Head-To-Head Survey: Spok (SPOK) versus Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO (MBT)

Spok (NASDAQ: SPOK) and Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO (NYSE:MBT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

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Spok has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Spok and Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spok	-9.05%	2.84%	2.37%
Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO	13.76%	45.69%	9.88%

Dividends

Spok pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO pays out 71.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Spok and Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spok	0	0	0	0	N/A
Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO	0	1	6	0	2.86

Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO has a consensus target price of $10.75, suggesting a potential upside of 15.59%. Given Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO is more favorable than Spok.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Spok and Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spok	$171.18 million	1.79	-$15.30 million	N/A	N/A
Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO	$6.70 billion	1.38	$958.31 million	$0.98	9.49

Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO has higher revenue and earnings than Spok.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.0% of Spok shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.3% of Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Spok shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO beats Spok on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

Spok Company Profile

Spok Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, Spok, Inc., provides various communications solutions to healthcare, government, and other enterprises in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. The company provides one-way messaging, including numeric messaging services, which enable subscribers to receive messages comprising numbers, such as phone numbers; and alphanumeric messages, including numbers and letters that enable subscribers to receive text messages. It also offers two-way messaging services that enable subscribers to send and receive messages to and from other wireless messaging devices, such as pagers, personal digital assistants, and personal computers; and voice mail, personalized greeting, message storage and retrieval, and equipment loss and/or maintenance protection to one-way and two-way messaging subscribers. In addition, the company develops, sells, and supports enterprise-wide systems to automate, centralize, and standardize mission critical communications for contact centers, clinical alerting and notification, mobile communications, and messaging, as well as for public safety notifications. Further, it sells devices to resellers who lease or resell them to their subscribers; ancillary services, such as voicemail and equipment loss or maintenance protection, as well as provides a suite of professional services. The company serves businesses, professionals, management personnel, medical personnel, field sales personnel and service forces, members of the construction industry and construction trades, real estate brokers and developers, sales and services organizations, specialty trade organizations, manufacturing organizations, and government agencies. The company was formerly known as USA Mobility, Inc. and changed its name to Spok Holdings, Inc. in July 2014. Spok Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Springfield, Virginia.

Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO Company Profile

Public Joint-Stock Company Mobile TeleSystems provides telecommunication services in Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, and Armenia. The company operates through three segments: Russia Convergent, Moscow Fixed Line, and Ukraine. It offers voice and data transmission, Internet access, pay TV, and various value added services through wireless and fixed lines, as well as sells equipment, accessories, and handsets. The company also provides system integration services and IT solutions. Public Joint-Stock Company Mobile TeleSystems has a partnership agreement with Nokia for joint development and deployment of Nokia's new technological solutions, as well as to promote new digital products and services of Mobile TeleSystems Group. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Moscow, Russia. Public Joint-Stock Company Mobile TeleSystems is a subsidiary of Sistema Finance S.A.