Reviewing Powerfleet (NASDAQ:AIOT) & Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) and Powerfleet (NASDAQ:AIOT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Iridium Communications and Powerfleet, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Iridium Communications	0	2	1	1	2.75
Powerfleet	0	0	3	0	3.00

Iridium Communications currently has a consensus target price of $41.00, suggesting a potential upside of 48.98%. Powerfleet has a consensus target price of $12.50, suggesting a potential upside of 122.02%. Given Powerfleet’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Powerfleet is more favorable than Iridium Communications.

Profitability

This table compares Iridium Communications and Powerfleet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Iridium Communications	14.09%	14.34%	4.21%
Powerfleet	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.4% of Iridium Communications shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.4% of Powerfleet shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Iridium Communications shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of Powerfleet shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Iridium Communications and Powerfleet”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Iridium Communications	$812.43 million	3.86	$15.41 million	$0.94	29.28
Powerfleet	$133.74 million	5.57	-$5.68 million	N/A	N/A

Iridium Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Powerfleet.

Risk and Volatility

Iridium Communications has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Powerfleet has a beta of 1.76, suggesting that its share price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Iridium Communications beats Powerfleet on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc. provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services. It also provides hosted payload and other data services, such as satellite time and location services; and inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, short message, subscriber identity module, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services. In addition, the company offers voice and data solutions comprising personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles, and aircrafts; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; maritime communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals; mobile communications and data devices for the military and other government agencies, such as secure satellite handsets, as well as netted voice, messaging, and paging services; and maintenance services for the United States government's dedicated gateway. Further, it provides satellite handsets, voice and data modems, broadband data devices, and IoT data devices; various accessories for its devices that include batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors, USB data cables, charging units, and others; and engineering and support services. Iridium Communications Inc. sells its products and services to commercial end users through a wholesale distribution network that include service providers, and value-added resellers and manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Iridium Holdings LLC and changed its name to Iridium Communications Inc. in September 2009. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

About Powerfleet

PowerFleet, Inc. provides wireless Internet-of-Things asset management solutions in the United States, Israel, and internationally. The company offers real-time intelligence for organizations to capture IoT data from various types of assets with devices and sensors to increase efficiencies, and improve safety and security, as well as increase their profitability in easy-to-understand reports, dashboards, and real-time alerts; and application programming interfaces for additional integrations and development to boost other enterprise management systems and third-party applications. It also provides hosting, maintenance, and support and consulting services; and Software as a Service, including system monitoring, help desk technical support, escalation procedure development, routine diagnostic data analysis, and software updates services. The company offers its products under the PowerFleet, Pointer, and Cellocator brands. It sells its products to commercial and government sectors in manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, wholesale and retail, food and grocery distribution, pharmaceutical and medical distribution, construction, mining, utilities, heavy industry, aerospace and defense, homeland security, and vehicle rental, logistics, shipping, and freight transportation markets, as well as through indirect sales channels, such as original equipment manufacturers, vehicle importers, distributors, and industrial equipment dealers. The company was formerly known as I.D. Systems, Inc. PowerFleet, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.