AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) versus Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom (NYSE:TEO) Financial Contrast

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) and Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom (NYSE:TEO) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.0% of AST SpaceMobile shares are held by institutional investors. 20.9% of AST SpaceMobile shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

AST SpaceMobile has a beta of 2.72, indicating that its stock price is 172% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares AST SpaceMobile and Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AST SpaceMobile	-536.66%	-22.88%	-10.67%
Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom	7.61%	9.38%	4.11%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for AST SpaceMobile and Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AST SpaceMobile	2	7	5	0	2.21
Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom	1	2	3	0	2.33

AST SpaceMobile currently has a consensus price target of $84.58, suggesting a potential upside of 65.94%. Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom has a consensus price target of $15.93, suggesting a potential upside of 28.58%. Given AST SpaceMobile’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe AST SpaceMobile is more favorable than Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AST SpaceMobile and Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AST SpaceMobile	$70.92 million	279.70	-$341.94 million	($2.14)	-23.82
Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom	$6.81 billion	0.78	-$136.01 million	$1.23	10.07

Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom has higher revenue and earnings than AST SpaceMobile. AST SpaceMobile is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom beats AST SpaceMobile on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.

About Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom

Telecom Argentina S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services. The company offers mobile telecommunications services, including voice communications, high-speed mobile Internet content and applications download, online streaming, and other services; and sells mobile communication devices, such as handsets, Modems MiFi and wingles, and smart watches. It also internet connectivity products, including virtual private network services, traditional Internet protocol links, and other products; and programming and other cable television services. In addition, the company offers telephone services, including local, domestic, and international long-distance telephone services, as well as public telephone services; and other related supplementary services, such as call waiting, call forwarding, conference calls, caller ID, voice mail, itemized billing, and maintenance services. Further, it provides Infrastructure, interconnection, datacenter, Internet, value added, and international long-distance services; and data services, including data transmission, virtual private networks, symmetric Internet access, national and international signal transport, and videoconferencing services; Personal Pay, a digital wallet service; and management and administration services. The company was formerly known as Cablevisión S.A. and changed its name to Telecom Argentina S.A. in January 2018. Telecom Argentina S.A. was founded in 1979 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.