Financial Comparison: AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) vs. Telecom Italia (OTCMKTS:TIAOD)

Telecom Italia (OTCMKTS:TIAOD) and AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Telecom Italia and AST SpaceMobile’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
AST SpaceMobile	-573.67%	-24.87%	-12.58%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Telecom Italia and AST SpaceMobile, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Telecom Italia	0	0	0	0	0.00
AST SpaceMobile	2	6	2	1	2.18

AST SpaceMobile has a consensus target price of $87.60, suggesting a potential upside of 21.77%. Given AST SpaceMobile’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AST SpaceMobile is more favorable than Telecom Italia.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Telecom Italia and AST SpaceMobile”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Telecom Italia	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.07	128.26
AST SpaceMobile	$70.92 million	393.70	-$341.94 million	($1.78)	-40.42

Telecom Italia has higher earnings, but lower revenue than AST SpaceMobile. AST SpaceMobile is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Telecom Italia, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

35.6% of Telecom Italia shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.0% of AST SpaceMobile shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.9% of AST SpaceMobile shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

AST SpaceMobile beats Telecom Italia on 7 of the 12 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 AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.