Head-To-Head Contrast: Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) and AltiGen Communications (OTCMKTS:ATGN)

Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) and AltiGen Communications (OTCMKTS:ATGN) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.9% of Altice USA shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.6% of Altice USA shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.0% of AltiGen Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Altice USA and AltiGen Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Altice USA	1	1	3	0	2.40
AltiGen Communications	0	0	0	0	0.00

Altice USA presently has a consensus price target of $3.05, indicating a potential upside of 32.32%. Given Altice USA’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Altice USA is more favorable than AltiGen Communications.

Risk and Volatility

Altice USA has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AltiGen Communications has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Altice USA and AltiGen Communications”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Altice USA	$8.95 billion	0.12	-$102.92 million	($0.58)	-3.97
AltiGen Communications	$13.62 million	1.22	$1.56 million	$0.09	7.15

AltiGen Communications has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Altice USA. Altice USA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AltiGen Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Altice USA and AltiGen Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Altice USA	-3.07%	N/A	-0.85%
AltiGen Communications	18.15%	9.04%	7.47%

About Altice USA

Altice USA, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband communications and video services in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It offers broadband, video, telephony, and mobile services to residential and business customers. The company's video services include delivery of broadcast stations and cable networks; over the top services; video-on-demand, high-definition channels, digital video recorder, and pay-per-view services; and platforms for video programming through mobile applications. In addition, it provides voice over Internet protocol telephone services; and mobile services, such as data, talk, and text. Further, the company offers Ethernet, data transport, IP-based virtual private networks, Internet access, and telephony services; hosted telephony services, managed Wi-Fi, managed desktop and server backup, and collaboration services comprising audio and web conferencing; fiber-to-the-tower services to wireless carriers; data services consisting of wide area networking and dedicated data access, as well as wireless mesh networks; and enterprise class telephone services that include traditional multi-line phone service. Additionally, it provides hosted private branch exchange, network security, and international calling and toll-free numbers services. Furthermore, the company offers audience-based and multiscreen advertising solutions; data analytics; and news programming services, as well as operates news channels under the News 12 Networks, Cheddar, and i24NEWS names. It also provides broadband communications and video services under the Optimum and Suddenlink brands. Altice USA, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Long Island City, New York.

About AltiGen Communications

Altigen Communications, Inc. designs, develops, markets, and supports integrated communications solutions worldwide. It provides MaxCS IP-PBX, a software-based phone system that provides customers with business communications solutions; MaxACD Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Contact Center, a software-based automatic call distribution engine, which offers call routing and call distribution options; MaxMobile that extends a set of business PBX functionality to smart phone devices; and MaxCommunicator, a Windows-based desktop application, which provides call control and visual voice mail management to the desktop. The company offers MaxAgent, a Windows-based desktop application to bring call control and workgroup information to call center agents; MaxSupervisor, a Windows-based desktop application for call center supervisors; and MaxACD for Skype, a call center solution. In addition, it provides hosted services, which include hosted IP PBX, Skype for Business, session initiation protocol trunk, call center solution, voice and video calling, conference calling, and various long-distance services; and software assurance services, which offer customers with software updates, patches, new releases, and technical support for the applications they are licensed to use. The company serves financial services, healthcare, retail, and business services industries through a channel of distributors and resellers. Altigen Communications, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is based in Milpitas, California.