Analyzing Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR)

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ericsson and Juniper Networks, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ericsson	0	2	0	0	2.00
Juniper Networks	0	5	1	0	2.17

Ericsson presently has a consensus price target of $9.80, indicating a potential upside of 14.62%. Juniper Networks has a consensus price target of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.13%. Given Ericsson’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Ericsson is more favorable than Juniper Networks.

Dividends

Ericsson pays an annual dividend of $0.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Juniper Networks pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Ericsson pays out 380.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Juniper Networks pays out 83.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility & Risk

Ericsson has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Juniper Networks has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

8.0% of Ericsson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.9% of Juniper Networks shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Juniper Networks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ericsson and Juniper Networks”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ericsson	$23.45 billion	1.22	$1.89 million	$0.05	171.00
Juniper Networks	$5.20 billion	2.57	$287.90 million	$1.05	38.05

Juniper Networks has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ericsson. Juniper Networks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ericsson, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ericsson and Juniper Networks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ericsson	0.67%	16.45%	5.07%
Juniper Networks	6.78%	8.71%	4.18%

Summary

Juniper Networks beats Ericsson on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ericsson

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile connectivity solutions for telcom operators and enterprise customers in various sectors in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, North East Asia, South East Asia, Oceania, and India. It operates in four segments: Networks; Cloud Software and Services; Enterprise; and Other. The Networks segment offers radio access network (RAN) solutions for various network spectrum bands, including purpose-built and open RAN-prepared hardware and software. This segment also provides cloud RAN; transport solutions; passive and active antennas; and a range of service portfolios covering network deployment and support. The Cloud Software and Services segment offers core networks, business and operational support systems, network design and optimization, and managed network services. The Enterprise segment offers a global communications platform, including cloud-based unified communications as a service, contact center as a service, and communications platform as a service; enterprise wireless solutions comprising private wireless networks and wireless wan pre-packaged solutions; and technologies and new business solutions, such as mobile financial services, security solutions, and advertising services. The Other segment includes Redbee media that prepares and distributes live and video services for broadcasters, sports leagues, and communications service providers. It offers its services through wholesalers and distributors. The company was formerly known as Allmanna Telefon AB LM Ericsson and changed its name to Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) in January 1926. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

About Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers. It also provides switching products, including EX series Ethernet switches to address the access, aggregation, and core layer switching requirements of micro branch, branch office, and campus environments; QFX series of core, spine, and top-of-rack data center switches; and juniper access points, which provide Wi-Fi access and performance. In addition, the company offers security products comprising SRX series services gateways for the data center; Branch SRX family provides an integrated and next-generation firewall; virtual firewall that delivers various features of physical firewalls; and advanced malware protection, a cloud-based service and Juniper ATP. Further, it offers Junos OS, a network operating system; Contrail networking, which provides an open-source and standards-based platform for SDN; Mist AI-driven Wired, Wireless, and WAN assurance solutions to set and measure key metrics; Mist AI-driven Marvis Virtual Network Assistant, which identifies the root cause of issues; Juniper Paragon Automation, a modular portfolio of cloud-native software applications; and Juniper Apstra to automate the network lifecycle in a single system. Additionally, the company provides software-as-a-service, technical support, maintenance, and professional services, as well as education and training programs. It sells its products through direct sales, distributors, value-added resellers, and original equipment manufacturers to end-users in the cloud, service provider, and enterprise markets. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.