AT&T (T) and pdvWireless (PDVW) Financial Survey

AT&T (NYSE: T) and pdvWireless (NASDAQ:PDVW) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitabiliy, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Volatility and Risk

AT&T has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, pdvWireless has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.3% of AT&T shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of pdvWireless shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of AT&T shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of pdvWireless shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

AT&T pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. pdvWireless does not pay a dividend. AT&T pays out 96.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. pdvWireless has raised its dividend for 32 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares AT&T and pdvWireless’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AT&T	7.77%	14.22%	4.37%
pdvWireless	-818.59%	-16.18%	-15.36%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares AT&T and pdvWireless’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AT&T	$162.62 billion	1.44	$48.95 billion	$2.04	18.64
pdvWireless	$4.79 million	72.74	-$30.54 million	($2.72)	-8.90

AT&T has higher revenue and earnings than pdvWireless. pdvWireless is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AT&T, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for AT&T and pdvWireless, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AT&T	0	17	10	0	2.37
pdvWireless	0	0	1	0	3.00

AT&T currently has a consensus price target of $43.75, indicating a potential upside of 15.04%. pdvWireless has a consensus price target of $43.00, indicating a potential upside of 77.69%. Given pdvWireless’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe pdvWireless is more favorable than AT&T.

Summary

AT&T beats pdvWireless on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is a holding company. The Company is a provider of communications and digital entertainment services in the United States and the world. The Company operates through four segments: Business Solutions, Entertainment Group, Consumer Mobility and International. The Company offers its services and products to consumers in the United States, Mexico and Latin America and to businesses and other providers of telecommunications services worldwide. It also owns and operates three regional TV sports networks, and retains non-controlling interests in another regional sports network and a network dedicated to game-related programming, as well as Internet interactive game playing. Its services and products include wireless communications, data/broadband and Internet services, digital video services, local and long-distance telephone services, telecommunications equipment, managed networking, and wholesale services. Its subsidiaries include AT&T Mobility and SKY Brasil Servicos Ltda.

About pdvWireless

pdvWireless, Inc., formerly Pacific DataVision, Inc., is a wireless communications carrier and a provider of mobile workforce communication and location-based solutions. The Company’s solutions focus on enhancing the productivity of its customers’ field-based workers, and the efficiency of their dispatch and call center operations. The Company is deploying and operating the two-way radio networks that offer push-to-talk (PTT) communications services to primarily dispatch-centric, small and medium-sized businesses. The Company has launched its PTT networks in markets throughout the United States. The Company offers its DispatchPlus service, which combines pdvConnect, its suite of mobile communication and workforce management applications with digital network architecture and mobile devices. Developed for dispatch-centric businesses, pdvConnect enables businesses to locate and communicate with their field workers.