AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) & Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) Head-To-Head Analysis

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) and Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.0% of AST SpaceMobile shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.5% of Uniti Group shares are held by institutional investors. 20.9% of AST SpaceMobile shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Uniti Group shares are held 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.

Risk and Volatility

AST SpaceMobile has a beta of 2.74, meaning that its stock price is 174% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Uniti Group has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares AST SpaceMobile and Uniti Group’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%
Uniti Group	28.68%	-133.07%	-4.09%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares AST SpaceMobile and Uniti Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AST SpaceMobile	$70.92 million	334.73	-$341.94 million	($2.14)	-28.50
Uniti Group	$2.23 billion	0.94	$1.30 billion	$2.71	3.19

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for AST SpaceMobile and Uniti Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AST SpaceMobile	2	5	6	0	2.31
Uniti Group	0	7	1	1	2.33

AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus target price of $86.58, indicating a potential upside of 41.93%. Uniti Group has a consensus target price of $10.92, indicating a potential upside of 26.20%. Given AST SpaceMobile’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe AST SpaceMobile is more favorable than Uniti Group.

Summary

Uniti Group beats AST SpaceMobile on 9 of the 15 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 Uniti Group

Uniti Group, Inc. is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network. The Uniti Fiber segment includes the operation of infrastructure solutions, cell site backhauls, and dark fiber. The Corporate segment consists of office and shared service functions. The company was founded in February 2014 and is headquartered in Little Rock, AR.