Analyzing Orange (OTC:ORANY) and Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN)

Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN) and Orange (OTC:ORANY) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, valuation and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Shenandoah Telecommunications and Orange”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shenandoah Telecommunications	$328.06 million	1.79	$8.04 million	$3.79	2.84
Orange	$43.57 billion	0.70	$2.35 billion	N/A	N/A

Orange has higher revenue and earnings than Shenandoah Telecommunications.

Volatility and Risk

Shenandoah Telecommunications has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orange has a beta of 0.24, meaning that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Shenandoah Telecommunications pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Orange pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Shenandoah Telecommunications pays out 2.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.0% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.2% of Orange shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Shenandoah Telecommunications and Orange’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shenandoah Telecommunications	58.03%	-2.50%	-1.40%
Orange	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Shenandoah Telecommunications and Orange, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shenandoah Telecommunications	0	0	1	0	3.00
Orange	0	1	0	0	2.00

Shenandoah Telecommunications currently has a consensus price target of $26.00, indicating a potential upside of 141.19%. Given Shenandoah Telecommunications’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Shenandoah Telecommunications is more favorable than Orange.

Summary

Shenandoah Telecommunications beats Orange on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shenandoah Telecommunications

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of broadband communication services and cell tower colocation space in the Mid-Atlantic portion of the United States. It operates in two segments, Broadband and Tower. The company Broadband segment offers broadband, video, and voice services to residential and commercial customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky through hybrid fiber coaxial cable under the Shentel brand; and fiber optic services under the Glo Fiber brand name. This segment also leases dark fiber and provides Ethernet and wavelength fiber optic services to enterprise and wholesale customers under the Glo Fiber Enterprise and Glo Fiber Wholesale brand names; and provides voice data and DSL telephone services. The Tower segment owns macro cellular towers and leases colocation space to the wireless communications providers. Shenandoah Telecommunications Company was founded in 1902 and is based in Edinburg, Virginia.

About Orange

Orange S.A. provides fixed telephony, mobile telecommunication, data transmission, and other value-added services to individuals, professionals, and large companies in France and internationally. It offers mobile services, such as voice, SMS, and data; fixed broadband and narrowband services, as well as B2B fixed solutions and networks services, including voice and data services. The company also sells handsets, broadband equipment, connected devices, and accessories. In addition, it provides IT and integration services comprising unified communication and collaboration services, such as LAN and telephony, consultancy, integration, and project management; hosting and infrastructure services, including cloud computing; customer relations management and other applications services; security services; and video conferencing, as well as sells related equipment. Further, the company offers national and international roaming services; online advertising services; and mobile virtual network operators, network sharing, and mobile financial services, as well as sells equipment to external distributors, brokers, and operators. It markets its products and services under the Orange brand. The company was formerly known as France Telecom and changed its name to Orange S.A. in July 2013. Orange S.A. was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.