Comparing Calix (NYSE:CALX) & ADTRAN (NASDAQ:ADTN)

ADTRAN (NASDAQ:ADTN) and Calix (NYSE:CALX) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ADTRAN and Calix”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ADTRAN	$1.08 billion	0.60	-$45.66 million	($0.28)	-28.61
Calix	$1.00 billion	2.56	$17.88 million	$0.74	54.84

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

Profitability

This table compares ADTRAN and Calix’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ADTRAN	-2.29%	14.24%	1.66%
Calix	4.61%	6.17%	4.90%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.6% of ADTRAN shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Calix shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of ADTRAN shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.4% of Calix shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

ADTRAN has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Calix has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for ADTRAN and Calix, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ADTRAN	2	1	4	0	2.29
Calix	1	1	7	0	2.67

ADTRAN presently has a consensus target price of $14.67, indicating a potential upside of 83.10%. Calix has a consensus target price of $63.86, indicating a potential upside of 57.35%. Given ADTRAN’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe ADTRAN is more favorable than Calix.

Summary

Calix beats ADTRAN on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ADTRAN

ADTRAN Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides networking and communications platforms, software, systems, and services in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Network Solutions, and Services & Support. It offers residential gateways; ethernet passive optical network ONUs; gigabit passive optical network/XGS-PON ONTs; traditional SSE, routers, and switches; edge cloud; carrier ethernet network interface devices; Optical Line Terminals; Packet Aggregation, Copper Access, and Oscilloquartz; optical transport and engine solutions; infrastructure monitoring solution; and training, professional, software, and managed services. The company also provides various software, such as Mosaic One SaaS, n-Command, Procloud, MCP, AOE and ACI-E, and Ensemble Controller. It serves large, medium, and small service providers; alternative service providers, such as utilities, municipalities and fiber overbuilders; cable/MSOs; and SMBs and distributed enterprises. ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.

About Calix

Calix, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of cloud and software platforms, and systems and services in the United States, rest of Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Its cloud and software platforms, and systems and services enable broadband service providers (BSPs) to provide a range of services. The company provides Calix Cloud platform, a role-based analytics platform comprising Calix Engagement Cloud, Calix Service Cloud, and Calix Operations Cloud, which are configurable to display role-based insights and enable BSPs to anticipate and target new revenue-generating services and applications through mobile application, such as CommandIQ for residents and CommandWorx for businesses; Calix Intelligent Access EDGE, an access network solution for automated and intelligent networks; and Calix Revenue EDGE, a premises solution for subscriber managed services. It also offers SmartLife managed services, including SmartHome managed services and applications to enhance, operate and secure the connected experience of subscribers in their home; SmartTown managed services that reimagine community Wi-Fi as a ubiquitous, secure, and managed experience across a BSP's footprint; and SmartBiz managed services that address the business networking and productivity needs of business owners with an all-in-one managed service. In addition, the company provides Wi-Fi systems under GigaSpire and GigaPro brands to be ready for deployment as a complete subscriber experience solution for BSP's residential and business subscribers. It offers its products through its direct sales force and resellers. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.