Reviewing ADTRAN (NASDAQ:ADTN) and ERF Wireless (OTCMKTS:ERFB)

ERF Wireless (OTCMKTS:ERFB) and ADTRAN (NASDAQ:ADTN) are both technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.1% of ERF Wireless shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of ADTRAN shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of ERF Wireless shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of ADTRAN shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for ERF Wireless and ADTRAN, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ERF Wireless	0	0	0	0	0.00
ADTRAN	2	1	4	0	2.29

ADTRAN has a consensus target price of $14.67, indicating a potential upside of 88.76%. Given ADTRAN’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ADTRAN is more favorable than ERF Wireless.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ERF Wireless and ADTRAN”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ERF Wireless	N/A	N/A	N/A	($1.83)	N/A
ADTRAN	$1.08 billion	0.58	-$45.66 million	($0.28)	-27.75

ERF Wireless has higher earnings, but lower revenue than ADTRAN. ADTRAN is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ERF Wireless, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares ERF Wireless and ADTRAN’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ERF Wireless	N/A	N/A	N/A
ADTRAN	-2.29%	14.24%	1.66%

Summary

ADTRAN beats ERF Wireless on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ERF Wireless

ERF Wireless, Inc. provides wireless broadband access solutions for the energy industry in North America. The company conducts its operations through Energy Broadband, Inc., Wireless Bundled Services Division, and Enterprise Network Services segments. It offers wireless bandwidth and related support services, including nomadic terrestrial wireless broadband circuit connectivity to the wellsite; wellsite communications equipment rental; wellsite IT support services; wellsite IT services over broadband; network monitoring and maintenance:; layer 2 secure communications connectivity products rental and services; fixed site terrestrial wireless broadband connectivity; network design and construction; production field supervisory control and data acquisition; and midstream communications, monitoring, and security solutions for the oil and gas industry. The company also provides enterprise-level wireless bandwidth product and services, such as design and implementation of custom Internet wireless bandwidth solutions, including long-term maintenance and network monitoring; reselling arrangements; and secure connectivity services through its CryptoVue product to the regional banking, healthcare, and educational sectors primarily in the rural areas of North America. In addition, it offers commercial and residential wireless bandwidth products and services comprising -speed Internet, voice over Internet protocol services, network monitoring and maintenance services, and video services to commercial businesses and residential customers. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in League City, Texas.

About ADTRAN

ADTRAN Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides networking and communications platforms, software, systems, and services in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Network Solutions, and Services & Support. It offers residential gateways; ethernet passive optical network ONUs; gigabit passive optical network/XGS-PON ONTs; traditional SSE, routers, and switches; edge cloud; carrier ethernet network interface devices; Optical Line Terminals; Packet Aggregation, Copper Access, and Oscilloquartz; optical transport and engine solutions; infrastructure monitoring solution; and training, professional, software, and managed services. The company also provides various software, such as Mosaic One SaaS, n-Command, Procloud, MCP, AOE and ACI-E, and Ensemble Controller. It serves large, medium, and small service providers; alternative service providers, such as utilities, municipalities and fiber overbuilders; cable/MSOs; and SMBs and distributed enterprises. ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.