Head-To-Head Analysis: IDT (NYSE:IDT) vs. Telecom Italia (OTCMKTS:TIIAY)

Telecom Italia (OTCMKTS:TIIAY) and IDT (NYSE:IDT) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Telecom Italia has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDT has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

59.3% of IDT shares are held by institutional investors. 25.4% of IDT shares 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Telecom Italia and IDT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Telecom Italia	$15.88 billion	N/A	-$660.08 million	N/A	N/A
IDT	$1.23 billion	1.00	$76.09 million	$3.22	15.24

IDT has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Telecom Italia.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Telecom Italia and IDT, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Telecom Italia	0	3	1	2	2.83
IDT	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Telecom Italia and IDT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Telecom Italia	N/A	N/A	N/A
IDT	6.49%	26.75%	13.56%

Summary

IDT beats Telecom Italia on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia S.p.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Italy and internationally. The company operates through Domestic, Brazil, and Other Operations segments. It offers fixed and mobile voice and Internet, and public telephony services, as well as products managed and developed for individuals and families; and voice, data, and Internet services and products, and information and communications technology solutions for top, public sector and large account customers. The company also manages and develops a portfolio of regulated and unregulated wholesale services for fixed-line and mobile telecommunications operators; and development, engineering, construction, and operation of network infrastructures, information technology (IT), and systems and properties. Telecom Italia S.p.A. was incorporated in 1908 and is based in Milan, Italy.

About IDT

IDT Corporation provides communications and payment services in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through Fintech, National Retail Solutions, net2phone, and Traditional Communications segments. The company operates point of sale, a terminal-based platform which provides independent retailers store management software, electronic payment processing, and other ancillary merchant services; and provides marketers with digital out-of-home advertising and transaction data. It also offers BOSS Money for international money remittance, and related value and payment transfer services; and Leaf, a digital wallet services which operates money transfer businesses, as well as net2phone, a unified cloud communication services, which includes voice, texting, and chat services to enable smarter business conversations. In addition, the company provides IDT Digital Payments enables businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers to offer prepaid digital offerings including mobile airtime top-up, mobile data bundles, digital gift cards, and prepaid utility payments through its Zendit platform; and BOSS Revolution Calling, which provides international long-distance voice services primarily to immigrant communities in the United States and Canada. Further, it offers IDT Global, a wholesale provider of international voice and SMS termination, and outsourced traffic management solutions to telecoms; and IDT Express, a unique self-serve portal that offers SMBs the power to purchase DIDs, manage IPs, select termination quality, make payments, and other services. The company also provides Awards2Go, a B2B incentive, loyalty, and customer appreciation gift card solution; and IO Security which provides automation to remediation. IDT Corporation was incorporated in 1978 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.