IDT (IDT) Competitors

Consolidated Communications (NASDAQ:CNSL) and IDT (NYSE:IDT) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of CNSL or IDT?

80.0% of Consolidated Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.3% of IDT shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Consolidated Communications shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 25.3% of IDT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CNSL or IDT?

Consolidated Communications received 129 more outperform votes than IDT when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.91% of users gave IDT an outperform vote while only 51.89% of users gave Consolidated Communications an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Consolidated Communications	Outperform Votes 302 51.89%	Underperform Votes 280 48.11%
IDT	Outperform Votes 173 62.91%	Underperform Votes 102 37.09%

Which has more risk & volatility, CNSL or IDT?

Consolidated Communications has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDT has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CNSL or IDT more profitable?

IDT has a net margin of 6.10% compared to Consolidated Communications' net margin of -17.15%. IDT's return on equity of 22.18% beat Consolidated Communications' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Consolidated Communications	-17.15%	-34.09%	-3.06%
IDT	6.10%	22.18%	10.03%

Is CNSL or IDT a better dividend stock?

Consolidated Communications pays an annual dividend of $1.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 33.3%. IDT pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Consolidated Communications pays out -75.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. IDT pays out 6.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Consolidated Communications is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to CNSL or IDT?

In the previous week, IDT had 4 more articles in the media than Consolidated Communications. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for IDT and 2 mentions for Consolidated Communications. Consolidated Communications' average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat IDT's score of 0.05 indicating that Consolidated Communications is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Consolidated Communications	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
IDT	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has higher earnings & valuation, CNSL or IDT?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Consolidated Communications	$1.09B	0.51	-$250.51M	-$2.05	-2.27
IDT	$1.21B	1.00	$64.45M	$2.92	16.47

Summary

IDT beats Consolidated Communications on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.