Telesat (TSAT) & The Competition Critical Contrast

Telesat (NASDAQ:TSAT) is one of 203 publicly-traded companies in the “Diversified Telecommunication Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Telesat to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Telesat and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Telesat	2	3	4	0	2.22
Telesat Competitors	1752	5339	7755	384	2.44

Telesat currently has a consensus target price of $33.50, suggesting a potential downside of 17.13%. As a group, “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies have a potential upside of 20.51%. Given Telesat’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Telesat has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.7% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 40.6% of Telesat shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.2% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Telesat has a beta of 2.12, suggesting that its share price is 112% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Telesat’s competitors have a beta of -4.88, suggesting that their average share price is 588% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Telesat and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Telesat	-112.44%	-14.92%	-3.07%
Telesat Competitors	-12.09%	-217.39%	-3.35%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Telesat and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Telesat	$299.12 million	-$111.19 million	-2.20
Telesat Competitors	$12.27 billion	$893.66 million	-168.04

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

Summary

Telesat competitors beat Telesat on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Telesat

Telesat Corporation, a satellite operator, provides mission-critical communications solutions to broadcast, enterprise, and consulting customers worldwide. The company’s satellite-based services allow direct-to-home (DTH) service providers to deliver television programming, audio, and information channels directly to customers’ homes; and enables broadcasters, cable networks, and DTH service providers to transmit television programming services. It offers value-added services that include satellite capacity, digital encoding of video channels, authorization, and uplinking and downlinking services; and occasional use services for the broadcast of video news, sports, and live event coverages. The company also provides satellite capacity and end-to-end services comprising space segment services and terrestrial facilities for enterprise connectivity, and internet and cellular backhaul; rural telephony to telecommunications carriers and network services integrators; and other satellite services. In addition, it offers direct-to-consumer broadband services; communications services for the oil and gas and mining industries; and broadband communication services to maritime and aeronautical markets comprising commercial airplanes and vessels. Further, the company operates satellite and hybrid satellite/terrestrial networks. Additionally, it provides satellite operator services; and consulting services related to space and earth segments, government studies, research and development, and satellite control services. The company offers its services primarily through a direct sales force. As of December 31, 2020, it operated a fleet of 15 in-orbit geostationary satellites and a Canadian payload on the ViaSat-1 satellite. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. Telesat Corporation is a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications Inc.