Contrasting Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ:CRNT) & KDDI (OTCMKTS:KDDIY)

KDDI (OTCMKTS:KDDIY) and Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ:CRNT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.1% of KDDI shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.3% of Ceragon Networks shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of Ceragon Networks 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for KDDI and Ceragon Networks, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KDDI	0	1	0	0	2.00
Ceragon Networks	0	2	3	0	2.60

Ceragon Networks has a consensus price target of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 80.59%. Given Ceragon Networks’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ceragon Networks is more favorable than KDDI.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares KDDI and Ceragon Networks”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KDDI	$38.86 billion	1.69	$4.53 billion	$1.26	13.69
Ceragon Networks	$363.33 million	0.54	$24.06 million	$0.02	110.75

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

Risk and Volatility

KDDI has a beta of 0.05, suggesting that its share price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ceragon Networks has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares KDDI and Ceragon Networks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KDDI	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ceragon Networks	0.38%	6.67%	3.36%

Summary

Ceragon Networks beats KDDI on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About KDDI

KDDI Corporation provides telecommunications services in Japan and internationally. It operates in two segments, Personal Services and Business Services. The Personal Services segment offers telecommunication services and other services such as finance, energy, and LX through its multi-brands au, UQ mobile, and povo. The Business Services segment offers smartphones and other devices, network and cloud services, and data center services to corporate customers under the TELEHOUSE brand. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Ceragon Networks

Ceragon Networks Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless transport solutions for cellular operators and other wireless service providers in North America, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, India, and Latin America. The company's solutions use microwave and millimeter wave radio technology to transfer telecommunication traffic between base stations, small/distributed cells, and the service provider's network. It also provides IP-20 all-outdoor solutions, such as IP-20C, IP-20C-HP, IP-20S, IP-20E, and IP-20V; IP-20 split-mount, all-indoor solutions comprising IP-20N/IP-20A, IP-20F, and IP-20G; and IP-50 disaggregated solutions, including IP-50E, IP-50EX, IP-50C, IP-50CX, and IP-50FX for various short-haul, long-haul, fronthaul, small cells, routing, and enterprise access applications. In addition, the company offers network and radio planning, site surveys, solutions development, installation, network rollout, wireless transport network auditing and optimization, maintenance, training, and other services. It serves internet service providers, municipalities, government, utilities, and maritime communications broadcasters and defense, as well as oil and gas companies, public safety organizations, business and public institutions, broadcasters, energy utilities, and private communications networks. The company sells its products through direct sales, original equipment manufacturers, resellers, distributors, and system integrators. The company was formerly known as Giganet Ltd. and changed its name to Ceragon Networks Ltd. in September 2000. Ceragon Networks Ltd. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha'Ayin, Israel.