Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM – Get Free Report) and GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group (NASDAQ:GLIBA – Get Free Report) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.
Profitability
This table compares Iridium Communications and GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Iridium Communications | 10.55% | 22.57% | 4.11% |
| GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group | -31.47% | 12.74% | 6.19% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Iridium Communications and GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Iridium Communications | $871.66 million | 5.75 | $114.37 million | $0.88 | 53.80 |
| GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group | $1.05 billion | 0.65 | -$309.00 million | ($10.71) | -2.21 |
Iridium Communications has higher earnings, but lower revenue than GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group. GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Iridium Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Iridium Communications and GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Iridium Communications | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.25 |
| GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Iridium Communications presently has a consensus price target of $38.67, suggesting a potential downside of 18.32%. Given Iridium Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Iridium Communications is more favorable than GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
84.4% of Iridium Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Iridium Communications shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Iridium Communications beats GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Iridium Communications
Iridium Communications Inc. provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services. It also provides hosted payload and other data services, such as satellite time and location services; and inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, short message, subscriber identity module, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services. In addition, the company offers voice and data solutions comprising personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles, and aircrafts; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; maritime communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals; mobile communications and data devices for the military and other government agencies, such as secure satellite handsets, as well as netted voice, messaging, and paging services; and maintenance services for the United States government's dedicated gateway. Further, it provides satellite handsets, voice and data modems, broadband data devices, and IoT data devices; various accessories for its devices that include batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors, USB data cables, charging units, and others; and engineering and support services. Iridium Communications Inc. sells its products and services to commercial end users through a wholesale distribution network that include service providers, and value-added resellers and manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Iridium Holdings LLC and changed its name to Iridium Communications Inc. in September 2009. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.
About GCI Liberty, Inc. – Series A GCI Group
GCI Liberty, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various communication services in the United States. The company offers data, wireless, video, voice, and managed services to residential customers, businesses, governmental entities, and educational and medical institutions primarily in Alaska under the GCI brand. It also operates a digital invitation platform that provides custom display advertising, native advertising content, custom video, and brand partnership services. The company is based in Englewood, Colorado.
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