Financial Survey: Cogent Communications (CCOI) versus Its Peers

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) is one of 203 public companies in the “Diversified Telecommunication Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Cogent Communications to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.4% of Cogent Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.8% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of Cogent Communications shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Cogent Communications and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cogent Communications	-3.53%	N/A	-4.58%
Cogent Communications Competitors	-10.40%	-215.25%	-3.43%

Dividends

Cogent Communications pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Cogent Communications pays out -11.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 13.8% and pay out 33.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Cogent Communications has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Volatility & Risk

Cogent Communications has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cogent Communications’ peers have a beta of -4.89, indicating that their average stock price is 589% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cogent Communications and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cogent Communications	2	5	2	0	2.00
Cogent Communications Competitors	1762	5372	7773	385	2.44

Cogent Communications presently has a consensus price target of $18.24, indicating a potential upside of 354.97%. As a group, “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies have a potential upside of 20.49%. Given Cogent Communications’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Cogent Communications is more favorable than its peers.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cogent Communications and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cogent Communications	$975.77 million	-$182.17 million	-5.65
Cogent Communications Competitors	$12.35 billion	$893.66 million	-168.87

Cogent Communications’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Cogent Communications. Cogent Communications is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Cogent Communications peers beat Cogent Communications on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Cogent Communications

Cogent Communications is a facilities-based provider of internet and data-transport services. Its offerings include dedicated internet access, IP transit, Ethernet and wavelength services, and colocation, serving businesses, communications carriers, government agencies, and other organizations. The company operates a high-capacity network across North America and Europe. It connects customer locations to the internet and provides network capacity for organizations that need to move data between sites or across networks.