SES (OTCMKTS:SGBAF) & IDT (NYSE:IDT) Head to Head Contrast

IDT (NYSE:IDT) and SES (OTCMKTS:SGBAF) are both mid-cap communication services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares IDT and SES’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IDT	6.67%	24.22%	12.69%
SES	-8.96%	-9.43%	-1.93%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares IDT and SES”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IDT	$1.30 billion	1.55	$86.63 million	$3.47	23.29
SES	$2.97 billion	0.90	-$107.48 million	($0.88)	-5.47

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

Volatility & Risk

IDT has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SES has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for IDT and SES, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IDT	0	1	2	0	2.67
SES	2	1	1	0	1.75

IDT presently has a consensus target price of $85.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.19%. Given IDT’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe IDT is more favorable than SES.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

59.3% of IDT shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.4% of IDT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

IDT beats SES on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IDT

IDT Corporation provides communications and payment services in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through Fintech, National Retail Solutions, net2phone, and Traditional Communications segments. The company operates point of sale, a terminal-based platform which provides independent retailers store management software, electronic payment processing, and other ancillary merchant services; and provides marketers with digital out-of-home advertising and transaction data. It also offers BOSS Money for international money remittance, and related value and payment transfer services; and Leaf, a digital wallet services which operates money transfer businesses, as well as net2phone, a unified cloud communication services, which includes voice, texting, and chat services to enable smarter business conversations. In addition, the company provides IDT Digital Payments enables businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers to offer prepaid digital offerings including mobile airtime top-up, mobile data bundles, digital gift cards, and prepaid utility payments through its Zendit platform; and BOSS Revolution Calling, which provides international long-distance voice services primarily to immigrant communities in the United States and Canada. Further, it offers IDT Global, a wholesale provider of international voice and SMS termination, and outsourced traffic management solutions to telecoms; and IDT Express, a unique self-serve portal that offers SMBs the power to purchase DIDs, manage IPs, select termination quality, make payments, and other services. The company also provides Awards2Go, a B2B incentive, loyalty, and customer appreciation gift card solution; and IO Security which provides automation to remediation. IDT Corporation was incorporated in 1978 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

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.