Financial Survey: Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) & Nuvera Communications (OTCMKTS:NUVR)

Spok (NASDAQ:SPOK) and Nuvera Communications (OTCMKTS:NUVR) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Spok has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nuvera Communications has a beta of 0.11, suggesting that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Spok and Nuvera Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spok	0	0	1	1	3.50
Nuvera Communications	0	0	0	0	0.00

Spok presently has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.10%. Given Spok’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Spok is more favorable than Nuvera Communications.

Profitability

This table compares Spok and Nuvera Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spok	12.12%	11.11%	8.05%
Nuvera Communications	-5.83%	0.89%	0.31%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.8% of Spok shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.4% of Nuvera Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Spok shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.8% of Nuvera Communications shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spok	$137.65 million	2.37	$14.97 million	$0.83	19.11
Nuvera Communications	$69.24 million	0.97	-$4.43 million	($0.77)	-16.75

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

Summary

Spok beats Nuvera Communications on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spok

Spok Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, Spok, Inc., provides healthcare communication solutions in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. The company's products and services enhance workflows for clinicians and support administrative compliance. It delivers clinical information to care teams when and where it matters to enhance patient outcomes; and provides GenA Pager, a one-way alphanumeric pager. The company offers subscriptions to one-way or two-way messaging services, as well as alphanumeric pagers that are configurable to support unencrypted or encrypted operation; and ancillary services, such as voicemail, and equipment loss or maintenance protection services, as well as sells devices to resellers who lease or resell them to their subscribers. Its Spok Care Connect suite products for contact centers, clinical alerting and notification, mobile communications and messaging, and public safety notifications. In addition, the company provides professional, software license updates, and product support services, as well as sells third-party equipment. It serves businesses, professionals, management personnel, medical personnel, field sales personnel and service forces, members of the construction industry and construction trades, real estate brokers and developers, sales and services organizations, specialty trade organizations, manufacturing organizations, and government agencies. The company was formerly known as USA Mobility, Inc. and changed its name to Spok Holdings, Inc. in July 2014. Spok Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

About Nuvera Communications

Nuvera Communications, Inc. operates as a diversified communications company in the United States. The company offers broadband Internet access and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone services; voice services to make and receive telephone calls within a defined local calling area; and network access services to other communication carriers for the use of its facilities to terminate or originate long distance calls on its fiber network. It also provides video services, including commercial TV programming, cable television services, and video-on-demand services; data services for business and residential customers; email and managed services comprising web hosting and design, online file back up, and online file storage; directory assistance, operator service, and long-distance private lines; directory publishing, bill processing, and other customer services; and fiber-delivered communications and managed information technology solutions, as well as sells and services customer premise equipment. In addition, the company is involved in the retail sale and service of cellular phones and accessories; and the operation of various IPTV and CATV systems. The company serves communities in Minnesota and Iowa through customer service call centers, its website, and commissioned sales representatives. The company was formerly known as New Ulm Telecom, Inc. and changed its name to Nuvera Communications, Inc. in June 2018. Nuvera Communications, Inc. was incorporated in 1905 and is headquartered in New Ulm, Minnesota.