Contrasting Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN)

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) and Nokia (NYSE:NOK) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and risk.

Dividends

Ituran Location and Control pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Nokia pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Ituran Location and Control pays out 61.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nokia pays out 85.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ituran Location and Control has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Ituran Location and Control is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.8% of Ituran Location and Control shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.3% of Nokia shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Ituran Location and Control shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Ituran Location and Control has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nokia has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ituran Location and Control and Nokia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ituran Location and Control	16.28%	29.03%	16.29%
Nokia	3.49%	9.83%	5.53%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ituran Location and Control and Nokia”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ituran Location and Control	$393.23 million	2.53	$57.97 million	$3.24	15.42
Nokia	$22.50 billion	2.44	$736.54 million	$0.14	68.32

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Ituran Location and Control and Nokia, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ituran Location and Control	0	1	4	0	2.80
Nokia	3	5	15	1	2.58

Ituran Location and Control currently has a consensus price target of $60.67, suggesting a potential upside of 21.43%. Nokia has a consensus price target of $13.57, suggesting a potential upside of 41.92%. Given Nokia’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Nokia is more favorable than Ituran Location and Control.

Summary

Ituran Location and Control beats Nokia on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ituran Location and Control

Ituran Location and Control Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides location based telematics services and machine-to-machine telematics products. It operates through two segments, Telematics Services and Telematics Products. The Telematics services segment offers stolen vehicle recovery and tracking services, which enables to locate, track, and recover stolen vehicles for its subscribers; fleet management services that enable corporate and individual customers to track and manage their vehicles in real time; and locator services that allow customers to protect valuable merchandise and equipment. This segment also delivers on-demand navigation guidance, information, and assistance, including the provision of traffic reports and directions, as well as information on the location of gas stations, car repair shops, post offices, hospitals, and other facilities; and Connected Car, a service platform that includes a back-office application, a telematics device installed in the vehicle, mobile apps for IOS and Android users, and interface using the car infotainment screen, as well as usage based insurance and auto financing services. This segment serves insurance companies and agents, car manufacturers, dealers and importers, cooperative sales channels, and private subscribers. The Telematics Products segment offers Base Site, a radio receiver that includes a processor and a data computation unit to collect and send data to and from transponders, and to control centers; Control Center, a center consisting of software used to collect data from various base sites, conduct location calculations, and transmit location data to various customers and law enforcement agencies; navigation and tracking devices installed in vehicles; and SMART, a portable transmitter installed in vehicles that sends a signal to the base site enabling the location of vehicles, equipment, or an individual. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Azor, Israel.

About Nokia

Nokia Oyj provides mobile, fixed, and cloud network solutions worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Network Infrastructure, Mobile Networks, Cloud and Network Services, and Nokia Technologies. The company provides fixed networking solutions, such as fiber and copper-based access infrastructure, in-home Wi-Fi solutions, and cloud and virtualization services; IP networking solutions, including IP access, aggregation, and edge and core routing for residential, mobile, enterprise and cloud applications; optical networks solutions that provides optical transport networks for metro, regional, and long-haul applications, and subsea applications; and submarine networks for undersea cable transmission. It serves its products and services to communications service providers, webscales and hyperscalers, digital industries, and government. The company also offers mobile technology products and services for radio access networks and microwave radio links for transport networks, network management solutions, as well as network planning, optimization, network deployment, and technical support services. In addition, it offers cloud and network services, including core network solutions, such as voice and packet core; business applications, such as security, automation, and monetization; cloud and cognitive services; and enterprise solutions, including private wireless and industrial automation. Further, the company licenses intellectual property, including patents, technologies, and the Nokia brand. Nokia Oyj was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Espoo, Finland.