Head to Head Comparison: Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) vs. Nokia (NYSE:NOK)

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) are both technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Nokia and Clearfield, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nokia	2	5	16	0	2.61
Clearfield	1	1	5	0	2.57

Nokia currently has a consensus target price of $13.41, indicating a potential upside of 60.28%. Clearfield has a consensus target price of $41.75, indicating a potential upside of 37.72%. Given Nokia’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Nokia is more favorable than Clearfield.

Profitability

This table compares Nokia and Clearfield’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nokia	3.80%	10.48%	5.94%
Clearfield	1.17%	0.86%	0.80%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nokia and Clearfield”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nokia	$20.85 billion	2.30	$736.54 million	$0.16	52.28
Clearfield	$151.94 million	2.71	-$8.05 million	($0.51)	-59.44

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

5.3% of Nokia shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of Clearfield shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Clearfield shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Nokia has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clearfield has a beta of 2.06, meaning that its stock price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Nokia beats Clearfield on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nokia

Nokia is a Finland-based technology company focused on communications networks and related services. Its offerings include mobile and fixed network infrastructure, IP and optical networking, cloud and network software, and private wireless solutions for businesses and public-sector organizations. The company serves communications service providers, enterprises, governments and other customers around the world. It also develops and licenses technology and intellectual property, including through its patent-licensing business.

About Clearfield

Clearfield, Inc. designs, manufactures and distributes fiber-optic management and connectivity products used to build and maintain broadband networks. Its solutions help service providers organize, protect and connect fiber from central offices and network hubs to homes and businesses. The company’s offerings include fiber distribution cabinets, enclosures, panels, wall boxes and related connectivity components. Its product lines include FieldSmart, YOURx and StreetSmart, which are designed for applications such as fiber-to-the-home deployments and other access-network environments.