility, TDS or SHEN?

Telephone and Data Systems has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shenandoah Telecommunications has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to TDS or SHEN?

In the previous week, Telephone and Data Systems and Telephone and Data Systems both had 2 articles in the media. Telephone and Data Systems' average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Shenandoah Telecommunications' score of 0.00 indicating that Shenandoah Telecommunications is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Telephone and Data Systems	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Shenandoah Telecommunications	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of TDS or SHEN?

95.4% of Telephone and Data Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.6% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.4% of Telephone and Data Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer TDS or SHEN?

Shenandoah Telecommunications received 143 more outperform votes than Telephone and Data Systems when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.98% of users gave Shenandoah Telecommunications an outperform vote while only 65.60% of users gave Telephone and Data Systems an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Telephone and Data Systems	Outperform Votes 288 65.60%	Underperform Votes 151 34.40%
Shenandoah Telecommunications	Outperform Votes 431 67.98%	Underperform Votes 203 32.02%

Is TDS or SHEN more profitable?

Shenandoah Telecommunications has a net margin of 1.27% compared to Shenandoah Telecommunications' net margin of -0.38%. Telephone and Data Systems' return on equity of 0.56% beat Shenandoah Telecommunications' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Telephone and Data Systems	-0.38%	-0.36%	-0.14%
Shenandoah Telecommunications	1.27%	0.56%	0.36%

Is TDS or SHEN a better dividend stock?

Telephone and Data Systems pays an annual dividend of $0.74 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Shenandoah Telecommunications pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Telephone and Data Systems pays out -93.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Shenandoah Telecommunications pays out 128.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Telephone and Data Systems has increased its dividend for 50 consecutive years and Shenandoah Telecommunications has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Telephone and Data Systems is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Telephone and Data Systems beats Shenandoah Telecommunications on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.