Contrasting u-blox (OTCMKTS:UBLXF) & Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and u-blox (OTCMKTS:UBLXF) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Cisco Systems and u-blox, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cisco Systems	0	7	15	1	2.74
u-blox	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cisco Systems currently has a consensus target price of $129.43, indicating a potential upside of 15.89%. Given Cisco Systems’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Cisco Systems is more favorable than u-blox.

Dividends

Cisco Systems pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. u-blox pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cisco Systems pays out 50.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. u-blox pays out 32.6% 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. Cisco Systems has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Cisco Systems is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.3% of Cisco Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.3% of u-blox shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Cisco Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Cisco Systems and u-blox’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cisco Systems	20.95%	30.16%	11.69%
u-blox	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cisco Systems and u-blox”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cisco Systems	$63.33 billion	6.95	$13.27 billion	$3.34	33.44
u-blox	N/A	N/A	N/A	$3.99	42.61

Cisco Systems has higher revenue and earnings than u-blox. Cisco Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than u-blox, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Cisco Systems beats u-blox on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization. In addition, it provides Internet for the future product consists of routed optical networking, 5G, silicon, and optics solutions; collaboration products, such as meetings, collaboration devices, calling, contact center, and communication platform as a service; end-to-end security product consists of network security, cloud security, security endpoints, unified threat management, and zero trust; and optimized application experiences products including full stack observability and network assurance. Further, the company offers a range of service and support options for its customers, including technical support and advanced services and advisory services. It serves businesses of various sizes, public institutions, governments, and service providers. The company sells its products and services directly, as well as through systems integrators, service providers, other resellers, and distributors. Cisco Systems, Inc. has strategic alliances with other companies. Cisco Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About u-blox

u-blox Holding AG develops, manufactures, and markets products and services supporting GPS/GNSS satellite positioning systems for the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United States, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through two segments, Positioning and Wireless Products, and Wireless Services. The company develops and sells chips and modules to locate and connect devices. In addition, it offers a range of GPS/GNSS positioning products, including satellite receiver chips, chips, receiver modules, receiver boards, antennas, and smart antennas for navigation, automatic vehicle location, security, traffic control, location-based services, timing, and agriculture. u-blox Holding AG was founded in 1997 and is based in Thalwil, Switzerland.