Sampo Oyj (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) versus SES (OTCMKTS:SGBAF) Critical Analysis

Sampo Oyj (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) and SES (OTCMKTS:SGBAF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Dividends

Sampo Oyj pays an annual dividend of $0.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. SES pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.4%. Sampo Oyj pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SES pays out -12.0% 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. SES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Sampo Oyj and SES’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sampo Oyj	N/A	15.75%	4.88%
SES	-83.41%	6.16%	2.35%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sampo Oyj and SES”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sampo Oyj	$1.90 billion	12.20	$1.43 billion	$1.46	14.41
SES	$2.20 billion	0.88	-$974.59 million	($4.18)	-0.83

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Sampo Oyj and SES, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sampo Oyj	0	0	0	0	0.00
SES	0	0	0	1	4.00

Volatility & Risk

Sampo Oyj has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SES has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Sampo Oyj shares are owned by institutional investors. 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.

Summary

Sampo Oyj beats SES on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sampo Oyj

Sampo Oyj, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of non-life insurance products and services in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through If, Topdanmark, Hastings, Mandatum, and Holding segments. It offers property, casualty, liability, accident, sickness, household, homeowner, motor, travel, marine, aviation, transport, forest, livestock, health, workers compensation, car, van, and bike insurance services, as well as reinsurance services. The company was founded in 1909 and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

About SES

SES S.A. provides satellite-based data transmission capacity and ancillary services worldwide. The company offers content connectivity solutions, including network spanning satellite and ground infrastructure to create, deliver, and manage video and data solutions. It also provides data connectivity services through its fleet of geostationary earth orbit and medium earth orbit satellites to the aviation, cloud, cruise, energy, government, maritime, and telco and mobile network operator industries. In addition, the company offers video services, which includes end-to-end managed services to audience; and provides multi-screen and multi-device viewing experiences on linear channels, video-on-demand, streaming platforms, and social media sites for broadcasters, platform operators, and sports organizations. Further, it provides linear video aggregation and distribution, such as direct-to-home, direct-to-cable, and internet protocol TV households; channel management solutions comprising playout; and live feeds and redundancy features. The company was formerly known as SES Global SA and changed its name to SES S.A. in December 2006. SES S.A. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.