Critical Survey: Hellenic Telecom Organization (HLTOY) and Its Rivals

Hellenic Telecom Organization (OTCMKTS:HLTOY) is one of 203 publicly-traded companies in the “Diversified Telecommunication Services” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Hellenic Telecom Organization to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Hellenic Telecom Organization and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hellenic Telecom Organization	1	1	1	0	2.00
Hellenic Telecom Organization Competitors	1752	5339	7754	384	2.44

As a group, “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies have a potential upside of 21.17%. Given Hellenic Telecom Organization’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hellenic Telecom Organization has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hellenic Telecom Organization and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hellenic Telecom Organization	$3.92 billion	$566.95 million	15.38
Hellenic Telecom Organization Competitors	$12.27 billion	$893.66 million	-167.92

Hellenic Telecom Organization’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Hellenic Telecom Organization. Hellenic Telecom Organization is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Hellenic Telecom Organization pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Hellenic Telecom Organization pays out 63.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 13.9% and pay out 33.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Hellenic Telecom Organization lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

Hellenic Telecom Organization has a beta of 0.22, suggesting that its share price is 78% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hellenic Telecom Organization’s peers have a beta of -4.88, suggesting that their average share price is 588% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

32.7% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 19.2% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Hellenic Telecom Organization and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hellenic Telecom Organization	13.52%	30.55%	12.30%
Hellenic Telecom Organization Competitors	-12.09%	-217.39%	-3.35%

Summary

Hellenic Telecom Organization peers beat Hellenic Telecom Organization on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Hellenic Telecom Organization

Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. provides telecommunications and related services to businesses and individuals primarily in Greece and Romania. It operates through OTE, COSMOTE Group, and Telekom Romania Mobile segments. The company offers fixed-line, Internet access, ICT, and TV production services; and international carrier services. It also provides mobile and satellite telecommunication, electronic money, e-commerce, financing, consultancy and security, real estate, insurance brokerage, training, wholesale telephony, retail, marketing, overdue accounts management, wholesale broadband, and infrastructure services. Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. was incorporated in 1949 and is based in Athens, Greece. Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. operates as a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG.