Critical Contrast: Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN) & Telecom Italia (OTCMKTS:TIIAY)

Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN) and Telecom Italia (OTCMKTS:TIIAY) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Lumen Technologies and Telecom Italia, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lumen Technologies	1	5	2	0	2.13
Telecom Italia	0	2	1	3	3.17

Lumen Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $5.39, suggesting a potential downside of 20.18%. Given Lumen Technologies’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Lumen Technologies is more favorable than Telecom Italia.

Profitability

This table compares Lumen Technologies and Telecom Italia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lumen Technologies	-9.19%	-158.40%	-0.59%
Telecom Italia	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Lumen Technologies has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Telecom Italia has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lumen Technologies and Telecom Italia”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lumen Technologies	$13.11 billion	0.53	-$55.00 million	($1.18)	-5.72
Telecom Italia	$15.88 billion	N/A	-$660.08 million	N/A	N/A

Lumen Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Telecom Italia.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

66.2% of Lumen Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of Lumen Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

About Lumen Technologies

Lumen Technologies, Inc., a facilities-based technology and communications company, provides various integrated products and services to business and residential customers in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Business and Mass Markets. It offers dark fiber, edge cloud services, internet protocol, managed security, software-defined wide area networks, secure access service edge, unified communications and collaboration, and optical wavelengths services; ethernet and VPN data networks services; and legacy services to manage cash flow, including time division multiplexing voice, private line, and other legacy services, as well as sells communication equipment, and IT solutions. The company also provides high speed and lower speed broadband service to residential and small business customers; local and long-distance voice services, professional services, and other ancillary services; and federal broadband and state support programs. It serves its products and services under the Lumen, Quantum Fiber, and CenturyLink brands. The company was formerly known as CenturyLink, Inc. and changed its name to Lumen Technologies, Inc. in September 2020. Lumen Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana.

About Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia S.p.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Italy and internationally. The company operates through Domestic, Brazil, and Other Operations segments. It offers fixed and mobile voice and Internet, and public telephony services, as well as products managed and developed for individuals and families; and voice, data, and Internet services and products, and information and communications technology solutions for top, public sector and large account customers. The company also manages and develops a portfolio of regulated and unregulated wholesale services for fixed-line and mobile telecommunications operators; and development, engineering, construction, and operation of network infrastructures, information technology (IT), and systems and properties. Telecom Italia S.p.A. was incorporated in 1908 and is based in Milan, Italy.