Financial Comparison: IDT (NYSE:IDT) and Globalstar (NASDAQ:GSAT)

Globalstar (NASDAQ:GSAT) and IDT (NYSE:IDT) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Globalstar	-22.25%	-16.66%	-2.43%
IDT	6.67%	24.22%	12.69%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

18.9% of Globalstar shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.3% of IDT shares are held by institutional investors. 60.0% of Globalstar shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.4% of IDT shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Globalstar and IDT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Globalstar	2	3	1	0	1.83
IDT	0	1	1	0	2.50

Globalstar currently has a consensus target price of $75.67, indicating a potential downside of 9.52%. IDT has a consensus target price of $85.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.61%. Given IDT’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe IDT is more favorable than Globalstar.

Risk and Volatility

Globalstar has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDT has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Globalstar and IDT”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Globalstar	$272.99 million	39.69	-$8.65 million	($0.51)	-163.98
IDT	$1.30 billion	1.54	$86.63 million	$3.47	23.19

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

Summary

IDT beats Globalstar on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Globalstar

Globalstar, Inc. provides mobile satellite services worldwide. The company offers duplex two-way voice and data products, including mobile voice and data satellite communications services and equipment for remote business continuity, recreational usage, safety, emergency preparedness and response, and other applications; fixed voice and data satellite communications services and equipment at industrial, commercial, and residential sites, as well as rural villages and ships; and data modem services and equipment. It also provides SPOT consumer retail products, such as SPOT satellite GPS messenger for personal tracking, emergency location, and messaging solutions; and SPOT Trace, an anti-theft and asset tracking device. In addition, the company offers commercial Internet of Things one-way transmission products to track cargo containers and rail cars, as well as to monitor utility meters, and oil and gas assets. Further, it sells wholesale minutes to independent gateway operators (IGOs); and provides engineering services, such as hardware and software designs to develop specific applications; and installation of gateways and antennas. The company distributes its products directly, as well as through independent agents, dealers and resellers, retailers, IGOs, and sales force and e-commerce Website. As of December 31, 2020, it had approximately 745,000 subscribers. The company primarily serves recreation and personal, government, public safety and disaster relief, oil and gas, maritime and fishing, construction, utilities, and transportation, as well as natural resources, mining, and forestry markets. Globalstar, Inc. has a strategic alliance with XCOM Labs to jointly commercialize XCOM’s capacity-multiplying technology with Globalstar’s Band n53 for 5G deployments in the United States and other countries where Globalstar has terrestrial rights. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Covington, Louisiana.

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.