Cogeco Communications (OTCMKTS:CGEAF) & Proximus (OTCMKTS:BGAOY) Head-To-Head Contrast

Proximus (OTCMKTS:BGAOY) and Cogeco Communications (OTCMKTS:CGEAF) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Proximus and Cogeco Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Proximus	0	0	0	1	4.00
Cogeco Communications	0	4	1	0	2.20

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Proximus and Cogeco Communications”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Proximus	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.44	3.84
Cogeco Communications	N/A	N/A	N/A	$4.40	11.91

Proximus is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cogeco Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Proximus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.9% of Cogeco Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Proximus and Cogeco Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Proximus	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cogeco Communications	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Proximus pays an annual dividend of $0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Cogeco Communications pays an annual dividend of $1.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Proximus pays out 15.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cogeco Communications pays out 28.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Proximus is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

About Proximus

Proximus PLC provides digital services and communication solutions in Belgium and internationally. It operates through Domestic, International Carrier Services, and TeleSign segments. The company offers fixed and mobile telephony, internet, and television services to residential customers and small businesses, and ICT services to residential, business, and telecom wholesale markets. It also provides managed and platform, integrating networking, cloud, cybersecurity, business application, and data and artificial intelligence services. In addition, the company offers international delivery authentication and digital identity services to internet brands, digital champions, and cloud native businesses. It offers its products and services under Proximus, Scarlet, Mobile Vikings, Tango, Telindus, and Telindus Netherlands brands. The company was formerly known as Belgacom SA and changed its name to Proximus PLC in June 2015. The company was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

About Cogeco Communications

Cogeco Communications Inc. operates as a telecommunications corporation in Canada and the United States. It operates in two segments, Canadian Telecommunications and American Telecommunications. The company offers Internet, video, and Internet protocol (IP) based telephony services to residential and small business customers through its two-way broadband fiber networks. It also provides Internet packages comprising best-in-class managed Wi-Fi and with home Wi-Fi solutions; voice services; and other advanced network connectivity services, such as dedicated fibre, session initiation protocol (SIP) or primary rate interface (PRI) trunking solutions, hosted private branch exchange (HPBX) solutions, and managed business Wi-Fi (MBW) through its long-distance fibre optic systems, advanced hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) telecommunications distribution networks, point-to-point fibre networks, and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network technologies. In addition, the company offers e-mail solutions and Internet security suite to Internet customers with automatic updates to protect their desktop and mobile devices; and self-installation devices on a rental basis. Further, it provides cable operator services under the Cogeco Connexion name in Québec and Ontario, Canada; and in the United States under the Breezeline brand. The company was formerly known as Cogeco Cable Inc. and changed its name to Cogeco Communications Inc. in January 2016. Cogeco Communications Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Cogeco Communications Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Cogeco Inc.