Head-To-Head Review: TeliaSonera (OTCMKTS:TLSNY) versus Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK)

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) and TeliaSonera (OTCMKTS:TLSNY) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Spok has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TeliaSonera has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Spok pays an annual dividend of $1.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.8%. TeliaSonera pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Spok pays out 215.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. TeliaSonera pays out 77.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Spok and TeliaSonera’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spok	9.00%	8.50%	6.08%
TeliaSonera	6.26%	9.20%	2.66%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Spok and TeliaSonera”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spok	$139.71 million	1.58	$15.88 million	$0.58	18.24
TeliaSonera	$8.28 billion	2.20	$360.26 million	$0.27	34.33

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

50.8% of Spok shares are held by institutional investors. 7.3% of Spok shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Spok and TeliaSonera, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spok	0	2	0	0	2.00
TeliaSonera	1	2	0	1	2.25

Spok currently has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.33%. Given Spok’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Spok is more favorable than TeliaSonera.

About Spok

Spok Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, Spok, Inc., provides healthcare communication solutions in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. The company's products and services enhance workflows for clinicians and support administrative compliance. It delivers clinical information to care teams when and where it matters to enhance patient outcomes; and provides GenA Pager, a one-way alphanumeric pager. The company offers subscriptions to one-way or two-way messaging services, as well as alphanumeric pagers that are configurable to support unencrypted or encrypted operation; and ancillary services, such as voicemail, and equipment loss or maintenance protection services, as well as sells devices to resellers who lease or resell them to their subscribers. Its Spok Care Connect suite products for contact centers, clinical alerting and notification, mobile communications and messaging, and public safety notifications. In addition, the company provides professional, software license updates, and product support services, as well as sells third-party equipment. It serves businesses, professionals, management personnel, medical personnel, field sales personnel and service forces, members of the construction industry and construction trades, real estate brokers and developers, sales and services organizations, specialty trade organizations, manufacturing organizations, and government agencies. The company was formerly known as USA Mobility, Inc. and changed its name to Spok Holdings, Inc. in July 2014. Spok Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

About TeliaSonera

Telia Company AB (publ) provides communication services to businesses, individuals, families, and communities in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. It offers mobile, broadband, television, and fixed-line services; and networking, cloud and security, mobility, enterprise mobile network, contact center, managed mobility services, collaboration solutions, enterprise telephony, Internet of Things (IoT), carrier ethernet, dedicated internet access, wavelengths, IP Transit, dark fiber, and colocation solutions. The company also provides IoT connectivity, building monitoring, smart public transport, and smart utilities, as well as transport and logistics solutions comprising connected vehicle, asset tracking, and fleet management services. It markets its products and services under the Telia, Telia Cygate, TV4, C More, Halebop, Fello, MTV, Phonero, Onecall, MyCall, CallMe, MIT Tele, Ezys, Diil, Super, and Imt brand names for transport and logistics, public transport, manufacturing, retail, utilities, buildings and real estate, and public sector industries. The company was formerly known as TeliaSonera AB (publ) and changed its name to Telia Company AB (publ) in April 2016. Telia Company AB (publ) was founded in 1853 and is based in Solna, Sweden.