NTELOS Holdings Corp (NTLS) versus Alaska Communications Systems Group (ALSK) Critical Survey

NTELOS Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: NTLS) and Alaska Communications Systems Group (NASDAQ:ALSK) are both telecommunications services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for NTELOS Holdings Corp and Alaska Communications Systems Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NTELOS Holdings Corp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Alaska Communications Systems Group	0	0	1	0	3.00

Alaska Communications Systems Group has a consensus target price of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.36%. Given Alaska Communications Systems Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alaska Communications Systems Group is more favorable than NTELOS Holdings Corp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

39.7% of Alaska Communications Systems Group shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Alaska Communications Systems Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares NTELOS Holdings Corp and Alaska Communications Systems Group’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NTELOS Holdings Corp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Alaska Communications Systems Group	$229.54 million	0.50	$56.67 million	($0.02)	-109.95

Alaska Communications Systems Group has higher revenue and earnings than NTELOS Holdings Corp.

Profitability

This table compares NTELOS Holdings Corp and Alaska Communications Systems Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NTELOS Holdings Corp	-26.19%	N/A	-5.86%
Alaska Communications Systems Group	-0.65%	-0.01%	N/A

Summary

Alaska Communications Systems Group beats NTELOS Holdings Corp on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

NTELOS Holdings Corp Company Profile

NTELOS Holdings Corp. is a regional provider of digital wireless communications services to consumers and businesses primarily in Virginia and West Virginia. The Company offers wireless voice and digital data personal communications services (PCS) products and services to retail and business customers under the NTELOS Wireless and FRAWG Wireless brand names. The Company conducts its business through NTELOS-branded retail operations, which sells its products and services via direct and indirect distribution channels, and provide network access to other telecommunications carriers. The Company conducts all of its business through its subsidiary NTELOS Inc. and its subsidiaries. The Company operates a code-division multiple access (CDMA) digital PCS network. The Company utilizes radio spectrum licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide wireless broadband mobile services to its customers. The Company has approximately 1,008 cell sites in operation.

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.