Contrasting Alaska Communications Systems Group (ALSK) and Fusion Telecommunications International (NASDAQ:FSNN)

Alaska Communications Systems Group (NASDAQ: ALSK) and Fusion Telecommunications International (NASDAQ:FSNN) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitabiliy, valuation, earnings and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.3% of Alaska Communications Systems Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.5% of Fusion Telecommunications International shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Alaska Communications Systems Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.1% of Fusion Telecommunications International shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Alaska Communications Systems Group has a beta of -0.12, meaning that its stock price is 112% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fusion Telecommunications International has a beta of 2.31, meaning that its stock price is 131% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Alaska Communications Systems Group and Fusion Telecommunications International, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alaska Communications Systems Group	0	0	1	0	3.00
Fusion Telecommunications International	0	0	2	0	3.00

Alaska Communications Systems Group currently has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.58%. Fusion Telecommunications International has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 106.90%. Given Fusion Telecommunications International’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fusion Telecommunications International is more favorable than Alaska Communications Systems Group.

Profitability

This table compares Alaska Communications Systems Group and Fusion Telecommunications International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alaska Communications Systems Group	0.71%	1.97%	0.67%
Fusion Telecommunications International	-10.96%	-164.53%	-11.83%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Alaska Communications Systems Group and Fusion Telecommunications International’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alaska Communications Systems Group	$227.27 million	0.55	$55.16 million	$0.04	59.26
Fusion Telecommunications International	$124.06 million	0.26	$6.03 million	($0.92)	-1.58

Alaska Communications Systems Group has higher revenue and earnings than Fusion Telecommunications International. Fusion Telecommunications International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alaska Communications Systems Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Alaska Communications Systems Group beats Fusion Telecommunications International on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

Alaska Communications Systems Group Company Profile

Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc. is a fiber broadband and managed information technology (IT) services provider. The Company is focused primarily on business and wholesale customers in and out of Alaska. The Company also provides telecommunication services to consumers across Alaska. The Company’s facilities-based communications network extends across Alaska and connects to the contiguous states through its undersea fiber optic cable systems and its usage rights on an undersea system. It serves customers in various areas, such as Business and Wholesale (broadband, voice and managed IT services); Consumer (broadband and voice services), and Other Services (including carrier termination, equipment sales, access services and support services receiving federal support funding). It provides voice and broadband services to residential customers. It provides voice and broadband origination and termination services to inter and intrastate carriers serving its retail customers.

Fusion Telecommunications International Company Profile

Fusion Telecommunications International, Inc. is a United States-based provider of integrated cloud solutions, including cloud voice, cloud connectivity, cloud infrastructure, cloud computing, and managed cloud-based applications to businesses, and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-based voice services to carriers. The Company operates through two segments: Business Services and Carrier Services. Through Business Services segment, it provides cloud voice, cloud connectivity, cloud infrastructure, cloud computing and managed cloud-based applications to businesses of all sizes. Its suite of business services includes unified communications as a service, session initiation protocol trunking solution and file sharing solution. The Carrier Services segment includes termination of domestic and international carrier traffic utilizing VoIP technology. It offers solutions to small, medium and large businesses. It offers domestic and international VoIP services to carriers around the world.