Critical Contrast: AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) vs. SES (OTCMKTS:SGBAF)

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) and SES (OTCMKTS:SGBAF) are both communication services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

AST SpaceMobile has a beta of 2.72, meaning that its stock price is 172% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SES has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares AST SpaceMobile and SES’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%
SES	-8.96%	-9.43%	-1.93%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.0% of AST SpaceMobile shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.9% of AST SpaceMobile shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for AST SpaceMobile and SES, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AST SpaceMobile	2	7	5	0	2.21
SES	2	1	0	0	1.33

AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus price target of $84.58, suggesting a potential upside of 44.70%. Given AST SpaceMobile’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe AST SpaceMobile is more favorable than SES.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AST SpaceMobile and SES”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AST SpaceMobile	$70.92 million	320.74	-$341.94 million	($2.14)	-27.31
SES	$2.97 billion	0.87	-$107.48 million	($0.88)	-5.28

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

SES S.A. provides satellite-based data transmission capacity and ancillary services worldwide. The company offers content connectivity solutions, including network spanning satellite and ground infrastructure to create, deliver, and manage video and data solutions. It also provides data connectivity services through its fleet of geostationary earth orbit and medium earth orbit satellites to the aviation, cloud, cruise, energy, government, maritime, and telco and mobile network operator industries. In addition, the company offers video services, which includes end-to-end managed services to audience; and provides multi-screen and multi-device viewing experiences on linear channels, video-on-demand, streaming platforms, and social media sites for broadcasters, platform operators, and sports organizations. Further, it provides linear video aggregation and distribution, such as direct-to-home, direct-to-cable, and internet protocol TV households; channel management solutions comprising playout; and live feeds and redundancy features. The company was formerly known as SES Global SA and changed its name to SES S.A. in December 2006. SES S.A. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.