Contrasting TeliaSonera (TLSNY) and Its Rivals

TeliaSonera (OTCMKTS:TLSNY) is one of 33 public companies in the “Wireless Telecommunication Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare TeliaSonera to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Dividends

TeliaSonera pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. TeliaSonera pays out 71.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Wireless Telecommunication Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.6% and pay out 34.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. TeliaSonera lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares TeliaSonera and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
TeliaSonera	$8.28 billion	$360.26 million	35.18
TeliaSonera Competitors	$18.12 billion	$2.68 billion	19.78

TeliaSonera’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than TeliaSonera. TeliaSonera is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

48.6% of shares of all “Wireless Telecommunication Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 23.2% of shares of all “Wireless Telecommunication Services” companies are held by 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.

Risk & Volatility

TeliaSonera has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TeliaSonera’s peers have a beta of 1.99, indicating that their average stock price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares TeliaSonera and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TeliaSonera	6.54%	9.82%	2.83%
TeliaSonera Competitors	60.51%	11.59%	4.53%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for TeliaSonera and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TeliaSonera	1	2	0	1	2.25
TeliaSonera Competitors	322	913	1458	140	2.50

As a group, “Wireless Telecommunication Services” companies have a potential upside of 35.27%. Given TeliaSonera’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe TeliaSonera has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

TeliaSonera peers beat TeliaSonera on 13 of the 15 factors compared.

About TeliaSonera

TeliaSonera, now known as Telia Company, is a telecommunications and digital services provider headquartered in Sweden. The company was formed in 2002 through the merger of Sweden’s Telia and Finland’s Sonera, and adopted the Telia Company name in 2016. Telia provides mobile and fixed-line communications, broadband, television and related digital services to consumers and businesses. Its business also includes network and connectivity solutions for organizations. The company serves customers across the Nordic and Baltic regions, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.