Reviewing Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) and SurgePays (NASDAQ:SURG)

SurgePays (NASDAQ:SURG) and Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SurgePays	-47.89%	N/A	-274.37%
Spok	9.00%	8.50%	6.08%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares SurgePays and Spok”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SurgePays	$56.96 million	0.11	-$36.07 million	($1.53)	-0.08
Spok	$139.71 million	1.61	$15.88 million	$0.58	18.52

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

6.9% of SurgePays shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.8% of Spok shares are held by institutional investors. 29.1% of SurgePays shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.3% of Spok shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

SurgePays has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spok has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for SurgePays and Spok, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SurgePays	1	1	1	0	2.00
Spok	1	1	0	0	1.50

SurgePays presently has a consensus price target of $3.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2,826.42%. Spok has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.35%. Given SurgePays’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe SurgePays is more favorable than Spok.

Summary

Spok beats SurgePays on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SurgePays

SurgePays, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial technology and telecom company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Mobile Virtual Network Operators, Comprehensive Platform Services, and Lead Generation. The company offers subsidized and non-subsidized mobile virtual network operators for internet connectivity through mobile broadband services to consumers; ACH banking relationships and fintech transactions platform to convenience stores; wireless top-up transactions and wireless product aggregation; and lead generation and case management solutions primarily to law firms in the mass tort industry, as well as call center activities. SurgePays, Inc. is headquartered in Bartlett, Tennessee.

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.