United States Cellular (USM) Competitors

United States Cellular (NYSE:USM) and Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Do analysts prefer USM or TDS?

United States Cellular currently has a consensus target price of $83.67, indicating a potential upside of 38.01%. Telephone and Data Systems has a consensus target price of $51.50, indicating a potential upside of 51.73%. Given Telephone and Data Systems' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Telephone and Data Systems is more favorable than United States Cellular.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Cellular	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Telephone and Data Systems	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

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

18.0% of United States Cellular shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.0% of Telephone and Data Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of United States Cellular shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of Telephone and Data Systems shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, USM or TDS?

United States Cellular has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Telephone and Data Systems has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, USM or TDS?

United States Cellular has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Telephone and Data Systems. United States Cellular is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Telephone and Data Systems, 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
United States Cellular	$3.71B	1.39	$54M	-$0.46	-131.79
Telephone and Data Systems	$4.86B	0.80	-$500M	-$1.05	-32.32

Does the MarketBeat Community favor USM or TDS?

Telephone and Data Systems received 50 more outperform votes than United States Cellular when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.48% of users gave Telephone and Data Systems an outperform vote while only 55.84% of users gave United States Cellular an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
United States Cellular	Outperform Votes 244 55.84%	Underperform Votes 193 44.16%
Telephone and Data Systems	Outperform Votes 294 65.48%	Underperform Votes 155 34.52%

Is USM or TDS more profitable?

United States Cellular has a net margin of -0.79% compared to Telephone and Data Systems' net margin of -10.72%. United States Cellular's return on equity of 1.55% beat Telephone and Data Systems' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Cellular	-0.79%	1.55%	0.68%
Telephone and Data Systems	-10.72%	1.12%	0.40%

Does the media refer more to USM or TDS?

In the previous week, Telephone and Data Systems had 4 more articles in the media than United States Cellular. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Telephone and Data Systems and 4 mentions for United States Cellular. United States Cellular's average media sentiment score of 1.85 beat Telephone and Data Systems' score of 1.48 indicating that United States Cellular is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
United States Cellular	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Telephone and Data Systems	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Telephone and Data Systems beats United States Cellular on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.