Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK – Get Rating) and Partner Communications (NASDAQ:PTNRY – Get Rating) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
45.3% of Spok shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.9% of Partner Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 8.6% of Spok shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Partner Communications shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk & Volatility
Spok has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Partner Communications has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Spok | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Partner Communications | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
Spok currently has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.85%. Given Spok’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Spok is more favorable than Partner Communications.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Spok and Partner Communications’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Spok | $133.89 million | 1.95 | $21.86 million | $1.61 | 8.11 |
| Partner Communications | $1.08 billion | 0.80 | $37.00 million | $0.36 | 12.94 |
Partner Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Spok. Spok is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Partner Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Spok and Partner Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Spok | 24.04% | 6.89% | 4.80% |
| Partner Communications | 6.25% | 11.18% | 4.05% |
Summary
Spok beats Partner Communications on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Spok
Spok Holdings, Inc. engages in the provision of communication solutions. It provides call center operations, clinical alerting and notifications, one-way and advanced two-way wireless messaging services, mobile communications and public safety solutions. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Alexandria, VA.
About Partner Communications
Partner Communications Co. Ltd. engages in the provision of telecommunications services. It operates through the Cellular and Fixed-line segments. The Cellular segment offers basic cellular telephony services, text messaging, internet browsing and data transfer, content services, roaming services, M2M and IOT services, handset repair services, cellular content and value-added services. The Fixed-line segment is composed of internet services, business solutions, international long-distance services, television services over the internet, and connections and data transfer. The company was founded on September 29, 1997 and is headquartered in Rosh Haayin, Israel.
Receive News & Ratings for Spok Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Spok and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
