Head to Head Comparison: SurgePays (NASDAQ:SURG) and Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN)

Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN) and SurgePays (NASDAQ:SURG) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Shenandoah Telecommunications and SurgePays’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shenandoah Telecommunications	$287.38 million	2.66	$8.04 million	$4.33	3.23
SurgePays	$137.14 million	0.30	$20.62 million	$1.15	1.80

SurgePays has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Shenandoah Telecommunications. SurgePays is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shenandoah Telecommunications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Shenandoah Telecommunications and SurgePays’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shenandoah Telecommunications	68.81%	-0.48%	-0.28%
SurgePays	-1.36%	-4.25%	-2.98%

Volatility and Risk

Shenandoah Telecommunications has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SurgePays has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Shenandoah Telecommunications and SurgePays, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shenandoah Telecommunications	0	1	1	0	2.50
SurgePays	0	1	1	0	2.50

Shenandoah Telecommunications presently has a consensus price target of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 78.70%. SurgePays has a consensus price target of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 358.94%. Given SurgePays’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SurgePays is more favorable than Shenandoah Telecommunications.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.0% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.9% of SurgePays shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.4% of Shenandoah Telecommunications shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 29.4% of SurgePays shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Shenandoah Telecommunications beats SurgePays on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shenandoah Telecommunications

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of broadband communication services and cell tower colocation space in the Mid-Atlantic portion of the United States. It operates in two segments, Broadband and Tower. The company Broadband segment offers broadband, video, and voice services to residential and commercial customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky through hybrid fiber coaxial cable under the Shentel brand; and fiber optic services under the Glo Fiber brand name. This segment also leases dark fiber and provides Ethernet and wavelength fiber optic services to enterprise and wholesale customers under the Glo Fiber Enterprise and Glo Fiber Wholesale brand names; and provides voice data and DSL telephone services. The Tower segment owns macro cellular towers and leases colocation space to the wireless communications providers. Shenandoah Telecommunications Company was founded in 1902 and is based in Edinburg, Virginia.

About SurgePays

SurgePays, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial technology and telecom company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Mobile Virtual Network Operators, Comprehensive Platform Services, and Lead Generation. The company offers subsidized and non-subsidized mobile virtual network operators for internet connectivity through mobile broadband services to consumers; ACH banking relationships and fintech transactions platform to convenience stores; wireless top-up transactions and wireless product aggregation; and lead generation and case management solutions primarily to law firms in the mass tort industry, as well as call center activities. SurgePays, Inc. is headquartered in Bartlett, Tennessee.