Head to Head Survey: TELUS (NYSE:TU) and Telenor ASA (OTCMKTS:TELNY)

Telenor ASA (OTCMKTS:TELNY) and TELUS (NYSE:TU) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Dividends

Telenor ASA pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. TELUS pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.6%. Telenor ASA pays out 110.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. TELUS pays out 236.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. TELUS has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. TELUS is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Telenor ASA has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TELUS has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Telenor ASA and TELUS”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Telenor ASA	$7.38 billion	3.14	$789.03 million	$0.56	30.27
TELUS	$14.71 billion	1.34	$796.57 million	$0.52	24.53

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.4% of TELUS shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of TELUS shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Telenor ASA and TELUS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Telenor ASA	10.15%	15.52%	5.24%
TELUS	5.42%	8.42%	2.38%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Telenor ASA and TELUS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Telenor ASA	1	3	0	1	2.20
TELUS	1	3	6	0	2.50

TELUS has a consensus price target of $17.63, suggesting a potential upside of 38.18%. Given TELUS’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe TELUS is more favorable than Telenor ASA.

Summary

TELUS beats Telenor ASA on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Telenor ASA

Telenor ASA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a telecommunication company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Nordics, Asia, Infrastructure, and Amp. The company offers mobile subscriptions and handsets, telephony, broadband, data security, communications services, and TV services to residential and business customers, as well as wholesale services. It also builds, develops, maintains, and leases passive telecom infrastructure, such as towers, masts, and buildings. The company also provides machine-to-machine, internet-of-things, and inbound and national roaming services. Telenor ASA was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Fornebu, Norway.

About TELUS

TELUS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of telecommunications and information technology products and services in Canada. It operates through Technology Solutions and Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers a range of telecommunications products and services; network services; healthcare services; mobile technologies equipment; data services, such as internet protocol; television; hosting, managed information technology, and cloud-based services; software, data management, and data analytics-driven smart food-chain and consumer goods technologies; home and business security; healthcare software and technology solutions; and voice and other telecommunications services, as well as mobile and fixed voice and data telecommunications services and products. The Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segment provides digital customer experience and digital-enablement transformation solutions, including artificial intelligence and content management solutions. The company was formerly known as TELUS Communications Inc. and changed its name to TELUS Corporation in February 2005. TELUS Corporation was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.