KDDI (OTCMKTS:KDDIY) vs. Kyivstar Group (NASDAQ:KYIV) Critical Review

Kyivstar Group (NASDAQ:KYIV) and KDDI (OTCMKTS:KDDIY) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Kyivstar Group and KDDI, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kyivstar Group	0	2	3	0	2.60
KDDI	0	1	0	1	3.00

Kyivstar Group presently has a consensus target price of $16.62, suggesting a potential upside of 22.51%. Given Kyivstar Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kyivstar Group is more favorable than KDDI.

Profitability

This table compares Kyivstar Group and KDDI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kyivstar Group	12.73%	24.71%	15.12%
KDDI	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.1% of KDDI shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kyivstar Group and KDDI”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kyivstar Group	$1.16 billion	2.71	$124.00 million	$0.66	20.56
KDDI	$40.34 billion	1.79	$4.67 billion	$1.26	14.33

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

Summary

Kyivstar Group beats KDDI on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kyivstar Group

Kyivstar Group Ltd. provides a range of mobile communication and home Internet services in Ukraine. It offers mobile services, such as voice, messaging and data, mobile and computer Internet, roaming, abroad calling, payment, and other services; fixed telephone communication services; fixed Internet and data transfer services; and mobile virtual PBX services, as well as operates data centers, commercial contact centers, and M2M contact centers. The company also provides loyalty programs, as well as sells telecommunications equipment. The company was founded in 1994 and is based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Kyivstar Group Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Vimpelcom Amsterdam B.V.

About KDDI

KDDI Corporation provides telecommunications services in Japan and internationally. It operates in two segments, Personal Services and Business Services. The Personal Services segment offers telecommunication services and other services such as finance, energy, and LX through its multi-brands au, UQ mobile, and povo. The Business Services segment offers smartphones and other devices, network and cloud services, and data center services to corporate customers under the TELEHOUSE brand. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.