Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) & Intelsat (OTCMKTS:INTEQ) Critical Contrast

Intelsat (OTCMKTS:INTEQ) and Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.4% of Iridium Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Intelsat shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Iridium Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Intelsat and Iridium Communications”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Intelsat	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Iridium Communications	$830.68 million	4.13	$112.78 million	$1.06	29.93

Iridium Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Intelsat.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Intelsat and Iridium Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intelsat	0	0	0	0	0.00
Iridium Communications	0	1	4	0	2.80

Iridium Communications has a consensus target price of $34.25, indicating a potential upside of 7.96%. Given Iridium Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Iridium Communications is more favorable than Intelsat.

Profitability

This table compares Intelsat and Iridium Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intelsat	N/A	N/A	N/A
Iridium Communications	14.68%	19.41%	4.60%

Summary

Iridium Communications beats Intelsat on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Intelsat

Intelsat SA provides satellite services business, which provides a layer in the global communications infrastructure. It offers communication services to media companies, fixed and wireless telecommunications operators, data networking service providers for enterprise and mobile applications, multinational corporations and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The company also provides commercial satellite capacity to the U.S. government and other select military organizations and their contractors. Intelsat was founded on August 20, 1964 and is headquartered in Luxembourg.

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.