PLDT (NYSE:PHI) and Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and risk.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
3.2% of PLDT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Lumen Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Lumen Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for PLDT and Lumen Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| PLDT | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Lumen Technologies | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1.80 |
Lumen Technologies has a consensus price target of $10.2625, suggesting a potential downside of 23.53%. Given Lumen Technologies' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lumen Technologies is more favorable than PLDT.
Risk and Volatility
PLDT has a beta of 0.34, suggesting that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lumen Technologies has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
PLDT pays an annual dividend of $1.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Lumen Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. PLDT pays out 46.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lumen Technologies pays out 75.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. PLDT has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.
Profitability
This table compares PLDT and Lumen Technologies' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| PLDT | 14.72% | 22.98% | 4.91% |
| Lumen Technologies | 6.05% | 12.10% | 2.55% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares PLDT and Lumen Technologies' revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| PLDT | $3.32 billion | 1.68 | $434.65 million | $2.28 | 11.31 |
| Lumen Technologies | $22.40 billion | 0.66 | $-5,269,000,000.00 | $1.32 | 10.17 |
PLDT has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lumen Technologies. Lumen Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PLDT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
PLDT beats Lumen Technologies on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
