Analyzing Altice USA (ATUS) & Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN)

Altice USA (NASDAQ: ATUS) and Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN) are both telecommunications services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitabiliy, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Dividends

Shenandoah Telecommunications pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Altice USA does not pay a dividend. Shenandoah Telecommunications pays out -227.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

49.6% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.2% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Altice USA and Shenandoah Telecommunications’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Altice USA	$9.20 billion	2.22	$3.69 billion	N/A	N/A
Shenandoah Telecommunications	$619.55 million	2.81	$276.34 million	($0.11)	-321.82

Altice USA has higher revenue and earnings than Shenandoah Telecommunications.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Altice USA and Shenandoah Telecommunications, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Altice USA	0	5	7	0	2.58
Shenandoah Telecommunications	0	0	2	0	3.00

Altice USA currently has a consensus target price of $36.42, indicating a potential upside of 17.32%. Shenandoah Telecommunications has a consensus target price of $34.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.95%. Given Altice USA’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Altice USA is more favorable than Shenandoah Telecommunications.

Profitability

This table compares Altice USA and Shenandoah Telecommunications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Altice USA	-20.39%	-63.90%	-5.28%
Shenandoah Telecommunications	-0.89%	5.43%	1.11%

Summary

Shenandoah Telecommunications beats Altice USA on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Altice USA

Altice USA, Inc. is engaged in providing broadband communications and video services in the United States. The Company’s segments include Cablevision and Cequel. Cablevision provides broadband, pay television and telephony services to residential and business customers in and around the New York metropolitan area. Cequel provides broadband, pay television and telephony services to residential and business customers in the south-central United States. It also provides services through ten states of Texas, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Missouri and Ohio. The Company also provides Wi-Fi hotspot access content and advertising services. Broadband provides services, such as video streaming, content downloading for time-shifted video consumption and other applications delivered over OTT platforms. Pay Television provides services through cable network. Video services delivered over DSL networks.

About Shenandoah Telecommunications

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company is a telecommunications holding company. The Company’s segments are Wireless, Cable, Wireline and Other. The Company, through its operating subsidiaries, provides both regulated and unregulated telecommunications services to end user customers and other telecommunications providers in Virginia, West Virginia, central Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and portions of Kentucky and Ohio. The business of the Wireless segment is conducted principally by the Company’s subsidiary, Shenandoah Personal Communications, LLC (PCS). The business of the Company’s Cable segment is conducted through Shenandoah Cable Television, LLC (Shenandoah Cable). The Wireline segment provides regulated and unregulated voice services, digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet access, cable modem and long distance access services throughout Shenandoah County and portions of Rockingham, Frederick, Warren and Augusta counties, Virginia.